Georgia Personal Training

Sport Specific Strength Training

Lifting weights does not necessarily lead to better performance on the field.  You can build all the muscle you want, but if that muscle doesn’t translate to your specific sport, it will have little or no impact on your performance.  Many young athletes have the misconception that all muscle mass is good and equates to more strength.  What they don’t understand is that muscle is only useful to an athlete if it is utilized in the specific movements of their sport.  For example, swimming is typically referred to as a total body sport.  However, there are several key muscle groups that do the majority of the work during all swimming strokes.  The lats, the legs, the shoulders, and the core.  One major muscle group that doesn’t play much of a role in swimming is the chest.  So imagine a swimmer that wants to build more power and speed in the pool getting on a heavy bench press regimen. Will building a massive chest do anything to improve performance in a sport that relies almost entirely on a strong back, core, and legs? The answer is obviously no.  Just building non-specific muscle mass will not make you better in your chosen sport.  In fact the additional mass could end up impacting the athlete in a negative way.  Baseball, for example, is a sport that requires speed, explosiveness, technique, and fluidity of motion.  A steady diet of heavy bench press, military press, and bicep curls will destroy those attributes in no time.  Unfortunately, many local high schools are still incorporating these types of bodybuilding workouts during their team lifting sessions to the detriment of their athletes.

There are many antiquated notions and false assumptions floating around out there about strength training for athletes. Most of this misinformation comes from well meaning but uninformed parents, misguided coaches, and poorly qualified trainers with a limited scope of science based knowledge.

Here’s a few Completely False statements an athlete or parent might hear when looking to begin a strength training program.

1.  Lifting weights will increase your risk of injury.

The truth is, strength training both decreases the possibility of and lessons the severity of sports related injuries. A year-round comprehensive strength training program will lead to musculo-tendon units that are more resilient to the stresses and impact sustained in athletic activities. Muscles and tendons are basically shock absorbers. The stronger and more pliable they are, the less likely an athlete is to suffer ligament tears, muscle pulls, and other joint related injuries. Additionally, stronger muscle and connective tissue tends to heal at a faster rate when injury does occur.

2.  Strength training will make you stiff, robotic, and bulky.

To the contrary, full range strength training movements in combination with plyometrics have been shown to significantly increase an athletes flexibility, speed, agility, quickness, and overall athleticism.

3.  Strength training will decrease speed.

In reality, strength training is a primary and essential component of speed training. An athlete’s speed is greatly determined by the amount of force he or she can generate into the ground during the ground strike phase of a stride. Larger, stronger muscle fibers (especially “fast twitch”) will result in a higher level of overall muscle force production which means more powerful strides and faster sprint times.

4.  Younger athletes shouldn’t lift weights. It can stunt their growth.

Every athlete, regardless of age, can benefit from a properly designed strength training program. There is no evidence whatsoever that lifting weights will stunt a child’s growth. The extra care that should be taken with a younger athlete has more to do with their level of focus, understanding, and technical proficiency. The scientific consensus is that by the age of 13 an athlete can safely participate in most high intensity weight lifting movements. However, the stage of physical and mental maturity of each individual athlete should be taken into consideration when developing a strength training program.

5.  Players shouldn’t lift weights during the season.

This is without a doubt the most irritating and ridiculous concept a trainer of athletes encounters. The best athletes in the world are training year round no matter the sport. MLB players have a game almost every single day for 6 months straight, and the majority of them still strength train a minimum of three days per week during the season. NFL players strength train religiously all season long because they know it’s the only way their bodies will endure 16 straight weeks of pounding and abuse. So when I hear these kinds of statements from parents and coaches my first question is always, “If professional athletes lift during the season, why would aspiring professional athletes choose not to?”

In season or not, their is no science whatsoever to support an athlete benefiting from not strength training. Strength training improves every aspect of an athlete’s on field performance. Speed, power, explosiveness, flexibility, metabolism, and resistance to injury. A player in optimal condition is more equipped to perform at their highest level and less likely to be derailed by injury. For those athletes that have bought into the importance of strength training, but are still on the fence about lifting during the season remember this. Gains made in the weight room are not permanent. Just like your body adapts to the increase in muscular stress induced by strength training, there is a reverse adaptation that occurs when one stops lifting for extended periods of time. Which is the athlete gets weaker.

So how should a young athlete, with dreams of college sports and beyond, approach strength training?  It’s very simple.  You must train in a specific manner with the focus being to increase strength and power in the muscle groups most utilized in your sport.  Furthermore, you need to incorporate movements in training that simulate the movements of that sport and positively impact your ability to perform them.  A baseball player needs to specifically train rotational strength and power in order to generate more bat speed.  A basketball player needs to increase strength and explosiveness in the quads, hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors to improve their vertical jump.  A quarterback needs to increase strength and stability in his legs, hips, core, and throwing shoulder to increase passing velocity and avoid potential injuries.  Each individual sport has its own unique set of physical demands for an athlete.  This is where training with a sports performance specialist makes all the difference.  At GPT our mission is to make you the best possible athlete for your chosen sport.  We design specific strength training programs for our clients based on their sport, position, athletic strengths and weaknesses, age, fitness level, physical limitations, and their personal goals. We want our athletes to be as strong as possible, but we have only done our job if that strength translates into more home runs, faster sprint times, and higher velocity.  At GPT we are in the business of building champions, not bigger biceps.