Specialized sports training

The core of special sports training has never been to accumulate general physical fitness and hone repetitive movements, but to build a personalized training system based on the unique movement patterns, energy supply logic, and special tactical needs of specific sports. 90% of amateurs fail to achieve results or even get injured repeatedly. In essence, they confuse "general fitness" with "special training."

A while ago, I evaluated an enthusiast who had been practicing marathons for a year and a half. He could deadlift 90 kilograms in the gym, and his monthly running volume was stable at 150 kilometers. However, he would get out of breath every time he ran 12 kilometers, and his left knee always ached. After checking several films, there was no organic damage. Later, when I looked through his training records, I discovered that his strength training was all about axial force exertion using fixed equipment in the gym. He had not practiced the single-leg dynamic support and core roll resistance required for running at all. When he ran, he shook like a tumbler. All his strength was consumed in maintaining balance. It would be strange if he didn't feel any pain.

It's actually quite interesting to talk about this. There are two factions in the special training circle itself that have been arguing for more than ten years. One group is the "physical fitness dominant group" who follow the European and American physical fitness system. They believe that as long as the basic physical fitness (maximum strength, explosive power, cardiopulmonary ability) reaches the threshold, special movements can be polished to achieve results. This approach is indeed suitable for professional teams to prepare for short-term and fast games. For example, in the previous CBA foreign aid preparation period, if you have full physical fitness in two weeks, you can keep up with the rhythm of the regular season, and the fault tolerance rate is high. The other school is the "technology-led school" insisted by many veteran coaches in domestic sports. They believe that all physical training must fully serve specific technical movements. Even if you can only squat 50 kilograms, as long as the pedaling, turning, receiving and sending force chain of the table tennis racket is fully connected, you will not need more strength to beat ordinary amateurs. No one is right or wrong between these two groups, it’s just that they are applicable to different groups of people: professional athletes have polished their skills to muscle memory, and what they are fighting for is the upper limit of physical fitness. ； Ordinary enthusiasts can only spare three or four hours of training a week. It is much more useful to understand the power logic of technical movements first than to squat for three months.

If you go to the training ground of a professional team, you will understand that the specific strength training for basketball is not about squatting heavier than anyone else. It is about tightening the core at the moment of catching the ball and taking off, and the lateral support of the ankle during continuous changes of direction. It is all a force generation model that is replicated 1:1 with the actions on the field.； The land physical fitness of swimming will not allow you to rush the bench press weight. It trains the contraction rate of the latissimus dorsi during paddling and the core anti-torsion ability when turning the shoulders. Even if you can press 120 kilograms on the land bench press, it is not enough to exert force when swimming. A power conversion rate of 30% is too much. It is normal for you to be boring after rowing 50 meters.

Many people look for training plans from professional athletes when they first get started. They practice three hours a day, six days a week, followed by team doctors to relax and nutritionists to prepare meals. You practice three times a week for one hour each time, and after practice you have to rush back to work overtime to change the plan. It is weird to practice hard without getting injured. There are also marathon runners who accumulate monthly mileage when they first start, thinking that after running 300 kilometers, they can reach 330. In the end, they develop fatigue periostitis of the tibia and fibula. I have seen more than a dozen of them before and after. The essence is that they have not practiced the landing cushioning action pattern, and their core cannot be stable. Every step of running puts pressure on the bones.

A friend who had been playing badminton for three years came to me and said that he always practiced shoulder and back strength, but his smash was still soft. I adjusted his training plan and cut the strength training in half. Before each training, I added 20 groups of kick-forward force chain activation for swinging without the ball to practice the continuity from kicking to waist to swing. After two weeks, his smash speed increased by 15%. Even his golf friends asked him if he had secretly taken any supplements.

In fact, to put it bluntly, special training is like clothes tailor-made for the event you play. General fitness is a one-size-fits-all cotton T-shirt, which is fine for daily wear. But when you really need to compete for speed and strength on the court, you still have to tailor it to suit your needs. If you have been practicing for a while and have not made any progress, or even the pain is getting worse as you practice, you might as well stop and think about it: Are the movements you practice every day really consistent with the ball you want to hit, the path you want to run, and the basket you want to shoot?