CONDITIONING COACHING
Conditioning can benefit us all, from the fighter preparing to enter the ring, to running a personal best, or simply taking your fitness to the next level.
Fitness, power, strength, speed and endurance are the “energy production” side of performance. Those things are obviously important, but they really just create the potential for performance.
In order to actually translate all of that potential into performance, we have to focus on developing the skills of conditioning.
How do you keep improving your conditioning once you’ve developed a solid base of fitness?
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The common answer is to work harder and keep pushing your conditioning forward. You need more than hard work; you need strategy, and a system to develop the following:
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1) Metabolic Systems
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Metabolic systems, or energy systems, are made up two major energy pathways:
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The aerobic system - which drives the ability to produce power for longer periods of time
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The anaerobic systems - which predominantly provides power over shorter durations of activity
While everyone needs to develop both of these systems to improve their conditioning, the key is how much you should develop.
2) Movement Capacity
Unfortunately, many people fixate on developing energy systems without training their ability to move, but movement is ultimately what drives the need for energy in the first place.
If you move inefficiently by having terrible technique or poor mobility, you’re more likely to run out of energy by burning more energy than you need to, which will limit your conditioning.
Simply put, the more efficiently you move, the longer you can do an activity without slowing down.
This is where intrinsic biomechanics comes into play. Having biomechanical dysfunction will increase your risk of injury, reduce your range of motion, decrease power and can impact on your breathing capacity.
3) Dynamic Energy Control
The body can only produce a limited amount of energy. How you use that energy during competition will determine whether you run out of energy or not.
Dynamic energy control means being aware of energy expenditure and training your body to develop the ability to recover and adjust energy output to be able to conserve energy for when you really need it; and to have the ability to maintain performance throughout the competition.
This is what usually separates amateur athletes from elite athletes; and it’s often the difference between winning and losing.