What you should know about athletic performance safety and optimization

Sports nutritional needs 1

  1. Protein requirements are varied but for power sports (i.e. basketball, football, baseball) 1.5 –2.0 g/kg of body mass.
  2. Carbohydrate requirements are 5-6 g/kg of body mass.
  3. Fat needs albeit sparingly are required in the higher quality fats are .5–1.0 g/kg of body mass.
  4. Pre-workout / competition, meals are to be 30 –60 minutes prior to competition and relatively light no greater than 10% of total intake for day.
  5. Post-workout / game meals should be higher in carbohydrates and fats. These will replenish the glycogen and promote the healing process.

Recovery needs 2

  1. Cold tubs (tepid water between 65°–75°F) for swelling reduction and PNF stretching –stretch rope activities while at home.
  2. Post game massage or compression techniques usage. This post-game massage is to flush the muscles of lactic acid accumulation and increase blood flow. Working through range of motion issues with injured joints.
  3. Chronic injury treatment will use both heat and ice compression techniques. Deep tissue and trigger point massage are also neuro-muscular therapies utilized by a trained sports massage therapist.

Athletic performance needs and enhancement

  1. Proper physical conditioning and strength development for the demands of the sport and its upcoming season.
  2. Strength training is designed to enhance the athletic ability along with injury prevention.
  3. Performance enhancing supplements are not typically needed under normal conditions; although exceptions do occur and should be met with supervised and measured caution.
    • In junior age children that are pubescent teenagers it ”appears that as a lifter’s training experience increases, so too does that potential to enhance the anabolic hormonal environment.” 3
    • Teenagers whom begin weight training have found ”the sport specific forces that the musculoskeletal system of young athletes is subject to may be greater, both in magnitude and in duration, than those resulting from resistance training.” 4 This would indicate the need for weightlifting due to subject forces of the sport.
    • Training to improve performance and reduce injury, athletes need to develop their core strength. ”Power involved in rotational forces, even in movements that appear to be linear; is force produced by connecting right shoulder to left hip and vice-versa. This crisscross pattern connects everything in a diagonal manner, making the core very efficient when performing rotational movements.” 5

These are some needs that you as parents and athletes will need to review to see to it that you are performing at your optimal best. We do not plan to fail in life we just fail to plan!

Swimming (dry-land) training

The basis of a dry-land training protocol should be centered around symmetry and aiming to enhance strength and power to improve performance for the dive and turns. 6

Chimera Plyometric Protocol

  • An 8 wk. Swim specific Plyometric training program utilized to effect performance.
  • A progressive overload approach to explosive power output and increase performance efficiency in the Swim Block Start.7

Crossover Symmetry Gen2 - Iron Scapula Protocol

The Iron Scapula protocol is an emphasis on strengthening scapular stabilizers. This is to reduce the risk of shoulders impingement and increase arm velocity without adding stress to the shoulder and elbow.

Workout

Crossover Symmetry GEN 2 Phase

  1. 2 x (3,2,1) DB push jerk at peak intensity
  2. 2 x (3,2,1) 1 arm DB jerk at (75% ~ 92.5%)
  3. 9 x 5 KB deadlift
  4. 9 x 5 DB incline bench press
  5. 6 x 5 Lat pulldown
  6. 3 x 8 Swiss ball DB crunch and press Chimera Plyometric Protocol
  7. 4 x 5 Two-foot ankle hop
  8. 1 x 4 Single-leg push-off at 12”
  9. 2 x 5 Alt leg bounding (power skip)
  10. 2 x 4 Box jump at 24”
  11. 3 x 5 Squat jump
  12. 3 x 1 Broad jump test out
  13. 3 x 1 Vertical jump test out Post workout Dry-land stretches, hold for :10

Footnotes

  1. Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning: Nutritional Factors in Performance.2ndEd. Human Kinetics Reimers, K, Rudd, J., Ch. 12pg. 238-2532000 ↩

  2. NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training: Flexibility Training Concepts.3rdEd. Wolters Klower; Clark, M., Lucett, S., Ch. 6pg. 139-1682008 ↩

  3. Weightlifting training and hormonal responses in adolescent males: Implication for program design. Fry, A., Schilling, B., Strength and Conditioning Jnl., Vol. (24) Number 5, pg. 9, Oct. 2002 ↩

  4. Roundtable Discussion: Youth Resistance Training Hoff, G., Faigenbaum, A., Strength and Conditioning Jnl., Vol. (25) Number 1, pg. 49, Feb. 2003. ↩

  5. The Four Pillars of Human Movement Santana, J. C. IDEA Personal Trainer(Feb) 22-28. ↩

  6. Strength and Conditioning for Sprint Swimming, Strength and Conditioning Journal Vol. 35, (9), pg.1-6,Dec.2013 ↩

  7. Adopted from Chimera J Athl Train 39:11 24-31, 2004 ↩