Combination of physical fitness and special sports

Match on demand and adjust dynamically.

There is a lot of quarrel about this matter in the sports circle right now, and there are supporters of both sides. One group is the "Basics First" group, most of which are youth training physical fitness coaches. They advocate not touching special events at all before the age of 14. They should first develop general physical fitness such as cardiorespiratory, strength, flexibility, and agility, so that they can quickly master any event they practice later. ； The other group is the "specialty pioneers", most of whom are speciality coaches from professional teams. They feel that no matter how much general physical fitness is practiced, it is a waste of time to develop action patterns that do not fit the specificity. It is better to focus all the energy on specialization and make up for whatever abilities are lacking.

Last year, when I was doing injury assessment for the provincial youth tennis team, I met a 12-year-old player whose forehand and backhand skills ranked among the top three in the province in his age group. However, he would collapse after three sets and kept complaining about knee pain. I checked for a long time and found that the problem was that my hip flexors were not strong enough and my core was not stable. Every time I turned, I relied on my knees to compensate. His previous coach was a typical pioneer of special events. He always said that "the more you practice your movement and swing, your strength will naturally improve." He didn't even arrange for physical fitness in half a class. Later, the training plan was adjusted, and 20 minutes of lateral movement, core anti-rotation, and single-leg deadlift were added at the end of each special training. They were all physical fitness content directly related to tennis power. In less than three months, the child won the provincial championship for his age group, and the old problem of knee pain did not happen again.

Not only professional athletes, but ordinary people who play sports are most likely to fall into traps in the relationship between the two. I have an older brother who has been running marathons for three years. He used to focus on increasing his mileage. The weekly mileage was at least 60 kilometers, and he didn’t do any strength training. He always said, “The more you run, the faster you will naturally get.” As a result, Iliotibial Band Syndrome developed last spring. I lay down for three whole months. Not to mention running, I couldn’t even walk downstairs without gasping for breath. Later, I listened to advice and added 40 minutes of functional fitness twice a week. I practiced single-leg deadlifts, side planks, and arch activation, which are directly related to running strength. Instead, my running volume was reduced to 45 kilometers a week. At the end of last year, I set a PB of 8 minutes and finished the race in 3 hours and 22 minutes. Now I don’t even have the calf cramps that I often suffered from before.

I was watching short videos a while ago and saw two bloggers arguing. One was a professional basketball fitness coach who said, "Don't fight until you squat 1.5 times your body weight. The higher you jump, the more serious the injury will be." The other was a wild ball blogger who said, "I can only squat with my own weight in squats, but I can still hit half the court in our community. Spending so much time practicing strength is not as good as shooting 100 more baskets." In fact, both of these are correct, but they are applicable to completely different groups of people. If you just play ball once or twice a week to sweat and have fun, then there is absolutely no need to go to the gym to practice strength. Playing ball itself can train your heart, lungs, reactions, and coordination. Additional physical fitness will only take up time, and may also discourage exercise. ； But if you want to play in the city league, you have to withstand inside confrontations, and you want to play four consecutive quarters without collapsing, then targeted physical supplementation is a must. Otherwise, your legs will be weak in the middle of the game, your shooting movements will be deformed, and it will be useless no matter how accurate you usually shoot.

When I usually make training plans for ordinary enthusiasts, I never let them separate physical fitness and special training. For example, for those who love to play badminton, I will ask them to do 10 more minutes of shoulder external rotation training and step stability training every time they warm up before playing. This not only serves as a warm-up, but also improves the ability of the most vulnerable parts. There is no need to spend extra time to practice physical fitness alone. If you persist for two months, the shoulder pain and knee pain will be improved by more than half, and the ball-killing speed will increase by about 10%.

In fact, to put it bluntly, physical fitness is the foundation of your exercise, and specialization is the mountain you want to climb. If you are climbing a hill near your home, you can walk up it casually wearing sneakers. There is no need to practice weight-bearing hiking six months in advance. ； But if you want to climb Mount Everest, targeted high-altitude physical fitness, strength, and endurance training are a must. You can’t rush up empty-handed and with courage. There is no absolutely correct combination formula. Finding your own sports goals and making up for whatever is missing is much more useful than following general tutorials on the Internet.