Strength Training For Athletes If you’ve been reading my articles these past few weeks you will have noticed I have been talking a lot about the benefits of strength training. I put a huge emphasis on strength training in my programming because I believe it is the most important aspect of fitness. Building a solid strength foundation will automatically improve other aspects of fitness such as power, speed and even endurance, especially in those who are new to training. After talking about the benefits of strength work on general health and for women, this week I’m going to discuss the positive effects weight training can have on athletic performance.

Having grown up in the West of Scotland, I know only too well how serious people take their sport, especially football. However, from my own experience playing the game for years, I have noticed that this commitment to their sport is not represented in their training.

Most recreational teams will train one or two nights per week with a game at the weekend. Outwith professional teams very little time will be given to developing strength qualities. It is up to the individual what they choose to do on those other days but from what I see a lot of wrong choices are made. Extra endurance training is a favourite with football players with road runs or cycles usually the first choice. Players that do go to the gym usually opt for machine based weights and train with moderate to light weights for high reps, again targeting endurance over strength or power. One of the major reasons people involved in sports avoid lifting heavy is due to the belief that it will make them bulky and slow. This is a major fallacy as one of the great things about lifting heavy weights is if you keep the volume low you can make great gains without putting on too much muscle mass.

Look at American football players and tell me that their increased muscle mass has slowed them down! No, by increasing your strength in exercises like the squat or bench press you will increase your rate of force development, a major factor in improving power and speed. If you are a 75kg midfielder for a football team and you improve your squat max by 20kg while maintaining your bodyweight I guarantee you will have slightly improved your speed and power output and that is without any specific training. This can only benefit your performance on the pitch but these type of results are not only limited to football.

Sports that involve weight divisions such as boxing and mixed martial arts usually focus on endurance type training or high intensity intervals. Although I understand the need for great aerobic capacity in these sports I feel the endless hours spent pounding the streets and performing circuits are a matter of tradition rather than smart training.

A stronger boxer would be able to deliver more powerful punches and no matter how many miles their opponent clocked up on the roads in training they won’t stand a chance against the guy that has incorporated heavy weights into his training. In MMA your endurance levels will run out very quickly if you are constantly fighting against your opponent’s superior strength just to get out of holds.

The aforementioned old school traditions in those type of sports also occur in amateur and semi-professional football. Most players will prepare for the dreaded pre-season phase by performing continuous steady state aerobic work because football is a game that lasts 90 minutes. However, it is a game that involves lots of intermittent actions such as turning, sprinting and jumping, actions that all benefit from increased strength.

The off season from any sport should involve a phase of general physical preparedness (GPP) where baseline strength levels are measured and then improved by following a basic strength training protocol. By concentrating on strength I can assure you that you’re endurance won’t suffer too much and as you progress through pre-season and into more sport specific training, you will notice the effects of your new found strength. Speed, power, endurance and resistance to injury and fatigue are vital to athletic performance, so if you want to improve all these variables, get stronger.