Goosey
.
What do you think of this statement?
Hamstrings used as an example do you think this general train of thought is considered in pro sport?
Up to this point in time, most of the attention given to exercise has been for the purpose of increasing functional ability... hoping for increases in strength or speed, or both, and exercise is certainly capable of producing such results; very worthwhile results that will improve the performance of any athlete in any sport... but exercise can (and should) produce these increases in functional ability while simultaneously reducing the chances of injury.
Exercise can help prevent injuries... and exercise should help prevent injuries; but in practice, it sometimes causes injuries... causes injuries in one or both of two ways.
Training injuries are usually obvious. The cause and effect are so closely related that the fault is apparent... if, for example, a muscle is pulled while performing an exercise, then the blame is easy to place; but indirect injuries are not so easy to see, and may easily be blamed on something else.
If, for example, a hamstring is pulled during a football game, then it may not occur to the coach that the real fault exists in the weight room and not on the field.
Hamstring pulls can, and frequently do, result from an improper program of exercise. If the muscles of the frontal thigh are greatly strengthened while little or no attention is given to training the rear of the thigh, then you are literally asking for trouble.
Or, if the strength of the hamstrings is increased while nothing is done for the flexibility, then again you are asking for trouble.
In the first instance (no exercise for the hamstrings), the muscles of the frontal thigh may become so strong that they are capable of producing a force which exceeds the structural integrity of the hamstrings... in which case, the hamstrings may be torn loose from their connective tissue, or a rupture of the muscle itself may result.
In the second case (strength but no flexibility in the hamstrings), an encountered force may pull the hamstrings beyond its possible range of movement... with the same result, damage to the connective tissue or the muscle itself, or both.
Such injuries (and a long list of other possible injuries) should properly be blamed on a poor exercise program... but they seldom are, because most of these injuries do not occur in the weight room; do not occur until later... at which point the cause and effect situation is no longer obvious.
An exercise program should be balanced... the strength of the muscles on both sides of all joints should be increased in proportion. And full range exercises should be used in order to insure great flexibility.
Hamstrings used as an example do you think this general train of thought is considered in pro sport?
Up to this point in time, most of the attention given to exercise has been for the purpose of increasing functional ability... hoping for increases in strength or speed, or both, and exercise is certainly capable of producing such results; very worthwhile results that will improve the performance of any athlete in any sport... but exercise can (and should) produce these increases in functional ability while simultaneously reducing the chances of injury.
Exercise can help prevent injuries... and exercise should help prevent injuries; but in practice, it sometimes causes injuries... causes injuries in one or both of two ways.
Training injuries are usually obvious. The cause and effect are so closely related that the fault is apparent... if, for example, a muscle is pulled while performing an exercise, then the blame is easy to place; but indirect injuries are not so easy to see, and may easily be blamed on something else.
If, for example, a hamstring is pulled during a football game, then it may not occur to the coach that the real fault exists in the weight room and not on the field.
Hamstring pulls can, and frequently do, result from an improper program of exercise. If the muscles of the frontal thigh are greatly strengthened while little or no attention is given to training the rear of the thigh, then you are literally asking for trouble.
Or, if the strength of the hamstrings is increased while nothing is done for the flexibility, then again you are asking for trouble.
In the first instance (no exercise for the hamstrings), the muscles of the frontal thigh may become so strong that they are capable of producing a force which exceeds the structural integrity of the hamstrings... in which case, the hamstrings may be torn loose from their connective tissue, or a rupture of the muscle itself may result.
In the second case (strength but no flexibility in the hamstrings), an encountered force may pull the hamstrings beyond its possible range of movement... with the same result, damage to the connective tissue or the muscle itself, or both.
Such injuries (and a long list of other possible injuries) should properly be blamed on a poor exercise program... but they seldom are, because most of these injuries do not occur in the weight room; do not occur until later... at which point the cause and effect situation is no longer obvious.
An exercise program should be balanced... the strength of the muscles on both sides of all joints should be increased in proportion. And full range exercises should be used in order to insure great flexibility.
