TWIST

Training Aerobic and Anaerobic Endurance

When we think of muscular endurance most people think of running or cycling. The truth is that muscular endurance is necessary for almost any activity. There are many different ways to improve our muscular endurance which is essential to all athletic endeavors. The following principles are presented by Michael Ryan who is a medical doctor.
There are 6 principles that are thought to be of utmost importance in training muscular endurance. The first one is an athlete must be strong. Most people are not strong enough to produce adequate muscular endurance. Strength allows a body to be more under control with less effort and it makes you feel lighter and more confident. We need to be conditioning our total body every day in some way paying specific attention to core, glutes, hamstrings, shoulders and thoracic area. We build power from the inside out so having a strong inner core is a must for a strong powerful body. An example of the need for strength is in performing standing tucks. Many athletes are not strong enough in their glutes and hamstrings to stand up straight to counter the strength of their quads so that their body can actually go up and back. We are a very quad dominant country and it creates a slight pike in many of our skills so strength is essential to our development in cheerleading. Another example is a flyer who is wobbling all the time because she has weak ankles and a weak core. If she strengthens these two areas she will be more confident, safer and lighter on her bases.
Second we need to have adequate mobility and/or stability in our body or we will be building skills on a deficient structure. If we move well and have adequate mobility and stability along with correct posture we will expend less energy and have less risk of injury as we build our strength and endurance. Our body is divided into major joints which alternate in which job they are primarily responsible for. An example is our knee is a stable joint, our hips are a mobile joint and our lower back is a stable joint. Each of these joints should primarily be trained for its. Main job. If the hips are not mobile enough , then the lower back or knees may compensate for the lack of mobility by moving more than they normally should which will lead to injury. Therefore for the best performance of our body each joint must be trained for the mobility or stability of that joint.
The third thing is progressive overload. This means that you gradually add volume or resistance to your strength training. Snails pace wins the race. Do not rush this process. Add gradually as your body is ready. The goal is progress not ultimate perfection.
The fourth thing is to vary your load and effort. You cannot work full out every day. That is a sure way to burn out very quickly. Make sure there is an element of fun involved on some days.
The fifth thing is to increase the amount of training within a certain time frame or increase the amount of time spent on training over the period of each week. You want to increase the amount of work done In a given time as you get stronger. This is muscular endurance.
The sixth thing is take time off. Your body needs time for recovery. It also ensures that you don't reach a plateau and will continue to improve.
What is muscular endurance? It is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated contractions against resistance for an extended period of time. There are two types of muscular endurance. They are aerobic and anaerobic. Slow twitch muscles which fatigue very slowly do more of the aerobic portion. Quick twitch muscles fatigue quickly and are responsible for most anaerobic work. If an athlete prefers long running activities he/she has more slow twitch muscles. If he/she prefers quick sprints they probably have more fast twitch muscles. Genetics is the factor in whether you have primarily fast twitch or slow twitch. Therefore we must train according to the needs of our sport which is 3/4 anaerobic.
In anaerobic for the first 10 sec you will use all stored ATP and PC( phosphate-creatine). This is used for such activities as hitting and jumping. Once we have used all these stored ATP and PC, our body begins to use a process called glycosis. Glycosis allows carbohydrates to be broken down without oxygen. The downfall of this process is it creates hydrogen ions which produce lactic acid which creates the burning in your muscles. Actually the lactic acid is being turned into glucose or energy and protein. This is the process by which we gain most of our endurance in cheerleading because our routines are 73% anaerobic. Therefore we must train this system. Some of the ways of training anaerobically are: alternating sprint/walk, fast/slow bike work, repeating a weight as much as you can, and alternating strength/cardio. You must always use a cool down routine at the end of these sessions.
In aerobic training we use a constant supply of oxygen so activity can be done for a long time but at a reduced speed. The downside to this system is that many times it results in a loss of speed and/or strength. This system is responsible for 27% of our routines, therefore it should be trained minimally. So all of you that run for muscular endurance training for our sport of cheerleading are probably defeating your purpose in training. This is a common misconception. You need both systems , however we are much more anaerobic in nature.
So how do we train for our routines. First of all we need to attain maximal strength by training our entire body according to the functional movements of our body - squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, twisting, bending, walking or gait training. Second we need to build lactic acid tolerance and thirdly we need to have a strong aerobic system.
So to build adequate muscular endurance for cheerleading we should do short runs or bike rides to build an adequate aerobic system. Then we should build an adequate lactic acid tolerance system using sprints/ walk or quick bike/slow bike or any combo of exercise to cardio blast output. Also we need to build the 10 sec ATP/PC by doing quick activities like jumping(depth jumps). Last we need to do exercises to build the functional movements of the body. Examples are as follows: For squatting do squat activities paying special attention to the athletic stance where the shoulders, knees and toes are in alignment. This constitutes 10% of any jump we do by beginning in this position. Pay attention to the feet being in parallel with external rotation of foot within the shoe ensuring knee is tracking over the second toe. For lunging we should do lunges front, side, back, twisting and kneeling making sure as you bend knee the knee is over the toe not in front of it. For pushing we can do push ups or pushing weights forward. I do push-ups starting from flat on the ground pressing belly up, squeezing glutes and the pushing entire body up with no movement. I have also had my kids push a huge resi pit in groups of 3 or 4 across the floor and back. Another great exercise for pushing is a butt scoot where you use your arms to scoot your body across the floor. This is also great for the core. For pulling we can use bands and pull bands up forwards, side wards and backwards from up high and low and then focus on rotator cuff strengthening by pulling band from the side middle with a bent elbow. For twisting take medicine ball and do mason twists In a tucked candlestick position. For bending we can do one leg dead lifts or one leg cross toe touches without balance checks or balance sticks. For gait training we must walk and make sure our body is equal on both sides as we step and move.
Knowing this information necessitates that we design our conditioning time in our gyms around the type of training we need to reach our maximum potential as an athlete.
I encourage my athletes to do their aerobic training 3 times a week by jogging or biking a couple of miles. Then to build our ATP/PC we do jump training with bands or some vertical jump training. Finally we concentrate on anaerobic training by alternating 6 exercises with a cardio blast between each exercise. An example of this interval like training is the following: Exercise 1 is moving plank in a push up plank position for one minute followed by 50 mountain climbers. Exercise 2 is one leg hamstring hold for 30 seconds on each side followed by twenty five jumping jacks. Exercise 3 is alternating candlestick one leg roll ups for one minute followed by 10 one leg hops in a box shape on each foot.Exercise 4 is push-ups from the floor arms in any specified position for a minute followed by two sprinted laps around the floor. Exercise 5 is side V ups for 30 seconds on each side followed by running backwards for two laps around floor Exercise 6 is empty can exercise for the shoulders followed by 20 burpees. You can use any combination and you need to change the exercises at least every two weeks so the body does not adapt to the process.i try to do an exercise for core, glutes, hamstrings, shoulders and two other exercises that I feel are needed by the specific group.
So in summary to build aerobic and anaerobic muscular endurance we must combine different methods of training to attain the final product. Not only this but we must also periodize our conditioning according to the time of the year. For pre season we should be assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each of our athletes and beginning rehab exercises for the areas where we find deficiencies. If we don't we will be building skills on deficient bodies resulting in various injuries. During early season we should be increasing load, volume or intensity of our exercises to build strength and we should be stretching our athletes bodies to build their flexibility so they have adequate movement. During the middle of the season we should be developing their anaerobic capacity so they will be able to adequately perform their routine. Finally at the end of the season we must maintain the athletes' strength, flexibility and aerobic and anaerobic capacity.
Have fun training your athletes. If we do things correctly we can experience great results, but if we short circuit the process or try to rush it the results will be minimal with lots of injuries. I encourage everyone to take seriously your responsibility for these athletes bodies and train them to be the best athletes they can be but also train the mental aspect of cheerleading which is 90% of what we do. Include not only conditioning for the physical body but use sports psychology to train their minds. It is a great journey and huge responsibility to take an athlete from the beginning of their cheerleading career to their college years. We must do it right or not do it at all. Good luck in your training!

Agree.

Here's an updated info sheet for Keeping your athlete's strong!

http://gymnastcare.com/5-steps-to-strong-and-healthy-gymnasts

Zone Technique Tip:

When dealing with an athlete with a mental block one of the most important things you can do I practice deep breathing before executing a skill.

Only in our adolescence do we begin to develop such bad habits that carry forward into our teenage years and adulthood. For example; breathing through our mouths and short chest movements.

Look at an infant breathing; what part of their body do you see moving? That's right, not only their chest put you can see their entire stomach area moves as well. There is a lot we can learn from this simple observations and how we can apply this. So go ahead and sit up straight and give this a try.

Make sure your chin in on a shelf or slightly lifted, go ahead and inhale a breathe for a whole 5 seconds through only your nose.. keep inhaling 5,4,3,2,1... and hold it. strangely long time huh? Go ahead and hold it for a 5 count as well and then release it out your mouth for another 5 seconds only exhaling. Repeat at least 2 more times.

Did you notice that a breathe in for 5 seconds not only filled up your chest but also filled up your stomach as well as lift your ribcage. Congrats! This is the first step to sleeping like a baby again..just kidding :)

Wait...What just happened and how did this teach me anything? And more importantly, what does this help with tumbling and mental blocks?

Ok here is the mental science behind what just happened; your body does a ton of things automatically. think of this like setting the temperature in your home, whether you remember to set it or not, it keeps things at a steady temperature and moving. This is like the body, there are certain things that happen automatically. These body functions are called the "Autonomic Nervous System" or ANS. examples of this around the body are things like heartbeat, sweating, digestion, and even, you guessed it! Breathing!

When we stop to focus on our breathing you brain has to assume control from your ANS and say OK, I am in charge of this for the moment. Here is the most important part of this, because our brain has to operate these tasks "manually" this takes our mind off other things in our lives (past or future) and puts us focused on the present, the breathe.

This is the ultimate tool for calming oneself, bringing things back to focus on the here and now. Not what happened before or what could happen again. Which is mentally where we want our athletes to be when performing a skill or working through something. Hopefully you could follow my though patter through that and then look at the previous post and see how import the Stop, Breathe, Visualize technique can help change your tumbling or coaching of a child's mental issue with tumbling, furthermore you can use this in everyday life to calm down after a stressful situation or moment.

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