The word “conditioning” is thrown around a lot. Coaches use it when they make their athletes run. PT’s use it when they want to sell a different package. Internet gurus want to use it when they need to sound intelligent. But, do they really understand what the word means?
Far too frequently strength coaches or PT’s use the word “conditioning”
without really having a solid understanding of what they are talking about. Conditioning
is:
A measure of how well
an athlete is able to meet the energy production demands of his/hers sport
A rugby player, who is able to generate power for a scrum,
is as well conditioned as a hockey player who can cover 12km per game.
Conditioning is more than just about “cardio”, which is very much misunderstood
within the strength and conditioning world.
What ever the sport, the demands are different. Some sports
require a combination of power and endurance. Some sports need a great deal of
power but less endurance, and other sports are the complete opposite.
Therefore, conditioning is the result of how well the systems
of your body are able to create the energy your muscles need to perform the
skills of your sport. You can now hopefully see that conditioning is wrongly
mistaken for just “cardio”. Joel Jamieson’s (top MMA Strength coach) research
showed us that there are six components that determine your conditioning level,
and how well your body can produce AND utilise the energy necessary for your
chosen sport:
Understanding the important principles of conditioning, will
hopefully allow you to fully understand what it truly meant by the term
conditioning.
Until next time
Stay Strong
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