7 Training Concepts

Training Concept #1: Plyometric

Plyometric means reactivity. It is the ability to conduct quick, powerful movements with explosive concentric contractions resulting in eccentric contraction, afterwards. This training concept helps increase muscle strength, improve performance, and help prevent injury. This is used mainly in sports and for individuals who want to maximize their power.

Exercises include, but are not limited to: jump squats, clap push-ups, hopping, sprints, power cleans, complete clean and jerk

Training Concept #2: Balance

Balancing on one leg? That’s not all. Balance trains you to develop, improve, and restore synergy and synchronicity of muscle-firing patterns required for dynamic joint stabilization and optimal neuromuscular control. You need to be able to train functional movements in a proprioceptively enriched environment with appropriate progressions, correct technique, and at varying speeds.

Exercises include, but are not limited to: balance trainer squats, balance board tricep dips, step up to balance, box jump with stabilization, kettlebell bottoms up press

Training Concept #3: Speed, Agility, and Quickness (SAQ)

Vital when it comes to sports because athletes need the ability to react, while enhancing the ability to accelerate, decelerate, and dynamically stabilize the entire body.

Speed - Ability to move the body in one intended direction as fast as possible

Agility - Ability to start, stop, and change direction quickly, while maintaining proper posture

Quickness - Ability to react and change body position with maximum rate of force production

Exercises include, but are not limited to: ladder drills, shadow boxing, side skips, high knees, carioca, ball reaction drills

Training Concept #4: Flexibility

The benefits of flexibility training include: decreased chance of injury, prevention or correction of muscle imbalances, improved posture, and enhancement of joint range of motion.

Corrective Flexibility - increases joint range of motion, improves muscle imbalances, and corrects altered joint motion; autogenic inhibition

Active Flexibility - improves extensibility of soft tissue and increases neuromuscular efficiency; reciprocal inhibition

Functional Flexibility - maintains integrated, multiplanar soft tissue extensibility and optimal neuromuscular control; reciprocal inhibition

Exercises include, but are not limited to: lunges, foam roller stretches, yoga, pilates, banded shoulder stretches

Training Concept #5: Core

Not only is the core made up of the abdomen, but also the lumbar spine, pelvic girdle, and hip joints. All movement originates in the core and having a strong core will allow you to maintain proper muscle balance throughout the entire human movement system. Training the core allows for efficient acceleration, deceleration, and stabilization during dynamic movements, while preventing injuries.

There should be a constant manipulation of the plane of motion, range of motion, modalities (tubing,stability ball, medicine ball, BOSU ball, Airex pad, etc.), body position, amount of control, speed of execution, amount of feedback, and specific acute training variables (sets, reps, intensity, tempo, and frequency).

Exercises include, but are not limited to: planks, hanging knee raise, dead bug, dumbbell plank drag, L-sit, wall plank

Training Concept #6: Resistance

Your body tends to resist any irregularities it experiences, whether it be temperature change, when a virus enters your body, but also when your muscles are experiencing stress. The adaptive benefits of resistance training are increased tissue (muscle, tendons, ligaments) tensile strength, cross-sectional area of muscle fibers, bone density, neuromuscular control, endurance, strength, power, and metabolic efficiency.

As your muscles try to adapt to a stressor, naturally it will grow and become stronger in order to react appropriately to the stressor, in this case, the amount of weight you can lift.

Mechanical Specificity - The weight and movements placed on the body, so if you want to increase the strength of your legs, you would do leg-related exercises.

Neuromuscular Specificity - Refers to the speed of contraction and exercise selection. If working on stability, movements are performed in controlled, unstable situations at slower speeds like BOSU ball squats. If working on strength, heavier loads are used in stable environments to emphasize the primary muscle group like the bench press. If working on power, low-weight, high-velocity contractions.

Metabolic Specificity - Refers to the energy demand placed on the body. If conducting endurance (aerobic) training, exercises will be prolonged with minimal rest between sets. The development of maximal strength and power (anaerobic) requires longer rest periods after high intensity workouts. Fun fact, the body burns more Calories when standing or when rest periods are short.

Resistance Training Systems

Training Concept #7: Cardiorespiratory

Your heart is also a muscle and you have to train it because your heart has to keep up with your body. You should incorporate the warm-up, conditioning, and cool-down phase in your workouts.

Warm-Up: Low-intensity exercise with movements that mimic the more intense exercise to follow (lasts about 5-10 minutes). You can possibly incorporate body weight squats or push-ups.

Conditioning: Depending on your level of training (Stage 1, 2, or 3), there will be varying levels of intensity (%VO2 max) with your exercise. If you are just starting out, exercising at 65-75% max heart rate (max HR = 220 - age, rough estimate) for about 30-60 minutes. If you have moderate cardiorespiratory fitness, train at 65-85% max HR with brief work-to-rest ratios of 1:3 (i.e., 1-minute interval followed by 3-minute recovery), then progress using 1:2 and 1:1 ratios. For those who are trained, 65-95% max HR is best when doing exercises, such as sprints, followed by light jogging, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

Cool-Down: Active recovery aids in reducing lactic acid levels back to baseline, reduces the potential for delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and returns the heart rate to rest. Flexibility should be included in this phase, such as self-myofascial release and static stretching.