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the importance of specific strength for sport, avoiding heavy lifts

spartacus

spartacus

Well-known member
I have been training a good triathlete for 10 weeks now, mostly on bilateral and bodyweight exercises.

he has improved his leg power by 5%, a pretty good feat, but I/he was waiting to see how it helped his sport performance.

yesterday he rings to say, that despite only doing 15km swimming per week (low by his standards) and not much hard training, he swam a pb for 1000m.

he had improved his pullups from 5 reps to 11 in a short time.

only reinforces my belief that there is no need or heavy lifting, especially Olympic and powerlifts.

by all means, do them if you want, but they are no better than basic exercises to condition the specific muscles.
 
Spart gday mate, a couple of questions if you dont mind...

Was he training Pullups pre your program?
In 10 weeks, thats an expected gain if you dont train them, thats the principal of adaptation working its magic right there.

Also, your method of measuring leg power, again was he training the movements you used to gain improvement prior to the program?

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he was doing chins before, but not as strict as I would do.

I measured standing long jump when he was fresh prior.

but, without being arrogant, I will never have an athlete who will not improve listening to me. secret is to know when to push and when to back off; not that easy for most.
 
yes, I know you get best improvement with beginners. that one is pretty logical, although he is a high level triathlete.

but, my main point is that you do not to do big power or Olympic lifts. just my opinion, someone who has power cleaned 155kg but has long thought such lifts are just not needed.
 
He's a Triathlete. For Men's Sports like any real code of Football eg Rugby or Rugby League, you need the big movements to develop the ability to collide with impact and to not get smashed. Even for a trans gender sport like Aussie Rules :p you still need strength for jostling, grappling and collision. Sit ups and Leg Raises just won't cut it.

Players like Stephen Silvani, James Herd, Paul Roos, Cameron Smith etc who don't look well developed would still be naturally very strong.
 
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I'm not sure you would want a triathlete to do powerlifting. They are essentially marathon runners who need a light body weight and endurance.
 
I don't think it's ever been clearly understood that you are not only dealing with the requirements of a particular sport...but also with the requirement of an individual athlete
Your (as a strength coach) goals should be, and the possibile from exercise are;

1. A level of condition required by the sport played
2. Maximum strength in all of the musculature involved in the sport
3. At least a reasonable level of strength in all of the musculature of the body
4. Maximum possible flexibility
when those four goals have been reached, ten you have accomplished all that exercise is capable of doing for a healthy athlete

but i I don't expect exercise can turn an inferior athlete into a super athlete

so I don't agree (in terms of lifting) need be light (relative to the athlete) it needs to be heavy, hard and progressive.
 
Take footy for example.
and it is getting harder to work with as the game is changing.
if you want an athlete to be as fast as possible with endurance, then ideally the focus is on the lower extremities based on what I said above.
 
To show how off the mark they are, comments made about majak daw being the "strongest in the league because of his benching numbers... but wow can't explain why his endurance and speed is poor" is just reflective of the pure ignorance and bullshit and criminal acts that so often happen in pro sport.
 
There wouldn't be one Rugby Union or Rugby League player who doesn't Weight train. Smallest Man playing top level Rugby League:

b8b1da6017560072221a0507b1bc9077--art-of-man-hot-cowboys.jpg



One of the biggest (George Burgess)

thomas.jpg
 
I believe its probably necessary yep.

Cant see a regular fit bloke who doesnt weight train having any kind of chance on a rugby field.

Weights are big in the AFL also. Have been for years.

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Stiffy said:
He's a Triathlete. For Men's Sports like any real code of Football eg Rugby or Rugby League, you need the big movements to develop the ability to collide with impact and to not get smashed. Even for a trans gender sport like Aussie Rules :p you still need strength for jostling, grappling and collision. Sit ups and Leg Raises just won't cut it.

Players like Stephen Silvani, James Herd, Paul Roos, Cameron Smith etc who don't look well developed would still be naturally very strong.
Click to expand...

You look at the need of the individual, just cherry picking the " big movements" is not going to correct or improve the athletes abilities all the time.

im not really sure where you're going with this anyway
 
Timeah said:
I believe its probably necessary yep.

Cant see a regular fit bloke who doesnt weight train having any kind of chance on a rugby field.

Weights are big in the AFL also. Have been for years.

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Click to expand...

Who are you replying to?
 
goosey is pretty right.

hilarious stuff. you cant play rugby league if you don't do heavy weights?

stick to powerlifting guys. big bench, big squat, big deadlift. stuff of real men.
 
the real word is strength training, not necessarily with weights. if someone does explosive bodyweight stuff, he or she can still get very powerful.

but I don't want to confuse anyone.

I will leave this one to goosey.
 
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