Thinker,
What exactly is the difference between special strength training and the Western concept of sports specific training? When I read these two viewpoints I don't think I am entirely clear on the differences.
Enjoying the SST manual for coaches - probably the best "put together" text I've read from Verkoshansky.
Thanks,
Evan
Evan,
In short, special strength training characterizes modalities that possess varying degrees of transfer to the competition exercise in terms of biodynamic and bioenergetic structure. In this way, various degrees of the kinematic and neuromuscular structure of the competition exercise are enhanced via the appropriately dosed and constructed movements.
Alternatively, most western attempts at "sport specific training" are perversions of the objective of special strength training because Western coaches/trainers are not properly educated due to the insufficient entities of academia and certifying organizations. As a result, "sport specific training" usually ends up as a feeble attempt to approximate the kinematic motion of the competition exercise and a disastrous attempt to approximate the neuromuscular dynamics.
Important to note is that the incomplete/deteriorating model of physical education in CONUS contributes to the lack of physical preparation found in our youths and young adults. This, in turn, disguises the "results" that many coaches/trainers illustrate as being beneficial to these individuals development when, in reality, it is the miserably low level of physical preparation of the subjects that yields a situation in which nearly any stimulus what so ever will yield an improvement to their physical condition.
The question then becomes: if anything works on athletes of lesser preparation, what might we use as a filter for determining what is optimal versus what is too much or inappropriate? The answer requires that we further our understanding of the dynamics of sport and physical preparation through educational venues other than what is made available in CONUS.
Thinker,
If and/or when an athlete pulls a hamstring, what steps do you take to ensure that the athlete is ready to perform at 100%? I was reading that you used different Power/Speed Drills to assess and rehab the injury. I suspect that these drills are used because they place less stress directly to the hamstring than higher velocity running. Is there a progression you follow in terms of time and drills? For instance, for the first couple of days introduce A March and A Skip at an individualized volume. Also, how long do you recommend that you stay away from tempo? Sorry for the loaded question and thanks for the time.
CT
CT,
Athletic trainers, no different than strength and conditioning coaches, are subject to misinformation via their academic curricula. Consequently, the steps taken during hamstring rehabilitation are often just as erroneous as those taken by strength and conditioning coaches in their attempt to physically prepare their athletes.
Hamstring rehab is a classic example. Across the land the fundamental constituents of collegiate hamstring rehab will consist of sub-max lengthening hamstring curls along with other tonic strength exercises, because the false positive of a post hamstring pull assessment is a "weakness."
This amuses me because this suggests that the strength that existed just prior to the pull has disappeared.
What actually happens is that a pull, depending on severity, will at the least, cause certain fibers to go into spasm, or at the most, involve tearing, and to different degrees, of certain fibers. In both cases, however, spasm occurs to the surrounding fibers and when fiber is in spasm it cannot contract.
So the perceived weakness is actually fibers that are impaired from contracting. If, particularly regarding pulls in which substantial tearing occurs, hands on therapy is not performed the scar tissue will form asynchronously related to the direction of the muscle fiber. This is why massage (you know, the voodoo trick that isn't formally supported by the almighty "research") is so critical to the rehabilitation and training process in general.
The scar tissue forms haphazardly. Picture a bed sheet that has a hole torn in it. If you sew a patch in the whole and then stretch the sheet, the stress will be focused along the perimeter of the patch where it connects with the threads of the sheet and this is where future tears will occur.
Muscle fiber behaves similarly. It is critical that the fibers of the scar tissue form in the same direction as the muscle fiber. In this way, the future stress of training will be naturally distributed along the fiber and not localized to the haphazard formation of untreated scar tissue. To my knowledge, there is no substitute for qualified massage in this case.
As for physical training, it is basically a waste of time to address hamstring rehab via tonic strength exercise because the neuromuscular dynamics aren't in the same galaxy as those associated with the dynamics of hamstring contraction via locomotive efforts.
This is where power speed drills and short sub-max accelerations come into play. It is critical to condition the hamstrings via efforts that possess a neuromuscular similarity to that which constitutes the athletes primary responsibility- medium to high speed terrestrial locomotive efforts.
This comes from the work of Gerard Mach via the late Charlie Francis and my friend and colleague Derek Hansen at Simon Frazier University in Vancouver.
In Mach's Sprints and Hurdles Manual you will find a 10-day Hamstring Rehab program that should be plastered on the wall of every athletic training and weight room in the land.
As for the progression of drills, you are on the right track and this is elucidated in Mach's manual.