Performance Training for the Tactical Athlete Research Paper

Performance Training for the Tactical Athlete - Research Paper Example Nonetheless, experts’ advice that there is a limit beyond which no more increase in performance can be added by any additional stimuli (American College of Sports Medicine, 2006). They argue that this threshold is vital since it signifies the importance of time duration during an exercise. These are things that competitive athletes are too much aware of and have to be taken into consideration in any given exercise (Hamilton and Luttgens, 2002). Training specificity is said to be one of the key principle of exercise physiology. The principle holds that for an athlete must focus much on training as a way of improving performance. Therefore, the training program must reflect all the demands of the athlete’s specific movements as possible. This not only applies to the neuromuscular system, but also to the movement patterns of the exercise, intensity, and duration of the exercise (Baechle and Earle, 2008). Training experts argue that training specificity helps muscles to adapt to the kind of sporting activity that an athlete is involved in. As such, many athlete trainers do this by ensuring that the training program goes slightly beyond what may be expected in the field. For instance, an athlete who participates in short distance running such as 100 meter race may be required to make a four hundred meters laps round the field so as to enable his muscles adapt effectively for a short distance running. This explains why long distance runners tend to find it easy participating in short distance races without any metal or physical problem. Specificity has also been favored because it lowers the risk of injury during the athletic period because it adapts the body to the sport (Cinea, 2007). Nevertheless, many athletes are neglecting this principle during training, which has seen many athletes getting injuries that can easily be avoided. For instance, many long distance runners fail to complete races due to their inability to endure the race. Experts note