Weakness is the Biggest Risk of Injury!

Strong Tissues are Healthy Tissues

Whether it’s for injury rehabilitation, recreational fitness or sporting performance a continuous goal should always be to increase load absorbing capacity (tensile strength) of your tissues. It is a common misconception that non-contact injuries occur from a single “event”, in reality, there is normally a series of minor events that lead to the breaking point. Although there are many predisposing factors that can lead to injury, many of them share a common antidote…… improving your tolerance to external forces.

The Process of Injury

Injuries occur through a mechanical breakdown of soft or contractile tissue, as a result of external forces from a given exercise exceeding an individual’s level of tolerance towards the exercise. This can be presented by a graph like the one below.

This is probably the most commonly believed way an injury occurs. The area below the tolerance line in known as the margin of safety, loads performed in this area will not lead to mechanical breakdown of your tissues. However, in this graph the level of tolerance has been exceeded via a load too strenuous for the athlete. This mechanism of injury tends to be associated with heavy weightlifting exercises, normally at the beginning of a session when an athlete has a lower risk of fatigue and feels they are at their greatest level of readiness.

This representation is commonly seen within athletes who are overreaching (an acute period of purposely overtraining in order for increased athletic performance) in their training programmes. During this phase athletes test new maximum effort lifts and use very high intensities to promote adaptation. Although commonly used to boost athletic ability it also increases the risk of injury through elevated taxation upon tissues compared to normal training loads.  

Although injury can happen by the use of a single repetition with excessive loading (>100% of 1RM), many incidences of injury occur from submaximal loads. Injury can be achieved via excessive repetition of submaximal loads as shown below.

Compared to the first mechanism of injury through loading, this mechanism tends to occur later on during a training session. The amount of load will determine the rate it takes to exceed the margin of safety; tissues will tolerate more repetitions with a lower load for a longer period of time compared to higher loads used for the same exercise.

It is also important to understand that the additional forces placed upon the body during physical activity doesn’t necessary come from movement. Unlike the previous mechanisms of injury, the following graph represents a breakdown in tissue tolerance from a sustained position.

As shown in the graph, the level of load is greater than at rest and places continuious stress on the tissues for the length of which it is held. If this position is held until it mets the level of tolerance it will cause tissues breakdown. This process of injury tends to occur most commonly to the back, during endurance exercise. Exercises such as cycling and running, the load on the spine is fairly low yet the maintaince of withholding a static position; allowing to transfer load efficiency from side to side and from upper extremities to lower extremities, can lead to tissue breakdown. Muscle inhabitation (relaxation or “switching off” of muscle) and fatigue of stabilising muscles of the spine, alters the positioning of the vertebrae making the spine more vulnerable to excess loads through being challenged in directions it was not necessarily designed for.

Why Strength is the Answer

When we talk about improving an individual’s tolerance to load, its strength we will be looking at to improve. An increased level of strength helps an athlete in an variety of ways, yet it’s not always about training to be able to lift more or sustain a position for longer, but rather improving all forms of strength to enhance athletic development. The different forms of strength include: 

Maximal Strength- the maximum amount of force you can deliver from a muscular contraction.

Strength Speed- the ability to move a high level of resistance as fast as you can.

Speed Strength- the ability to move at very high speeds against resistance.

Strength Endurance- the ability to sustain a movement for a long period of time without any breakdown.  

It’s vital regardless of the sport to include all forms of strength in your training. The ratio of the mentioned forms of strength will vary from sport to sport for example; powerlifters will focus more on maximum strength compared to triathletes who will tend to focus on strength endurance, yet elements of the other forms should still be performed.

Remember our bodies adapt and change to stimulus of which we place on them. All sports place a higher physiological demand upon the body which athletic training aims to prepare us for. With this In mind, covering the whole spectrum of strength taxes your muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints allowing you to tolerate more load, for longer, with a greater volume load.

Looking at the graphs above we should always be aiming to increase the height the tolerance curve (maximal strength) whilst decreasing the gradient (strength speed, speed strength and strength endurance). If the tolerance curve is greater in height with greater area underneath a greater level of training volume can be applied, thus improving athletic development.

Athletes will transition between the various types of strength throughout different phases of their periodisation; off-season focus and training methods will differ compared to in-season training outcomes. Such methods allow for a more strength balanced athlete optimising carry over benefits from the various forms without hindering performance. Throughout an athlete’s periodisation different parts of the tolerance curve will improve with the different phases of training. An illustration of how the tolerance curve can change from different forms of strength training is shown below.

The different coloured curves represent the effects upon an athlete’s tolerance capacity from the training stimulus of a particular variant of strength. As you can see all forms of strength increase the area under the tolerance curve (your capacity), yet all favour a particular portion of the curve. Maximal strength and strength speed favour the top of the curve while speed strength and strength endurance favour the tail end.

It is important to understand where on the tolerance line and period within your training you are lacking, experiencing muscle failure or repetitive injury as it is a good indicator of which variant of strength you are missing and thus need to focus on.

Consider your sporting discipline, is it more maximal strength focused or strength endurance focused? These factors will heavily influence your tolerance capacity as well as foreshadowing risks of injury. For example, those specialised in more maximal strength focused sports who have little experience in strength endurance could be more likely to get injured when volume and duration of training are increased, compared to those specialised in strength endurance and lack experience with maximal strength, who are at a greater risk when intensity and load is increased. 

With good coaching, efficient training and those with greater experience, an individual’s tolerance capacity will alter to be more specialised in their sporting discipline. But if you look at the graph above you can see how a combination of all forms of strength elevate an athlete’s tolerance to load, but also maintains the shape of the line. This allows them to be more tailored to the sport yet tolerate a greater capacity and thus reduce chance of injury.

Illustrated on the graph you will be able to see that at some point along the potential tolerance line each form of strength goes above the line itself. Within a macrocycle (a period of athletic training normally lasting 1-4 years) there is multiple mesocycles (periods of athletic training lasting 2-6months) which tend to focus solely on one variant of strength at a time. Although the majority of benefits ofe will remain, there will be a slight loss in specialisation of that particular strength when the next mesocycle is performed.          

The slight loss of area under the tolerance line from the specialisation adaptation of one variant of strength is compensated for by a greater overall area with increased tolerance towards all forms of strength.  

Many athletes find altering the focus to a new variant of strength which they have less experience with can help with performance plateaus and help maintain motivation via a new form of stimulas. Focusing on your weak areas or unexperienced areas will make you a more successful, longer lasting athlete. You are only as strong as your weakest link!

To Sum Up

• You have a tolerance to load which can be exceeded during training or sport participation causing injury.

• Injury can occur through various forms of exercise not just heavy lifting.

• Being stronger improves your tolerance capacity to load.

• Training a singular form of strength is not ideal as it limits carry over to performance and develops weaknesses.

• Specialisation of a singular form of strength can be a predisposing factor to injury.

• Many athletes will use all forms of strength in different training periods over a year or training season with good reason.

• YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BE AIMING TO INCREASE YOUR ABILITY TO TOLERANCE LOAD!