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Decline of the American Black Athlete in Sports
It has been almost 60 years since Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, and now blacks dominate Major League Baseball. Even so, blacks were kept out of the more “intellectual” positions or sports. In the NFL, Quarterback was a tough...
Learn Skydiving: Skydiving Equipment Parts
All the parachute rigs that are used today by skydiving
enthusiasts have six important parts.
The main canopy is just the parachute itself.
The drogue chute is a small parachute that is used by skydivers
to open the main parachute....
The History of Steeplechase Horse Racing
The sport of Steeplechase racing dates back to 1752 in Ireland when two, half-crocked, friends settled the argument over who owned the best horse by racing to the nearest Church steeple after returning from Fox hunting. The winner actually rode...
The Value of Custom Baseball Gloves
Baseball gloves have advanced tremendously over the years. From the original game played with the bare hands to the advanced models of today, baseball gloves have as rich a history as the game itself.
The first gloves developed were not accepted...
Why We Play Games, Part 2
In part one we started to get into the motivation of the gamer. We discussed challenge and its ugly stepsister competition, two of the most common motivators. Today, we look at two more on the way to forming an overall model for what moves us.
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Proprioceptive Training: A key to sports success
Let's talk a little bit about proprioception for a minute. That's a $3 SAT word that means your body's ability to react properly to external forces. For example: if you ride bulls for fun, you must have the ability to react to gravity and the changing forces of the bull to keep from being thrown off. That's proprioception. But proprioception is also your ability to walk across a room without falling down.
One of the main components of proprioception is your kinesthetic sense. That is your ability to sense where your body is in space. But that's only one component unless your sport happens to involve standing or lying in space.
You must also be able to sense and control your body's movements. Think of a gymnast showing perfect control as she throws herself about the parallel bars. The key here is the appropriate control of tension by your central nervous system.
Balance is also a key element to proprioception. You will not perform your sport very well if you fall down all the time. Balance is also a key to generating power – as any martial artist will tell you. Balance in movement as occurs in walking or running, is a process of constantly and consciously losing your balance and regaining it quickly. The quicker you can regain your balance, the safer your movement.
Deliberate Proprioceptive training has normally been reserved for people who are in rehabilitation from injuries. Sports injuries in particular can leave decreased performance in the mechanoreceptors in the body. Exercises for balance and greater kinesthetic sense are usually prescribed.
The benefits of proprioceptive training to the healthy athlete are many. With increased balance athletes are less prone to injury. Athletes may also become quicker – in athletic terms this mean they can change direction faster. Proprioceptive training helps them make more precise movements with less effort. Think about the martial artist throwing that jumping spinning wazzu – butterfly kick – now that's
proprioception.
So, the benefits break down to safer, more efficient, quicker, and more precise movement. What athlete wouldn't want that?
To be fair, any type of training you do is already working your proprioception – unless you are training for the sleep Olympics. Playing you sport itself is a functional integration of your proprioceptive skills. However, you may want to spend some time focusing on proprioceptive training – to increase proprioception, then integrate that into your sport.
Like any kind of training, proprioceptive training should be challenging. This forces an adaptive response on your body's central nervous system. This is much like lifting weights where most of the strength gains come from the nervous system – and not from increasing muscle size. If all you ever do is lift light weights that aren't challenging for you – you aren't going to get much stronger.
So, I can hear you asking, "what exercises can I do for proprioceptive training?"
That's a great question. Let me tell you that there is an astounding array of exercises designed to increase proprioception. You know those big rubber stability balls that every gym has these days? Those are great for proprioception. There are also wobble boards, Styrofoam doo-hickies, and all sorts of crazy wobbly things designed to challenge your balance and core strength.
Certain yoga exercises are also designed to challenge balance, as are some forms of kettlebell lifting. To get some sport-specific proprioceptive training I suggest you check with a qualified fitness instructor.
About The Author
John D Moore is a personal protection, self defense, and fitness instructor. he is the co-founder of Martial Training Systems - see http://www.martialtrainingsystems.com and author of the book Quotations for Martial Artists
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