What is the difference between special sports and physical fitness sports?

The core difference is actually that the goals are completely different. To put it bluntly, it’s like if you sign up for an English class, are you aiming to win a national Olympiad award, or are you just trying to improve your general abilities in daily communication, reading and writing? The goals are far different, and the training logic is naturally very different.

I have been in the youth sports hall for almost six years, and I have seen too many children who jump into specialized training right from the beginning. There used to be a little boy in the third grade. His parents rushed to let him take the professional route of table tennis. His work standard can be used as a teaching model, and he can move easily in small steps on the stage. But last time we held a fun sports meeting in the gym, he fell twice while running 50 meters. He couldn't even do a simple cartwheel, and even swayed when he stood up after squatting for a long time - you said he has poor physical fitness? Not really. The wrist explosiveness and reaction speed required by table tennis are much better than those of children of the same age, but other unused abilities, such as lower limb explosiveness, core stability, and overall coordination, are basically not developed. This is the characteristic of special training: all content fully serves the competitive needs of a single event. Abilities that are not required by this event rarely spend time covering, and even some muscle groups that may affect the shaping of special movements are deliberately controlled. The amount of training.

Later, the child's coach suggested that the parents take physical fitness classes twice a week to slow down the intensity of the specific event and replenish general abilities first. After practicing for two months, he returned to the gym. The coach was shocked and said that he used to stagger when receiving big forehand corner kicks. Now his footwork is very smooth and he rarely complains of wrist soreness after practicing all afternoon. The problem before was not that he was not good at playing, but that his core was not stable and his upper limbs were compensating too much.

There is actually a debate in the circle now. Some people think that if children want to achieve good results, they must focus on special events early. Physical fitness training is useless. Some people say that skeletal muscles are not fully developed before the age of 12, so there is no need to do special events. If you lay a solid foundation in physical fitness first, you will not only be prone to injury, but also have a low upper limit of performance in the later period. There are cases on both sides to support it. So far, there is no absolute standard answer.

It’s not just teenagers, it’s the same training for adults. I used to have a friend who ran ten kilometers every day in order to run a half-marathon. After two months of training, his knees hurt so much that he had to struggle to walk down the stairs. After going to rehabilitation, he found out that his core strength was insufficient and his hip flexibility was also poor. To compensate for the stress on his knees, the rehabilitation specialist asked him to stop all running training. He first practiced physical fitness for three months and strengthened his core, hip flexors, and arches. Then he returned to running. Not only did his pace increase by half a minute, but he has now completed two full marathons, and his knees no longer hurt.

Don’t think that physical fitness is just for fun. In fact, it can be divided into general and specialized physical fitness. Professional athletes will also practice a lot of specialized physical fitness during the offseason. For example, basketball players will specialize in vertical jump explosiveness and change of direction coordination. They do not directly touch the ball to practice shooting, but all training is to prepare for subsequent games. We The general public is mostly exposed to general physical fitness, which trains basic qualities such as strength, speed, endurance, coordination, and flexibility. After training, whether you go to play ball, climb mountains, move furniture, or even run for two steps on the subway, you will not easily twist your waist and sprain your feet. To put it bluntly, it is to make up for your body's shortcomings, and there is no clear project direction.

In fact, the two are not completely opposite. How to choose depends on your needs. If you just want to improve your overall physical fitness and move around to avoid getting sick, then practicing general physical fitness is the most cost-effective.； If you are really interested in a certain event and want to play well without getting injured, then specialized training and appropriate physical fitness supplements are the safest way. There is no need to argue about which one is better.