There are 3 main ingredients to building strength. Those ingredients are work, nutrition, and rest.
1-Work- No athletic success comes without a great deal of work. When we talk specifically about strength building, work means the stress we put our body though that actually causes microscopic damage to the muscle tissues. Damage? Yes, damage! By damaging the muscle fibers, we are prompting a rebuilding process, which if the other ingredients are in place, should make us stronger than before. However, this cannot be achieved without the other two ingredients.
2-Nutrition—proteins are the building blocks for the muscles. Carbohydrates are fuel for the work and the recovery. Healthy fats help promote the loss of bad fats, serve as reserve fuel, and have other benefits as well. A proper nutritional program must regulate how much proteins, carbs, fats, and other micronutrients we intake. We must also take these nutrients in at proper times.
3-Recovery—in order for the muscles to take advantage of the work and the nutrients to rebuild, there must be a rest time. If muscles are sore, it is because they are damaged and pumped full of acids. The nutrients help flush out the acids and provide fuel for the rebuilding process, but the rest period is the time needed for the repairs. Athletic improvement actually happens during the "rest" period.
There are many more details I have left for later discussion, but you should get the general idea.
Most sports around the globe have a preseason in which to train, a season of competition, and an off season for recovery. In martial arts, there typically is no off season. Martial artists in general, are expected to be in peak shape and top form all the time. It sounds good, but is actually impossible. In fact, martial artists tend to suffer from “overtraining syndrome” more than any other athletes.
Overtraining syndrome is probably best defined as the state where the athlete’s body has been repeatedly “damaged” by training to the point where rest is no longer adequate to allow for recovery. The "overtraining syndrome" is the name given to the collection of emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms due to overtraining that has persisted for weeks to months. This is different from the day to day variation in performance and post exercise tiredness that is common in conditioned athletes. Overtraining is marked by cumulative exhaustion that persists even after recovery periods. We are also more prone to injuries during this time.
As I mentioned before, most sports/athletics have seasons and in turn “off seasons”. Trainers for these sports take that into consideration while planning the athlete’s workout programs. They use a method called periodization. Periodization allows and athlete to work out their full capacity and while preventing overtraining.
Periodization itself is the principle of cycling the athlete’s workout programs over a period of time such three segments in a 6 month period.
An example of periodization is as follows…
Phase one might be a predatory period of about 3.5 months focusing on building the athlete’s foundation through strength training and bio-motor development.
Phase two would be the competitive period wherein the athlete is in peak condition. It is during this period that the athlete will work to maintain and protect the progress made in phase one. This is also the time for tactic and strategy preparation.
Phase three would be a 2-3 week segment called transition or taper phase. This is the time the athlete lowers the intensity level of workouts giving the body time to heal. This is not an ideal time for competition.
After the three phases are completed, the cycle repeats itself. This type of cycling of workout/competition seasons will not only greatly benefit the athletic abilities, but also help prevent overtraining syndrome.
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