Other Buzzwords In Athletic Training

Christian Finn complains that to call an exercise "functional" ignores the fact that the real functionality is determined not by what goes into a training session, but by what comes out of it. It isn't about what you do in the gym. It's about what you can do on the field, if you are playing sports, or the changes your workouts make in your general health.

 

What are some of the other sports terms that are tip offs to marketing over substance?

 

Most people think of the core muscles that make up your six-pack (or, if you are like me, are hidden underneath your keg). The fact is, however, that Mother Nature did not endow us with muscles just to impress people at the beach. The "core" muscles are a larger set of muscles that support the lower spine so it can maintain its naturally curved state. Because most trainers are unclear on what the core muscles are, most exercisers don't know what to expect from their exercises, or how to recognize improvements that are not necessarily obvious when looking into the mirror.

Just how extended is an extended warmup? Is it 20 minutes of stretching and 20 minutes on an exercise bike followed by a shower and a drive back home? If you trainer insists on an "extended" warmup but can't tell you why, maybe you need to look at your choice in trainers more closely.

Prohormones aren't hormones that have lost their amateur status. They are substances the human body can transform into the hormones it actually needs. Sometimes prohormones are offered in the gym because loopholes in the law make them legal while the actual hormone is not. Be aware that a prohormone can have serious (sometimes beneficial, sometimes detrimental) effects on your health.

What's "high" intensity? Is it running so fast your chest aches? Is it pedaling three miles an hour when you ordinarily pedal two? What is an interval? Is it 10 seconds, or 10 minutes? "High intensity interval training" is a term that is so overused that is has lost its meaning.

Muscles that are pushed to their limits need time to recover, rebuilding the fibers that give them power and restoring the glycogen that "pumps them up." How long muscles need to recover depends on age. Teenaged muscle might recover in less than 48 hours. Adults not yet age 50 might need a full 48 hours. Adults 50 years old and up might need 72 hours or more. 

READ Stability, Mobility And Strength: Reasons To Incorporate Multiplanar Pressing

 

Failing to give your muscles adequate recovery time is known as overtraining. However, it is easy to mistake a natural decline in performance (regression to the mean) after a really heavy workout as "overtraining." If you are giving your muscles time to rebuild themselves and you are working them out to their maximum performance, either in terms of load or number of repetitions, chances are that you aren't overtraining. You're just tired.