Picture this, you have
an NBA player standing on a vibration platform, he is doing some sort of bouncing
medicine ball exercise off the ground and the S&C coach has a big rubber
band around his waist pulling him laterally. This was in a popular fitness outdoor
magazine. When I saw it I almost fell out of my chair laughing. On second
thought I realized that people were going to read this and take it very seriously
and try to imitate this. It was written in very serious vain extolling the
virtues of vibration training. (A free ad for the manufacturer of the vibration
platform). I understand the use of any one the three modes of training
represented, but the witches brew mix of the three is very confusing. I am sure
it is very confusing to the body. I learned a long a long time ago that mixed
training yield mixed results. Hunt with a rifle, be focused on one training
objective, do not try to cover all bases in one workout. This is another example
of marketing and hype trumping good training methodology.
2 Comments
Jonathan Hewitt
Vern,
In a similar situation also from an outdoor magazine, an article from an individual with an MS in ex phys, was pictured doing a front squat w/ 225lbs in a racquetball court. The indication was that this was a functional exercise for deer hunters. Having hunted all my life, and having dragged out many deer, I couldn’t have disagreed more with the author.
If you do want to read an article about deer hunting and it’s effect on the body.
Here’s a link.
http://www.ncwildlife.org/pg09_NCWildStore/sample_aug07.pdf
Bonnie
Does the NBA scenario above even resemble sport specific situations?
My favorite unpredictable vibration platform is a bus floor. If you have enough space to let go of the hand holds and keep your balance by leaning and stepping, it can relieve the boredom of a bus ride!
*tongue in cheek* If you want to induce confusion, I recommend boxing with only defensive moves. Getting hit probably does more to induce confusion than anything else I’ve tried. Just don’t do it on a vibration platform! 🙂