A Thread on Managing Competing Demands

1/ Every training intervention with noble intentions should always be undertaken with consideration of corresponding negative outcomes across multiple systems. Examples...

2/ Pre-training foam rolling may transiently improve range of motion, but could also shift some athletes to a parasympathetic state right when we actually want them to be firing up to train/compete.

3/ Low intensity cardiovascular training affords invaluable aerobic benefits, but (especially with the wrong modalities) may have unfavorable biomechanical and endocrine consequences.

4/ Heavy lifting may improve neuromuscular drive, but it can come at the expense of the fascial system and joint integrity.

5/ A heavy focus on breathing cues may improve movement quality, but make an athlete more internally focused and impair high-end performance initiatives.

6/ Take-home messages: don't just weight the risk: reward in your programming. Also weigh whether the positive outcomes in one system may have negative implications in other systems. The recipe and way you need to serve the dish are different for each athlete.