With the Olympics in full swing, random channel-surfing may accidentally hook you onto some interesting new sport you never thought might tickle your fancy.

This time round I’m loving the fencing. While many sports involve more apparent aggression, it’s easy to get caught up in the grace and artistry of fencing before realising that it’s ultimately based on two people duelling with swords, attempting to deliver fatal stabs to the heart. The skill, agility, timing and mental fortitude required to win at fencing make it a truly fascinating and entertaining sporting spectacle.

A great thing about the Olympics is that it acts as a showcase for such sports and whets appetites of those the world over wishing to have a go, whatever their age. Participation in organised sport typically rises following editions of the Olympic games, particularly in the hosting nations.

So if you would like to consider trying out something new, now would be a great time to do it. It was in this spirit that a close friend recently asked for my help in his bid to complete a triathlon in about a year’s time, purely for the experience and challenge of it all.

I immediately advised him to seek the assistance of a specialised triathlon coach, or a qualified exercise professional with competitive experience in the discipline. He insisted though, that before he does that, he would prefer to build a sound base of general fitness first, if nothing else then to get back to his previous fitness levels he had enjoyed before circumstances had made it more difficult for him to maintain his exercise routine. I couldn’t say no, so this all got me thinking.

I’ve coached some sports in the past, and often found numerous issues to ‘fix’ before a new athlete could be considered truly ready to learn, practise and develop their skills. Upon agreeing to assist my friend, I therefore put my coaching hat on and placed myself in the shoes of the specialised coach that would at some point take over in turning this generally fit person into a triathlete. So what would I like to see from a keen new athlete walking through my sport-specific gym doors?

Many of us lack the flexibility to even run or sit down onto a chair correctly

When I thought about the problem systematically, I figured most sports coaches would probably be quite pleased with the same universal qualities, which means that a good foundation of a fitness programme could help almost anyone wishing to gain entry into pretty much any sport or new form of physically active leisure. So if you’re tempted to take the plunge, don’t delay, jump right in and start a general conditioning programme today.

The conditions are fairly simple, and all worth discussing with the fitness instructor in your gym, unless of course you plan your own fitness routines. As a sports coach I would be thrilled to work with a beginner who had a good basic level of cardiovascular endurance, being able to sustain a good work rate in performing the specific movements required by the sport, for an extended period of time.

More specifically, I would be thrilled if my beginner was cardio-vascularly fit enough to endure increasingly challenging sessions without getting excessively tired and losing concentration. Pick a fundamental aerobic training movement that is similar to the movements required by your sport, but not too similar. It is up to coaches to build specific movement patterns, so at this stage, generic movements like running or rowing will suffice.

The second most important quality I would expect from my new athlete is horse-power. I would be very pleased indeed with a beginner who had a good basis of strength, able to exert a good amount of muscular force particularly in the specific movements required by the sport.

If this were cycling, I would want to see the strength of his/her leg muscles was sufficient to indicate some promise; if this were boxing, I would ultimately want to feel strength expressed through the arms in a standing position that was somehow indicative of potentially powerful punches further on down the road.

Strength should exist also in its more subtle forms, to maintain posture and stability of the core. This is ultimately the base of strength on which more specific forms can be built, and few athletic movements can be performed effectively without heavily involving the muscles of the core.

Build your second workout around the basic strength exercises with free weights including the squat and deadlift, an upper-body push and pull vertically and an upper body push and pull horizontally. Finish off with the core, which should include twisting and bending movements.

I would also want my beginner to have good flexibility, be able to exploit a maximal range of movement around the major joints of the body. This is perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of physical preparation for sport and as I, for one, would certainly argue, one of the most important. Performance in sport often depends on an athlete being able to perform a set of movement techniques effectively and efficiently. Maximum force production when jumping, for example, can only occur when the back is held in a neutral position, with the hips set at the correct angle of tilt, so that the muscles of the gluteals, hamstrings and quadriceps can exert force in the precise positions, angles and planes they have evolved through the millennia to operate in.

We often assume flexibility is only required for doing the splits or some other obvious and dramatic expression of maximal ranges of movement. However, it is a sobering fact that many of us lack the flexibility to even run or sit down onto a chair correctly. Good flexibility allows you to learn sport-specific movements and techniques correctly right from the start, facilitating quicker progress. It is common knowledge among coaches that re-learning techniques later on is often much harder than learning them correctly from the start.

matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt