When I first began to heavily research the training of athletes, the BIG Buzz words were "functional training" and "sport specific training".
Everyone and their Mom was training on one leg, using a stability ball, insisted on using pieces of equipment called "functional trainers" - which usually cost between 5 and 10 thousand dollars.
Mind you, this was before you tube came about.... hell, I'm not even sure Google existed at the time.... ha ha
I was brainwashed into thinking those people were right.... Until a Strength Coach said something that hit home HARD.....
It was Josh Henkin, creator of The Ultimate Sandbag....
He asked me 2 simple questions.....
- "Why do the wrestlers in Iowa, Ohio and Pa. always dominate?"
- "Why should wrestlers train on balance discs or wobble boards? Does the wrestling mat wobble?"
It was simple..... these wrestlers often had manual labor jobs for their family, working on barns, digging ditches, swinging sledge hammers, carrying buckets of animal feed, wheel barrows loaded heavy, etc.
In a nut shell: These athletes were brutally strong, had mental toughness, had work capacity and were overall "fit".
Their specific work came from the wrestling itself. Their manual labor and training were all "general strength" or GPP.
So, when someone asks me about sport specific training, these are my thoughts:
[youtube width="640" height="360"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fETQeLebNyE[/youtube]
QOD (Question of The Day): What are your thoughts on sport specific training?
Drop your comments / questions below.
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Stronger Than Yesterday!
--Z--
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19 Responses
Hey coach Z,
Interesting thoughts, and many coaches would normally agree. I think that with technical sports such as being a quarter back in football you need some specific training. Main point is though that if you get strong enough, you can adapt yourself to any sport. Get strong, get quick, get fit. Most sports can then be taught, as long as you have a strong mental attitude.
Agree?
sports specific is the skill work – many confuse similar motions to being sport specific, that is general – specific work.
My line of thinking is this:
“The only type of sport specific training worth doing is the sport itself ” -Chad Waterbury
That is true
Sports specific training is key to any sport. Sports specific training is key when designing a workout. Sports specific does mean going to the field and working on your game. You still have to train the muscles that will be used when competing in your sport. For instance as a baseball player you need to train abs using a twisting motion to strengthen your abs if you dont that leads to abdominal strains etc…. This is a great topic that can spark a debate many people just believe in the basics but you have to add some functional training to spice up your workout routine!
Motions that are similar in nature and strengthen the muscles involved in sport are still NOT SPP
Those are general specific
Baseball also needs static movements to strengthen stabilizers, decelerators, etc.
These are still general specific
The skills are tops, agreed.
I’ve seen many strong & fit athletes but not enough skill to perform at a high level.
All weight training is GPP unless you are a powerlifter or olympic lifter…to paraphrase Jim Wendler and countless other coaches. We try to use the least amount of exercises and the simplest programming to get the biggest results. Training economy is where it is at. The only thing specific an athlete needs to do are pre-hab/re-hab stuff that strengthens areas of common injury in that sport. Again nothing specific there, just having common sense!
Agreed. Thats the nuts and bolts of it.
Make the body strong and healthy first. I see million dollar athletes that perform all these fancy exercises and drills tear an ACL with no contact! I personally feel people get too focused on sport specific and forget general/basic. If you are a quarterback work your drills without weight. Hit the weight room and get stronger and faster using olympic lifts. My lift of choice is the snatch. You will not crank the weight of a clean/jerk, but the explosiveness required to propel that bar above your head will help you be explosive in sport.
If your mind can transfer. You can train to be as fast as you want to be, but if you do not know how to transfer then you will not reap the benefit. That is why you have to do drills. Shuttles or close quarter movements(drop backs, foot movement for quarterbacks. Three/four point stance pulls for linemen. Moves for wrestling) Drill, Drill, Drill! If you have a touch to your throw, and start hitting the weights/bodyweight exercises you better practice throwing because you will over throw people.
Great stuff Z! My Zach turns 5 today!
I think athletes should practice their sport and do drills for that sport for sport specific training—as far as strength training goes i think we should stick with the basics–deadlifts,squats,overhead presses,bench press,cleans, and snatches and then work in accessory work for those and that works for all athletes in all sports—strengthen ur hips,legs,back,chest and shoulders—-then throw in ur conditioning work and also definitely include stretching and mobility work
Jim, this is true.
We see many high level skill athletes w/average “gym strength” and they kick ass
We see many gym monsters w/low skill and they are average at best, and can not compete at higher levels
The skills are critical!
In my business with Boxing/MMA/BJJ training, we do use a few drills that mimic the nature of the sport- but not everything. Doing hooks, uppcpercuts, Grappler’s throws with Battling Ropes are fun to do, and my guys and girls work hard and have fun when we throw these in from time to time- it won’t make you a better fighter. Some of our outdoor training with hard sprints have random sprawls, buddy carries, partner lifts thrown in because the nature of fighting is unpredictable and you need to perform at your best under fatigue many times. We do believe in solid strength training as well- the periodization and types of lifts/ tools we use carry over into other sports as well. We lift to get strong. We run sprints and work with sleds to improve the cardiovascular needs of fighters. We have separate technical sessions to improve the art of fighting- these are done separately.
Zach, everyone knows you’re not a serious functional trainer when doing squats on a stability ball….you need to do squats on 2 stability balls LOL!
Train Mobility/Stability/Balance/Strength/Power…..that is functional training. Then practice your skill. You’ll be amazed at the carry over effect.
i totally agree on the topic of strength training….. thoughts on conditioning being more sport specific? in terms of the athletes energy system being used?
Sport specific training is pretty much useless if you have not invested in GPP training! You should do GPP the 1st part of your preseason/season to ensure that you’re in shape and have addressed muscle imbalances and other issues. To many people just do sport specific training and we see all these ACL, Achilles, hamstring, shoulders etc issues, and don’t get me started on baseball (Grade school kids having Tommy Johns). If you’re a runner or any athlele you want to train all the energy system(s) involved in your sport…. some more that others depending on your race or sport. Sprinters and linemen (anaerobic ppl) should never train doing long slow running, however distance runners and soccer players (aerobic ppl) do have to work on their speed.
Hi Zach,
First I want to say that I have a ton of respect for you. You are legit. I feel that some of the strategies you mentioned in your video are indeed “sports-specific training,” I suppose you feel that they don’t fall under that category. It’s all semantics, but in general what I like is that you think of these things and wouldn’t just train every single athlete from any sport the same way. You and I both know that all athletes should be strong squatters, deadlifters, benchers, etc. (or at least they should be strong in these patterns from similar lifts), but the proportion/emphasis will vary and each sport/position will require some unique methods to put the “cherry on top.” The rugby coaches in New Zealand take the sport incredibly seriously (the strength coach has his PhD and they fly in researchers from over the world, they conduct studies and contribute to the literature, etc.) and while they’re huge on squats, deads, jump squats, hang cleans, etc., they also do some “specific” things such as analyzing joint angles in a scrum position and using isometric exercises to mimic that. So kudos for being a solid thinker in this area…too many coaches feel that you have to be one way or the other. To me 80% of the gains come from getting strong at the big 5 and also doing some sprints, plyos, and agility drills. The remaining 20% of gains come from unique methods specific to the sport/position or specific to the athlete (bringing up the individual’s weaknesses). Having studied a lot of literature over the past year, there are things you learn about the sport that are important and put some “icing on the cake” (for example a recent study showed that isometric rotary training using an cable tethered to a pole in similar positions to batting technique induced PAP and led to subsequent gains in bat swing velocity). That’s just my 2 cents.
Cheers!
Bret
Bret, you’re the f**ing MAN!!! Been thinking of U lately actually as my glutes have been sore as ALL hell from reverse lunges yet walking lunges don’t crush them like this, and, thinking weak glutes could be possible reason for strained QL when deadlifting 1 rep maxes?
Sorry to digress, so right you are, the way these Rugby Coaches study the movement patterns I feel the same with wrestling.
It’s something that a Coach must live, breathe and bleed to understand and lock in.
You are right, it could be “sport specific” training….
Brett, I prob need to connect with you on the critical importance of the glutes and how to make sure they are activated during warm ups, workouts, help prevent injury and improve performance…..
Thnx BIG time for your comment and taking the time, homie!
MUCH respect!
I too remember the introduction of the stability craze. I thought it was bollox at the time, and still do.
Build a strong athlete with good basic underlying strength and physical ability, and give them plenty of time to practice their skill with the mantra, ‘practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect’!
Keep it up,
George