“Activation” sessions and asymmetries: Are they really that important (?) with Tony Blazevich

This week on the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob is speaking to Professor of Biomechanics, Tony Blazevich. Today it's all about topics that have generated a lot of discussion in recent years and putting them through a scientific and objective lens.

The first half of the episode is all about activation sessions. We have all watched Premier League games on the TV and seen the players walking around with elastic bands around their knees or ankles, or them lying on the floor doing single leg bridges. So what does "activation" or sometimes called "pre-activation" actually do? Does it doing anything? Does it do what we think it does? We dive deep into this topic with Tony.

In the second half of the episode we chat about asymmetries. We chat about the magic 10% rule where if an athlete is <10% asymmetrical in a givem test it seems to be given the green light but >10% and its a problem. Where did that 10% rule actually come from and do we need to be worried about asymmetries? We also chat about how these are actually measured and interchangeability of data from different methods.

Then we finish off with a fun chat about sprint mechanics as this was Tony's area when doing his PhD.

If you wanted a no holds barred look at some popular methods in pro sport, this one is for you.

Main talking points -

• Warm-ups - do we really need them?
• Activation sessions - the good, the bad and the ugly
• Asymmetries and the 10% asymmetry finger in the air
• Methods of assessing asymmetries
• Transferability of asymmetry data - can we infer asymmetries in running from jumping?
• Sprint mechanics
• Using a technical model in team sports
• The (over) use of sprint drills and their role in improving mechanics
• Kinematic analysis