Performance PrinciplesSession 8

Scientific research has confirmed that the following principles, when

utilized synergistically, will stimulate one’s ability to achieve peak

athletic performance.

Objectives:

•The student will learn how to identify, define and apply the

performance principles of exercise.

•The student will be learning how to use 3-Dimensiaonal Movement

Exercises and Functional Strength Training to enhance athletic

performance and achieve one’s personal fitness goals.

SOLs: 11/12.1, 11/12.2, 11/12.3, 11/12.4, 11/12.5

3-Dimensional Movement• Sport skills involve movements in the three planes of space simultaneously:

forward-backward, up-down, and side to side. Our strength and conditioning

program improves functional strength and power with exercises and drills

approximating these 3-dimensional skills.

• In strength and power training, only free weights allow movement in three

dimensions simultaneously. This makes the transfer of strength and power

easier to merge with the development of sport skills. Machines limit the

development of sport skills.

• When we develop a running program, explosive footwork and agility drills,

similar to specific sport movements are used. It is important for athletes to be

quick and to possess breakaway speed, but they must be able to control their

bodies and execute change of direction quickly on the field or court to be

effective.

Functional Strength Training• Functional strength training involves performing work against resistance in such a

manner that the improvements in strength directly enhance the performance of

movements so that an individual's activities of daily living are easier to perform.

• Simply stated, the primary goal of functional training is to transfer the

improvements in strength achieved in one movement to enhancing the

performance of another movement by affecting the entire neuromuscular system.

• It is as critical to train the specific movement as it is to train the muscles involved

in the movement. The brain, which controls muscular movement, thinks in terms of

whole motions, not individual muscles.

• Exercises that isolate joints and muscles are training muscles, not movements,

which results in less functional improvement. For example, squats will have a

greater "transfer effect" on improving an individual's ability to rise from a sofa than

knee extensions.

Functional Strength Training

• It is as critical to train the specific movement as it is to train the

muscles involved in the movement. The brain, which controls

muscular movement, thinks in terms of whole motions, not

individual muscles.

– Exercises that isolate joints and muscles are training muscles, not movements,

which results in less functional improvement. For example, squats will have a

greater "transfer effect" on improving an individual's ability to rise from a sofa

than knee extensions.