April 11, 2009
Topic:
Exercises to Improve Athleticism
We’ve talked a lot about weight loss, strength and gaining muscle. Today, we’re going to talk about specific exercises that will make you an all around better athlete whether you’re a high school football player wanting to improve speed or a fifty year old getting ready for a tennis tournament, these drills will help.
Intro to plyometrics - Is a form of training designed to improve reaction time of the nervous system and trains the nerve cells to perform a specific pattern of muscular contraction. Plyometrics also toughens the ligaments and tendons, preparing for similar sports stress. Here are some drills.
Sports specific stretching – When most people stretch for sports, they stretch slowly, unfortunately this won’t prevent injury during fast movement sports. Stretching slowly prepares the muscle spindles (the little nervous system sensors within the muscle) to only change muscle length slowly. You must do what’s called dynamic stretching. This is a drill we do for a lot of our martial artists but it will also work for gymnast, swimmers, or dancers.
Full body exercises - Forget arm curls and weight machines. If you’re an athlete, you need to use free weights to help develop the stabilizers and do full body exercises like these. This trains your nervous system to use all your muscles as a whole which is exactly what you’re doing on the tennis court or on the field.
Question from viewers:
Paul
Won’t lifting weights cause stress on my son’s joints? He’s only thirteen.
Debra
My personal trainer tells me that my prescription anti-inflammatories are bad. What should I do?
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