Weight Training Correctly and Avoiding Overuse Injuries
by Melinda Burris
Track and field athletes are at a higher risk of injury because they participate in a high-intensity sport that relies on rapid spurts of speed and motions that tend to lend to overuse as the same muscle groups and joints are needed to perform the motions hurdlers and sprinters must complete in their events. This article examines findings that many athletes are weight training incorrectly and why this is important to track and field athletes. Overuse injuries (OI) and the factors that most often lead to them are also examined.
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Recent Study on Weight Training Technique
The conventional wisdom regarding weight training has long been that to increase strength and build muscle, training relies on lifting heavier weights with less repetitions. However, a new body of evidence suggests that this approach may be wrong.
A random group study conducted by researchers at Canada’s McMaster University concludes that lifting heavier weights is not a factor. Instead, improvement relies on your continuing to lift and do repetition sets until you reach a point of exhaustion.1
Participants for the study included 49 young men in good health who were randomly divided into two groups. For 12 weeks, one group did weight training in the traditional manner, using heavier weights and performing less repetitions while their counterparts used lighter weights but did more repetitions so that each group continued training until exhaustion was reached.1
To identify which group had achieved the most improvement, muscle samples were taken from each participant. The samples demonstrated that the participants in both groups had nearly identical gains in both muscle fiber size and muscle mass. The researchers determined “that as both groups lifted to exhaustion most of the muscle [fibers] would have been activated (neuromuscular recruitment) and this is what caused equal strength gains.”1
This conclusion is particularly relevant for track and field athletes because the high-intensity sport requires power, defined as “a combination of muscle strength and contraction speed”—two components necessary to build overall speed and endurance. Sprinters and hurdlers have to maximize their power so they can use it to run faster or in the case of events like the discus, the shot put, the hammer, and the javelin, competitors need as much power as possible to throw a greater distance. Much of success on the track is owed to the combination of having strong muscles and smooth, controlled muscle contractions. It stands to reason then that since “lighter weights allow for faster contractions . . . [they] are thus a better strategy than lifting heavier weights more slowly.”1
Injury Incidence Rates and the Effect of Availability on Athletic Performance
As athletes are constantly pushing their bodies and exposing them to stress, it is no surprise that competitors incur “a high incidence of injury.”2 It has long been agreed by experts that the majority of sports-related injuries are a result of overuse. Overuse injuries (OI) are “defined as ‘a condition to which no identifiable single external transfer of energy can be associated. Multiple accumulative bouts of energy transfer could result in this kind of injury’ and most OIs affect the lower extremities.”2
Athlete availability refers to the unhindered ability to take part in training sessions and competition events. Research has demonstrated a connection between athlete availability that falls below 80% and athletes having a decreased probability of achieving their performance goals.2
A Swedish study published in May of this year investigated athlete availability and incidence of overuse injuries with the intention of “[estimating] the monthly injury incidence rates, athlete availability, and the overuse injury incidence rate per 1000 athletics-hours of training in a cohort of Swedish elite athletics athletes.”2
Study participants consisted of 59 elite athletes, male and female, who compete in a variety of field and track events including hurdling, middle or long-distance running, or short-distance sprints (or dashes). Researchers documented the injury and training information on all participants over the course of a full athletics season, which lasted for eight months, October through August. All injury documentation was completed by healthcare professionals. Training data included details of training days, non-training days, and training sessions all of which were recorded in training diaries dedicated to specific events. These diaries were evaluated on a monthly basis by researchers to calculate the amount of new injuries incurred each month in comparison to athletes who had experienced no injury.2
The average athlete availability was determined to be 78%. Middle and long-distance runners were shown to have the highest athlete availability rate at 82.7%. Hurdlers were shown to have the second-highest athlete availability rate with an average of 77.3%. Sprinters were shown to experience the most injuries with a loss of athlete availability average of 71.4%.2 Because the hurdler and sprinter groups failed to reach an athlete availability of at least 80%, the researchers assert the athletes in these groups “are less likely to reach their full potential.”2
Causes of Overuse Injuries and Preventative Measures
As the Swedish study points to a link between athletic injuries and lack of athlete availability as a major block to competitors being able to maximize and maintain peak performance, it is important to understand what causes overuse injuries, the primary cause of athletes missing training and competition events.
There are two primary causes of overuse injuries:
- Training errors: This type of error generally takes place when you try to jump into a training regimen too hard and fast. You must give your body time to adjust to a new physical activity and build endurance. Failure to train at a reasonable pace can lead to muscle strain which in turn can cause an overuse injury.3
- Technique errors: It is important to follow your coach and/or trainer’s instructions so you develop the proper technique that allows you to complete the movements required to compete in your sport without placing undue stress on your body. Failure to use proper form causes improper weight distribution and puts too much stress on the wrong muscle groups and this can lead to an overuse injury.3
Remember, training is important; training properly is vital!
References:
1. Hunter, A., Howatson, G., & Hamilton, L. (29 July 2016). Athletes, You’re Doing Weight Training All Wrong.
2. Zachrisson, A.L. et al. (4 May 2020). Athlete Availability and Incidence of Overuse Injuries Over an Athletics Season in a Cohort of Elite Swedish Athletics Athletes: A Prospective Study.
3. Mayo Clinic. (8 January 2019). Overuse Injury: How to Prevent Training Injuries.
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