Chapter 4: Training and Conditioning Techniques

1. Chapter 4:Training and Conditioning Techniques

2. What is one of the primary causes of sports injury? • Lack of physical fitness

3. What is periodization? • An approach to conditioning that brings about peak performance while reducing injuries and over-training in the athlete through a training and conditioning program that is followed through-out the various seasons

4. What are the three seasons of sports conditioning? • Off-season • Pre-season • In-season

5. How does periodization organize a training and conditioning program? • Cycles

6. The complete training period (which could be a year in the case of seasonal sports or perhaps four years for an Olympic athlete) is referred to as what? • Macrocycle

7. The series within a macrocycle are referred to as what and how long do they last? • Mesocycle, which may last for several weeks or even months

8. How are mesocycles divided? • Transition period • Preparatory period • Competition period

9. When does the transition period begin? • After the last competition and comprises the early part of the off-season

10. What type of training activity is involved with the transition period? • Unstructured and recreational

11. What is the idea behind the transition period? • To allow the athlete to escape both physically and psychologically from the rigor of a highly organized training regimen

12. When does the preparatory period occur? • During the off-season when there are no upcoming competitions

13. What are the three phases of the preparatory period? • Hypertrophy/endurance phase, strength phase, power phase

14. When does the hypertrophy/endurance phase occur? • In the early part of the off season in the early part of the preparatory period

15. What type of training activity is involved with the hypertrophy/endurance phase? • Low intensity with a high volume of repetitions, using activities that may or may not be directly related to a specific sport

16. What is the goal of the hypertrophy/endurance phase? • To develop a base of endurance on which a more intense training can occur

17. How long does the hypertrophy/endurance phase last? • From several weeks to two months

18. When does the strength phase occur? • During the off season in the middle of the preparatory period

19. What type of training activity is involved with the strength phase? • Intensity and volume progress to moderate levels, where weight-training activities become more specific to the sport or event

20. When does the power phase occur? • Pre-season, end of preparatory period

21. What type of training activity is involved with the power phase? • High intensity at or near the level of competition. The volume of training is decreased so that full recovery is allowed between sessions

22. How long does the competition period last? • In certain cases the competition period may last for only a week or less. With seasonal sports, however, the competition period may last for several months.

23. What type of training activity is involved with competition period? • High intensity training at a low volume. As the training volume decreases, an increased amount of time is spent on skill training and strategy sessions.

24. During the competition period, what may be necessary to establish? • Microcycles

25. What is a microcycle? • Periods which last from one to seven days

26. What type of training activity is involved with a microcycle? • Training should be intense early in the week and should progress to moderate and finally light the day before the competition.

27. What is the goal of the microcycle? • To make sure that the athlete will be at peak levels of fitness and performance on days of competition

28. What is the concept cross training? • An approach for a specific sport that involves substitution of alternative activities that have some carryover value to that sport (swimmer engages in jogging, running or aerobics to maintain levels of cardiorespiratiory conditioning)

29. When should cross training not be used and why? • Pre-season because it is not sports-specific

30. What are the ten principles that should be applied in all programs of training and conditioning to minimize the likelihood of injury? • Warm-up/cool-down • Motivation • Overload (SAID principle, specific adaptation to imposed demands) • Consistency • Progression • Intensity • Individuality • Minimize stress • Safety

31. What is the function and purpose of the warm-up? • To prepare the body physiologically for some upcoming physical work. • To gradually stimulate the cardiorespiratory system to a moderate degree, thus producing an increase blood flow to working skeletal muscles and resulting in an increase in muscle temperature.

32. What does the cool down enable the body to do? • Cool and return to a resting state

33. How long should the cool down last? • Five to ten minutes

34. What does a proper cool down help rapidly decrease? • Blood and muscle lactic acid levels

35. What is flexibility? • The ability to move a joint or a series of joints smoothly and easily throughout a full range of motion

36. What does a lack of flexibility result in? • Uncoordinated or awkward movements and predisposes the athlete to muscle strain

37. What are the factors that limit flexibility? • Bony structure • Fat • Skin • Muscles and their tendons • Connective tissue

38. What is active range of motion (dynamic flexibility)? • The degree to which a joint can be moved by a muscle contraction, usually through the mid-range of movement

39. What is passive range of motion (static flexibility)? • The degree to which a joint may be passively moved to the endpoints in the range of motion. No muscle contraction is involved to move a joint through a passive range.

40. Why is passive range of motion important for injury prevention? • In many sports situations, the muscle is forced to stretch beyond its normal limits. If the muscle does not have enough elasticity to compensate for this additional stretch, the musculoskeletal unit will likely be injured

41. What is ballistic stretching? • Bouncing movement in which repetitive contraction of the agonist muscle are used to produce quick stretches of the antagonist muscle.

42. Although ballistic stretching is effective in improving range of motion, why has it been criticized? • Because the increased range of motion is achieved through a series of jerks or pulls on the resistant muscle tissue. The forces generated by the jerks are greater than the tissues extensibility which may cause muscle injury.

43. What is static stretching? • Passively stretching an antagonist muscle by placing it in a maximal stretch and holding it there.

44. What are the recommendations for the optimal time for holding the stretched position? • It ranges from as short as three seconds to as long as sixty seconds

45. What has recent data indicate as the optimal time for holding a stretch? • Thirty seconds

46. How many times should the static stretch be repeated? • Three or four times

47. What is PNF? • Stretching techniques that involve combinations of alternating contractions and stretches

48. What does PNF stand for? • Proprioceptive • Neuromuscular • Facilitation

49. If weight training is done properly through a full range of motion, what will not be impaired? • Flexibility

50. What is muscular strength? • The ability of a muscle to generate force against some resistance (the maximum force that can be applied by a muscle during a single maximum contraction)