Taking Sports Performance to the Next Level
Strength training
You’re Making a Huge Mistake in Your Training Programs
Oct 31st
To most, I looked like a grungy college kid. A fair estimation for a twenty-one year old wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, while standing on the fifty yard line observing spring practice. To my left stood another man in comfortable wear, but he was of a bigger stature. Both physically and mentally.
He could boast, if he were of the boasting kind, of a four-hundred-and-five pound bench press and an even more impressive, yet less concrete, squat. Six-hundred-some, perhaps? I never did care to ask. I just knew it was “big enough” and done without syringes and suits.
If I were apt to say it at the time, he certainly would have been my mentor. As the assistant coach of physical preparation he was always willing to help eager souls that wanted to learn from him. Part of me thinks it was because he knew everyone that walked through the doors leave as different person. This isn’t such an egregious estimation because, well, everyone that I knew did walk out of there that way.
I’m grateful for just about everything the experience entailed. Grateful to have observed how he trained himself. Grateful to have seen and learned how he trained his athletes. Grateful to have watched how he interacted and motivated. Grateful to have had someone answer my constant barrage of questions.
Grateful to have stood on the fifty yard line next to someone I had so much respect for.
So when he asked me what I thought of my experience thus far, I was a little taken. Originally, there were a lot of things that had caught my attention. The “half” squats. The lack of overhead pressing. The emphasis on aerobic development.
But I took my time to formulate my answer. Despite, at first, seeing things I wasn’t prepared to see, it all had a common thread: everything had strong purpose.
Notice I said strong purpose, not just purpose. I’m not talking, “well I saw X coach do it,” or, “Y coach told me so,” kind of purpose. I’m talking purpose that could be rationalized on the spot.
Even more impressive was how each element of preparation was meticulously planned. It was like he was playing Tetris and placing the blocks as if he knew the next five blocks in que.
I think he knew that the interns were seeing something that they didn’t expect at first. Something that they didn’t quite trust. Until, of course, they all—including myself—were proved wrong.
*
There was three-hundred-and-five pounds on the bar. He had already blasted past his previous max of two-hundred-and-seventy-five. Impressive considering he had a wrist injury that kept him out of bench press training for a bit.
As the spotter, I helped the athlete lift the bar from the rack, even though with the ease of the lift’s completion, it probably wasn’t necessary. James was watching, smirking. He was like a mad scientist marveling his creation that, for all intents and purposes, had exceeded expectations even though he knew it was going to. It always did.
The athlete topped out at three-hundred-and-twenty pounds. It was a forty-five pound increase in his max after training with loads primarily in the seventy percent range. I’m not going to tell you how long the training cycle was because you wouldn’t believe me anyway.
*
I tell you this story because it exposes every problem that you have, but more importantly, your failure to put purpose into your actions. I can assure you that James didn’t use any high tech gadgets or fancy exercises. No one threw up from gut wrenching intensity. Yet there was consistent improvement.
Take a look at everything you do, and question every piece of it. If you can’t answer the simplest question, “why am I doing this,” then either don’t do it or find out why you should do it. This goes for warm-ups, stretches, exercises, and even silly traditions that affect your health that have trickled with you through your life.
Why do you hit the snooze button six times before waking? Why are you doing barbell complexes? Why are you sprinting? Where does all of this stuff fit into where it is that you want to be and what you want to achieve?
I have a good question for a lot of people that are sport training: why are you squatting and deadlifting? Now, it’s not to say that doing both are bad. But you have to be able to tell yourself why you are doing both, and your answer has to make sense. If you’re a football player and your answer is, “because powerlifters do it,” then you’re on the wrong boat.
Overall, we tend to overdo everything. We bring fifteen extra appliances with us when we go camping or travelling. We buy that shirt that looks kind of cool even though we have 30 shirts, half of which are worn maybe three times per year.
Everything is more more more more. But remember that most of our success is only a result of a fraction of our work. There’s a 10%, that’s actually closer to 20%, window of “junk.” If you can find the junk and get rid of it you will be happier. The easiest way to do this is by tossing those things that you can’t rationalize.
Instead of adding on a whim ask yourself what you can do to make yourself more efficient, and make sure everything has purpose. This is the most important thing. If what you’re doing has purpose, then you’ll enjoy doing it and it will be much more purposeful.
So ask yourself what you need to do to hit your goals, and start doing it. Don’t add more, unless you’re adding purpose. As Bruce Lee said, “The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.”
Weight Training Programs: Don’t Major in the Minutia
Oct 24th
Last night, I was on my laptop searching for an old weight training program I’d written up a while back, and I accidentally stumbled upon some written goals of mine from back in 2003. Based on the “Created on” date in Microsoft Excel, I had written them up in the spring of my senior year of college.
On one hand, I was proud of myself for – at age 22 – knowing enough to write down the goals that I wanted to achieve. On the other hand, I have to laugh about just how out-of-whack my priorities were.
You see, I’d listed loads of strength, body weight, and body fat percentage goals first and foremost. In fact, there were 41 rows worth of performance and physique goals; hard to believe that ladies weren’t lining up to date this Type A stallion, huh? Can you say neurotic? I was like this guy, but with better eyesight and a decent deadlift.
That’s just self-deprecating humor, though. What was actually really sad was how distorted my perception of reality really was, as rows 42-46 consisted of the following:
42. Resolve shoulder pain.
43. Get rid of lower back tightness.
44. Get accepted to graduate school.
45. Get a graduate assistantship in research or coaching.
46. Have 3-4 articles published.
At the time, I was coming off a lower back “tweak” while deadlifting, but more problematic was my right shoulder, which hurt so much that it kept me up at night and negatively affected not only my training, but my everyday life. It was an old tennis injury from high school that just kept getting worse and worse.
Likewise, I hadn’t gotten word on whether or not I’d been accepted to graduate school, so I was up in the air on whether I needed to start looking for jobs for after graduation, or whether I’d end up moving south to enroll at the University of Connecticut.
Finally, I’d just had my first article published, and there was some momentum in place on which I could build a successful writing career.
In other words, I was in pain, unsure about where I’d be living in two months, potentially without a job, and all but ignoring a potentially career-changing opportunity – yet I managed to list 41 performance and physique goals more important than any of these concerns. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was clearly buried under all the bullshit I had convinced myself was important. They made signs like this for guys like me.
Maybe it was the acceptance phone call from my future advisor at the UCONN; the experience of moving to a new area and being out on my own; interaction with a lot of highly-motivated, career-oriented people and successful athletes; the natural maturation process; or a combination of all these factors, but I got my act together that fall and figured out my priorities. That fall, I read everything I could get my hands on to get rid of the pain in my shoulder (canceled an impending surgery) and lower back. I put in 70 hour weeks among classes, volunteering in the varsity weight rooms and human performance lab, and personal training and bartending on the side. I published my first article at T-Nation and in Men’s Fitness. In short, I grew the hell up and stopped losing sleep over whether I’d remembered to take my forearm circumference measurements on the third Tuesday of the month.
Some folks might think that this shift in my priorities interfered with my training progress, but in reality, the opposite was true. In that first year of graduate school, I put over 100 pounds on both my squat and deadlift and 40 pounds on my bench press – and did so pain-free, which made training even more enjoyable. I learned a ton about the importance of training environment as I lifted around athletes and other coaches in the varsity weight rooms, and even caught the powerlifting bug, competing for the first time in June of 2004. I even won a few trophies absurdly large trophies that wildly overstated my accomplishments.
In short, when I stopped majoring in the minutia and clearly defined the priorities that were important to me – being pain-free, enjoying training, and seeing it as a means of becoming better in a profession that I loved – a world of opportunities opened up for me. And, surprisingly, some of the “old” priority goals were easier to attain because I didn’t force them or put as much pressure on myself.
That was almost a decade years ago, and I’ve had to make similar reevaluations of my priorities since that time, from opening a business, to proposing to my wife, to buying a house, to getting a puppy, to hiring employees, to working with charities. There are some priorities that will always remain for me, though; strength and conditioning has to be fun, and it has to improve my quality of life, not take away from it. These are values that are reflected in the weight training programs that I write, too.
To that end, how have your priorities changed over your training career? And, how have these changes impacted your progress in the gym?
Related Posts
Weight Training Programs: You Can’t Just Keep Adding
Lifting Weights vs. Corrective Exercise in Strength Training Programs
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Name EmailFree Core Article and Two New Glute Exercises
Oct 14th
I’m very proud to promote a new article I just co-authored with my buddy Brad Schoenfeld on core training. We worked very hard on this one and I feel it’s without a doubt the best core article ever written to date. Check out the chart on the final page, it does an excellent job of summarizing the different types of core exercises. It’s a free pdf so you can download the article and save it for future reference. Click on the link below to read/download the article:
Strategies for Optimal Core Training Program Design
Moving on, here are two new glute exercises that I’ve been performing as a warm-up prior to my workouts. I aim for quality, not quantity, and do a couple sets of 6-10 reps on each side with both movements. I really like these for full range hip strength and functional flexibility. The first is performed from a standing position and works on a more hip-neutral ROM, whereas the second is performed from a quadruped position and works on a more hips-flexed ROM. Both involve the same principle. If you do them right you’ll feel them working both hips very effectively, but you need to concentrate and utilize proper body position and movement.
Double Standing Hip Abduction
Double Quadruped Transverse Hip Abduction
I’m assuming that other physios or coaches have thought of these before but I’ve never seen or heard the names so I had no other choice but to make up very complex-sounding names for both exercises. I know that yoga and Pilates have lots of these types of movements. I like these more than standing airplanes or fire hydrants. Give them a try, I hope you like them!
The first movement feels a little “Tai Chi – esque.”
Shoulder and Feet Elevated Hip Thrusts: Simultaneous Knee Flexion and Hip Extension?
Oct 11th
I bet you never thought of shoulder-and-feet-elevated hip thrusts as simultaneous knee flexion and hip extension exercises did you? In this video I discuss some of the biomechanics behind shoulder-and-feet elevated hip thrusts. The single leg version is the most difficult hip dominant bodyweight exercise in existence in my opinion, with the prisoner single leg back extension placing second. Though I don’t do strict tempos, if I had to guess I’d say I do these for 2-3 sets of 12 reps with a 1 second concentric phase, 1 second isometric phase, and 2 second eccentric phase and it kills me. As you can see, this is not only a great glute exercise but also a great hamstring exercise.
Make Sure You Control Lateral and Rotary Forces!!! 
Strength Training Programs and Life: Change is Imminent
Oct 11th
Change is all around us, and if we’re not recognizing that and changing with it, we’ll be in a bad position in no time.
It’s imminent in the business world, where previous giants Borders and Blockbuster (and a host of other companies) have declared bankruptcy because they couldn’t adapt to a changing marketplace.
As the son of a teacher (and now principal), I’ve watched how my mother has changed education with the introduction of the International Baccalaureate program at my old high school. This program engages students and makes them more aware of the world around them, as opposed to just having them stare at chalkboards and textbooks all the time.
The internet has changed the way shoppers shop, teachers teach, campaigners campaign, and ninjas “ninjer.”
Joking aside, change is something that applies to strength training programs as well. In addition to fluctuating training stress and rotating strength exercises, you have to be able to modify a program based on how you feel from day-to-day. When I was younger, I would just barrel through many training sessions even if I didn’t feel good – and I’m convinced that this stubbornness not only limited my progress a bit, but also led to some injuries along the way.
Nowadays, I’m older and wiser (and balder), and I listen to my body a lot more. Plus, I’m a much better coach than I was back then, so I know how to make substitutions in strength and conditioning programs to maintain a training effect. Pulled rectus femoris? Go to step-ups because they don’t extend the hip and flex the knee simultaneously (as you’d get with a lunge). Shoulder hurts? Try a feet-elevated push-up instead of a bench press, as elevating the feet increases serratus anterior activity and you can draw stability from the floor.
More generally, though, I’m honest with myself about where my life is right now. I’m 30 years old – which is definitely not 21 – and not competing in powerlifting anymore (although that doesn’t mean that I’m not still training hard on a daily basis). I have a wife, a dog, a house, a travel schedule, and a ton of stuff going on professionally with training athletes, writing, consulting, and lecturing. In short, there are a lot of competing demands.
What does this mean in the context of my strength training programs? Well, to be straight, the “highs” aren’t quite as high, and the lows are actually “lower.” Let me explain.
Yesterday, I warmed up on trap bar deadlifts and felt pretty good, so made the decision to push the envelope a bit – and wound up pulling 700lbs.
As you can see, it came up surprisingly quickly. In years past, I probably would have jumped to 720 for another attempt, or drop back down to 630-650 for some additional singles at a weight over 90% of that day’s best lift. I might have even done some backoff sets of 3-4 reps at 600. Instead, I just called it there and moved on to my assistance work, as I was feeling a little banged up and wanted to make sure I still got plenty of quality work in over the course of the rest of my strength training session. That’s not to say either of these follow-up approaches would have been the wrong choice; they just weren’t the right choice for me yesterday. The “high” wasn’t so high.
Likewise, when it comes to deloading, I wind up cutting back on things a bit more than I did in the past. In my e-book, The Art of the Deload, I outline ten different methods for deloading in strength and conditioning programs, and nowadays, I tend to go with the most conservative of the bunch.
Some might look at this piece as me telling people how to be soft and do less in their strength training programs. The way I see it, I’m just encouraging folks to train hard, but intelligently, listening to their bodies along the way. Along those same lines, what modifications have you made to your strength training programs as life has gotten busier and you’ve gotten older? Please post your comments below!
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Name EmailThe “Strength” Part of Strength and Conditioning
Oct 10th
It’s a curse. When I see athletes flying around I can’t help wonder if they squat. Or, perhaps, deadlift. If they overhead press, or just stick to benching. I can be a little obsessive, I know.
When Usain Bolt crossed the finish line I wondered what his training program looked like. But this saddens me because I know better. I know athletes aren’t made in the weight room…or are they?
Now, “athlete” is a loose term. Skill activities without physical demands don’t usually qualify as “sports.” This is debatable, I know. But no one wants to know how much Norm Duke squats. Same goes for the creepy guy in the back of the bar nailing bull’s-eyes. Does it take skill? Sure. Physical capacity? Hell no.
Most sports will have a spattering of both. A point guard in basketball has to have agility, ball handling skills, and shooting skills. A lineman in football has to have clean footwork and the strength to throw around another 300lb human resisting arrest. A wide receiver in football needs hand-eye coordination, speed, agility, and strength if the defense is pressing.
Some would say that squatting to improve leg strength is as essential to a point guard as it is to a lineman. But that’s only because the world is obsessed with strength.
The point guard is more like the bowler in that his position relies more on skill. Linemen are on the opposite end of the spectrum. They need skill, but they need more physical capacity than a point guard. A wide receiver is kind of a mix of the two.
But there are variations both within sports and between sports. So how do you know how important strength really is? Well, it’s almost as simple as deciding if the athlete is more like the bowler, or more like the lineman.
THE CONTINIUM
Consider two main categories of skills: general and specific. General skills improve your performance, but in an indirect way. It’s like a soccer player that squats to improve leg strength so he can kick the ball farther. A stronger leg helps, but you still have to have the technique.
Specific skills improve your performance directly. It’s like a soccer player doing max distance kicks so he can kick the ball farther.
A big vertical jump is a nice general capacity for a point guard to have, but it’s not going to help him shoot the ball in the hoop. And shooting the ball in the hoop is the main job of the point guard.
Which player is more likely to make it into the NBA? The one that can jump high, or the one that can shoot lights out? Well, just ask Jimmer Ferdette.
He's going to make this shot, and that's why he's so damn good.
The usual “strength and conditioning” fails because it only focuses on general capacities. Sadly, everyone pursues them without regard for the skill capacities. You know, the necessary part.
Athletes are enhanced in the weight room, not created. Ask Larry Bird if his vertical jump hurt his career.
Don't tell the scouts my vertical is only ten inches.
What separates me or you from world class athletes isn’t general skill capacities. I bet most reading this are stronger than half the people in the NBA. But the millions are made in the skills specific to the game.
Yet, developing general capacities somehow became more important than developing specific ones. But general capacities only have to be developed to the level at which skill proficiency requires them to be. Go back to the bowler and the lineman. If you want to throw strikes, squats aren’t the answer.
SKILLS
In, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient in a skill. Putting it in perspective, it would take about eight years to hit that number if you practiced for two hours every day.
So when you send me that e-mail that says you can’t make the varsity team because you can’t jump high, is that really the only reason? Or do you just suck at basketball? Maybe your time spent on jump training would be better spent actually shooting the ball in the hoop.
Most things we can influence in the weight room boil down to strength, muscle mass, explosiveness, quickness, and power, giving us these questions:
1) Do I need more skill or technique?
2) Do I need to be stronger?
3) Do I need to be faster?
4) Do I need to be more powerful?
5) Do I need more muscular bodyweight?
Answer these questions in order. Here are some examples:
#1: I want to be a dart player.
Answers: 1= YES. 2=NO. 3=NO. 4=NO. 5=NO.
Easy. All skill. Unless you can’t get a dart stuck in the cork. And if you have that problem you’re beyond my expertise.
Sadly, that’s where easy end.
#2: I want to be a point guard in the NBA.
Answers: 1=YES. 2=NO. 3=PROBABLY. 4=PERHAPS. 5=NO.
When you start getting into probably’s, perhaps’s, and maybe’s, you’re entering a world that can’t be explained in one article.
Not only do the answers depend on the position in question, they depend on the specific athlete in question. Everyone has their own style and way of play.
A strong wide receiver, like Anquan Boldin, isn’t going to have a tough time fighting off press coverage, where as a smaller more speedy receiver, like Mike Wallace, may. Same sport. Same position. Different needs.
But if you answer “YES” to number one, that is your priority. You won’t make it anywhere until your specific skills are developed enough for the level at which you want to compete
There are stories of powerlifters being stronger than olympic weightlifters. If that is true, why aren’t more powerlifters in the Olympics? Because they lack the technique and skill. Remember the 10,000 hour rule? It’s not something that can be fixed overnight.
So, as an athlete, ask yourself those five questions. Make sure your skills aren’t your weakest link. They can’t be. You don’t have to be the strongest on the team. You don’t have to be the biggest on the team. But if you can do what your sport entails, skill wise, you’ll sit in a good spot.
Muscular Overloads
Oct 3rd
Most coaches would say that machines and higher-rep ranges have no place in building explosive athletes. Of course athletes don’t just require power; depending on their situation they need precise combinations of power, strength, strength endurance, power endurance, and hypertrophy. In this guest blog Mike Whitman shows us three types of overloading protocols he uses with athletes for certain purposes. These protocols can be used with bodyweight and free weight exercises as well, but Mike offers an explanation as to why he likes to use machines from time to time especially with these types of special protocols.
Muscular Overloads
By Mike Whitman
Over the past 12 weeks I’ve been interning at the Gordon Institute for Sport Performance under head strength coach, and owner of SMARTER Team Training, Rob Taylor. My experience was comprised mostly of highly competitive athletes. We all know that athletes need to be fast and powerful, but that doesn’t mean explosive lifts are the only way to get there; as the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. One of the ways we ‘skin our cats’ is by using a multitude of overloading protocols. The overloading stimuli are designed to completely fatigue the muscular system.
Now, before I get into the overloads I want to answer any questions that may arise before we start. None of these overloads use explosive reps; in fact they emphasize the opposite: slow controlled reps with higher time under tension. Research, such as Neuromuscular Responses to Three Days of Velocity-Specific Isokinetic Training by Coburn et al., suggests that slower reps lead to larger strength gains. When working with athletes the most important thing to do is keep them healthy; so, when we take them to complete muscular fatigue we need to put them in the most stable and controlled position possible. This means we are more likely to do muscular overloads on a Rogers Athletic Pendulum Power Squat Pro, Hip Press or a Three Way Row so instability does not become an injury concern. When working with young athletes we avoid heavy spinal loading. For example, if we were looking at a high school linebacker, what is the point of loading his spine? Every tackle he makes loads his spine, so what is the point in heavily loading his spine when he isn’t playing football? Does the inherent risk of injury from sport need to be prevalent in the athletic development program too, or is there a safer more effective way to train? Since our primary goal is to keep everyone we train, athlete or not, healthy, we take some extra precautions that you may not see in other areas of the strength realm, such as preferring a Hip Press to fatigue over a barbell back squat to fatigue. Lastly, you will notice some of these overloads have a higher rep scheme than some of your typical strength workouts. This is not by accident. Since the goal is to take the athlete to total failure it is virtually impossible to do so without a decent number of repetitions and load. So without further discussion here are a few of the overloads we use: 747s, progressions, and 1 ½s.
747s: Perform 7 repetitions of a weight that is challenging (you could probably only perform about 8 or 9 reps), rest 30 seconds, then perform 4 reps of a higher weight (usually 15 pounds heavier for the upper body, and 25 for the lower) rest 30 seconds and then perform 7 reps with the original weight. If performed properly the last few reps of the last set should be very challenging. These are a great way to get an athlete to really gut out the last few reps, and test their mental toughness. Try this protocol on seated rows! For more information on this protocol, watch this:
Progressions: This protocol involves increasing reps and weight for every set. Start with a base weight and perform one rep, rest ten seconds and add ten pounds. Then, perform two reps, rest ten seconds and add ten more weight. Continue this trend until you reach six reps. By the time you are done you will have performed 21 total reps, with only 50 seconds of rest. This is a great protocol for bench press! For more information on this protocol, watch this:
1 ½s : This is a range of motion based technique that is simple and effective; lower the weight to the fully contracted position, pause, lift the weight half of the range of motion, lower the weight back down to the fully contracted position, pause, perform a full repetition and repeat the entire sequence. This is a great technique especially if an athlete struggles to move weight without the aid of momentum. This protocol is a great fit for pull-ups! For more information on this protocol, watch this:
Remember before trying these, they’re called overloading protocols for a reason; we usually perform these once a week, MAYBE; don’t do these every day. If you take a whole bottle of aspirin it will be the last headache you’ll ever have, so just like medication prescribe these with caution. Give some a try for yourself and see what you think.
Mike Whitman interned at Gordon Institute for Sport Performance and currently works at FX Studios and the Under Armour Combine Training Center in Baltimore. You can contact him at Mwhitman@FXStudios.com.
How to Floor Press Without a Spotter or Rack
Oct 1st
Here’s a video I filmed for folks who train in gyms that don’t have benches or racks, for example many Crossfit gyms. You can still maintain a strong bench press by just performing floor presses. If nobody’s around to help you get the bar into place, just bridge the bar into place as shown in the video. Chalk another one up for strong glutes!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! -BC
The Single Leg RDL
Sep 23rd
I filmed a video discussing the single leg RDL. I believe it’s a very important exercise for many reasons. First of all, a couple of studies have shown that sensorimotor training led to improved power production. I’d much rather have athletes perform exercises like single leg RDL’s and single leg squats for sensorimotor training than exercises on wobbly boards, as this approach allows you to kill four birds with one stone by increasing balance, increasing hip stability, increasing hip extensor strength, and hopefully increasing power production.
I believe that the single leg RDL can be placed in the warm-up every single day, where you can mix it up, for example employing a reaching single leg RDL with a medball. I believe that from time to time the single leg RDL should be performed heavily as well, as there aren’t many exercises that challenge balance and coordination while strengthening the hips to the degree that this exercise does. Here’s a video of me discussing some aspects of the single leg RDL.
I realize that some coaches may take issue with my stance on external rotation of the non-grounded leg. I could argue both sides, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. If you keep the non-grounded leg straight, I’m fine with your decision. But the true nature of the gluteus maximus when it moves into hip hyperextension (which is where you “lock the leg” if you do it right) is to externally rotate the femur. From a standing position, simply squeeze your glutes as hard as possibly and you’ll feel your legs turn outward a bit and the feet trying to “screw” outward. Why fight this natural tendency?
Mayer et al. (2002) found that back extensions with the hips externally rotated (feet turned out) activated 39% more glute max than hips internally rotated (feet turned in). The glute max activates better with the feet turned out a bit, and in sports, the glute max influences femur, tibia and foot mechanics, so it needs to be strong in external rotation.
But again, I could argue either route so you can make up your mind as to whether you’re picky about the foot turning out or not. That said, you never want tight hip external rotators so you should employ various hip stretches and mobility drills to ensure that they don’t shorten.
I hope you enjoy the video, BC
How's this for good lumbopelvic mechanics?
Athlete Training – How Strong Do I Need To Be, and Is There Strong Enough?
Sep 22nd
The strength and conditioning industry – all things considered – is booming. Now, more than ever, teams are hiring professional “performance enhancers.” You would think that we would be at an all-time-knowledge-high.
And we are. I guess. People are smarter now than they have ever been. But, really, this doesn’t mean much. Below is a paraphrase from one of the best coaches in the industry, Buddy Morris, from back in 2005 (around 7:25 in the video below). “Even with all of the latest and greatest training methods, the average time improvement in the 100m dash is .00512 second per year.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCzQ8k_7Rjs&feature=relmfu
But even though there are a few spotlights, some athletes – even of world class – are in the dark. Take Usain Bolt for example.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOC7O9JOY3Y&feature=related
The fastest man in the world doing…explosive reverse curls? There isn’t enough hip bend to consider this a “power clean.” I feel bad for him, actually. But it shows you that great athletes will be great, regardless of how they train their general capacities.
What athletes should and shouldn’t do in the weight room is a book in itself, and its contents would vary depending on what coach would be writing.
Because of the term “strength” and “conditioning,” those two things are all the industry cares about. So when the head coach hires his buddy that has no real training knowledge, things can get ugly. Weight becomes more important than form. Exercises are chosen based on appearance and not effectiveness.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAfdY03MXC8&feature=related
I used to think that an athlete could never have too much strength. Even now, I guess it’s true. But the problem is that an athlete with too much strength is probably spending too much time in the weight room.
Outside of Powerlifters and Olympic Weightlifters, the strongest athletes aren’t the best athletes. I can hear your panties twisting right now, but hear me out.
All – and I mean all – sports are a combination of general and specific skills. Strength, for most sports, is a general attribute. It’s nice to have, but it isn’t necessary. A strong squat may help you drive the ball further in baseball, but it’s not going to give you the coordination necessary to make contact. Barry Bonds was a hall of famer before he took a run at the homerun record.
And since strength is nice to have, getting it is fine as long as it doesn’t interfere with your ability to play or practice your sport. A Rippetoe inspired 5×5 squat volume workout is going to make the next few days miserable. You can’t practice when your legs are that fatigued. Save that kind of training for Powerlifters.
Now if you’re a 300lb lineman that doesn’t have the strength to fend off attackers, then maybe you need a bit more strength. In this instance, strength is a little more “specific” to the position, making it a little more important. But even still, you can’t forget about the more specific skills like footwork and blocking techniques.
If you can squat 500lbs, and you’re a bench warmer, get out of the weight room and start practicing your sport and your technique. If you play a physical sport and are getting manhandled, you might want to make sure you’ve got enough strength to throw around your opponent. It’s kind of that simple.
The base behind all of this is that you need to be a good athlete, regardless of strength levels. And being strong doesn’t make you a good athlete. If it did, more Powerlifters would be in the NFL as linemen.
Nevertheless, there are athletes like Desean Jackson that are naturally explosive, and other athletes that need a bit more strength to make up for their genetic inadequacies. But how you get “strong” is another topic.
Does it matter which type of squat an athlete does? No, probably not. Back, front, zercher, spider bar, box, whatever. They’re all doing the same thing, and that’s strengthening a squatting movement pattern.
For most athletes I think Kelly Baggett’s Vertical Jump Formula is a good target to shoot for. He says the day you’ll be satisfied with your vertical jump is the day you can:
A: Can squat double bodyweight
B: At 10% or less body-fat
C: With the movement efficiency to jump back and forth over a midshin level cone or string 20 times in 10 seconds.
How you get to those numbers is up in the air as long as it’s not interfering with your sport work. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that not everyone has to squat heavy so take what you want from it. But if you can hit A, B, and C, you’re not a chump. You’ll be fit for most tasks.
Now, I’m nearly killing myself for ending this here because this recommendation is a blanket, not to mention how loosely I’ve been using “athlete.” William the Refrigerator Perry certainly didn’t have less than 10% body fat and he turned in a fine NFL career. So take what you want from all of this, knowing that the rules change for every sport and every position within the sport.
SPECIFIC NUMBERS
It’s difficult for me to throw out numbers because the process isn’t that easy. Your athletic career isn’t locked if you meet A, B, and C above, but I’ll tell you that if you accomplish them you’ll have a competitive advantage – from a strength and conditioning perspective – against someone of the same skill level that doesn’t have them (as long as they apply). By the same restriction, not all athletes need to do the Powerlifts or Olympic Lifts.
Having said that, I’m going to do my best to throw numbers out there that make “sense,” using frequently used lifts. Meaning that if an athlete came to me complaining that they couldn’t make the team with these statistics, and blamed their (lack of a) career on not being strong, I’d punch them in the face.
Deadlift: 2.5x bw
Back Squat: 2x bw
Power Clean 1.75 x bw
Bench Press 1.5 x bw
Chin-Up 1.5 x bw or 25 reps @ bw
Overhead Press 1 x bw
Now, one of the reasons I created this post was because I got a question from a reader that asked me to discuss what the relationship between lifts should be. But, really, outside of the five above, I can’t say much.
I can’t say that if you back squat 315, that you should be able to front squat 275. I can’t say that being able to bench press 315 will allow you to do a planche, because the movements are different, the force angles are different, and the muscular contraction are different. Really, I can’t even say that benching 1.5 x bw allows you to overhead press anything more than 0.5 x bw because of how different they are. And part of this is because I don’t believe that an athlete needs to do both deadlifts and squats. Or both kinds of pressing. Or even power cleans.
Truthfully, you shouldn’t be looking for ideal ratios. The body is going to adapt to whatever you throw it’s way so if you bench frequently with no regard for rowing, you’ll be a better bencher than rower.
Look at what your sport consists of, and decide what lifts are most beneficial. Then do what you can do make those lifts as good as they can be to benefit you. Most of all, take a look at how strong you really need to be, and if strength is really your limiting factor. How much upper body strength does a soccer player need, really?
But, trust me. There’s certainly “strong enough.”
