Truth about Sport Specific Training

P.K. Subban (Hockey) Performing 400m Sprints after Weightlifting Sessions

When a strength and conditioning coach works with an athlete, there is a lot of thought and planning that goes into each program. However, the main focus is simple: to make you stronger and better conditioned to perform optimally in your sport. A strength and conditioning coach will typically address four main areas during a training program. These may include: strength and power; the appropriate energy systems for the player’s sport, position, and style of play; assisting in recovery; and reducing the potential for injury.

Athletes choose to train with strength and conditioning coaches for a variety of reasons. Mainly, S&C coaches are experts in modifying resistance training programs, exercise safety, nutrition, recovery, and motivation. In addition, most athletes have more important things to worry about than studying all year to prepare themselves to write an off-season training program for themselves, and they can‘t waste time fooling around on their own.

Dylan Oborne (Baseball) Performing Snatches for Explosive Training

Strength and conditioning are designed to improve strength qualities that are specific to athletic movements.

Just to clarify, the goal of a strength program is to improve STRENGTH QUALITIES that are specific to athletic movements.

The strength qualities that are required for most North American sports, such as football, hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, etc. include maximal, starting, rotational, explosive and reactive strength; the rate of force development; acceleration and deceleration; stability, and many more.

It is a combination of these qualities that allow an athlete to perform complex GENERAL athletic movements that are demanded by their sports. These athletic movements can be cyclic, such as running, swimming, skating, cycling, back pedaling, side shuffling, etc., or they can be acyclic, such as throwing, jumping, swinging a bat, taking a slap shot, etc.

Lucas W (Hockey) performing Maximum Effort Box Jumps

It is important to understand that there is no “single” way to train these strength qualities, but there are superior methods and inferior methods. Some strength coaches have made a living off marketing their training style as “sports specific” to athletes of all ages and skill levels. Sports specific training methods claim to directly translate the performance of the exercise in the weight room into game time performance.

I have seen some ridiculous examples of sports specific exercises, from baseball players throwing weighted balls, or sprinters training on treadmills for speed, to golfers with resistance bands attached to their shoulder, hip, wrist, and club head (true story, a golf pro tried to market this product he was developing for the club he worked at!).

Being a Canadian, I also see a lot of terrible exercises and products aimed at our hockey players. One athlete recently mentioned that his skating coach suggested he do his weight training in a shoe that mimicked a hockey boot.

How do you suppose you can do a proper squat if you can’t flex your ankles? Other popular sports specific gimmicks geared towards our hockey players are skating treadmills and slide boards.

The truth behind these sports specific training methods is stunning.

Nothing is going to give you the same “sports specific” results that playing your sport will give you. If you want to use a skating treadmill you will only mess up your motor patterns and create bad habits. When you get off the skating treadmill and hit the real ice, you will find that everything feels different. If you are using a slide board to improve your stride, think about how often you slide laterally with both feet facing forwards. Don’t get me wrong, I think slide boards can be a useful way to develop lateral movement strength in a low-impact manner, or for thoracic rotation and a variety of other exercises, but keep it in the physio clinic.

Gordon Whyte (Football) Performing Farmers Walk

Sports specific training should be left to the sports specific coaches: your goalie coach, your batting coach, your golf instructor, your tackling coach, your spiking coach, etc. If you need to improve a certain skill that your sport requires, consult your coaching staff and private skill coaches because they are the experts for improving your game time needs.

The overlap between a strength coach and sports specificity is found during conditioning. If you play a field or court sport, your energy systems training can include an aspect of your sport. For example, it wouldn’t be uncommon to do sprints while controlling a soccer ball, to sprint to the volleyball net and jump for a block or spike, to sprint your receiver route and catch a pass, or many other examples. Hockey players may skate with the puck, lacrosse players may run with their sticks, and basketball players may run while dribbling the ball.

Therefore, TRUE sports specific training doesn’t need to include fancy equipment.

In fact, some studies have shown that you can train for explosive strength in the gym and incorporate a sports specific action, such as jumping, sprinting, and change of direction, directly after your lift to help improve sports specific performance (such as power cleans followed by hurdle jumps or sprints).

Even without incorporating this “complex training,” training strength and power qualities on their own have been shown to improve specific sports actions, such as the jumping ability. Focus on the lifts that are multi-joint, multi-planar, double-leg and single-leg supported, because those are the types of athletic actions you will encounter during the game.

Fabion Foote (Football) Performing Eccentric Bench Press

So don’t feel cheated if you can’t train at the football-specific facility because they do the “football specific lifts”.

It is important to identify the qualities that your sports and positions demand and work on training to improve those qualities. You might have a sloppy swing, but by being more explosive and having more rotational strength you will have the power to send the ball over the fence.

Talk to your batting coach during the pre-season to work on your swing technique and you’ll see the difference. If you need to work on your stride, lace up your skates and find a rink. Proper training in the weight room will give you the capacity to work harder and move more freely on the ice, but your skating coach will help you fine-tune the specific motor patterns needed for a good stride.

Remember to do your research before you invest your time and your money. An open mind is great, but don’t be fooled because there are a lot of unproven methods and scams going around. Go to the experts and get the results you’re looking for.

Stay Strong.

Sources

Szymanski, DJ, (2007) Collegiate Baseball In-Season Training. Strength and Conditioning Journal; 29, 4; pg. 68-81

Meylan, C; Malatesta, D. (2009) Effects of In-Season Plyometric Training Within Soccer Practice on Explosive Actions of Young Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research; 23, 9; pg. 2605-2615

Bennett, S. (2006) Sport Specificity: How Far Do You Take It?. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 28, 4; pg. 29 – 30.

Sheppard, J., Cronin, J., Gabbett, T., McGuigan, M., Etxebarria, N., Newton, R. (2008) Relative Importance of Strength, Power, and Anthropometric Measures to Jump Performance of Elite Volleyball Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 22, 3; pg. 758 – 765.

Castillo-Rodriguez, A., Fernandez-Garcia, J., Chinchilla-Minguet, J., Alvarez Carnero, E. (2012). Relationship Between Muscular Strength and Sprints with Changes of Direction. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26, 3; pg. 725 – 732.

Comfort, P., Haigh, A., Matthews, M. (2012). Are Changes in Maximal Squat Strength During Preseason Training Reflected in Changes in Sprint Performance in Rugby League Players? Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26, 3; pg. 772 – 776.