Olena Kucherenko
Blogging
7
min read
Mar 26, 2024
We have identified 5 main characteristics that guide all athletic ability. These 5 key
functions are the backbone of the Elite U methodology and make up the 5 guiding
principles (pillars) of our training regimen. It is important to conceptualize that although
they are presented as 5 different characteristics, they always work in unison to provide
athletic capacity, and we train them as such. Each one builds on the next and back, and
as we fortify one, we must fortify the others.
The 5 Pillars are as follows.
1. Mobility and Stability. Mobility and stability go hand in hand for an athlete. An
athlete must have the mobility to get into deep angles and bend joints to
accommodate a variety of movements without restriction. The better mobility the
more positions you can get into. Stability is what keeps those ranges of motion
safe. Stability is the facility to control your movement so that the muscles,
tendons, and connective tissue of the body do not break or tear do to improper
balance and over stretching. For this reason it is always a check and balance of
mobility and the stability to control it.
2. Strength is our second Pillar. Strength is the most basic representation of force
production, an ability to create force or exert work on another object. It is also
done more efficiently when proper mobility and stability are present. By the same
token, the more strength we can generate, the better we should be able to take
our mobility and stability gains and make them apply to functional movement
patterns.
3. Movement Skill is the third Pillar. Movement skill is the biomechanical control of
movement patterns that optimize functional movements of sport. It is the link
between all other pillars. A very explosive athlete must understand the best and
most efficient angles of ground contact to be truly fast. Same goes with an
athlete that wants to maximize their change of direction and agility, the better the
angles of the movement the more quickly they will be able to change direction.
This same concept applies at all levels of sport and fitness. Better squats are
more technically sound, better jumping, landing, cutting, sprinting, running,
swinging, throwing, skipping, and bounding are all a byproduct of the best
biomechanical angles with the proper coordination of which muscles to turn on
and off at the appropriate time. This is movement skill.
4. Speed and Explosiveness is the fourth Pillar, and in many cases, the one we are
most after as an athlete. The ability to produce force rapidly is what separates
elite athletes from the rest of the lot. Speed in sprinting, speed in jumping, speed
in swinging and throwing are all determinants of the more successful athlete.
Explosiveness goes hand and hand with speed, more than that, it is a
representation of the same physics, the ability to exert massive amounts of force
with as little time to do so as possible. Let’s take sprinting as example one. The
fastest sprinters are able to generate the most amount of ground force when their
foot hits the ground in the least amount of ground contact time, its that simple.
Let’s look at jumping next. The number one determinant of how high someone is
able to jump is the vertical speed they are able to achieve as the foot begins to
leave the ground. Again, it is that simple. Speed of movement and explosiveness
is the main determinant of athletic ability.
5. Our last Pillar is about our ability to repeat a task repeatedly at optimal energy
levels, it is about being able to outlast the competition. We are talking about
endurance, or metabolic condition. The physiology of endurance and conditioning
is one of the most specific areas of fitness and performance. An athlete that can
run a very fast three-mile race, might not be able to last an entire volleyball game
of constant jumping, landing and changing short bursts of acceleration and
deceleration, or pitch six innings of a baseball game without their arm burning
out. Metabolic Capacity is specific to the sport. Therefore, we prescribe sport
practice as the ultimate tool to develop game type conditioning and endurance.
We will assist in the process by choosing certain training exercises and training
cycles to focus on tempo to increase form specific and movement specific
endurance as well.
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