I just read Ellington Darden's chapter on motor learning in his latest book, "The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results." He put into perspective why and to where motor learning has disappeared and how it has reappeared in several distorted forms. Brilliant read.
Training centers and gyms around the country have become bastians of functional training, performance training and whatever other training - everything but what should be the focus, proper strength training. The entire field has willingly substituted valid resistance for no resistance or body-weight, machine- and free-weight-training for floor exercise, and logical, safe training for dumb training - all in the name of "function."
They've crossed the line.
Standing on a Bosu ball while you perform bicep curls and squats is quite a feat if you intend to include it in your daily activities. As a skill it has little or no "function." As a strength exercise, it compromises what could be achieved in the same time frame. I was once a physical education teacher and coach (four years, college; four years, high school). I taught movement skills. Students practiced movement skills. Sure, they gained strength and cardiovascular benefits as they performed those skills, but the emphasis was improving skill.
Strength training, when applicable, was practiced separately from skill training. "You need strong hamstrings? Here's an exercise. Strengthen them to their limit and take them to the field. Stronger hamstrings will improve performance in your sport." That was it. We knew enough to separate skill training from strength training. Textbooks and research told us so.
Not so now. A few self-proclaimed experts have decided to make a quick buck on something unique by combining the two (strength and skill) into what they call "functional" training. They're wrong.
Skill training is specific, must be applied using NO overload. Anything not exact to the movement itself confuses the nervous system - can screw up the skill.
Strength training is general (a strong triceps might help in various tasks such as swimming or throwing) and involves a MAXIMUM overload for best results.
The two are opposites and should be treated as such. Anything else is dead wrong.
And that makes the majority of today's athletes wrong (in their training) as well as the many fools following in their foosteps - fools because they are ignorant of the facts, and fools because they're being misled by others who sound as if they know what they are talking about - and have the ammunition to back them up. "Look at Joe Blow who trains with our methods. He's a world champion. And this entire team uses our philosophy."
Hook, line, and sinker.
Darden summed it up; "If almost everyone is practicing incorrectly, the best athlete/team still wins." So it makes no difference anymore - except that there are still a few sane people on the planet who train the muscles they need, apply the new strength to skill practice and avoid the negative transfer applicable to today's shenanigans.
Training centers and gyms around the country have become bastians of functional training, performance training and whatever other training - everything but what should be the focus, proper strength training. The entire field has willingly substituted valid resistance for no resistance or body-weight, machine- and free-weight-training for floor exercise, and logical, safe training for dumb training - all in the name of "function."
They've crossed the line.
Standing on a Bosu ball while you perform bicep curls and squats is quite a feat if you intend to include it in your daily activities. As a skill it has little or no "function." As a strength exercise, it compromises what could be achieved in the same time frame. I was once a physical education teacher and coach (four years, college; four years, high school). I taught movement skills. Students practiced movement skills. Sure, they gained strength and cardiovascular benefits as they performed those skills, but the emphasis was improving skill.
Strength training, when applicable, was practiced separately from skill training. "You need strong hamstrings? Here's an exercise. Strengthen them to their limit and take them to the field. Stronger hamstrings will improve performance in your sport." That was it. We knew enough to separate skill training from strength training. Textbooks and research told us so.
Not so now. A few self-proclaimed experts have decided to make a quick buck on something unique by combining the two (strength and skill) into what they call "functional" training. They're wrong.
Skill training is specific, must be applied using NO overload. Anything not exact to the movement itself confuses the nervous system - can screw up the skill.
Strength training is general (a strong triceps might help in various tasks such as swimming or throwing) and involves a MAXIMUM overload for best results.
The two are opposites and should be treated as such. Anything else is dead wrong.
And that makes the majority of today's athletes wrong (in their training) as well as the many fools following in their foosteps - fools because they are ignorant of the facts, and fools because they're being misled by others who sound as if they know what they are talking about - and have the ammunition to back them up. "Look at Joe Blow who trains with our methods. He's a world champion. And this entire team uses our philosophy."
Hook, line, and sinker.
Darden summed it up; "If almost everyone is practicing incorrectly, the best athlete/team still wins." So it makes no difference anymore - except that there are still a few sane people on the planet who train the muscles they need, apply the new strength to skill practice and avoid the negative transfer applicable to today's shenanigans.
No comments:
Post a Comment