OnFitness Magazine - November/December 2021 - 69

69 WWW.ONFITNESSMAG.COM | VOL 22 NO 3 | 2021
Cardio and
your brain
Researchers from the
Center for BrainHealth
at the University of
Texas report that
cardio exercise
improves memory and
brain health in older
adults.
Train for basketball. The box jump works your hamstrings, abductors, adductors, calves, glutes, and
quadriceps. Begin with a box approximately one to two feet in height. Standing with your feet shoulder-width
apart, squat, swing your arms behind you, and extending through your hips, knees, and ankles, jump as high as
you can, swinging your arms forward and up, landing on the box with your knees bent absorbing the impact
through the legs. Jump from the box back to the ground and repeat as fast as you can.
THESCIENCEOF
SPECIFICITY
DeShawn D.Williams
Have you ever tried a new physical
activity, only to feel very tired doing it?
Then you think, " I don't get this! I am
a fitness fanatic. I train all the time.
Why am I tired doing this? "
The answer is specificity. Specificity
can best be described by the specific
adaptation to imposed demands
principle. The principle states that to improve a
particular component of physical fitness, a person
must emphasize that component in training.
For example, if you run all the time and then a
friend invites you to go mountain biking, you may
find yourself huffing and puffing up the hill. This
doesn't indicate that you're out of shape. It indicates
you are not in biking shape. The muscle fibers you
recruit when you train are the ones that adapt to that
training. In a nutshell, train for what you want.
Specificity is the key to maximizing a program.
In discussing specificity, I would like to break it
down into three main categories. These categories are
neuromechanical, bioenergetic, and situational
specificity. When you're designing a program,
consider these three categories.
-
Neuromechanical specificity refers to the joint
motions and angles, muscles, and movement
velocities involved in your occupation, sport,
recreational activities, and general life movements.
For example, a mother of a one-year-old is likely to
have to squat repeatedly throughout the day to pick
up her baby. This likely involves squatting at different
speeds as well. So obviously, conditioning her lower
extremities in the squat pattern would be paramount
to her. Additionally, a soft-knee deadlift would be an
excellent exercise to strengthen her lower back and
hip extensors and will complement her squat exercise.
Consider that when lifting a child, you're performing
a quasi squat-deadlift movement.
Conditioning this same person on a leg press
would condition some of the major muscles required
for squatting, but it would not be specific. On a leg
press, you're not learning to control your body against
gravity and to master the joint angles required to
safely lift against it.
When analyzing joint motion, it's important to
consider the controlled range of motion needed versus
what motion they have available. Many people lift
children off the ground but do so without control and
without a range of motion needed to do it safely. For
example, you may notice that they lift a twenty-fivepound
child with a rounded back. So with proper
cueing, flexibility, and resistance training, you can
increase the controlled range of motion required to
perform daily activities, in this case, lifting a child.
Lastly, in looking at neuromechanical specificity,
Science has shown
that aging decreases
mental efficiency, and
memory decline is the
number one cognitive
complaint of older
adults.
This research shows
the tremendous
benefit of aerobic
exercise on a person's
memory and
demonstrates that
aerobic exercise can
reduce both the
biological and
cognitive
consequences of
aging.
So don't blow off
aerobics just because
it's not the answer to
your physique
development. Think
again.
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OnFitness Magazine - November/December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OnFitness Magazine - November/December 2021