The
tendency of constant increasing levels in any sport, as well as improving every
sportsman results, requires overview principles of the training process. For
Centuries the existing methods of training were mostly
aiming at the increasing of the muscle strength and endurance. Beside that each
sport uses its own specific exercises, which in principally not much differ
from each other. But this might be not the optimum approach.
It is well
known from the Physiology that a muscle is a biomachine. When nerve stimuli
come to the muscle cells they contract. But now the questions are arisen. How
much strength do they produce? What is the distance covered by contraction?
What is the speed of contraction? How these important parameters are controlled
by the Central Nervous System (CNS), because they play the main role in
precisions and reactions of movements and sport actions of an athlete.
All
athletes know the importance of optimum muscles performance to reach the goals.
It is interesting to mention, that it is very often when a coach train a team
(boxers, soccer, football, basketball, baseball and so on) with a single
program, he has got the different results from each individual athlete. It is
naturally because people are different on their reactions, speed, strength and
distance of their muscle contractions. To be more precise their muscles-brain
interaction are different.
The whole
process of muscle performance as it is described in Physiology goes discretely
or gradually, step by step and could be described as the following. The first
nerve signal (action potential / electrical charge) initiates the primary
muscle cells contraction. The propioceptors (sensors) in muscles, tendons,
bones and joints create the signals of changing of the tension, positions of
the joints in space and rush them to the brain. The signals are analyzed,
integrated into the brain and sent back to the proper muscles for the next
portion of contraction. The muscle cells, when they have received the next
nerve signal, are contracted again and again the proprioceptors have reacted by
signaling to the brain the new tension condition in the muscles and new
position of joints. These signals pass through the brain and rush to the
muscles for next action. Such a process will be held until the muscles make the
job, tasked by the goal of the general performance. It could be understood,
that during any athlete action his body should be in equilibrium and balance.
To hold this situation our brain should actively involve core and other muscles
in action for equilibrium and balance. It means that the Premotor area, which
communicates with the Cerebellum and the Basal Ganglia involve many others
muscles and systems for proper body actions.
So, based
on Physiology it could be stated that professional actions in any sport very
much depend on performance of the system interactions between the proprioceptors
and the brain. The five main points are:
1.The speed of signal creation inside the proprioceptors
is about 10-20 msec.
2.The speed of the signals, which run from the
proprioceptors to the spinal cord and then to the brain, vary between 0.5-120
m/sec. and 1 to 270 mph. depending on various nerves lengths and diameters or it,
would take between 1 second to 4 msec.
3.The analysis, integration and the formation of nerve
signals into the brain for core muscles and working muscles vary between 10 to
500 msec, depending of necessary to coordinate decision with various part of
the brain, based on complication grade of the task, keeping equilibrium and
balance of the body.
4.The speeds of the signals, which run from the brain
via the spinal cord to the cells of the proper muscles, vary between 0,5-120
m/sec. or 1 to 270 mph.
5.The speed of the muscle cells contraction on the nerve
signal varies between 5 to 50 msec, depending on the muscle and the cells.
It is very visible to mention that these five factors
play the main role in professionally performed actions of an athlete in any
sport, as the time for any athlete action would be the sum of the time
mentioned above and varies between 84 msecond to 2,570 second. All large
muscles, which involved in locomotion and movement of the body, legs and arms
have the big diameter nerve fibers around 10-20 microns and the nerve signal
velocity around 100-120 meters per second. It means that the whole process of a
punch would take the sum of times and would be around 30- 100 msec, depending
of the training grade of nervous system.
The
process, described above, is actual as for DIRECT action as for REFLEX action.
The faster and sharper will be signals from the sensors and proprioceptors; the
faster and sharper will be the process of analysis and integration into the
brain; the faster and more precise will be muscle contractions as a reaction on
the signals; the more accurate would be performance of an athlete and more
higher would be speed of athlete’s reactions and actions.
It is
interesting to mention that when a sportsman is ready to start in any meet his
cortex gets vast excitation, but this excitation mostly responsible for global
tendency vector to reach the main goal. All other job will be done on the
REFLEX base. During the hard job a person is not able to think in his
consciousness about anything else but global tendency to reach the goal. During
an easy job like jogging, walking, slow swimming and others he is always
occupied with his thoughts.
In the
training process usually all coaches give the task to athletes for their
fulfillment. They got the task in their consciousness and do it with the
consciousness control of all positions, actions and so on. So coaches train the
DIRECT action of an athlete. But when an athlete is fighting in the ring,
playing basketball or doing any other sport actions, he is working in reflex
action system in fully automated regime and this is a big difference.
Thinking about the new approach to the training process, it should be understood,
that the sport is a perfect combination of physical and psychological load. It
is needed high speed muscles contractions with the full strength together with
delicately precision actions in equilibrium and balance. Before any suggestion
would be made it is needed to make same new analyses.
If you would
pretend that you are doing punching, throwing, hitting or servicing ball and so
on in the space in weightlessness conditions, than your action would turn your
body in the opposite direction. This movement in the opposite direction should
be compensated in our reality by his body muscles basely by core muscles, which
contracted a moment earlier than the muscles, participating in the sport action.
If an athlete wants to improve his sport actions, he should primary train the
core muscles and especially their interaction with the brain.
When an athlete starts his action the first
nerve signal goes to the muscles. The first cells of the muscles contracted,
muscles, tenders, bones and joints got the tension, their propioceptors create
the signals, which rush to the brain. The proprioceptors need some time to make
the signals. Than the brain evaluates the signals and makes the decision to
send nerve signals to the core muscles and a moment later to the working
muscles. This process also takes some time and the shorter process the higher
speed of his action. Then the nerve signals rush to the muscles cells and reach
them. But for their contraction they also need some time. The described above
circling process is going constantly with the feed back to the brain until the
brain determines muscles contraction and tensions which corresponds to the
memory information contained in the brain for necessary speed and position of
the athlete body parts leading to the powerful and precise action. This process
also needs some time.
So, based
on the above it could be stated that speed of sport action is very much
depended on performance of interaction system between the proprioceptors and
the brain. The quicker interaction, i.e. the shorter time of proprioceptors
signals creation and their way to the brain, the time of the brain integration
and decision, the time of the signals way to the muscles and the muscle cells
reaction, the more precise and quicker action would be.
. Based on the above it should be necessary to train:
-proprioceptors
and their ability to produce quick and accurate nerve signals of positions,
stretching, accelerations, strength, contractions and so on,
-communication
bonds between the proprioceptors and the brain,
-analytical and
integration processes of the signals into the brain,
-speed of contract
muscle reactions on the returned signals.
Some
coaches demand numerous repetitions of movements or actions to establish their
automatic actions, using the direct action system. This is helping to perform
job, but this is not training the reflexes of sportsmen.