Chapter 2. Basic Principles of Physical Training

In order to develop endurance, strength or flexibility, it is necessary to overload certain muscle groups. The point of the load is to force each muscle group to overcome resistance slightly greater than usual. Depending on the chosen sport, this may be the weight of your own body, overcoming the force of resistance, gravity, or a certain distance. Use a weighted core, discus, or spear in your exercises; When practicing your tennis hitting technique, sometimes hold a small dumbbell in your hand - then on the court an ordinary racket will seem surprisingly light. But remember: the additional stress should be very small. Use weights that feel slightly heavy, and increase the weight only when you feel they are lighter. Drastically increasing the weight of the weight can damage your muscles. If during the exercise the muscles begin to tremble, this means that they are overworked. Take a short break, relax.

Biorhythms and jet lag When the “internal clock” goes astray, you may suffer from insomnia, indigestion, attacks of anger, become forgetful, overly relaxed, unable to correctly navigate time, and be more or less tired than usual. susceptible to medications. There are many reasons that can disrupt a person’s circadian cycle, but the most typical are a change in work shift from day to night and vice versa, the use of sleeping pills (because they affect the cyclical secretion of individual hormones), illness, crossing several time zones at once within one or two days. . If you're not used to it, the time difference can be very annoying. In a city located three time zones from home, you may have to compete in a cycling competition or play an important tennis match 3 hours earlier or later than usual. This means that the body has not yet reached the maximum values ​​of oxygen absorption, heart rate, body temperature or metabolism and other important indicators. So-called larks have a harder time adapting to time differences than night owls. The older we get, the harder it is to get used to changing time zones. If you have an important competition that requires travel, fly to the competition site a few days before it starts to give you time to adjust. (Calculate the days of stay so that one hour of difference corresponds to one additional hour of stay). You can try to change your usual daily routine while still at home. Start five days or a week before departure - go to bed every day and get up half an hour earlier (if you are traveling to the east) or half an hour later (if you are traveling west). This means that before you leave, you will fall asleep (and not just lie in bed) in accordance with the time of the new time zone. Or try to negate the negative effects of quickly crossing multiple time zones by scheduling workouts and meals according to your usual times. Otherwise, if you go east, you will be at a distinct disadvantage when competing in the morning, since you are usually asleep at home at that time. In the West, performing in the evening will be less than perfect as your “internal clock” tells you it’s time to sleep.

Follow the Rule of Specificity The best way to succeed in your chosen sport is to practice it regularly. If you want to do additional exercises to get stronger or faster, choose movements that mimic those you perform in your chosen sport. It took many years before coaches were convinced that the use of additional weights attached to the ankles while walking did not help develop jumping ability in basketball players, etc. (Indeed, if such weights are used outside of a special exercise program with gradually increasing weights