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In this article I will discuss a couple of topics. The first, not any more important than the second, is about the role of strength training in improving performance of field, court sport, and other non-weightlifting sports. (Weightlifting sports are power lifting and Olympic lifting).
In my opinion the most important abilities and skills to develop for athletes are the individual sports skills, such as dribbling a ball or hitting a pitch. In order for these skills and abilities to mature, the athlete would have had to develop coordination abilities throughout the early stages of development. So when an athlete develops these fine and gross motor coordination abilities, they now have a nice foundation to develop specific skills such as the dribbling and hitting skills I mentioned above.
How does strength play a role in this? Well, strength can improve the speeds and intensities at which the skills can be performed, to a certain extent. Also, strength can reduce the potential for injury due to participating in sport. My concern has always been how much strength is enough.
Let me give you some examples. I have always enjoyed watching the athletes of the past perform, not only for pure enjoyment of their talent, but to see how the athletics have evolved. Anyone that is a fan of basketball knows Pete Maravich. His dominating athletic abilities were his tremendous ball skills, coordination, and awareness. He is the all time leading NCAA scorer. Yet if you look at Pete's physical body he looked completely lacking in strength and power. Of course this wasn't true, but the question I have is, “How much more talented would he have been if he would have been stronger?” There is no doubt that improved strength could have helped him potentially avoid injuries, and maybe given him slightly more speed and explosiveness, but would it have made that big of a difference in his game.
Now, let's look at the sport of football and a player like Jim Brown. Without question one of the most feared and talented players of his generation and other generations. How much greater would he have been if he was even stronger? Most of his strength was genetic. He was a dominating player with speed, quickness, and agility, but he was definitely known for his strength and power. Would he have been that much better if he had gone through a strength program of today?
I will give an anonymous example in a moment, but I want to make a point first. Are the strength training programs that are undertaken today going to be the difference maker in most athletes becoming successful in their sport? This is a difficult question to answer outright, because so many sports do require raw strength and to play in a particular position, so increases in strength are important.
There is a power lifter who is one of the best in the world in his weight class which happens to be 250-275 lbs. He has tremendous strength in his sport of power lifting. He also participated at the semi-pro level in football as a lineman. He was a subpar football player. He was not able to dominate as one might think due to his overwhelming strength difference to any opponent. Now that was kind of a crazy statement, because there are so many other aspects of being a good football player. This brings me to my next point. He obviously had the strength levels, but lacked in the skill department. This goes to show you that strength without skill will most likely produce low results. It can also be argued that good skills with low strength levels can lower results. My feelings on this are if an athlete has great skill and average strength he or she can still dominate a sport. But I do not feel this is the same when an athlete has great strength and low skill.
So, I guess my point to this entire topic is that I feel much of the strength and conditioning field is getting more focus directed toward the strength aspects of sports performance than the skill aspect.
I am not saying most strength and conditioning coaches don’t realize this, but I wonder if they are actively looking at the quality of time spent on strength training versus skill development.
Does it really matter if I have a 500 lb squat if I am a basketball player? Would a squat of 300 lbs be enough along with great stability, expression of power, body control, skill, and many other abilities? Now, I know the response to this will be, “Well, why not have all those abilities and a 500 lb squat?” My major concern with that is the excessive loading that must occur to the spine and joints on an on going basis. In the short term, two or three years, it may be fine. There may be terrific results, but what about as the athlete ages, or what about the risk to safety ratio. The more load, the greater the chance of injury with the slightest mistake in form. I can completely understand the argument from the other side (the people that push for greater and greater loads to improve absolute strength levels), but my personal feelings have led me down a different path, but still after the same goals and results, improved performance and reduces injuries.
This leads me into the main segment of this article. There is no doubt that if an athlete is going to improve strength, he or she must train at intensities high enough to elicit a strength response. Where I differ from many strength professionals over the years is my approach.
My thought process over the years has been to increase the loading on the muscular system and nervous system in a way that challenges the athlete and brings about a strength response, yet lessens the load on the spine and joints. Much of my training over the past years has involved single leg exercises for both hip bending and knee bending. I found that not only do I get incredible strength gains I increase the overall stability and body awareness of the athlete. Yet, I lower the risk of back and joint injury tremendously.
Many people feel that single leg exercises can't load the body enough to gain true strength gains. I have athletes perform maximal lifts just as I would if I were to perform double leg squatting. The difference is that the athlete will not have the same loads on the spine and joints.
I know this article is directed toward lower body training, but I do the same forms of training with the upper body. I use dumbbells to load the pushing motions. This forces a greater nervous system response due to the stability factor.
Lastly, I want to address a topic that often stirs up a lot of discussion. The topic deals with loading the body under unstable conditions. I have always been a fan of creating strength in situations that require the athlete to balance more than usual. For example, I like the single leg squatting, lunging, stepping up and bending for the lower body; I use dumbbell loading for the upper body; and I use tubing or cable work for pulling, along with many other variations of pulling. But, I also will take it a step further when trying to increase strength levels. I like to challenge my athlete with the use of stability balls; performing exercises with one less point of stability on the floor (push-ups with one leg on a ball). I know these are not ground breaking exercises or form training, but I feel they do more than simply increase raw strength. They force the athlete to learn how to apply force under unstable settings. This in itself is a valuable tool, since the athlete is often in unstable situations during the game, but still must apply strength.
I could go on and on about why I do what I do when it comes to strength training. I could also go on and on about the benefits of using extremely high loads in standard double leg squatting, bench pressing, or any other form of lifting. I know they work and I know they can be safe at times. The big questions that I had to answer for myself where these:
-Could I increase strength levels and not produce high levels of spine and joint stress?
-Am I doing all that I can to reduce the possibility of injury while improving strength?
-Finally, what can I do to improve strength, reduce the possibility of injury, and involve a learning process of stability through strength training that will have a high carry over to the playing field or court?
I found that using unilateral training, introducing situations where the athlete must learn to control the body under strength movements, and by taking great loads off the athlete’s spine and joints will accomplish all the things that I set out to accomplish.
I never try to forget that my role is to improve sport performance and reduce injury potential, not to be the dominating training factor in an athlete's life which should be left for skill development. |
