Strength Training
versus Sports Performance Training
Kyle D. Will, CSCS, RSCC
B.S. Exercise Science, Colorado State University
WillPower Training Studio
USTFCCCA Head Track Coach Certified
USTFCCCA Endurance Event Specialist
When I started personal training here in Central Oregon in
1999, the idea of personal training was still taking off. The fitness craze started back in the 1980’s
and has steadily grown since then. It is
now a multi billion-dollar industry, which has sparked new trends, new fashion,
new terminology and new ways of approaching fitness. It affords seemingly every person an
opportunity to find the type of trainer and training that best suits them and
their goals. All in all it is a great
thing. However it has also spurned a
great deal of confusion, misinformation, misleading advertising and false
claims. One particular area that I feel
is often misunderstood and can be key to a clients success, is understanding
the differences in training for Strength, and training for Sports
Performance. They are similar in some
ways, but they are very different in ways that matter the most.
Historically when an athlete either got to high school or
college, they have been introduced to some sort of weight lifting routine. Coaches for decades have believed that
athletes need to be strong to be competitive.
They have devised elaborate strength training programs, talked about
protein supplements, encouraged athletes to eat a lot of red meat, etc. What they have done is introduce young
athletes to a strength-training program.
These programs are designed to build strength and mass. Athletes typically would focus on 3 or 4 main
lifts and then several auxiliary lifts.
Their routine would most likely include squats, bench press, shoulder
press, bicep curls, triceps work and perhaps dead lifts. With this type of program, they would
typically work, upper body one day, lower body the next, auxiliary lifts, and
then repeat upper/lower/auxiliary. Most
would take the 7th day off, but they would lift 6 days a week. They would do 5 sets of 5, or 3 sets of 6, or
5 sets of 2. Lifting heavy weights and
doing few reps, it didn’t matter if it was slow, in fact it would often be slow
because of the high amount of weight being moved. Over time athletes would develop great
strength gains, as well as physical size.
Both great things for athletes, right?
Well at least it was beneficial for football and everyone knows that is
the “money” sport anyway. But what about
your basketball player, or your soccer player, or XC runner? Do you want them to be bigger and stronger
but slower? In fact do you really want
your football player to be slower?? If
you train slowly you will be slow. Don’t
get me wrong, there is most definitely a place for this type of lifting and it
is an integral part of most good periodized strength and conditioning
programs. However it is a phase in the
program, it is not the whole program.
And depending on the sport, a good strength coach will moderate the
weight lifted and the volume. No longer
can athletes just lift like the football teams used to and expect to get
positive results.
So although there is a place for this type of strength
training, it is not all an athlete needs to do.
Virtually every sport being played in the world today, involves multi
planar movements. They involve rotation
and change of direction. A highly
skilled athlete must be able to accelerate and decelerate in fractions of
seconds. An athlete’s ability to move
laterally, forward and backward quickly and effortlessly change direction is a
large part of what separates the elite from everyone else. Training heavy weights, low reps can be a
part of the General Prep phase of a complete Strength and Conditioning program,
but it shouldn’t be the only phase.
Below is a chart that clearly illustrates some of the major
differences in a Strength Program vs. a Sports Performance Program. It is not all encompassing as there are
hundreds of different combinations of lifts, reps and sets, but it is an
example to show how they are different.
Strength Program
|
Sports Performance Program
|
|
Weight - volume
|
Low
|
Variable - higher
|
Weight – heavy/light
|
Heavy – some % of 1 RM
|
Heavy, moderate and light – weight depends on exercise
|
Reps
|
Low
|
Low then high
|
Sets
|
3-5 sets
|
1-5 sets
|
Multi Planar Movements
|
Single Plane of movement
|
Multi Planar
|
Dynamic or Static
|
Static
|
Dynamic
|
Rotational Movements
|
None
|
Depends on sport but yes
|
Bi Lateral vs. Unilateral
|
Bi Lateral
|
Unilateral and Bi Lateral
|
Plyometrics Used
|
None
|
Used in Specific Prep and Pre Comp and Comp phases
|
Sport Specific Movements
|
None
|
Very sport specific in later Specific Prep and Pre Comp
Phases
|
Power and Speed
|
Not a focus
|
High focus
|
Strength Training programs may involve different phases as
well, but generally if they do, it is related to strength competitions, or body
building competitions. If an athlete is
just looking to get stronger and build muscle, you can expect 4-6 weeks before
you can see a noticeable visual and physical difference. Depending on their training age, there may be
significant “neuro-muscular” strength gains early. If they have been lifting for a while this is
less of a factor. Typically when lifting
for strength an athlete will focus on specific muscles, not movements when
designing their program. For example
they will work on chest, doing bench press or incline dumbbell presses, where
an athlete focusing on sports performance may have their athlete doing plyo
push ups, one arm dumbbell chest press, medicine ball throws, sledge hammer
tire swings, tire pushes, etc…. Another example is for an athlete looking to
gain leg strength the focus of a coach would be on squats and dead lifts
primarily. They also might include
lunges and some machine hamstring work, whereas an athlete training for sport
performance would do things like step ups on a box, quick weighted lateral step
overs on a box, broad jumps, box jumps, kettle bell swings, etc… All more dynamic, multi planar exercises that
better prepare a body for the rigors of sport.
In a good effective Sports Performance program a coach will
progress the athletes from a General Prep Phase where general strength and
neuromuscular adaptation is the focus, to Specific Prep Phase where more multi
planar sport specific types of movements are introduced, to the pre comp phase
where speed, power and explosiveness related to their sport become the focus,
to the final phase, the Competition Phase, where volume goes almost to zero,
but intensity is extremely high, as you are sharpening your athlete to peak for
competition. This is typically near the
end of the sports season, during playoffs and championships. If your athlete is following strength
building program all season, they will be lifting heavy weights, with no regard
for speed or explosiveness, which in fact will hamper what you, are trying to
achieve on the athletic field. In my
experience this is the time of the year where these two programs clash the
most. Tired, sore and slow athletes do
not help coaches and teams win championships!
Fresh, fast and explosive, dynamic, agile athletes do!!
Many sports teams and athletes find success once they
discover weight lifting. There is no
doubt adding a strength component to your sports training can and will improve
your team. General strength can help
injury prevention, and it can even help with speed, as a stronger athlete will
be a faster athlete too. However, the
gains from a strict strength-training program will be limited, whereas the
ceiling from a comprehensive Sports Performance Program is generally much
higher. If you have found success just
doing general strength training, then rest assured you can elevate your
athletes and your teams to a whole new level once you implement a good Sports
Performance Training program. And if you
have no strength component at all, then know that you have a ton of potential
with your athletes and team. I know it
always seems hard to find the time to do all the technical and strategic
preparation you feel you need to do to get ready for your next opponent. And although that remains important, I
challenge you all, coaches and parents, to make the time to add this Strength
and Conditioning (Sports Performance) component to your athletes or teams
routine. Once you have fully implemented
the program trust in the process and understand it will take some time to see
the ultimate end results. However I
promise if you have patience, the results will speak for themselves. It truly can be the difference between being
mediocre and a Champion! A good coach
would never settle for less than excellence from themselves, their athletes and
their program. Adding a Sports
Performance Training component will bring excellence!
As coaches we must seek out and find and utilize the best
resources available to us to make our teams and athletes better. If you are not sure how to implement this
type of program, or if you are currently doing a strength program and want to
take it to a Sports Performance program, then contact a local CSCS Strength
coach in your area. It is time we do
better than the former football player turned PE teacher teaching weights
class. Our athletes deserve better and
they need better. Strength training is a
piece of the puzzle, but just a piece, there is more. Do more today!
