{"id":141,"date":"2013-02-26T18:45:55","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T17:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helpingthebesttogetbetter.com\/?p=141"},"modified":"2013-02-26T18:45:55","modified_gmt":"2013-02-26T17:45:55","slug":"not-gifted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helpingthebesttogetbetter.com\/?p=141","title":{"rendered":"Not gifted"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know a few respected colleagues that have mastered the ability to see things that I never could see.<\/p>\n

One of them could see if his high jumper is taking off at an angle of 36.5 or 37.0 degrees, another one can see if a sprinter\u2019s right gluteus medius is firing or his rectus femoris is contracting at the right speed, this while the athlete is moving at 11 meters per second.<\/p>\n

Well…….. I can\u2019t ……. I am unfortunately not blessed with this visual gifts.<\/p>\n

Nor can\u00a0 do I know which physiological system is recovered or not, or to what extend an athlete is tired or stressed or not. The athlete anyhow also could never tell me this to a useful extent, since he\/she does not know it himself\/herself in the first place.<\/p>\n

To me the expression \u201clisten to your body\u201d sounds strange, because the body does not speak loud and clearly, but just mumbles something diffuse like: \u201cpain… chest…. left\u201d. But that does not tell me if you have a sore pectoralis muscle or a slight myocardial infarction, not does the body tell us the different between a headache caused by lack of caffeine or a pain in the head caused by a brain tumor.<\/p>\n

But here is what helped me survive ……. technology and common sense (the sense that is less common than you think). One of the things that I use quite a lot is sEMG or surface electromyography. No needles in the muscle, but just simple disposable electrodes on the skin.<\/p>\n

Strange, that while the muscle is one of the main targets of our training, very few coaches are using EMG.\u00a0 EMG is mainly used by scientists in research\u00a0 or by physical therapists for rehabilitation in case of injuries.<\/p>\n

Now why would EMG be useful you might say. EMG, which to put it simply, measures the electric current running from the motor neuron over the muscle. The higher this current, the more motor unit activity is involved.<\/p>\n

\"Nelli<\/a>
Nelli Cooman EMG from startblock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n