It is often said that elite athletes are born and not made. This indicates that there is a large genetic component to sporting performance. Many studies have looked at the inheritability of athletic traits, and estimates for how much sporting ability is inherited ranges from 20% up to 70%, depending on the sporting skill required. It appears that for physiology-based sports, such as athletics, the genetic aspect is higher than in skill-based sports where different roles can be fulfilled by different people. For example, a sprinter will always need to be fast, while an elite soccer player can be quick, have good endurance or a mix of the two. Understanding the genetic component to sporting success can lead to better training programs, more efficient training and potentially increased success.
Read MoreCraig Pickering
Proven Speed Training Tips For Crossfit
Crossfit involves workouts that are very intense, and they can be highly fatiguing, especially if they involve Olympic lifting. As such, within a typical Crossfit program, planning sprint training at an appropriate time point can be challenging. With sprint training, it is important to remember that it is a very central nervous system (CNS) intense activity. Sprinting at near to maximum capacity, whilst not always fatiguing in the energy system sense, will fatigue the CNS. Here are proven speed training tips that Crossfit athletes should include in their program.
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Should Distance Runners Do Speed Workouts?
There are plenty of factors that have been identified to contribute to improving running economy, both physiological and biomechanical. Not all of them can be improved by sprint training, but some of them certainly can. One of the key kinematic variables related to running economy is a low vertical oscillation of body center of mass. One way to prevent this vertical oscillation is to ensure that the support leg does not buckle on ground contact, and instead can maintain center of mass height throughout the stance phase.
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8 Competition Day Nutrition Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Performance
Athletes can be notoriously fastidious regarding their nutrition around training. They can go to great lengths to ensure that they are consuming the right quantities of each macronutrient, micronutrients, fluid, and supplements. But all those excellent nutritional habits might be for nothing if nutritional practices on competition day are poor. In this article, I examine some common mistakes that athletes might be making regarding their nutrition on the day of their competition, and provide some practical tips to consider making.
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Why Do We Get Injured?
Can we predict an injury? Can we reduce the rick of injury? There is some evidence that we can.
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Social Media Tips For Athletes
Social media is becoming an increasingly large component of the role of a high-level athlete. Managing your social media profile well is a win-win situation for athletes as it increases the number of followers and fans you have, which in turn makes you more attractive to sponsors or event organizers. A poorly managed social media image, on the other hand, can repel fans and sponsors away from you and cause you a lot of trouble.
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