Roughty Toughty Athletes

Why athletes get niggles

• Working with a decathlete last week, I said that I was going to make him into a “roughty toughty track and field athlete“.

He said that “There is no such thing as a roughty toughty track and field athlete.” He has a point.  A lot of athletes are continually coming down with injuries or “niggles”. Tyson Gay being an example who apparently can’t train for more than 2 weeks without getting injured.

A couple of things might be the reason:

• A low level of intital conditioning, with overcompeting from a young age. This leads to an underlying weakness that is difficult to rectify at senior level.
• Too much specific work on phasic muscles in the gym at senior level. Working on specifics is good, doing squats, cleans and then sprints in close succession leads to overuse.

It could be seen as more general work at a younger age, more directed and planned work at a senior age.

An example of what we can work on is shown in the case studies here 

• 3  winter training tips for athletics
• How to train young athletes for the long term