Energy School: Understanding Basic Sports Science For Greater Athletic Gains

Get your lab coats ready, and those big glasses that make your eyes look like bulging globes, ’cause we are going back to basics here at Keeper Skool…Science 101. Understanding the basics of the human energy systems can really help boost your athletic performance to new heights. Why? Because the old adage of what you put in is what you get out runs true to the energy systems being presented in this post. Here is a simple overview of powerful systems that reside in our bodies, which we can utilise to power our own performance every day.

Before we start we must understand why adenosine tri phosphate (ATP) is so important to the human body. Did someone say POWER? ATP is a high energy compound that is in low supply in the body, with only 60-100 grams present at any one time. Running a marathon for example, requires an available store of 75 kilograms of ATP! Muscles need ATP to generate power and energy. Now let’s look at the different systems of the body that utilise ATP:

• ATP-PC: Phosphocreatine is broken down here to form creatine to remake ATP. Utilising this energy system in a 100 metre sprint for example, will last for about 10-15 seconds. The ATP-PC system is typical of sprinting, jumping and throwing sports that only require a few seconds to complete. The key ingredients to ATP-PC are powerful, short, intense efforts. ATP-PC is the most rapidly available source of energy for the working muscle.

• The Lactic Acid System: AKA the anaerobic glycolytic system, which means the breakdown of glycogen without the presence of oxygen. Glucose accounts for around 99% of all sugars in the body. When glucose is stored as glycogen, the process is known as glycogenesis. When the body is training at its highest levels, the body releases more ATP which creates a by product called pyruvic acid, which in turn creates lactic acid when no oxygen is present. Don’t read fables that lactic acid is what causes soreness in the body after intense bouts of activity. Lactic acid is a key substance in energy production, disposal of dietary carbohydrates and the production of blood glucose and liver glycogen. Decreased performance usually occurs from the body’s inability to quickly dispose of lactic acid from the blood.

• The Aerobic Energy Systems: We will not go into too much detail here, suffice to say that if you have glucose and fat (our bodies have plenty of it) then the aerobic energy system wants you! Increasing oxygen is important to push the body to create energy during activity. Glucose is primarily broken down first during aerobic activity, whereas fat is broken down during low levels of intensity. (Source: Advanced Aerobic Conditioning: Batman P. 2004)

Don’t ever underestimate that your body is a powerful temple for generating great amounts of energy and power to fuel athletic performance. Understanding the above systems will help you understand the importance of good nutrition to increase athletic ability and feed the fire that is the bodies energy systems. Class dismissed!

Australian Sports Scientists Lock The Door On Trade Secrets

Sharing is caring, at least that is what the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) thought when dishing out what they had learnt about athletes over the past 20 years. Australia is a sporting nation, built around big boy sports such as Rugby, League and AFL. The AIS have been sharing the secrets of Australia’s athletic success with other countries who have now taken advantage of Australian sports science principles to the betterment of their own nations sporting endeavours. What has happened now to get the lab rats in Australia’s elite sporting institution to close the door to other nations interest in Australia’s sports science secrets?

Over the past two decades Australian sports science has grown to be recognised as a leader in sports medicine around the world. Though the Australians concept of mateship to other nations has left an open door for our major rivals to gain a competitive edge in sports where Australia has traditionally dominated. Many young guys that I have grown up with during my soccer development like Seric and Culina for example, have all been a product of the AIS and the results have shown ten fold in the way that they play. Countries such as England for example have utilised Australia’s trade secrets to good effect beating us in the cricket recently for the ashes series. China for example are also well advanced in the sheer number of athletes they have, but are well behind in the application of sports science principles compared to Australia.

So the question posed is whether Australia closing it’s doors and letting it’s sports science secrets expand under cover will benefit the nation in it’s long term future? Or, will the severing of long-term scientific ties with other nations leave Australia isolated? Time will tell.

Agility Like a Cat: Understanding the Power of Agility Training.

Like a tiger. I like that phrase, because great athleticism entails that great agility is mixed up in the power training formula. Lab rats like to refer to agility as the combination of speed, co-ordination, reaction time and power as important facets of sport related performance. Many people that I chat to on my favorite forum refer to agility as very important, if not the most important arsenal available to a competitive goalkeeper. So lets look at some training drills that a goalkeeper can utilise to increase their agility so that they attain the prowess of a big cat.

First, some housekeeping. “Agility refers to the ability of the body to rapidly and efficiently, change the position and/or the direction of both body segments and the body as a whole, either while stationary or while moving as quickly as possible” (Batman, P. Advanced Resistance Training, 2001). So to be truly as fast as a cheetah, agility training drills such as Burpees, Figure of 8 and the Illinois run can get you there. Let’s take a look at all three:

• Burpee: The Burpee (don’t ask me why they named it that) gives an indicator of a persons ability to rapidly change position through a squat position to a push up position and returning in the same manner to the starting position.

• Figure of 8: Using traffic cones the figure of 8 tests the athletes ability to make frequent rapid changes of direction. The athlete finishes the course three times with one minute rest intervals for each.

• Illinois: Yeee Haw. I just had to do it, didn’t I? This is really a test of the amalgamation of speed, co-ordination, reaction time and power. The Illinois tests the athletes ability to accelerate, swerve and change direction as quickly as possible.

Agility is extremely important to any sport. Goalkeeping drills that push agility really help increase performance not just specifically (e.g. trying to build my quad strength) but holistically, ie. all your strength and power training rolled into one activity. Agility training is an important part of plyometric activity and really incorporates all your abilities and puts them o the test for great athletic gains.

« Previous Page