8 Pillars of Fitness and Athleticism
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What is physical fitness?
I think physical fitness, comprises a broad range of skills and abilities, and to be athletic is taking it to the next level. Some people may say they don’t have that specific ability. I respond by saying you do, it’s just not very developed. And if there is one thing for certain it’s the saying “if you don’t use it you lose it.” Athletic ability is not a yes or no thing, there is a spectrum of abilities very much like the spectrum of light. Different wavelengths give off a different color. Many of my findings I have picked up along the way from many difference coaches, trainers, etc, but I always seem to hear different things from different people. Some of the most influential people that I have come across are Mel Siff, James Smith, Vern Gambetta, Mike Young to name a few. In athletic movement there are certain traits in each athlete that are transferable and most athletes posses. Here are those qualities…
1) Strength
Strength is really the amount of tension. The more tension you create the stronger you are. Strength forms the foundation of ALL other qualities. Without strength you have no foundation, you have no support structure, you have nothing. Increasing strength automatically increases all other qualities to some extent; you can’t have speed-endurance without adequate levels of strength. Strength increases the functional capacity of the organism because it can now do more work. With all that being said, there are times when too much strength is detrimental.
2) Speed
Speed or Velocity of movement is the coveted quality in most sports. Velocity will only increase if the strength of that specific movement pattern increases. Only then will the muscular system become efficient in that pattern and allow an increase in speed to occur. Many people seem to confuse speed with conditioning. For pure speed work you need FULL recovery to allow 100% effort each rep. Speed training is not on ladders, repeat 40’s, etc.
3) Power
Power is a function of Force x Velocity. You cannot have power without strength. It is a mistake to try to increase power output without increasing strength first. Because F=ma you can increase power manipulating speed/acceleration or mass/weights. Power is often mistaken for power endurance. You need FULL recovery for power activities to allow 100% effort each rep for maximum power generation.
4) Endurance
Endurance can be categorized as local muscular endurance or general endurance. Local muscular endurance would be the ability of your muscles to withstand repetitive contractions with little to no rest. This would be like pedaling a bike as hard as you could for 60 sec. Your leg muscles endurance is the limiting factor not your anaerobic or aerobic systems. General Endurance would tie into Cardiovacular fitness and be analogous to stamina, how long can you last in the ring, on court, in the pool, etc. This is a function of physical preparedness and the overall development of your energy systems. Are you the person that can only go 10 minutes before stopping or can you go for hours on end?
5) Cardiovascular
Cardiovascular ability refers to the development of the aerobic system. How well conditioned is your heart, blood vessels, capillary beds, metabolic enzymes, lungs, breathing muscles, etc. Aerobic training pumps blood into the chambers for the whole 30-60 minutes of activity and tends to “loosen” up the heart to increase its compliancy. A compliant structure is much better than a stiff rigid structure when we are talking about heart fluid dynamics.
6) Flexibility/Mobility
Flexibility is the range of motion at a joint. Mobility can be looked at as how much usable range of motion we have at a joint. Mobility is like flexibility with strength. Mobility takes into account adjacent muscles, fascia, and connective tissue. All great athletes have phenomenal flexibility AND mobility. Their seems to be huge debates about static vs dynamic stretching and which is better. I have seen all the research and theories, and can say that I think both are equally important. There are certain situations for both, but you need to be doing both. Static stretching restores length-tension relationships between neighboring muscles and creates between synergistic movement. I also think it helps to increase speed of movement to some extent, by allowing the muscle to relax. Dynamic stretching prepares you for dynamic movement, stretches the fascia, and ramps up the central nervous system.
7) Balance/Coordination/Rhythm/Suppleness
I think this quality is highly overlooked, but is actually one of the most important quality. You can have strength but without the coordination it doesn’t mean anything. Coordination between muscle groups, synchronization, timing, rhythm all play huge factors in sports and in daily activities. We have all seen that athlete who is thinking too much and appears mechanical in movement. The key towards gaining rhythm is going with the flow, and trying to be effortless. As soon as you consciously start to think, muscles are engaged that should not be. We have all seen the person that moves effortlessly; this is suppleness and grace. Watching a graceful movement and trying to mimic it is a great training method and goes a long way.
8) Reactive/Elastic
Reactive ability is the ability to rapidly absorb eccentric forces, and be able to shift eccentric to concentric action very quickly. Quickness is something that comes to mind here. The small coupling time or amortization phase is key, and is the reason why much of the energy that is absorbed can be stored in the tendons and immediately released in the resulting concentric action. Think golf ball instead of a beach ball. Certain athletes have great athletic elastic qualities like triple jumpers. Most people do not posses that kind of spring, and are less elastic. A great training method for this is jumping rope and performing small quick movements.
If your an athlete start training each quality and finding your weaknesses, and I promise you will get better!