Anatomical Adaptation
Russ Ebbets, DC

    In the celebrity culture that has evolved in the US one of the pre-eminent goals of “the American Way” is to always “look good.” This runs counter to one of our earliest parental lessons that you can’t tell a book by its cover but the reality is that first impressions are lasting and we know we all do it.
    There is an application of this faulty thought pattern to sport or at least athletic activities. Bodybuilding is an activity where one endeavors to create a muscular physique that has an aesthetic appeal. This physique is produced through the development of muscle bulk that is more fashion than function. If there is any doubt I would direct you to the Internet to look up “the world’s biggest biceps” or “the world’s biggest calves” to witness a grotesque display of aesthetics run amuck.
    When I studied in the Soviet Union the sports professors scanned our glossy fitness magazines with great incredulity. While there was no doubt some voyeuristic appeal to the telling pictures the question that quickly followed was – why would someone do something like this? What was the function?
    What escaped the Russians was that they were evidencing a culture clash of “looking good” versus “being good.” For a performance based athlete from a performance based culture the deeper concern lies not in the book’s cover but rather the book’s content.
    We actually have an example of this in running. Were we to poll members of the Hudson Mohawk Road Runners Club as to why they run no doubt the more frequent answers would include the sentiments of “aerobic development” and “cardio-vascular health.” These thoughts are an outgrowth of the running revolution of the 80’s championed by Kenneth Cooper’s Aerobics and the work he pioneered at the Cooper Institute in Texas.
    Aerobic training is a paradigm, or thought-belief system that most runners blindly adhere to never considering that there could be another way. To most, to even consider that aerobic development is not the be-all and end-all is heretical, akin to the bumper sticker – God is Dead.
    Anatomical adaptation is a concept where the body is trained or prepared in such a way to be able to safely and successfully meet the demands of running or sport in general. Anatomical adaptation is a series of exercises, sport specific, that focus on developing strength and functional integrity of the ligaments, tendons and joint capsules of the body. I'm willing to bet big money that you’ve never looked in the mirror to secretly admire the development of your ligaments, tendons or joint capsules. At its most basic level anatomical adaptation can be understood as “training to train.”
    But how does one train these holding elements? Effectively a ligament or tendon has little to no contractile qualities and any “sense” one has from these tissues is only when they are sprained, overused or otherwise injured. The training of these tissues is not on the radar screen of most runners, particularly those whose sole understanding of training is in the aerobic paradigm.
    To train the ligaments and tendons requires one to shift gears and broaden the athletic preparation experience to include strength work and skill development. It requires the paradigm shift.
    Before we go on, please understand that I am not discounting the importance and necessity of aerobic development for the runner or endurance athlete. What I am suggesting is that one needs to broaden the understanding of the demands of sport and appreciate what needs to be accomplished for a higher level training to get done.
    The body adapts to the stresses placed upon it. To develop ligament and tendon strength and stability one must devise exercises that stress these holding elements.
    Strength training is the simplest way. There are several reasons for this. Weight training is the most common form of strength training but here we must clarify that the work required is full body training. Note that you do not need a ton of equipment to do this.
    One exercise is to use a 6-10 pound medicine ball. Touch the ball on the ground between the legs and then raise it over your head. This is what is called a multi-link exercise. You are using many, many muscle groups and multiple joint complexes to get this done. What you are accomplishing is to develop strength and coordination of the whole body, not just a specific focus on something like the biceps or quads that one might get by simply doing a bodybuilding exercise.
    A second exercise is to consider circuit training. Circuit training is a series of exercises done one after the other. A common pattern is 30-15, 30 seconds of exercise followed by 15 seconds of rest. What exercises are done? The list is almost endless; push-ups, sit-ups, squat thrusts, jumping jacks, short sprints, etc. You are only limited by your imagination. Putting the exercises on index cards, shuffling the cards further allows for an almost endless variety. How many exercises you do is determined by your fitness level. Start with 8-10 stations and as fitness improves go to 15-20.
    Circuit training can be done as part of a warm-up or used as conditioning after the main part of a workout is completed. For the endurance athlete circuit training allows for the design of a workout using diverse skills creating a greater skill inventory, strengthening the holding elements of joints that would not normally be addressed with simple linear running work day after day. It also costs very little money and could be done in your cellar or back yard.
    A final area of attention is the foot drills. We have frequently talked on this subject before in previous columns. The use of inverted, everted, toe-in/out, heel and toe walking will clarify the nerve pathways to the foot, improve balance and proprioception of the foot, strengthen the ligaments and tendons of the foot and subsequently improve force application. This is a tremendous return for three minutes work. Google “foot drills” if you need more particulars.
    For the competitive runner speed qualities are necessary for success. Speed is a function of strength, not one's aerobic base. Certainly aerobic work will constitute the majority of training for the endurance athlete. But a critical component towards increasing both quality and quantity of one’s aerobic work will be the attention throughout a training season to focused strength work that will create stronger, more stable holding elements (ligaments and tendons) creating within the body a state we have termed anatomical adaptation.

    Dr. Russ Ebbets is editor of Track Coach Magazine, the technical journal of USATF. He is author of the novel Supernova on the famed running program at Villanova University. Copies are available for $10.95 plus $2. S&H from PO Box 229, Union Springs, NY 13160. He can be contacted at spinedoctor229@hotmail.com