Athletic Training Knowledge, Essay Example

Athletics is not only about heart and competition, it is also important for athletes to understand the mechanics behind their specialties. An understanding of basic body physics, recovery, and safe training will give the athlete the tools that he or she needs to stay safe and maintain his or her level of fitness through off season training, understanding of physiology, and knowledge about overtraining syndrome.

Off season training is training that takes place at a time after the in season training, but before the start of preseason training. For the most part, it is a great time for recovery after a tough time during the other two phases of training. However, for power, endurance, and sprint athletes, it is important to maintain fitness and add some light training during this recovery phase. This is necessary because it is easier to maintain fitness at a lower level of intensity than to start from scratch during the preseason period. In addition, power, endurance, and sprint athletes are typically focused on their specialties and can use this off season time to develop fitness in different areas.

Though it is important to recover during the off season, it is equally important to maintain the level of fitness necessary to jump back in to training in the pre season. For this reason, athletes must combine rest with moderate exercise during the off season and watch their diets. Weight gain and strength loss will affect performance for these athletes.

In addition, sprint, power, and endurance athletes are, for the most part, focused on their specialties. The off season is a great way for an athlete to improve upon his or her other areas of fitness by improving flexibility, cardiovascular, or muscle fitness. It is not unusual for athletes who focus on these areas during the offseason to improve their performance later and to slow the decline in personal performance that can creep up on them in the off season (Welnack, Ben 2010).

Recovery is important in the off season, but it is important to be wary of overtraining syndrome in season as well. Overtraining syndrome is caused by an athlete training to the point of exhaustion over time. It is the result of an athlete pushing his or her body to its limits and creating general physical and mental fatigue through overtraining.

Physical symptoms of overtraining syndrome are stress fractures in the extremities, fatigue, and elevated heart rate during exercise. Psychological symptoms include chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, and a general malaise about athletics. There are further differences between sympathetic overtraining and parasympathetic overtraining. Sympathetic overtraining is characterized by restlessness and a mental need to exercise, while parasympathetic overtraining symptoms create the opposite effect, causing the athlete to become lethargic and unmotivated in exercise. All in all, the best predictor of overtraining syndrome comes in the form of overuse injuries like tendon pain (Black and Thiese, 392).

Body build refers to the general distribution of muscle and fat in a body as well as the general build. People are typically classified as either endomorphs, with wide hips and shoulders, mesomorphs, with narrow hips and broad shoulders, or ectomorphs, who are typically smaller with narrow hips and shoulders. Endomorphs are typically larger and are capable of putting on muscle easily, though they also put on fat quickly. They are built for power sports like football and weightlifting. Ectomorphs on the other hand are those who have trouble gaining weight and are well suited to aerobic sports. Typically, mesomorphs, who can balance between a healthy amount of fat and muscle are those who excel at sports.

It seems obvious that people with certain body types will excel at certain sports. Muscular builds lend well to strength training while lighter builds excel at cardiovascular exercises. This is not to say that body types are overly limiting in the pursuit of athletic achievement, however, there are natural talents that allow some people to excel naturally at one aspect of fitness or another.

Body size refers to an athlete’s height and weight while body composition refers to the amount of fat that an athlete holds on his or her body. Body size is a basic measure of an athlete. He or she may be tall or short and the ratio of height to weight can be useful as a quick and easy way of determining the amount of fat that an athlete carries. However, when evaluating an athlete’s body composition, it is important to take in to account his or her body type. Larger body types like endomorphs may be larger and weigh more, but they tend to be composed of more muscle as well (Sheldon, Stevens, and Tucker 1940).

For athletes, knowledge of these three aspects of anatomy is very important. Athletes must be careful to avoid injury while maintaining fitness even in the off season. They may also benefit from the knowledge of body types, body mass, and body composition. Knowledge in all of these areas can prevent injury and improve performance in dedicated athletes.

References

Johnson, Mary Black, and Thiese, Steven (1992) “A Review of Overtraining Syndrome- Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms” in Journal of Athletic Training. Volume 27, Number 4, pp. 352-354.

Sheldon, W.H. and Stevens, S.S. and Tucker, W.B. (1940) The varieties of human physique. Oxford, England: Harper.

Welnack, Ben(2010). “Training in the Post Season for Endurance Athletes.” 303cycling.com retrieved from http://303cycling.com/coach-curt-wilhelm-on-the-post-season-training on 23 April 2012.