Application of Force in Athletics (Part 1)
by Steve Cotter
When we watch athletes perform, one of the most notable components of the performance is the athlete's use of force. Force is required in all movement and even more so in athletic movements. Jumping, running, throwing, punching, kicking — all of these athletic movements require the use of force. But when it comes to training for greater use of force, many athletes and coaches focus their training exclusively on force production, and pay little or no attention to force reduction.
Force reduction is every bit as important to athletic performance as is force production, and one cannot achieve control over his body without the ability to reduce forces. Force reduction is the ability to slow and contain the force produced in the body, so that changes of direction and control of momentum are possible. To understand the relationship between force production and force reduction, look at the following athletic movements:
In football, the wide receiver demands tremendous force production in order to jump up and over the defensive back and grab a high pass. But to land in bounds and without injuring himself, the receiver must reduce his force upon landing. As another illustration, look at two Judo players engaged in a clinch. To throw the opponent, player A must generate sufficient force production to upend player B. Player B must in turn be able to reduce player A's force, in order to nullify and counter the attack. If player B is successful with the counter and throws player A, player A must be able to reduce the force of the throw (break falling), to avoid getting his wind knocked out upon hitting the ground. In any sporting example you can think of, force production and force reduction work interchangeably to keep the body in a state of control and efficiency.
So now that we've identified the components of applied force, how do we train them? We know a lot about how to produce force, as this is the primary focus of virtually all strength and conditioning programs. Powerlifting, Olympic lifting, kettlebell training, plyometrics, sprinting and other modes are all fantastic ways to learn and practice force production. In fact, in all of the above examples, force is produced during a concentric contraction. Then on the negative portion of a lift an eccentric action of the muscles allows for a lowering of the resistance. In all of these activities, force is produced and then must be reduced and finally stopped, at the ends of the range of motion (the stopping point). So both production and reduction are trained simultaneously. However, the predominant focus in the aforementioned activities is on the production component, and force reduction is generally an afterthought to the primary task of power generation. And while the eccentric action of the muscles during a lift is thought to be force reduction, it is actually just one component of reducing force. Force reduction in athletics is a complex interplay between concentric, eccentric, and proprioceptive actions during the act of reducing force in multiple planes, coupled with the added stress of the external force provided by the opponent. This complex interplay of actions occurs at speeds far beyond those approached in traditional weight training.
The force reduction component is much less understood and attended to. Benefits of force reduction training include: improved body control, the ability to produce repeated bouts of explosive movements (we must be fully stopped in one movement before we can begin the next), and greater capability for absorbing external forces (like a tackle in football or a punch in boxing). While there are specific types of training that are devoted to the practice of this component, the umbrella term used to classify force reduction training is "balance training". All types of balance training, be it Indo boards, Swiss balls, BOSU, dyna discs, wobble boards, foam rollers or simply standing on one leg, deal with the reduction of force, and train an important and necessary component of the total training approach for athletes.
In Part 2 of this article, I will describe specific balance training methods for enhancing the force reduction component, and relate these specific examples to the sport activities that they benefit.
