Many injuries, as
well as difficulties performing specific skills, are the result of faulty
muscular recruitment patterns. For example, ACL tears occur not only because of
a muscle imbalance between the hamstrings and quadriceps, but because the
quadriceps activate prior to the hamstring flexion that would have protected
the knee from injury. Sport specific training involves the
development of movement patterns that either resemble, or mimic some aspect of
the sport. With the exception of the treatment of injures, in most cases, it
will not involve muscle isolation without integration. Studies in motor
learning have suggested that the brain does a better job at recognizing
movement patterns than it does at recognizing isolated muscular contractions.
What other factors differentiate
a sport specific program from a general conditioning program? One of the first things that come to mind is
the psychological element. Most machine training is completely predictable. If
you sit on a leg extension machine and straighten your legs, the machine
mechanism will move upwards in a straight line, regardless of whether you are
in alignment and engaging your deep core stabilizers. True athletes show a remarkable ability to
respond quickly to random stimuli. A program that encourages spontaneity and
quick reaction times may be far more beneficial in promoting athleticism than
machine training.
When
speaking about quick reaction times, it is important to consider the visual
skills necessary for skillful sports performance. Many sports conditioning
programs utilize medicine ball training. They can be used in simple exercise
tasks, as well as in conjunction with balance conditioning. These tools are a
fun and exciting way to improve reaction time in sports performance. Some
trainers are starting to use exercises derived from the Feldenkrais technique,
which integrate vision and movement.