NEWS & EVENTS
Blog
  A couple weeks ago I got a very sincere thank you from a parent of one of the teenage athletes we train. He was appreciative that the training was paying off, as evidenced by his son doing very well on his testing over the previous weekend, including coming in tied for first in the “aerobic” test. After hearing the words “aerobic test”, I could feel my blood pressure rise. Finished in first? Must be all the aerobic training that we NEVER do! Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the thank you and am sincerely happy his son tested well. I’m extremely confident that his training (and hard work) was beneficial and instrumental in his great test performance. With that said, let’s not forget that: 1) Most positions in most team sports rely primarily on anaerobic energy production, which is built through interval training…not distance running 2) Distance running trains your body to move slowly for extended periods of time. No team sport athlete wants this. In a nutshell, performance on aerobic tests doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean anything for what team athletes need to do. It’s frustrating to hear people perpetrate the benefits of aerobic training that don’t understand the science underlying what they’re talking about. Look at the results of a few of these ground-breaking studies: 1) Six weeks of training for 60 minutes/day for 5x/week at 70% VO2max resulted in a significantly smaller increase in VO2max (the marker of aerobic capacity) and smaller increase in anaerobic power (what matters for team sport athletes) than an interval training program involving 7-8 sets of 20s of all out effort followed by 10s of rest. In other words, 6 hours of training per week produced worse results than 20 minutes (5 days of the interval training totals 20 minutes) of training, even in measures of aerobic capacity! This, by the way, comes from a study that is nearly 15 years old. (Tabata et al., 1996). 2) When comparing two weeks of training with either 4-6 30s bouts of all out cycling followed by 4 minutes of recovery (total work: 2-3 minutes; total time including rest: 18-27 minutes) and 90-120 minutes of cycling at 65% max, there was NO DIFFERENCES in: 1) performance improvements (e.g. similar significant reductions in times to complete a cycling task); 2) increases in muscle oxidative capacity; or 3) increases in muscle buffering capacity and glycogen (carb stores) content. The authors of this study also noted that the sprint-interval training required 90% less training time than the endurance training. 90%! (Gibala et al, 2006) Take Home Message I understand that everyone is doing the best they can with the information they have. I’m not trying to “throw anyone under the bus”. It’s important for us, as athletes, parents, and coaches, that we continuously adapt as we learn new information. Distance running (and tests that involve distance running) are both senseless and a waste of time. Sometimes it’s not about working harder; it’s about working smarter. In the last 2 weeks we’ve had over 30 new athletes sign up at Endeavor. In the next 2 weeks, we have over 30 more athletes committed to sign up. These athletes get it; they understand the benefits of quality training and the impact it can have on their careers. They’re hungry. When I say that training slots are filling up quickly for this summer, I mean it. PLEASE do not wait. To your continued success, Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS Director of Athletic Development (856) 269-4148 References: Tabata, I., Nishimura, K., Kousaki, M., et al. (1996). Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 28(10), 1327-1330. Gibala, M., Little, J., van Essen, M., et al. (2006). Short-term sprint interval versus traditional endurance training: similar initial adaptations in human skeletal muscle and exercise performance. 575(Pt 3), 901-911.
Bookmark:
|
|
Search Posts
CategoriesEndeavor in the Media Athletic Development Nutrition Advice Weight Loss Golf Training Endeavor Training Maximum Strength Endeavor Athlete Success Back Pain Supplements Injury Prevention Hockey Training Quote of the Week Training Intangibles Power Development Core Training Sport-Specific Conditioning Endeavor Nutrition Coaching Monthly Archives  |
Translate: 
