#8 Mechanics (Direction Of Force) Vs Force (Magnitude Of Force)

Try running a marathon landing on the outside of your foot like a sprained ankle…

The truth is at the extremes.

BUT!!!

Before you go and give your career over to a fascia and mechanics specialist consider…

Average 16 year olds beat great 10 year olds in athletic sports.

Men and women compete separately because men genetically have a force advantage.

What % improvement can come from improved mechanics?

What % improvement can come from increased force production?

Initially mechanics can dramatically improve results.

Software gains come fast, think driving distance in golf, high jump or throwing a discuss.

For month 1 of training the technical / mechanics focussed development will be key.

Work in the gym at that stage would focus mostly on recovery and helping to keep the tissues healthy and remove imbalances.

After month 1 the force production capacities become the key.

Yes practicing the sport will cause adaptation but gym training will increase the force advantage faster.

There is no debating that athletic force training enhances the performance of field and winter sport athletes like shot putters, hammer, discuss throwers, bobsled and luge. Telling them they can’t lift weights would be like telling a weightlifter to prepare without a barbell. Telling most junior rugby players, NFL players and arm-wrestlers they can’t use weights would destroy their chances or reaching the top.

When significant or maximal hypertrophy is required strength training is undeniably a key factor in success.

When we move to highly technical, relative strength sports like hockey, golf, boxing, MMA, soccer and tennis the role of strength training changes.

More mass isn’t always the answer.

The truth of FORCE is easily lost… when coaches fall in love with tweaking the efficiency of elite athletes.

For elite athletes around their ideal body composition with elite tension capacity, focussing on mechanics makes sense.

For endurance sports where thousands of repetition are being performed, focussing on mechanics makes sense.

Force Vs Technique is not EITHER / OR.

Being great at recognising what’s going to make the most difference and changing that first is the key to great coaching.