Optimizing Training Flashcards
Overreaching
Pushing the body beyond its limits for a short period of time to stimulate a training response
Overtraining
Athlete attempts to do more training than he or she is physically or mentally tolerate.
Training
Performing exercise in an organized manner on a regular basis with a specific goal.
Static Flexibility training
Target muscle is stretched and held there in this position
Active flexibility training
A muscle is held statically in a stretched position via contraction of opposing muscle. (Quad muscles are stretched by contracting the hamstring muscles, thereby flexing the knee joint)
Dynamic flexibility training
Target muscles are moved in a controlled fashion using repeated movements through their full range of motion
Ballistic flexibility training
A repeated bouncing motion at the peak point of a stretch in an attempt to force the tissue beyond its normal range of motion.
Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching
Begin with a static stretch followed by an isometric contraction of the target muscle for approximately 10 seconds. This is immediately followed by a brief relaxation of the muscle and then another static stretch where the muscle is stretched past initial static stretch.
Strength and resistance training
Application of resistance against muscle contractions in order to increase the strength, size or power and metabolic profile of skeletal muscles. (Gravity, body weight, rubber bands, weight machines, free weights)
Circuit training
Combines strength and resistance training with aerobic/cardiovascular exercises to achieve an overall increase in conditioning.
Interval training
A series of exercises, broken up into rest periods. Varying from low to high intensities all completed in short time periods.
Plyometrics
Composed of extremely fast, powerful, short duration movements designed to increase speed and force of muscle contractions.
Continuous training
When exercise is performed for a period of time at a moderate intensity without any rest
Fartlek/Speed play training
It is continuous and interval training, can utilize both aerobic and anaerobic system. Performer determines rest and max.
Cross training
Used to practice various techniques that will improve overall performance. Uses all methods of training. Training is a variety of different exercises to improve your ability to succeed in your sport that you’re specifically training.
Discuss possible indicators of overtraining
Sudden unexplained and persistent performance decrement.
Increase in resting heart rate.
Chronic muscle soreness
Sleep disturbance
Fatigue
Decrease appetite.
Symptoms differ for everyone, hard to diagnose.
Periodization phases
Preparatory phase- pre season period has a main goal of preparing the body for the upcoming season, both physical and mental.
Competition phase- goal is to maintain fitness and technique while improving tactical approaches.
Transition (post season) phase- allows athletes to recover from their season. Usually lasts 3-4 weeks.
Periodization cycles
Macrocycle- the birds eye view of the entire year. Includes all the phases.
Mesocycle- a specific block of training, each could contain a number of microcycles.
Microcycles- a weekly schedule of all training for a given week. Works towards specific goals in a particular phase.
Relationship between cellular metabolism and the production of heat in the body.
Heat produced by all active tissues in body, when muscles contracts, and ATP is converted to ADP.
20-25% of energy stored in ATP is used in the muscle contraction, and 80% of energy released as heat.
Normal physiological range for core body temperature
36.1-37.8 degrees celcius
Thermoregulate
Ability to keep body temperature within certain boundaries.
Benefits of EPO (erythropoietin)
Protein naturally found in the body.
- Stimulates the production of red blood cells.
- Increased oxygen carrying ability of the blood.
- Increased exercise capacity and performance.
- Increases hemoglobin concentration.
- Increases VO2 max.
- Increases time to exhaustion.
Benefits of Beta Blockers
- Used for treating symptoms of anxiety.
- Improved precision and accuracy. (Fine muscles)
- Reduced symptoms of anxiety.
- Limit/slow heart rate.
- Widen the arteries, blood flows easier.
Benefits of Caffeine
- Improved endurance capacity and performance.
- Caffeine exerts a metabolic effect where it promotes a greater use of fat by the body during exercise.
- Increased alertness
- Reduced pain.
Benefits of Anabolic Steroids
- Builds up the amount and/or size of a certain substance of tissue in the body. (Skeletal muscle)
- Increased muscle mass, strength, power, speed.
- Look physically imposing.
- Prevent muscles from breaking down or being damaged.
- Improves usage of protein.
- Lower fat percentage.
- Jump higher, lift more, perform better.
Benefits of Diuretics
- Weight control from water loss
- slender, lean appearance
- masks the use of other substances from detection in urine analysis
- increased volume of urine output to dilute illicit substances
Stimulants/non-nutritional ergogenic aids
Psychoactive drugs, enter the brain and exert their effects on the central nervous system.
Possible harms of anabolic steroids
- male baldness
- breast development in men
- masculinization of women- voice deepens, excessive hair growth
- cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, risk of blot clots, risk of infection from improper injections)
Possible harms of EPO
- increased risk of heart attack, stroke and pulmonary emboli (blood clots in the lungs)
- increased viscosity of the blood
- increased blood pressure
- low flow of oxygen to the brain
- risk of blood clots
Benefits of Human Growth Hormone
- encourages fat loss
- increased muscle mass
- feel/look younger
- accelerates healing process
- increases bone density
- increases metabolism
Harms of diuretics
- diarrhea
- joint pain
- severe muscle cramps
- increased risk of diabetes
Harms of beta blockers
- heart rate too slow (bradycardia)
- constriction of narrow blood vessels can cause cold hands and feet
- sleeping problems
- risk of diabetes
Ergogenic aids
Anything that aids in improving an athletes performance. Whether that be a substance, phenomenon or device.
How does the body Thermoregulate in hot and cold environments?
Conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation
Conduction
Heat generated deep in your body can be conducted through tissue to the surface and to the clothing/air in direct contact with skin. Rate of conductive heat loss depends on the temperature gradient between skin and surrounding surfaces.
Convection
Moving heat from one place to another by the motion of air or water movement. If cooler air continually replaces warmer air around the body (windy day) heat loss increases.
Radiation
The transfer of energy waves that are sent out from one object and absorbed by another. The body absorbs radiant heat energy when the temperature of the environment is higher than skin temperature.
Evaporation
As the environment temperature increases, conduction convection and radiation decrease their effectiveness for heat loss. When this happens, evaporative cooling (conversion of sweat from liquid to water vapor) is the main form of heat loss.
Significance of humidity and wind in relation to body heat loss.
When the environment temperature is above skin temperature, evaporative heat exchange will account for heat loss. Dry air receives water vapor more easily. When humidity is high, the air already contains water and the vaporization of sweat is lower.
How should an athlete acclimatize to heat stress?
- exercise in the hot environment, not merely exposure
- for at least 10-14 days before competition
- better matching of thirst to body’s water needs
- increased total body water
- 90-100 minutes per day but reach this amount of time gradually by increasing duration and intensity.
Physiological and metabolic adaptations that occur with heat acclimatization.
- increased plasma volume
- earlier onset of sweating
- lower core body temperature
- more dilute sweat composition (electrolyte loss reduced)
- decreased psychological perception of effort
- maintain submaximal exercise for longer periods of time
- benefits remain for a week after moving to a cooler place but 75% are lost three weeks after heat exposure
Peripheral vasoconstriction
Constricts/narrows blood vessels leading to the periphery.
Reduces blood flow to shell, reducing heat loss through skin.
First line of defense against decreasing core temperature in cold climate.
Non-shivering thermogenesis
Stimulates the metabolism by the sympathetic nervous system to generate more metabolic heat.
Shivering
Rapid, involuntary cycle of muscle contraction/relaxation of skeletal muscles (generates heat from ATP system)
Importance of windchill in relation to body heat loss
The body radiates heat to the surrounding air which it attempts to warm up, as well as warming up the body. If this air is constantly moving because of wind then the air cannot heat up, and the body simply loses heat without any benefit. With convection, the body attempts to heat the air surrounding to create a bubble of warm air. With winds the air cannot heat up.
Explain why swimming in cold water presents a challenge to the body’s ability to Thermoregulate.
Water is cold, so the body is forced to send blood away from the core to extremities to supply oxygen to the working muscles. However the vasodilation of these blood vessels increases sweating and loss of heat. If the water is cold, the body needs to employ vasoconstriction to reduce heat loss. Also as the cold water moves by the body, convection, heat is exchanged.
Physiological response to exercise in the cold.
Vasoconstriction to the periphery.
Non shivering thermogenesis
Shivering
Health risks of exercising in the cold.
Frostbite- cells freeze and die, go black, numb
Hypothermia- when the core body temperature is lower than normal.
Precautions that should be taken when exercising in the cold
Proper warm up.
Frequent stretching.
Appropriate clothing layers to protect and insulate.
Placebo effect
Positive effect that cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself but due to the persons belief that the placebo works.
Explain why body surface area/body mass ratio is important for heat preservation
Larger body shape = smaller surface area (less susceptible to hypothermia)
Smaller body shape = larger surface area (creates greater heat loss and more susceptibility to hypothermia)
Describe the formation of sweat and the sweat response
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Physiological responses that occur during prolonged exercise in the heat.
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