Tim
Sullivan wrote the following in response to my Rules for Robots post from
yesterday:
My understanding
is if you keep bending it like a credit card or hotel card eventually it will
break or law of repetitive motion… to this rule only applies to a small
amount of the training program, when heavy superficial external loads are place
on the body… to this is another way of saying isolate them out.
Of late I
keep hearing this law of repetitive motion quoted. Who wrote this law? Sounds
like another guru platitude. The body is not rigid piece of plastic, nor is it
a machine. These kind of inane comparisons and analogies do not do justice to
the body. The body is designed to solve moment problems, sure it adapts to
certain patterns if repeated whether they are loaded or unloaded. Think of a stoop
worker in the fields? The body is highly adaptive. In sport situations and in
fact life and work situations that are highly repetitive that is why we find
appropriate means to strengthen and lengthen. Sure there are time when it beaks,
that’s life. A good training program that is mutli-joint, multi plane, proprioceptively
demanding and mindful will address this. I believe Logan and McKinney addressed this on
page 149 of their book Kinesiology. “The mature athlete tends to have a posture
which is related to his particular sport if he has trained for years to become expert
at his specific position or event. The reason for this phenomenon is the fact
that the body tends to adjust or adapt to the various stresses or demands
imposed upon as a result of prolonged muscular activity. Wallis and Logan have
called this the SAID Principle: SAID is an acronym for Specific Adaptation to
Imposed Demands.” In my book nothing more needs to said (If in doubt go to Logan & McKinney, they have stood the test of time.
PS Tm, I
wish GAIN was sponsored by Honda.
Jonathan Hewitt
Vern,
I listened to an online event where Dr. Stuart McGill said and I quote, “The spine only has so many bends in it before it breaks.” He made the analogy that the spine is just like a close hanger, if you bend and flex it enough times, it will eventually break. Don’t know if he stated this rule first or not but I know he has said it before. According to him, his research shows this rule to be true.
I also disagree with this rule. Perhaps research should look at those who pass away without having a history of back problems. I know my father who is 77 says he has never had back problems and he did manual labor for a large portion of his life and he was an athlete.
Just my 2 cents.
Ken Vick
This line resonates with me right now; “The body is designed to solve moment problems”. I wish more coaches would learn about different motor control theories and consider this. There are dynamic systems theories that argue just that, the body is self organizing in a way that allows creative problem solving.
Glad you said that. I am going to spend some time writing about this http://artofcoachingspeed.blogspot.com/2009/07/elephant-in-room-motor-control-theory.html