Part 1 - Introduction to important body structures

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From the course by University of Florida

The Science of Training Young Athletes

163 ratings

University of Florida

The Science of Training Young Athletes

163 ratings

Seventy percent of kids drop out of sports before their high school graduation. Only 15% leave because they feel they are not good enough. Almost 70% leave because they were not having fun, or due to problems with the coach. Injuries cause 30% to give up sports. This course is packed full of practical sports science information that provide youth coaches and parents with the practical pediatric sports science insights to successfully retain young athletes and develop their sport potential while avoiding injury and overtraining. We begin by examining the multidimensional nature of coaching, the relevant sport motor performance abilities, the impact of growth and development on motor skills, the gene versus practice controversy, and briefly overview the body structures strengthened through training. Then we explore the athlete's energy supply, where this energy comes from, and how it matures along with the athlete. Finally, we examine the development of strength, power, anaerobic capacity, coordination and flexibility through the life span. The optional text manual for this course is available at: http://www.learnitez.com/HighPerformanceScience/manuals/

From the lesson

Week 3: How the body works

The coach is a microbiologist who designs training so it stimulates the body’s cells and structures to become stronger and more efficient. In this section you are introduced to key organ systems, and the energy these organ systems use to run the chemical reactions needed for a sports performance. You will also learn how diet can positively enhance an athlete’s ability to train and compete.

Part 1 - Introduction to important body structures4:35

Part 2 - Skeletal and muscular system6:54

Part 3 - Nervous system5:25

Part 4 - Respiratory system4:39

Part 5 - Cardiovascular system2:16

Part 6 - Key points of important body structures2:00

Meet the Instructors

Dr. Chris Brooks
Instructor
Coaching Science Coordinator for USA Track and Field

Unless you've spent a lot of time learning about how a car engine works, you'll

be totally clueless about where to even begin fixing any problem that might arise.

And don't even think about improving the engine's performance.

If you don't know how the engine is designed to work under normal conditions,

you can do simple things such as mixing some sort of

additive in with the gasoline based on advice you read on the Internet.

However, you won't know for sure if this additive works, nor

will you be able to assess if it will damage your engine over the long term.

And the same is true when you're training athletes.

When you train athletes for high sports performance, you are forcing their bodies

to deviate from normal functioning into a souped up version,

more suited for sports-specific performance.

You can't design the right engine for a sports-specific phenotype if you don't

understand what body parts are involved, and how they normally function.

Knowing the body's structural arrangement, or the anatomy,

and how it works, or the physiology, will put you in a really good

position to effectively design any sports-specific phenotype.

From the outside, athletes are clearly very different in the way they look.

Peel away their skin, however, and you'll see the same 37

trillion cells consisting of four different functional types.

There are cells specialized for constructing and communicating.

There are cells specialized for moving.

There are cells specialized for sport supporting and protecting.

And there is cells specialized for connecting the parts of the body together.

So let's go through each of these cell types in some detail.

Nerve cells are highly specialized cells designed to transmit

information rapidly to various parts of the body and back again.

Muscles cells are complex biological motors capable of producing movement.

And there are muscle cells designed to keep the heart pumping,

there are other muscle cells lining the blood vessels so they can dilate and

constrict, ad there are skeletal muscles cells that move the skeleton itself.

All these types of muscle cells cause movement of some sort.

Skin cells and cells lining the stomach, and

other hollow organs protect the body from wear and tear.

And finally, there are cells forming the tough ligaments and

tendons that link bones together to form joints.

The red blood cells seem a little out of place in this category, but they serve

an important connection function by delivering oxygen, and fuel, and other

supplies throughout the body, so all the cells are able to do their designated job.

These four cell types join together to form tissues,

and from these tissues the organs are built.

And then the organs join together to form an organ system.

And these organ systems are capable of performing specific functions essential

to the body's ability to survive.

For example, a heart and

the blood vessels are the key organs forming the cardiovascular system.

And the organ systems combine to form the body of the performing athlete.

There are 11 organ systems comprising the human body.

And while all play a role in an athlete's sport phenotype,

five of them are particularly important.

And they include the skeletal system, the muscular system, the nervous system,

the cardiovascular system, and the respiratory system.

In this module, we're going to briefly review the structure of

each of these five organ systems and examine how they function.

So let's get started.

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