On 10/6/00, Patrick Zerr<[log in to unmask]> writes:
<< I'm writing regarding the discussion on hamstrings which I highly doubt a
seasoned athlete will pull a hammy because of spurious activity. If a false
move could easily injure the athlete it would be so easy to have the athlete
just avoid that movement, but they can't because these are essential
movements that leading to the injury which has been waiting to happen. >>
*** When I originally commented on 'spurious muscle activity', I was
referring to:
1. the involvement of activity by muscles that normally play little or no
role in a given action
2. the involvement of inappropriate levels of force by relevant muscles at
any stage of an action
3. the involvement of 'antagonistics' at an inappropriate stage of any
action
These processes may be initiated by sudden reflex action, "overflow",
fatigue, subtle changes in motor skill and alteration in mental focus in
athletes at any level of proficiency. One major characteristic of all sport
is that it is always contains elements of variability and unpredictability,
so it is unrealistic to have an athlete avoid movements which may cause an
injury. How does an athlete do this in rugby, cricket, tennis, American
football, wrestling, indeed in almost any sport in which the competitive
environment is so fluid?
When I was in the training facility at the 1979 World Weightlifting
Championships, I watched one of my Russian colleagues (Sultan Rachmanov)
practising what appeared to me like re-stabilising some movements which he
deliberately destabilised by shifting his body all over the place. This
intrigued me and, for want of a better term, I dubbed this "imperfection
training".
About a decade later, while I was visiting various Russian scientists in
Moscow, the renowned sports scientist who ended up as my co-author on our
"Supertraining" textbook, Dr Verkhoshansky, confirmed that this sort of
training was quite commonplace in Russian training. He considered that the
term "imperfection training" was a most suitable one to retain and so it now
appears in all later editions of our text (Ch 8.8) - and it remains a method
that I use in training many athletes to this day. So far, I have yet to find
any isolated stabilisation method that works as consistently well and easily
with athletes at any level of understanding and prowess. The beauty of this
type of approach lies in its simplicity and functionality.
Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
http://www.egroups.com/group/supertraining
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|