Young Female Athletes And Plyometrics
Along with speed training, plyometrics is probably the hottest topic out there in sports fitness training…..
Memo to parents and youth league coaches—JUST RELAX AND TAKE A DEEP BREATH! Decreasing the risk of injury is a huge part of sports fitness training….80% to 90% of the young athletes I take on as clients have low back pain brought on by “TOO MUCH TRAINING LOAD TOO SOON!”
Plyometrics (and other full speed power exercises) is not the place to start for young developing female athletes! Building a strong strength foundation must be first—placing special emphasis on strengthening and stabilizing the core.
Power, or speed strength (how fast your muscles can produce force) is one of the best physical predictors of success in sports. Plyometric exercises help you to increase power. Strength training gives you the muscular and nervous system development needed to develop optimal power, so you shouldn’t skip the strength training to do plyometrics.
Plyometrics represent high intensity training, placing great stress on the bones, joints, and connective tissue. While plyometrics can improve your speed, power, and performance, they also place you at greater risk of injury than less intense training exercises. Perform the exercises correctly before moving on to full-speed exercises. Jumping and landing techniques should be mastered.
Choose plyometric exercises that mimic your movements of your sport (transfer-of-training-effect).
Safety concerns during plyometric training are: quality footwear for the athlete, safe training surfaces (hard surfaces like concrete and asphalt should be avoided) and a program designed and supervised by a fitness professional.
Training progressions should follow this path:
a. Simple to Complex
b. Stable to Unstable
c. Body Weight Exercises to Resistance Exercises
d. Low Loads to High Loads
Signs of over-training in plyometrics include:
a. Prolonged foot contact with the ground
b. Lack of control
c. Decreased vertical height or horizontal distance
d. Longer rest periods are needed by the athlete
Train hard and safe!
“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”
Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!
Check out my other great blogs:
My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!
Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!
Avoid Hyponatremia Exercising This Summer!
Avoid hyponatremia this summer when you exercise by not drinking too much water! Most of the people I know don’t drink enough water! So who gets intoxicated by drinking too much water? One group that is at risk are runners (especially marathoners). Hyponatremia is basically a low concentration of sodium in the blood. Sodium is required to draw and distribute water through membranes in the body. When you sweat, you lose water and salt. If the sodium levels in your blood get too low (hyponatremia), you will no longer be able to move water across your body’s membranes and you will become dehydrated – even if you are drinking enough water.
Some of the signs and symptoms of hyponatremia include bloating, upset stomach, nausea, headaches, cramps, disorientation, slurred speech and confusion. Untreated, hyponatremia and dehydration can lead to collapse, convulsions, and sometimes even death.
Everyone is different, but generally you should try to ingest 1 gram of sodium per hour during a long event. You should also increase your sodium intake in the days leading up to the race. Ingest about 10-25 grams of salt per day before the race. You can’t drink enough sports drink per hour during a long race (it would take about 2 liters of drink to get 1 gram of sodium). Salt tablets and salty foods (such as crackers or pretzels) are an option. Salt tablets and water are a good combination during a race.
It is also possible to become hyponatremic without sweating out all your salt. Over-hydration in a cooler climate can cause low sodium concentrations in the blood.
When preparing for a race, practice salt replacement while training, increase salt intake in the days leading up to the race, drink an amount of fluid which is appropriate to the race climate, and ingest salt during the race if the day is hot.
“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”
Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!
Check out my other great blogs:
My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!
Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!
Female Medical Risks From Overtraining
Females have significant medical risks from overtraining (especially athletes). According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMSD), some female athletes see amenorrhea (the absence of menstrual periods) as a sign of successful training. Missing your periods can be a sign of decreased estrogen levels which can lead to osteoporosis.
Females who overtrain to the point that their periods stop can develop brittle bones and have bone fractures at an early age. According to NIAMSD, some 20-year-old female athletes have been said to have the bones of an 80-year-old woman! The Institute goes on to report that even if bones don’t break when you’re young, low estrogen levels during the peak years of bone-building, the preteen and teen years, can affect bone density for the rest of your life. And studies show that bone growth lost during these years may never be regained.
Broken bones and fractures due to osteoporosis can have lasting postural problems such as “stooped postures.” These “stooped postures” are not a natural cause of aging—spines can be permanently damaged!
Girls and women who regularly overtrain or use severe calorie restriction to lose weight are also at risk for many health problems such as bone loss, bulimia or anorexia. If you are “too thin” as an exercising female, you need to take precaution and take care of yourself! If you workout every day, that would be overtraining! You need at least one day of rest from exercise every week. And, some weeks, you may need two days of rest. Listen to your body!
According to NIAMSD, females should look for these warning signs when it comes to exercise and overtraining:
–Missed or irregular menstrual periods.
–Extreme or “unhealthy-looking” thinness.
–Extreme or rapid weight loss.
–Behaviors that reflect frequent dieting, such as eating very little, not eating in front of others, trips to the bathroom following meals, preoccupation with thinness or weight, focus on low-calorie and diet foods, possible increase in the consumption of water and other no- and low-calorie foods and beverages, possible increase in gum chewing, limiting diet to one food group, or eliminating a food group.
–Frequent intense bouts of exercise (e.g., taking an aerobics class, then running 5 miles, then swimming for an hour, followed by weight-lifting).
–An “I can’t miss a day of exercise/practice” attitude.
–An overly anxious preoccupation with an injury.
–Exercising despite illness, inclement weather, injury, and other conditions that might lead someone else to take the day off.
–An unusual amount of self-criticism or self-dissatisfaction.
–Indications of significant psychological or physical stress, including: depression, anxiety or nervousness, inability to concentrate, low levels of self-esteem, feeling cold all the time, problems sleeping, fatigue, injuries, and constantly talking about weight.
My saying is always this: Don’t wreck your body in the quest for fitness!
Manage your fat loss and weight loss better…. Get your copy of My Fitness Hut’s Daily Fat Loss Manager!
“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”
Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!
Check out my other great blogs:
My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!
Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!
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