The world of sports can be gruelling, competitive and high pressured. This leads a sports team manager to look for training techniques that will significantly enhance the performance of their athletes. Even the most gifted athletes need to constantly work on technique, build strength and develop their speed and stamina. For many sports coaches, the best way to achieve results in these areas is to incorporate rigorous training through sports conditioning. So, if you are looking to become a sports coach, then here are the benefits of sports conditioning and how it can help you foster a winning team.
Top Benefits of Sports conditioning
There are several mental and physical benefits of a sports conditioning programme. The top benefits for athletes include:
- Better performance
- Increased self-confidence on and off of the field/track
- Increased strength and resilience
- Improved cognitive skills
- Increased technique and power
- Improved mental strength
- Fewer injuries (and reduced severity)
- Quicker and fuller recovery
- Delayed fatigue
- Improved performance with other sports
- Higher quality of life and better health
Preventing Injuries
Injuries in sports happen often enough. When they do, they can disrupt the dynamics of your team, hinder the progress of your athletes, or end their sporting careers altogether. Most sports are demanding to the point where an unfit body can easily succumb to an assortment of injuries in muscles, ligaments or bones; and your athletes need to be prepared for this. By incorporating sports conditioning programmes in your training, you will essentially limit the risk of your athletes incurring injuries when they perform. They must stay in good shape and build strength to protect them from hurting themselves.
Improved Performance
One of the major benefits of sports conditioning is that it not only readies your athletes for gruelling training, but also perfects their technique. A high quality sports conditioning routine will work on agility, endurance, power, speed, strength, co-ordination, dexterity, and flexibility. Even the most naturally talented athletes will need to work on these areas. The best way to do this is with a sports conditioning programme.
Sports conditioning builds an athlete’s endurance, which is defined as the capacity to keep going with prolonged low-intensity physical activities and delay the onset of fatigue. It is also the ability to endure short bursts of high intensity activity over a long period of time. To have muscular endurance means the muscles can exert a force repeatedly over a long period of time or have the strength to sustain the effort. Athletes perform better and for longer periods due to increased endurance, even when they are under immense pressure.
Better Strength; More Power; Faster Speeds
Building strength, stamina, speed and power is essential if your team of athletes has any hope of getting the high-ground over its competitors. Strength is defined as the maximum force that a muscle or a group of muscles can exert against some form of resistance. Speed is the time taken to co-ordinate a specific movement of joints, or the body as a whole. It is also the ability to accelerate and move quickly across short distances.
For many athletes, reaction speed and response time are essential for getting the upper hand in a competition. With some athletes, such as sprinters or short distance runners, explosive speed or power will mean the difference between a first and second position. For long distance runners, endurance is more important. This is for instances where the athlete must perform with repeated bouts of intense physical activity, with periods in between where complete recovery isn’t possible.
Conditioning programmes that target improvements in these areas will ensure that your athletes get fit, get faster, maintain their stamina for longer, and are capable of performing with more power due to increased strength. Working on sports conditioning during off-season training sessions will also ensure that your athletes are prepped and ready for the next season’s performance.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy today
If you would like to know more about the benefits of sports conditioning or how to become a sports coach, contact Trifocus Fitness Academy today. Trifocus Fitness Academy offers nationally and internationally accredited courses in the health and fitness industry. To find out more about our sports conditioning coach certification, visit our website or call us on 0861 444 765.
