Over complicating your training

[chefencer]

I recommend a broad over-view as presented in an article entitled "Resource Guide in: Sport Psychology" (Learning & Teaching Support Network)
http://www.hist.heacademy.ac.uk/reso...psychology.pdf
This guide covers three interrelated task functions: research, education, and application.

Bryn Ralph: I can't get the link to work. Is this correct?:http://www.hlst.heacademy.ac.uk/reso...psychology.pdf

[brutus]

B. I'm adding the following.

It's important to remember that people today have significantly more leisure time than they've had historically... also with the advent of world-wide media coverage, and commercial interest in sport, the stakes have become substantially higher. Many individuals will do whatever it takes to achieve the money, fame, and glory equated with sport success. It is not unusual for athletes to justify significant risk and permanent damage to their bodies.

Sometimes we (as sport consumers) expect too much from our heroes... and we end up with events like 70+ HR's in baseball, the Tour de France, and 50km X-country ski events... to be competitive in these herculean events, the athletes sincerely believe (justifiably) that they must resort to illegal substances.

This will always be the case, and it's important for scientist to cooperate with athletes to make sure that the most effective, and safest methods are available to achieve their goals.

That said... in a sport like fencing, precious little research has been conducted. And the people who are most interested in advancing the sport are the elite athletes themselves. This is a very different situation from MLB where you have legions of Athletic Trainers lining up to design programs and work with the elite (and socially prestigious) players.

Amen!!!

Also with the use of sports science athletes are able to push their bodies right to the edge of it's capabilities in order to achieve the best performance. This ability to push one's self right to the limit has not been possible until recent years. The closer athletes get to their limit the more their bodies are going to kinda 'break down' in a way.

So there are many factors which could have affected the injury rate of athletes.