Athletes are the
healthiest people, right?
No. That’s not the case.
Although athletes do have a level of athletic prowess and
some of them look like Greek gods, they are not necessarily the epitomes of health.
The training intensity and push to reach top-level performance comes at a cost.
If you ask any elite-level athlete if they have sustained an injury, I
guarantee that they will be able to remember instances when they have
physically been beaten up by their training and competitions. This situation is
obviously not ideal, but it happens. Even if they do everything in their power
to prevent an injury and have great recovery practices, injuries will still
happen. Athletes are riddled with musculoskeletal problems and, when it comes
time for the season, are rarely ever 100% healthy after
the first game.
For the purposes of this post, “health” refers to that of
the musculoskeletal system, not the cardiovascular. Athletes tend to have
incredible cardiovascular systems. As impact forces and velocities increase in higher
levels of sports, the incidence of injuries that athletes will accumulate over
the years rises (figure 1). Athletes are literally trying to push the limit of
human performance, and when you do that, it’s very possible to overreach. That’s
when sprains, strains, broken bones, and everything in between occur. It’s not
always one traumatic instance, like an acute injury during a game; smaller,
chronic injuries can accumulate over time and sneak up on them.
Figure 1:
Graph showing the trend of musculoskeletal injuries in relation to a variety of
factors related to athletes as they progress and train.
I think this is a universal principle when it comes to
training, especially if you are a driven and competitive person. Overreaching and
subsequent injuries do happen, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do
everything in your power to prevent them. Aches and pains are part of the
journey. Your ability to recognize when you have the gas pedal floored and
should pull off a little bit is crucial to maintaining performance for the long
run. As long you are trending in the right direction, you’re fine.
So performance doesn’t always equal heath, especially in
athletics, but I’d rather be going to see an orthopedist than a cardiologist.
The take-home point of this? Don’t let the aches, pains, bumps, and bruises
stop you from reaching the level of performance or the body you want. Understand
that this is also a learning process, and sometimes you don’t know what the
limit is until you push it. Growth and progress occur in an area that plays
with the limit of your abilities. When you exceed that limit, bad things
happen. If you are training for performance you are going to get beat up a
little. If you are training for health, you need to know where your limit is
and try not to exceed it.
Ryan Goodell, CSCS
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