Introduction to Sport Science
What the exam tests
Sport science is the "why" behind program design. Know the General Adaptation Syndrome (alarm, resistance, exhaustion) and how it justifies periodization; the SAID principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands); progressive overload and specificity. Know the periodization hierarchy: macrocycle (annual or multi-year), mesocycle (weeks to months), microcycle (typically a week). Know the stretch-shortening cycle in three phases - eccentric (elastic energy stored, muscle spindle activated), amortization (the transition, which must be brief), and concentric (energy utilization) - and that a long amortization phase leaks elastic energy as heat and lowers power output. Neuromuscular concepts: the size principle of motor unit recruitment, rate coding, rate of force development, the force-velocity relationship (as load rises, velocity falls), power as force times velocity, length-tension relationships, force-couples, and the muscle spindle versus the Golgi tendon organ (spindle senses stretch and excites; GTO senses tension and inhibits).
Traps
- GAS stages get scrambled in distractors; exhaustion is the maladaptation stage, not the adaptation stage.
- Power is not maximal strength. A heavy 1RM is a strength test; a jump is a power test.
- The amortization phase is measured in milliseconds; lengthening it is a fault, not a goal.
- Spindle and GTO are frequently swapped - spindle facilitates, GTO inhibits.
Rule of thumb
If the amortization phase is long, the drill is too slow, the box too high, or the load too heavy - the elastic contribution is gone and the movement becomes purely muscular.
Worked example
An athlete's countermovement jump barely exceeds a static squat jump. That suggests poor stretch-shortening cycle use: reduce depth-jump box height, emphasize quick ground contact, and cue "land and leave." Reassess the jump after several weeks.