Stupid Human Tricks

Just got a new Performance Conditioning for Cycling newsletter put out by USA Cycling and Ken Kontor. There's a little article by Tudor Bompa regarding the foolishness that now abounds with focusing on "training stabilizers" or what I like to call "stupid human tricks." Vern G. has expounded on the topic as well, so I don't want to beat a dead horse, but it really comes down to this:

If you move well, you are training the movers and the stabilizers. If you move poorly, on the ground or on/in any other medium, you are not using the stabilizer muscles appropriately.

You don't need gadgets to work stabilizers. You need to teach the body to tune out the noise. You need supervision by someone who knows what's going on and who knows how to communicate to the athlete the means by which s/he can modify the movement. The athlete must first have awareness, then alignment, then mobility and then strength. With this healthy foundation, you can then teach the nervous system to build power, agility, endurance and success.

Comments

Unknown said…
I read this post while drinking my morning coffee and kneeling on my swiss ball. If that's not a stupid human trick I don't know what is.
5:44 AM
Pierre Auge said…
Tracy,
I am very much enjoying your blog and your comments. I couldn't agree more!

Oddly enough it seems to be going further and further in the other direction.
7:15 PM
Tracy Fober said…
Thanks, Pierre. I appreciate the compliment.
5:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A System of the Absurd

Charge for wellness checkup blood tests @ St. Lukes Hospital: $1142.20. Amount written off by hospital as negotiated by Anthem BC/BS: $967.20. The insurance company pays NOTHING for this service. Amount patient required to pay: $175 Does any of this make sense? Does $1142.20 represent the true cost of doing the testing for the hospital? What if I had requested to pay cash for the whole thing? Same charge? BTW, my mom's hospital bill (Des Peres Hospital) for her same-day surgery (rotator cuff repair)--ready--$33,000. Not sure what her insurance is going to cover yet, but she was at the hospital from 8 am to 5 pm, and in actual surgery less than 2 hours. Never admitted to a room, just in and out burger style. The surgeon had 8 similar surgeries on the schedule that day. Bonus!
Read more

Form and Function

Image
Way back in 2002, I scanned these images by Howard Schatz from Sports Illustrated (October 14, 2002). A fascinating array of elite female athlete physiques, heights and weights, eh? These are some of the women featured in his book Athlete --a very cool pictorial essay that celebrates athletic form and function.
Read more

It's About Preparing People, not Preventing Injuries

ACL injuries do not happen in a void. People sustain injuries when their infrastructure is unable to manage a specific set of physical circumstances. To describe the mechanism of the injury without the context of the person and their level/type of sport, is to miss valuable insight. In sport, we prepare the person, to the best of our understanding, to meet the physical demands of that sport. We do not just work to prevent one particular injury; we prepare athletes to navigate the total sport physical environment. By "we" I mean the coaching and support staff -- specifically the athletic development staff.  Athletic development (AD) coaches prepare athletes through the development of physical literacy and movement competencies via movement progressions. It is more than strength, power, agility; it is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors to manage themselves within the entire sporting environment. At the higher levels of sport, AD coaches coordinate wit
Read more