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Essentials of Athletic Training Cover Image
Essentials of Athletic Training, 5/e
Daniel Arnheim
William Prentice, University of North Carolina
Preventing Injuries through Fitness Training

Chapter Overview

  • Proper physical conditioning for sports participation should prepare the athlete for a high-level performance while helping to prevent injuries inherent to that sport.
  • Year-round conditioning is essential in most sports to assist in preventing injuries. Periodization is an approach to conditioning that attempts to bring about peak performance while reducing injuries and overtraining in the athlete by developing a training and conditioning program to be followed throughout the various seasons.
  • Physical conditioning must follow the SAID principle-an acronym for specific adaptation to imposed demands. It must work toward making the body as lean as possible, commensurate with the athlete's sport.
  • A proper warm-up should precede conditioning, and a proper cooldown should follow. It takes at least 15 to 30 minutes of gradual warm-up to bring the body to a state of readiness for vigorous sports training and participation. Warming up consists of general, unrelated activities followed by specific, related activities.
  • Optimum flexibility is necessary for success in most sports. Too much flexibility can allow joint trauma to occur, whereas too little flexibility can result in muscle tears or strains. The safest and most effective means of increasing flexibility are static stretching and the PNF techniques.
  • Strength is that capacity to exert a force or the ability to perform work against a resistance. There are numerous means to develop strength, including isometric exercise, progressive resistance exercise, isokinetic exercise, circuit training, plyometric exercise, and calisthenics.
  • Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability to perform whole-body, large-muscle activities repeatedly for long periods. Maximum aerobic capacity is the greatest determinant of the level of cardiorespiratory endurance. Improvement of cardiorespiratory endurance may be accomplished through continuous, interval, or Fartlek training.








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