Conditioning for Sport Performance

By now, most of us are well aware of the fact that having at least some degree of physical fitness can be an asset for sports performance.  But recent studies have shown that traditional methods of physical conditioning may not be the optimal method of enhancing athleticism. Although strength, flexibility and both muscular and cardiovascular endurance are certainly essential to our well being, when achieved within the bonds of traditionalism, these assets become what I would call "sport adjunctive", as opposed to "sport specific".


Does this mean that conditioning methods such weight training and cardio vascular machines should be avoided? Absolutely not! But when attempting to create a fitness program designed to optimize athletic performance, it may be necessary to "think outside the box".

How many of you know someone who is incredibly fit, a "gym rat" who spends hours every day lifting weights and "doing cardio", as they say? Are you surprised that sometimes, if you were to take this person skiing, or try to have them play a sport such as soccer, they may not always be as skillful as you thought they would be?  Sports medicine expert Vern Gambetta uses the word "Gaposis" to describethe gap between how we train and how we play. In the past, programs that are excellent for improving general fitness have been found lacking, in their ability to enhance athletic performance. So if an athlete came to a trainer, with an injury, or perhaps some difficulty with a particular skill, the trainer would identify which muscles are tight, and which muscles are weak. The weak muscles would be strengthened, the tight ones, stretched.

But this solved only half the problem!


Many injuries, as well as difficulties performing specific skills, are the result of faulty muscular recruitment patterns. An obvious example, would be the skier, who iniates a turn by rotating the upper torso. So in order to correct the problem, the trainer must integrate the prescribed exercises into movement patterns that either resemble the sport, or use a similar pattern of muscular recruitment.