CONDITIONING FOR SPORT: MORE THAN JUST HEART RATE
By: Tommy Hansen
When people hear the word conditioning, most will automatically think of heart rate-based conditioning. This type of conditioning refers to keeping the heart rate in specific ranges to elicit the desired cardiovascular adaptations.
Examples include:
- Aerobic Training (Keeping HR between 120-150bpm for a prolonged period of time)
- High Intensity Interval Training (intense bouts of energy expenditure followed by adequate recovery periods)
Being able to tolerate various heart rate zones are absolutely a major component of developing a robust level of conditioning. I utilize traditional heart rate based conditioning methods in nearly every program that I write, so I am NOT saying that it’s not important. It is very important!
With that said, I think there are several other factors that many people tend to overlook that have the potential to make a big impact on an athlete’s level of conditioning.
Before we begin diving into what those factors are, it is important to create a framework on how we contextualize conditioning for sport. So, let’s start with this question:
When we say athletes are “out of shape”, what do we really mean?
Take a second to think about it…
The answer will differ tremendously depending on who you ask.
If you ask an old school high school football coach, he might say his athletes are under-conditioned because they are doggin’ it on their gassers.
A baseball coach might tell you that a pitcher is out of shape because they run poles at too slow of a pace.
A basketball coach might say that you are out of shape because you can’t run a suicide fast enough for his/her liking.
The examples stated above are very common when most people talk about conditioning. Conditioning is typically gauged by how tired an athlete gets during the task they are doing, which is indeed a very important part. Visibly observing how fatigued an athlete gets during specific activities can definitely give you valuable information on their level of conditioning. However, the solution to becoming less tired is not always running more or making the conditioning harder.
SO WHAT REALLY MATTERS????
To start, I’ll provide my own definition to what I believe being “well-conditioned” means for athletes. Here is how I define conditioning:
An athlete that is well conditioned is able to withstand all the stressors that they are exposed to during competition and perform the relevant tasks associated with that sport at a high level.
In my opinion, conditioning goes way further than just not getting tired easily. Conditioning is very highly individualized and contextual depending on what sport you play. Declaring an athlete “out of shape” is much more complex than seeing what they scored on their conditioning test on day 1 of practice (often times the conditioning tests have no relevance to the sport at all). There are way more factors to consider than that.
If a baseball pitcher can’t break an 8-minute mile, but can throw 100 pitches in a game without losing command or velocity, is he really out of shape?
If a wide receiver scores poorly on a VO2 max test, but can sustain a high level of sprint repeatability throughout the entire game, does he really need to add some extra conditioning?
As you can see, it is much more complex than just hopping on an assault bike with a heart rate monitor and doing 15 seconds on, 45 seconds off until you are about ready to puke.
Here is a list of factors that I believe need to be included in the conditioning discussion for athletes:
1. SKILL AQUISISTION
Have you ever tried learning something that is completely new to you? Like building something or trying to do something that you had 0 prior knowledge on how to do it? In order to accomplish the task, you need a very high level of focus and brainpower just to conceptualize how to do it. Many people will find this super exhausting because of how much mental energy is required to just understand what is even going on.
This same concept holds true in sport. If you’re body is very inefficient at performing a task, you will need to designate extra brainpower to accomplish the task. If a baseball player is consciously thinking about his swing technique during a game, he might not perform that well. Focusing on the technique may result in a less powerful swing. He also might not be able to hit the pitcher because he’s focused on his form and not focused on reading the spin of the ball out of the hand.
Think about a novice lifter doing a squat. Since their body is unfamiliar with the movement, they will be thinking about how they are performing the exercise instead of creating a high level of output. Mentally adjusting to a novel movement can be both exhaustive to the athlete and restrict their output at the same time. When we master a skill, it becomes subconscious to us. This is critical, because when we stop focusing on HOW we are doing something, we can direct our focus and energy on maximizing outputs and performance capabilities. Better yet, we are conserving energy by not having to put as much direct focus on the task at hand.
In the example above, when an athlete becomes proficient in the squat, we can start loading them heavier and their focus will shift towards output because their focus isn’t on form anymore. This concept also holds true in sport. If a baseball player’s swing is bad, more mental energy will need to be spent on technique and less will be focused on physical performance outcomes.
What does this have to do with conditioning? I’m glad you asked.
In my opinion, conditioning comes down to three main things:
1. How well we handle stress (elevated heart rates, in-game adrenaline, etc.)
2. How good are we at conserving energy?
3. Are we distributing energy in the most efficient way?
In-game competition is not entirely physical. There is a massive mental component to it as well. Conditioning ultimately comes down to strategically managing stress to get the body to adapt and perform the right way. Mental stress creates identical physiological responses in the body as physical stress (increased ventilation, increased heart rate, release of adrenaline, etc.). Meaning that if we have to designate a lot of brainpower to perform a skill, we are not directing energy in the most efficient way. That energy should be designated to performing, not consciously thinking about our form.
In order to be well conditioned, it is important to put all of the energy we have at our disposal towards performing at a high level. Mastering a skill and making it second nature can limit the amount of brainpower needed to accomplish a given task/movement, potentially placing less overall stress on the body. THIS IS CONDITIONING!
2. ACUTE TO CHRONIC WORKLOAD OF RELEVANT TASKS
If you have been around the sport of baseball, you have probably heard about or witnessed this scenario more than once.
A coach will say, “Our pitchers are out of shape, we need to do more conditioning”, then proceed to do endless poles or lactic sprint work that has no specificity to baseball.
Before sending your players out to the warning track to run poles, ask yourself these questions:
What is happening during the game that is telling you that your pitcher is deconditioned? Is he physically exhausted from pitching deep into games? Does he lose command after 3 innings and must be pulled from the game? Does your starter lose significant velocity on his pitches over the course of a game? Does his arm bother him after a few innings? Does he get super sore from throwing a low or moderate number of pitches?
Before you start running more poles to “get in shape”, critically evaluate and investigate what the root cause is for the decline of performance you are observing. Was there a properly progressed throwing program in the offseason leading up to that point? Did this pitcher gradually increase bullpen workload in the offseason to match on field demands? How often did they face live hitters in the offseason? All these things matter!
Although it might appear that the athlete is deconditioned and gets tired easily, it might not be their general fitness holding them back. It would NOT make sense to run more poles if there was never a properly progressed throwing program in the first place. Pitching is a very strenuous task. Running a 5-minute mile won’t guarantee that your starter will have the endurance to throw 100 pitches in a game. The best way to prepare them for that is by progressing the throwing program in a way that prepares them to throw 100 pitches.
Conditioning, in its simplest form, is exposing the athletes to the exact stressors to what they will face in sport. Don’t expect someone to be able to handle the stressors of the game if they were never exposed to those same stressors in the offseason.
3. BIOMECHANICAL EFFICIENCY
Have you ever come back from an injury and noticed that your tissues can’t seem to tolerate the same loads compared to before the injury happened? You have completed your return to play protocol for that ankle sprain, but it isn’t feeling quite as springy as it used to? I had this exact thing happen to me, and I never realized how much it impacted my movement profile and level of conditioning.
Although injuries are an easy way to conceptualize this, it does not only apply to injuries. If there are tissues in our body that do not handle loading well, it will impact how efficiently our bodies move as a whole. Let’s stick with ankles here for the sake of simplicity.
When running, the achilles tendon produces a high level of stiffness when your foot hits the ground to propel you forward. If your achilles tendon is not stiff upon ground impact, the body is going to naturally sink into deeper joint angles because the tendon is not doing its job. This results in our bodies resorting to raw muscular power to get the job done. Simply put, when tendons aren’t doing their job and acting as a spring, our muscles have to pick up the slack to try and keep outputs high.
But Tommy, what does this have to do with conditioning?
The deeper we sink into our joints, the more time our muscles will be under tension. Movements that have higher time under tension place a higher metabolic cost on performing the desired movement. This means that it will require more energy to complete the task the longer we are under tension. Think about a squat jump vs a pogo jump. You will get more fatigued doing the squat jump every time.
I’m not implying that a large contribution from raw muscular force is a bad thing. In fact, many athletes actually do better when they resort to raw muscular power to get the job done.
My point is that our bodies perform at their best when every structure is doing its job. Resorting to inefficient movement patterns due to the inability to load tissues can make activities much more tiring than they should be. If we have to put forth a lot of effort to perform a movement that should be relatively easy, we are probably wasting a lot of energy. Efficient movement is effortless, subconscious, and requires every contributing part to work together in harmony.
Like stated above, one major component of conditioning is conserving as much energy as possible. When all structures do their job and movement is effortless, we are much more efficient with our energy expenditure.
Fatigue that is induced from poor movement quality will not be fixed by hopping on an assault bike. Attack the problem at the root cause and watch your conditioning improve.
4. SPEED, STRENGTH, & POWER
Every athlete wants to be stronger, faster, and more powerful for obvious reasons. But what is often overlooked is the improvement in conditioning that can result from improving these qualities.
Take a soccer player, for example. This player has a top speed of 20mph when they are sprinting at full speed. Over the course of an offseason, they increase their top speed to 22pmh.
20mph is not their max speed anymore, which by definition makes it a submaximal speed. This also indicates that every speed under the new max speed of 22mph will now be a lower intensity than when the max speed was 20mph.
When max speed was 20mph, 16mph would have been 80% of max speed.
Now that max speed is 22mph, 16mph is now 73% of max speed.
This might not seem very significant, but it is. Every submaximal run is now less stressful than it was before. Like stated in the above sections, the more effortlessly we can move at a given intensity, the less stress it will place on the overall system. Conserving every ounce of energy over the course of a game has the potential to allow players to:
1. Play more minutes as a result of conserving and being more efficient with energy expenditure
2. Display high outputs (sprints, jumps, etc.) deep into the game
3. Conserve energy over the course of an entire season
Think of a basketball player. If they get stronger and increase their vertical jump in the offseason, it can help them sustain a high level of performance over the course of a game. During a game they will likely have to battle someone in the post or perform a lot of submaximal jumps. Being adequately prepared to handle those stressors by increasing strength and power may help conserve some energy over the course of the game.
Don’t overlook the impact that speed, strength, and power can have on conditioning!
As you can see, conditioning is not its own separate entity. It is deeply interconnected to all other aspects of sport and overall fitness. If your strength, power, skill, movement quality, or acute to chronic workload are poorly managed or developed, it can have a negative effect on an athlete’s level of conditioning. It is important to critically analyze both the athlete and the sport they are playing. This will give you all the clues you need to develop an offseason training plan to accommodate for all the stressors they will face over the course of a season. This is also why it is incredibly important to have a sport coach and strength coach who are on the same page and understand workload management. It all connects. Viewing these factors as separate entities is doing a disservice to our athletes.
If the athlete is not performing well in their sport, take the time to analyze what the root cause of the problem is. Don’t just assume they have to run more!
