Almost every week, I receive multiple emails and phone calls from parents of young athletes inquiring about our program. Usually it goes something along the lines of “My son/daughter plays X. Do y’all offer sports specific agility and speed training?” Inevitably, I have to explain why sports specific training (in general) is not necessary for young athletes, and therefore does not play a significant role in our program. Without much surprise, this is usually met with confusion and shock–how could sports specific training NOT be beneficial? with the rise of the “social media expert”, and the ability to instantly access and share information , sports specific training for young athletes has become extremely popular to say the least. Just log on Instagram, and you’re sure to find countless videos of athletes weaving in and out of an elaborate maze of cones and obstacles, or performing resisted basketball throws or golf swings in hopes of gaining that competitive “edge”. The question is, does it work? For most athletes, the simple answer is no.
We need to first distinguish between specific and general training means , as well as the role of the strength coach vs the sport coach to understand why. A strength coach (for the most part), implements “general” training means. For example, exercises like the squat, lunge and press are simple movement patterns that many strength coaches implement in their program. When we go to complete the complex motor tasks in sports (shooting a basket, throwing a punch ect), we are essentially “stringing together” many of these simple movement patterns in a coordinated fashion. By improving GENERAL strength qualities/biomotor abilities (speed, power, strength ect), and our ability to execute primal movement patterns with precision, we build a foundation for better performance.
On the other hand, a sport coaches job is to help athletes by improving the technical or “skills” dependent aspect of their sport. This works mostly through skill acquisition, and solving the complex motor AND cognitive tasks that sports represent. This is the most important piece of the performance equation. If athletes do not spend enough time practicing their sport, the qualities built in the weightroom will not transfer. Plain and simple. Only by combining the two can athletes hope to attain their highest potential in their respective sport. In reality, this is the purest form of “sports specificity”, as you are literally performing the competition action, under competition setting and condition.
PS: It’s very important that both strength AND sport coach understand their respective role in the developmental process of athletes. This is not to say that one should be oblivious of the work performed by the other. It simply means that both need to let the other do their job, especially when dealing with the novice athlete. When everyone in the developmental chain is aiming for specificity, the foundation is sure to slip. True sports specific training can only be pulled off when both strength and sport coach work in tandem. As a result, this also means that the strength coach should have sufficient knowledge of the sport and how its action(s) are carried out biomechanically and vise versa.
When we talk about “sports specific” training, we are referring to the blending of weigh room training with the skill(s) the athlete performs in sport (as apposed to being performed separately). For example, performing a resisted hit with a tennis racket or a tactical drill. In this case, the competition exercise (the skill) is being coupled with resistance (weightroom training means). For advanced athletes, this represents a powerful stimulus for performance improvement. For the unprepared or novice athlete, not so much. Remember though, an advanced athlete in their respective sport does NOT mean advanced in the weight room (please keep this in mind when we talk about properly applying specific training means). As a result, poorly applied sports specific training modalities without a solid foundation of GPP only serves to predispose athletes to potential injury and dysfunction. Think about it. If an athlete does not have sufficient levels of strength or movement competency, how do you expect them to be successful when sport (the skill) gets combined with load and high speeds? This is only asking for disaster.
Another potential problem with most sports specific training protocols is not paying attention to magnitude of force in a given movement. As stated by Bondarchuk and Siff, an exercise is sports specific if it meets the laws of dynamic correspondence. Criteria for DC:
- Amplitude and direction of movement
- The accentuated region of force production
- Dynamics of the effort
- rate and time of maximum force production
- regime of muscular work
With these criteria in mind, we can see how performing a resisted basketball/football throw, tennis serve or golf swing would not fit the model for DE. As a result, addressing this aspect of sports preparation would be virtually worthless when compared to simply practicing the sport action itself. Why? Because sports specific movements are only useful when force production is extremely high. Plain and simple. improving specific force output in movements that require high levels of skill (such as throwing a football or hitting a tennis ball), may even disrupt the specific motor pattern needed to perform these movements with high levels of precision. In addition, performing these movements with resistance only serves to overload the prime movers and synergist muscle groups that carry out the sporting action. This can lead to potential injury, and a reduction in performance through neural inhibitory mechanisms. However, when we examine sporting actions like jumping, throwing, and sprinting in Track & Field, we can see how utilizing special training means can elicit large performance improvement since these require extreme levels of force production.
With all that being said, it’s still important to remember that a strength coaches primary job is to get athletes generally stronger, more explosive, powerful, conditioned, adaptable, and resilient to injury through means performed in the weight room. The formula for building successful athletes is simple, but rarely applied: get athletes extremely strong and powerful in the weightroom, then let them solve and come up with solutions for the complex motor tasks experienced in sport…aka “practicing your sport”. Then, and only then can coaches apply sports specific training as a potential tool for improvement once the athlete has met all of the criteria. Always remember, a little goes a long way!