Training and Injuries
We met Misi Bodócs in our childhood. He was a member of the team from the neighboring town and we often competed against each other at pioneer Olympics. Life then took us in different directions and 35 years later we bumped into each other by chance. We ran into each other while cycling in the Buda hills (for lack of a better phrase). At Normafa we even stopped for a refreshment and a slice of homemade strudel at the little kiosk. After the usual “how are you” and “what are you doing” questions, however, our conversation took an unexpected turn…
Preparing for a running race or a longer triathlon distance? Then endurance development is your top priority. You need to devote many hours to your preparation. If, however, you have little time to train… well, it's worth getting a little help. Of course, this only applies if you have spare time, for example when you do office work.
Sports injuries caused by excessive load (overuse) are the most common! These chronic complaints occur far more often than acute sports injuries. While an acute injury usually causes immediate loss of function—so you go to the doctor right away—most overuse complaints are postponed for a long time, and most doctors do not deal with them "in proportion to their severity."
The stagnation of Hungarian sports results did not begin recently, but it has become truly noticeable over the past few years. For decades our athletes were among the world elite in canoe-kayak, swimming, fencing, gymnastics, modern pentathlon, wrestling, football, handball, water polo, sport shooting, and even athletics. Today — with one or two exceptional stars aside — victories have become rarer.
Better sports performance depends not only on the amount of training you do. Physical and nervous system regeneration (rebuilding, re-regeneration) after workouts is extremely important. During rest the consequences of training are cleared away (repair of micro-injuries, removal of waste products), and this is when the effect "sets in": muscle fibers strengthen, cellular functions adapt, etc. Time spent resting is therefore not wasted — in fact, you can only progress and reach high levels of performance if you devote enough time to regeneration. Without rest the risk of injuries also increases. You can improve muscle regeneration in several ways; in this article I present the two most effective methods: muscle stimulation and compression therapy.
Most Hungarian amateur athletes train in the spare time they steal from their job and their family/partner. With such obligations, only a few manage optimal preparation. I’ll show you an opportunity provided by the most modern medical technology that you can use passively — for example while doing office work — and literally "gain" training time. With muscle stimulation you can effectively develop your muscles. Of course, not all muscles at once as with traditional training. But that’s not the goal! Apply muscle stimulation to the muscles that your sport uses most. For example, if you cycle or run, focus on your leg muscles. If you make stimulation part of your training plan, it can provide significant development opportunities. Let’s see what this is about.
White muscle fibers are capable of rapid, powerful contractions, but they have poor endurance and negligible aerobic metabolism. They operate fundamentally in an anaerobic manner because they contain very few mitochondria, and their contractions produce a lot of lactate. Red muscle fibers, rich in mitochondria and therefore operating more aerobically, use lactate as an energy source if they have sufficient oxygen. If lactate concentration in neurons rises above a certain level, they cannot function properly and neurological disturbances occur, for example impaired movement coordination.
Recently I was invited as a speaker to the national meeting of the BSI running ambassadors. The topic we discussed was SUPERCOMPENSATION — which is what the title above refers to. In other words, it is not enough just to train… Positive changes caused by (running) training require something more. But is it enough to just rest and refuel?
The importance of breathing has already been covered in several articles on this site. This article on using the training mask is primarily aimed at athletes, since they are the ones who most often use this device to improve breathing and strengthen the respiratory muscles. Jarmila Kratochvílová, the great Czechoslovak 400 and 800 m runner of the last century—who still holds the world record in the 800 m—sometimes trained in a military gas mask to boost her performance [...]
The proper role of breathing is important in most sports — a requirement and guarantee of outstanding performance. In our country many coaches and athletes are still at the beginning of breathing training. Yet by focusing on breathing during training, and by consciously applying the technical devices and tricks developed for this purpose, endurance can be increased and recovery accelerated. The training mask The favorable effects can be achieved through the regular use of appropriate aids (the best known is the training mask) and/or by regularly performing breathing exercises developed for this purpose for a sufficient period of time.
Respiratory muscle training is a technique aimed both at exercising the muscles involved in breathing and at improving the performance of the respiratory system, ultimately boosting endurance and recovery capacity. Typically, breathing exercises are recommended for people with respiratory diseases such as asthma, COPD, bronchitis and emphysema. Athletes have also discovered its benefits and use it in everyday training — studies have confirmed the advantages of respiratory muscle training in athletes.
