SPORT SPECIFIC TRAINING

The Final Step

Once adequate mobility and flexibility have been established, and you have worked on strength and conditioning, you are ready for the last phase of preparation: power, agility, and sport specific training. Specificity of training is what it's all about: this means that in order to excel in your sport, you need to train in ways that will be productive to your sport. For example, a marathon runner will rarely (if ever) work on sprinting -- this would not be beneficial as it would develop their Anaerobic capacity and Type II muscle fibers, while running a Marathon is an Aerobic activity using primarily Type I muscle fibers. Performing sport-specific exercises and drills is key to succeeding and improving in your sport.

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There are multiple ways to train power and explosiveness. I will not be demonstrating any power lifting or such movements because of the risks involved in performing these without proper hands on instruction. Loaded squats, deadlifts, olympic snatch and clean are all valid ways to increase your power if you can perform them correctly. If this is something you are interested in, I would recommend consulting a Strength and Conditioning Professional who could assist you in performing these types of exercises.

I will focus on agility drills, hand eye coordination, speed, and plyometric exercises using mostly your own body weight. Working on these exercises will help improve your footwork, balance, speed, agility, and hand eye coordination. Remember that developing adequate mobility and flexibility, as well as strength and endurance should precede sport specific exercises in order to be most successful and effective.