Sports Training : Sports Injury Prevention

An important aspect in all sports is to have sports training which enables the athlete to prepare for sporting events and also benefits them physically as it gets their body ready to undertake activities.

There are various types of sports training available depending on what sport you are playing and often sports training uses specialised machinery to track a person’s heart tempo such as a heart rate monitor. This enables an athlete to track their progression and analyse how fit they are becoming.

Here are some exercises which some athletes use as part of their sports training:

Altitude Training

Altitude training is for athletes who want to train vigorously for sporting events which involve high altitude running. Altitude training involves exercising in high altitude locations such as an altitude simulation tent or room above sea level and is often practiced by endurance athletes preparing for the Olympics. Athletes who are competing in the Olympic Games in sporting events such as the sprint or javelin may find altitude training beneficial as it aids in increasing the mass of red blood cells and haemoglobin in the body.

Boxing Training

Boxers most commonly use boxing training in order to enhance their performance and overall general fitness. Boxing training is often quite vigorous and really prepares a boxer for the fight. A boxers training depends upon the level of the boxer and whether he is going to have an intermediate level fight or a heavyweight fight. A beginner at boxing might undergo sports training such as learning how to hit a heavyweight bag, skipping, shadowboxing in front of the mirror and sparring inside the ring. Jogging every day is often part of a boxers sports training and often amateur and professional boxers have to wake up early morning to jog. Boxing is considered to be one of the most physically demanding sports as its training is crucial in establishing a good boxer and ensuring that they are well prepared for a fight.

Strength Training

There are many sports which use strength training as part of their exercise regime and these sports include football, rugby, lacrosse, basketball and hockey. Strength training can often be performed in a gym using an exercise machine called the dumbbell. Strength training is used to build up muscle and the pull down action of the machine strengthens the arms and back. This type of training also helps in increasing anaerobic endurance and the size of the skeletal muscles. Strength training can benefit an athlete by enhancing their overall health and wellbeing including an increase in muscle build and improving the strength of their ligaments as well as improving the functioning of the joints.

Weight Training

Weight training is part of strength training and both come hand in hand in enhancing an athlete’s health and fitness. Some popular methods of weight training include using exercise equipment such as dumbbells, weights, weight stacks and plates. Many sports use weight training as part of their training as it helps to strengthen and build the muscle and it aids in improving a person’s fitness and health. Often Body builders and boxers use weight training as part of their exercise regime.

Resistance Training

Resistance training is also included in strength training and is performed against an opposing force such as resistance to being pushed, squeezed or stretched. In sports such as rugby where there is often a lot of collision involved resistance training is vital as it enables a person to maintain resistance against an opposing force. Resistant training exercises help to improve the strength of a person and also increase the size of the skeletal muscles which make a person stronger.

Split Training

As the name suggests split training is exercise which works only three muscle groups or body parts in a day therefore splitting up the sports training throughout the week. Split training is used in many sports such as football, rugby and basketball as it helps to prepare the body and increase the overall fitness of the body. Split training is considered to be very exhausting as each specific muscle group is targeted and fully worked out in order to ensure that the overall body is fully stretched and worked to its maximum potential.

Cross Training

Cross training often used in martial arts is a specific type of exercise training which is also known as conditioning as it involves training in various different ways in order to improve the overall fitness of a person. Cross training combines a variety of different exercises which condition the body and works the different muscle groups. In almost all sports, including martial arts, cross training is beneficial as it gives a varied approach to the exercises and it works the whole body.

Long Slow Distance

Long slow distance training is often used by runners and cyclists as it is a form of endurance anaerobic training. Long slow distance training improves the skeletal muscles and cardiovascular functions of the body as it includes long slow distance running which gets the body pumping. This type of training is specifically beneficial for cyclists and runners however other sports may find long slow distance training beneficial such as people who swim.

Pilates

Pilates can be performed at a gym or even in the home as it is a form of controlling the body using specific exercises which uses a range of breathing techniques and alignment and centering techniques to condition the body. This type of sports training adds benefits both to the mind and body as it is a more relaxing way of working the body. Breathing training in Pilates helps to improve the circulation of the blood so that the cells in the body can remove any metabolic waste. Alignment exercises in Pilates focus on improving the strength of the skeletal muscles. Centering exercises works all the large muscles in the body such as the abdomen, lower back, buttocks and hips. Pilates training was created by a man called Joseph Pilates who believed that Pilates could benefit the body in many different ways creating an overall fitter body and mindset.

Grip Strength Training

Grip strength training refers to the force which is applied by the hands to pull an object and is part of increasing the strength of the hands. People who do martial arts find this type of training extremely beneficial as it helps them with their hand coordination and movements of the hand and arms. There are three most commonly used grips called the crush grip, pinch grip and the support grip. The crush grip is often compared to the grip we have when we give someone a handshake, however a strong crush grip can be used to break objects with pressure and is particularly beneficial to those in martial arts.

The pinch grip is when the fingers are placed on one side of the object and the thumb rests on the other side and is used in grabbing objects such as weight plate. Grip strength exercises are beneficial for the pinch grip as it helps to keep control of the fingers and is helpful as it helps to strengthen the fingers. Grip strength exercises can also be used to help the support grip when you have to hold something like a ball in basketball and a tennis racket in tennis.

Complex Training

Complex training is a form of strength training and plyometric training and helps to activate the muscle fibres and the nervous system. In complex training, strength exercises are used to awaken the fast switch muscle fibres and the plyometric exercises are used to stress the muscle fibres, therefore making them strengthened and conditioned. Complex training is beneficial to all types of sports as it strengthens the muscle fibres and uses strength training exercises to enhance performance and overall fitness.

Plyometric exercises increase the performance of speed and power and increases the force which is needed in sports such as running or athletic endurance sports such as those that you find in the Olympics. Combat athletes need a good force of power of speed and they need the energy to be able to compete in a fast paced race in order to reach the winning line. Complex training is one of the most beneficial ways of sports training for combat athletes as it improves the power output of the athlete to ensure that their output power is at its maximum strength.

Interval Training

Interval training involves high intensity exercises which are good for sports that are vigorous and need a full burst of energy. Interval training is a type of physical training which can include running, cycling and rowing and can be a particularly beneficial form of sports training for these sports. Interval training can be combined with high intensity and low intensity exercises at various different intervals. Interval training is often practiced by runners, sprinters and footballers as it enables them to train at a distance either doing low intensity exercise such as running at a short distance or high intensity exercises such as long distance exercises.