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My first ever 'Robin Hood'

Grahame Cotterill Post 1

• 21 February 2016, 7:16 PM

Psychological characteristics and their development in Olympic champions

Having read this I article I can see why I am not an Olympic Champion! But I do recognise the traits present in many of my paralympian friends and a few missing from some caught out sporting cheats.
Gould, D., Dieffenbach, K. and Moffett, A., 2002. Psychological characteristics and their development in Olympic champions. Journal of applied sport psychology, 14(3), pp.172-204.
DS

Daniel Scott Post 2 in reply to 1

• 23 February 2016, 10:15 AM

On page 191, carried over from the previous page is a bit on genetics. It cites an athlete who says that his ability to tolerate the pain of training was genetic. I think pain tolerance is something that can be trained, I was wondering what everyone else thought?

CD

Christopher Duncan Post 3 in reply to 2

• 23 February 2016, 12:49 PM

Interestingly on that, one of the principles of my own coaching philosophy is "to develop the effectiveness of basic skills under fatigue". Essentially, that is as you state above, learn to still function and tolerate pain. I don't agree that is is purely genetic - as it's something I have developed over the years. How do you go about training this Dan? I try to use a high intensity based exercise at the start of a session before working on basic skills under the fatigued state. Are there any known ways of further developing this?

DS

Daniel Scott Post 4 in reply to 3

• 23 February 2016, 4:26 PM

Some variation of high intensity work either followed by or mixed with skills. Could be conditioning work followed by skills or a conditioning game that works both. In terms of the psychological I like the really high intensity stuff, nothing else really compares for the level of hurt it can bring. However the steady state distance training does bring in a different challenge in that you don't get to stop. As far as physiological adaptations go though I always use high intensity interval training. You get the same, or possibly better, training effects of the steady state work as well as avoiding the problem of morphing your muscle fibre type (the middle fibre type) into slow twitch.

My first ever 'Robin Hood'

Grahame Cotterill Post 6 in reply to 3

• 23 February 2016, 9:03 PM

An interesting point Chris I was listening to Eddie Jones on Radio 4 this morning and there was a discussion on subs and breaks in play leading to players not becoming fatigued with the subsequent greater possibility of injury. Also the comments that English club rugby players were the wrong shape and not fit enough for the faster international rugby. Given that English clubs have other internationals what is being said about the game?

CD

Christopher Duncan Post 8 in reply to 6

• 24 February 2016, 8:36 AM

Seems to agree with the current perception that northern hemisphere is miles behind southern in terms of rugby development. I've been lucky enough to be in the performance gym at Edinburgh Uni whilst both the Australian/SA/All Black's have been in and lifted beside them. They look like "athletes" for want of a better word and across the board I am told lift less than Scottish players who have been in...but as you mention, the big difference is body shape. The coaches highlighted to me that the Scottish & English players carried a lot of extra weight and the difference in speed when they did plyometric exercises was incredible. Not surprised by Jone's view.

My first ever 'Robin Hood'

Grahame Cotterill Post 5 in reply to 2

• 23 February 2016, 8:58 PM

Dan I take your point on training, but pain thresholds vary considerably, it sometimes depends where they start from and how motivated they are as well.

DS

Daniel Scott Post 7 in reply to 5

• 23 February 2016, 9:15 PM

Yes people have different start points, my point though was that it is trainable, not something dictated by genetics.

BW

Britta Wenn Post 9 in reply to 2

• 7 March 2016, 11:11 PM

From the professional  dancers point of view i can say, that the level of pain tolerance can be trained, what is very common within  performing artists. The fear of being  not able to perform, loosing the job, loosing a leading role,  let many dancers to ignore the pain, what is basicly a protection mechanism of our brain. Trained high level of pain tolerance  can lead  often to  heavy dance injuries.  The dancers train themselves not to feel the pain anymore, however the level of pain tolerance depends on each individual dancer. 

Concerning the genetic determinate pain perception: It exit several literature and evidences  about genes and  pain reception: Hereby some;

Trends Genet. 2007 Dec;23(12):605-13. Epub 2007 Nov 26.

Genetic architecture of human pain perception.

Diatchenko L1, Nackley AG, Tchivileva IE, Shabalina SA, Maixner W.

 

Br J Pain. 2013 Nov;7(4):171-8. doi: 10.1177/2049463713506408.

Human pain and genetics: some basics.

James S1.

 

Eur J Neurosci. 2014 Feb;39(3):392-400. doi: 10.1111/ejn.12461.

From genes to pain: nerve growth factor and hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type V.

Capsoni S1.

 

Britta