Connections Between Training And Science
Our conventional trainer has his 10 new two year olds. What is the thought process in terms of exercise schematic and getting this bunch to the races?
Two initial Qs in terms of making a "connection" between training and exercise science, one mental which is the thought process of the trainer, the other physical and actual:
1. Does the trainer make a mental connection between exercise science and performance and injury prevention?
2. Is there a connection at all?
In general those in athletics making the connection between the workout and performance are certainly far greater in number than in former days but still relatively few. My own estimate is that about 25% of those actively involved in human athletics make the connection. This means that 75% never make the connection. If this is true, what may we expect of our horse trainers?
Some things to ponder--read any Internet fan board for pro-football or baseball. You'll see almost none of the couch potatoes connecting "managing" or "coaching" with team performance. In baseball a manager/pitching coach can totally abuse a pitcher in terms of pitch count or use on consecutive days--the pitcher is injured--the fans never make the connection. Much less the manager. To them this is "just happens" "part of the sport" stuff.
For myself involved in High School Athletics, I remember our preps for the season as supervised by our "coaches". The mantra then was to "get in shape". That meant a couple of two-three week pre-season workouts involving push ups, sit ups, a few wind sprints here and there. Once practice began there were team push up, wind sprint sessions. Once the season began the coaches would occasionally get back to this in certain practices, but, by and large, conditioning in those days involved showing up to practice or play. There was almost zero conditioning in the scientific sense and little to zero individual player instruction all through my own high school years.
Onto college, and fully participating in college intramurals as player and athletic chairman of my dorm floor for two years I still never made the connection. Ditto in my military basketball days probably played at the small college level. By then I had been in competitive athletics for 12-15 years without making the connection between workouts and performance. Again, the thought process did include "getting in shape" which is sort of a vague general notion quickly forgotten when the games begin.
For myself I can likely pin point the moment of initial "awareness" when I began serious distance running as a senior in college. This is the sport that quickly reinforces in my meager brain, yup--the more you do, the more distance run, the more frequent exercise, the better you get.
The point of my personal experience is that even those in athletics--the athletes, coaches, fan, almost nobody in the old days made the exercise-performance connection. You can be in the sport for years and years and see it only vaguely. Certainly in football there was an understanding that if I did 40 yd. wind sprints every day I was a stronger runner. And, I understood such niceties that my best sprint was generally heat #3 or 4. Yet such occasional minor epiphanies never caused me to really make the connection. Mostly I'd just "play" without any special program.
The second thing for me that caused a definite connection was the exercise physiology class at the University of Missouri that I took as a grad student on my way to a coaching of basketball certificate. Reading that great text book--and boom, there it was.
Given my own experience regards the connection it is completely unsurprising to me that our conventional trainer with their 10 two year olds both fails to make the connection or is even receptive to it. The latter point more regards the rest of this as it gets more horse specific.
Next post--is there in fact any connection between horse performance and the exercise program. Seriously. Consider this!
Training:
Tues. 8/6: riderless speed work + walk under tack.
Wed. 8/7: Horse was trotted under tack in the pasture for 10 min. Having a rider leg problem due to new, wider horse. Better this night, but still painful. Presumably back to serious tack work tonight. Will see.
Two initial Qs in terms of making a "connection" between training and exercise science, one mental which is the thought process of the trainer, the other physical and actual:
1. Does the trainer make a mental connection between exercise science and performance and injury prevention?
2. Is there a connection at all?
In general those in athletics making the connection between the workout and performance are certainly far greater in number than in former days but still relatively few. My own estimate is that about 25% of those actively involved in human athletics make the connection. This means that 75% never make the connection. If this is true, what may we expect of our horse trainers?
Some things to ponder--read any Internet fan board for pro-football or baseball. You'll see almost none of the couch potatoes connecting "managing" or "coaching" with team performance. In baseball a manager/pitching coach can totally abuse a pitcher in terms of pitch count or use on consecutive days--the pitcher is injured--the fans never make the connection. Much less the manager. To them this is "just happens" "part of the sport" stuff.
For myself involved in High School Athletics, I remember our preps for the season as supervised by our "coaches". The mantra then was to "get in shape". That meant a couple of two-three week pre-season workouts involving push ups, sit ups, a few wind sprints here and there. Once practice began there were team push up, wind sprint sessions. Once the season began the coaches would occasionally get back to this in certain practices, but, by and large, conditioning in those days involved showing up to practice or play. There was almost zero conditioning in the scientific sense and little to zero individual player instruction all through my own high school years.
Onto college, and fully participating in college intramurals as player and athletic chairman of my dorm floor for two years I still never made the connection. Ditto in my military basketball days probably played at the small college level. By then I had been in competitive athletics for 12-15 years without making the connection between workouts and performance. Again, the thought process did include "getting in shape" which is sort of a vague general notion quickly forgotten when the games begin.
For myself I can likely pin point the moment of initial "awareness" when I began serious distance running as a senior in college. This is the sport that quickly reinforces in my meager brain, yup--the more you do, the more distance run, the more frequent exercise, the better you get.
The point of my personal experience is that even those in athletics--the athletes, coaches, fan, almost nobody in the old days made the exercise-performance connection. You can be in the sport for years and years and see it only vaguely. Certainly in football there was an understanding that if I did 40 yd. wind sprints every day I was a stronger runner. And, I understood such niceties that my best sprint was generally heat #3 or 4. Yet such occasional minor epiphanies never caused me to really make the connection. Mostly I'd just "play" without any special program.
The second thing for me that caused a definite connection was the exercise physiology class at the University of Missouri that I took as a grad student on my way to a coaching of basketball certificate. Reading that great text book--and boom, there it was.
Given my own experience regards the connection it is completely unsurprising to me that our conventional trainer with their 10 two year olds both fails to make the connection or is even receptive to it. The latter point more regards the rest of this as it gets more horse specific.
Next post--is there in fact any connection between horse performance and the exercise program. Seriously. Consider this!
Training:
Tues. 8/6: riderless speed work + walk under tack.
Wed. 8/7: Horse was trotted under tack in the pasture for 10 min. Having a rider leg problem due to new, wider horse. Better this night, but still painful. Presumably back to serious tack work tonight. Will see.
posted by rather rapid at
9:45 AM
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