Exercise Selection

The principle of specificity states that training should mirror the demands of the sport as closely as possible (1). This applies not only to way the body’s energy systems and neuromuscular system is taxed (through manipulation of intensity and rest intervals etc) but also to the movement patterns of each exercise.

Bodybuilders tend to isolate a muscle group and work it to exhaustion. Athletes on the other hand should train movements rather than muscles. A simple example is the vertical jump. The muscles involved in this action (calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals etc.) could be trained separately with exercise choices such as toe raises, leg extensions, leg curls, kickbacks and so on. A more appropriate exercise however is a barbell squat, which closely matches the movement pattern of the vertical jump. Taken a step further, jump squats are even more specific to jumping and it’s not surprising that they increase vertical jump performance to the greatest extent.

Athletes must divide their time and energy amongst various types of training – endurance, strength and power, speed and agility, tactical etc., and find the time to recover! By choosing only the most appropriate resistance exercises volume can be kept to a minimum saving energy for other types of training.

This has led many coaches to incorporate Olympic weight lifting into their strength training programs, almost without question. The rationale is that just a few Olympic lifts will build all-round strength and power. Whilst exercise such as power cleans can be beneficial to some athletes, for many there are more specific and more appropriate options.

Many of the sample strength training programs within this section of the website consist of relatively few exercises. This is deliberate and while it may seem unbalanced at first glance, it takes into account other training the athlete is expected to complete.

After this we move on to Different Types of Strength Training in the next slide