Sport Specific Training myth

GuestFit · Guest

Hello everyone I am writing today out of concern for what now is becoming an Industry full of scams and do anything to make money. If you thought informercials were bad then you should check out your local health clubs.
Everywhere you go in and around the Greater Toronto Area you can't help but notice health clubs promoting new super great programs that are sport specific( something that truly doesn't exist as I will explain shortly ) and functional training (as other means of normal weight training will not make you functional, even though it has been used for 100's if not 1000's of years). Crossfit being one of the newer ones (now I'm not here to bash Crossfit because as there was already a forum topic discussing that in the past. Crossfit does have some good core exercises such as deadlifts and squats but it's the irrational application associated with it that will be its mainfall. Having been involved with fitness for over a decade now, I thought I would throw my two cents in so that people can finally become aware of the scams being promoted.

So called sport specific programs will help you improve at your sport about as much as a badminton player taking up tennis to improve his badminton game. In fact most who do this will actually get worse because the movements are fairly similiar but neurologically different causing the body to become confused, this confusion will hamper you when your actually playing the sport your suppose to play. I.e your probably going to get worse at it.

The same things happens when you start preforming a sport specific movement or using one of those BOSU or stability balls to increase your sports balance( something that has been proven for many years to be impossible else everyone who started to do this type of training from a young age would become a world champ or close to it at whatever sport they wanted to) Balance is mostly a genetic thing and is a pre-determined characteristic so you basically can not improve it thru any kind of training. So hopefully that will help with the confusion.

The other thing regarding sport specific/functional training is that "sport specific" means your sport not simulations that resemble it. So in reality there is no such thing as sport specific exercises, unless those exact movements are used in your sport ex. An olympic powerlifter, who practices his lifts. Those are sport specific because they are part of his actually sport. Now increasing your overall strength will improve your sports performance and so any well balanced normal fitness program will help you with that. Of course doing something with weights that mimicks the acutally movement can also be counter productive as I explained above. Of course this topic is advanced and would take quite a while to explain so I will leave you with a link to a little article that might make it easier for you to understand.

http://web.up.ac.za/sitefiles/file/1795/hpc%20medalist%20aug/HP%20Services%20Is%20sport%20specific%20strength%20and%20functional%20training%20a%20Myth.pdf

Boss · Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 96 Location: The end of a wire.

I thought you'd made a mistake there, until I read the part about powerlifters using moves required in their sport.

Sport specific trasining is almost certainly Myth in most cases. Yes things like Sprints ands technique training for things like 100M, Hurdles, or bat sports involving automated ball machines, would be examples, because obviously you wouldn't shoot tennis balls at a Karate Blackbelt and have them dodge or deflect them, to improve reaction speeds. Well not unless they specifically asked you too.

If Gyms offered sports specific training, I would personally ask them, why is it specific, and quote a few other unnassociated sports and ask why the training wouldn't work for those sports, or was it just the same training in those instances, rebranded slightly?

Sure some sports like Rugby for example require special equipement to practice for collisions and tackling, but compared to a similar ball sport like Football, (soccer), you'd probably find the bigger rugby players eating another 1,000-1,500 calories a day approximately, and just getting bigger, off pretty much the same resistance stuff.

If anyone promoted the idea that Rugby players needed to do something like Cleans, but footballers would be foolish to, it would be a fool who promoted such ideologies.

So frankly I think what you're talking about, requires some common sense from the individual. Personally I train myself. I don't think the people at my Gym are rubbuish, far from it, but after 10+ years, I don't believe I need anyone to guide me in any way.

GuestFit · Guest

Good to hear your input Boss. You 're gym then is one of the few that do not. Lucky You :)

It is nice to hear from someone who also has years experience and is capable of distinguishing the differences between true and false.

Most trainers and gym owners in the GTA will of course totally disagree because so called experts in the field of Fitness say otherwise, including fitness certification organizations. I will not name them here, but if they are reading this article they certainly know who they are.

The problem stems from a lack of proper education in the field of exercise science both at the university level as well as at the certification level. These companies have you take a weekend seminar and will then teach you all you need to know about being a trainer( something that could really take months if not years to fully understand ). They then have you take useless update courses, in order to help promote their nonesense and of course increase their profits and control over the industry.

Now the reason they don't want the trainers to learn the truth about exercise science is because if the trainers were to know the truth, these same trainers would then realize their courses were useless.

So how can we expect all the nonesense in the industry to disappear? Quite simple, we will not,
this is why it is up to the individual seeking a trainer to be well informed.

Good speaking with you Boss.

Boss · Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 96 Location: The end of a wire.

My Gym probably wouldn't do stuff like that. I've never seen any staff, waffling on about doing something for a specific reason, except when it's truthful and logical. It might be a British thing, thus many of the things you talk about may be more rife in America.

A lot of certifications in this country take at least 3 months, with tutorial stuff, CD's if you do them at home with several hours a day, and then at least 2-3 sessions in an assessment centre to assess your ability with people.

Other ones take longer if you're based in a Gym, doing it bit, by bit, with assessment in a Gym.

I am not certified and don't work in such a field, I've never ruled it out, but right now, I'm not necessarily wanting to spend good money, I would rather perhaps wait to spend, but I know what should and shouldn't be done to some extent.

GuestFit · Guest

Well that is great news Boss, wish they would have tighter regulations here too. There are rumours that the Ontario government may soon ask that a Fitness Trainer become licensed( this is just a rumour though), making these certification companies rather useless, and downsizing on the amount of personal trainers.

If you ever visit Canada, definitely go in a check out a fitness club or two, you will instantly see what I'm talking about.

Gooday Boss!