Weight training programs for athletes

The idea here is to build up your overall endurance and stamina, so you stay sharp no matter how long the game goes. This translates into power and quickness, especially laterally, and translates well to sport.

As before, do 3 rounds of the circuit, resting 1 minute between rounds. Pete Williams is a NASM-certified personal trainer and the author or co-author of a number of books on performance and training. Daniel Scali set a new Guinness World Record despite chronic pain in his left arm.

Tyler Valenzia explains his approach to creating a stronger set of arms. Jump to the routine. Want a copy on the go? Exercise 1 of 5. Exercise 2 of 5. Exercise 3 of 5.

Exercise 4 of 5. Exercise 5 of 5. You should also have the ability to climb, crawl, sprint, and jump. These are primal movements. Obviously there are hundreds, if not thousands of different variations for each of the basic bodyweight training movements out there, but no matter what, all of them come back to being able to perform the basics. Bodyweight training serves as your foundation and is the driver of all of your other strengths and skills.

Strength tools such as kettlebells , dumbbells, barbells , and sandbags are useless without having the proper bodyweight strength and conditioning foundation. Most of my clients and even advanced athletes have HORRIBLE form and technique when they first come in; this is totally normal, and quite frankly, all too common. The rule of thumb I have for my clients and athletes is that they have a solid level of bodyweight strength before they go on to any external types of resistance.

You should easily be able to perform the following:. Standing Poses — Build leg strength as well as flexibility in the hips and hamstrings. One of the best types of tests that I like to put my athletes and clients through challenge their general bodyweight conditioning and strength levels is the Bodyweight Gauntlet. Yes, there are progressions to follow, but the bottom line is that in order to get the best results possible, you must attack your workouts relentlessly. Basics are always important, but intensity and focus should be number one over everything else!

For a beginner, this can get brutal real quick. While this may look like nothing more than a simple conditioning test, the real key to success is having a solid base of bodyweight strength to begin with. Leave your comments and score! Now, beyond the basics of bodyweight training, you must understand that in order to get stronger with your own bodyweight, you must start to progress in difficulty.

Being able to bang out squats, push-ups, lunges, and pull-ups by the dozens or even hundreds is pretty good, but to what point? In order for your training to be truly effective in helping you gain more strength, you must start to build more strength with more progressed movements over time.

This is where different forms of advanced bodyweight exercises come into play. A great way to enhance your training and make it more advanced is to make it explosive by increasing the speed of the movement. The faster you can move, the better. One of my main coaching cues to my athletes and clients is to always be as explosive as possible with your movements during the concentric phase.

I want my people to be thinking about lifting fast, never slow. An example of this would be the push-up. Imagine yourself at the top of the movement; as you descend down into the push-up, you want to keep your whole body tight from head to toe core especially. A key point is that your whole body should work as one solid unit, never in parts, so keep your whole body engaged throughout the movement.

For example, if an athlete has a history of groin pulls, you would want to include a remedial exercise for this area to prevent future injuries. For the football player you would want to include neck exercises since this is an area vulnerable to injury.

A good weight program develops the entire body and not just certain parts of it. A symmetrical and balanced development is essential for improving performance potential, improving coordination, improving flexibility, and reducing injuries.

The minimum number of exercises that you should include in a well-balanced weight training program is eight. Note: The above list of exercises works all of the major muscle groups of the body.

Specific exercises for certain muscles are not included since other movements i. Mauro Di Pasquale is one of the most influential voices on diet, performance and athletic training in the world. His innovative work in finding nu. View all articles by this author. Understanding The Benefits Improved Performance Potential Improving Force Output: Since all movement requires the application of force, this is an important consideration for all sports.

Improving Speed: Since a greater ability to apply force quickly power can result in an increased stride length. A two-inch increase in the stride will result in a one-tenth of a second decrease in the yard dash time! Improving Coordination: Since muscles develop sufficient strength to perform the necessary physical tasks of sport. Agonist prime movers and Antagonist opposites muscles become balanced so that smooth and coordinated movement is possible.

Improving Flexibility: Since muscles are exercised through a full range of motion, this area can be improved upon. The old myth of "muscle boundness" is unfounded if the athlete is in a properly designed weight training and stretching program. Improving Muscle Endurance: this is especially important in events that require stamina i. He is able to expend less energy to accomplish the same amount of work and thus, will have more energy available at a later time period.

The result is increased efficiency in endurance activities. Reducing The Incidence Of Injury Muscles adapt to training by becoming thicker and stronger which allows them to more effectively combat strains.

These are tried and true fully body training plans that will help you get stronger by exposing you to heavy weights and letting you add weight on a regular basis and build muscle. Ivysaur is another solid pick.

Intermediate level lifters may benefit from training 4 or 5 days per week in order to achieve the necessary stimulus to disrupt homeostasis and induce adaptation in the necessary muscle groups. It really depends on how the program is designed and what its goals are. Often times a powerlifting program is associated with a peaking program, which specifically aims to increase the one rep max on the squat, bench press, and deadlift.

A strength program is less likely to focus on peaking. It also may focus less on strict competition lifts and may incorporate more variations of those lifts, like front squats, incline bench press, Romanian deadlifts, etc. Of course, all of those lifts can be used to help increase powerlifting performance too. At the end of the day, every powerlifting program is a strength program, but not every strength program may be ideal for powerlifting.

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