Categoriescoaching personal training

Training Athletes vs. General Population Clients

A few years ago, while presenting at the NSCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, I mentioned to the crowd that I don’t work with a lot of athletes anymore.

By choice.

Copyright: yuran-78 / 123RF Stock Photo

Training Athletes vs. General Population Clients

Instead, I explained that currently 90-95% of my clientele are made up of general population clients.

You know, “normal” people.

What’s more, I noted that I actually preferred training them over professional athletes.

There was a cacophony of crickets chirping and cold, blank stares. You would have thought I had just told the crowd I had given up everything just so that I could go walk the land and practice kung-fu.

via GIPHY

During the subsequent Q&A later that day I had a handful of people approach to ask if I was okay and whether or not I needed medical attention for saying something so blasphemous me to further elaborate my comment from earlier:

“So, uh, you said you stopped training athletes to work with general population clients.

Like, why?”

Here’s What I Said

Before I peel back that onion, I think it’s important to address the elephant in the room.

I think the overlying credo in the fitness industry is that once you get to the point where you’re working with (professional) athletes or celebrities you’ve somehow “made it.”

You’re elite.

You can now write your memoir.[footnote]Mine would be titled, “Deadlifts, Wu-Tang, and Donuts.”[/footnote]

Woman hold notebook. Book notes for the Story of my life. Personal memoirs notes concept.

Quick Aside: I also feel there’s a tendency for people within the industry to give more credence or credibility to certain certifications over others. For example if someone is a CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) they’re obviously smarter and more qualified than a lowly CPT (Certified Personal Trainer)….and they can probably walk on water.[footnote]I remember early in my career, especially when I started writing for sites like T-Nation, people were surprised when I told them I was “only” a CPT.  They were flabbergasted that I still knew what gluconeogenesis was or that I could actually write a coherent program to get people strong despite not, you know, training athletes or being a CSCS. Full Disclosure: I did eventually get my CSCS, but for the first five years of my career I was “just” a personal trainer.[/footnote]

Certifications are great and all (and necessary to some degree), but I guess I fall into the camp that tries not to place too much weight on the letters next to someone’s name, and more so on their experience and overall track record.

I get it: Training Gary from accounting doesn’t attach itself to as much prestige and luster as, say, an NFL player or Zac Efron.

However, as my friend and colleague, Mike Connelly, eloquently stated back in the day:

“We all train people. Whether or not they get paid to play a sport does not change their “peopleness” nor does it impact your status as an elite trainer. You either know what you’re doing or you don’t and there is plenty of both on either side.“

Training professional athletes and actors has its benefits and setbacks, as does training general population clients.

I’ve been fortunate to work with people on both sides of the fence.

I can tell you that throughout my career I’ve been every bit as excited watching one of my female clients nail her first strict, bodyweight chin-up as when I was watching an athlete of mine make his Major League debut.

Fun Tony Factoid: I watched one of my former athletes make his Big League debut the night of my Bachelor party.

Anyways, far be it from me to tell you which is the better fit or more rewarding route to take.

All I can do is speak for myself.

Speaking of which, how about I finally STFU and get to the meat and potatoes of the post.

“Tony, why did you CHOOSE to not work with pro athletes?”

Here’s What I Actually Said

1. You’re not my Mom, you can’t tell me what to do.

2. The truth is I still do train athletes.  My previous coaching position was at an institution – Cressey Sports Performance – which is known for working with a metric boat load of professional athletes.

Especially overhead athletes.

So, in effect, me switching gears and not training (professional) athletes at the same abundance was very much a result of that.

I simply am not around them as much compared to the past.

Rest assured, though, if Mike Trout wanted to train at CORE I wouldn’t turn him away….;o)

3. When I decided to leave CSP and open up my own small studio in Boston I knew the demographic I’d be catering to the most would be normal, everyday, all-I-want-to-do-is-to-be-able-to-pick-my-kid-up-and-not-hate-life people.

Partly because of the location of my studio, and partly because that’s what I wanted to do.

Don’t get me wrong: I loved working with athletes – and I still do.

However, as far as absolute joys in my life are concerned, outside of a good tickle fight, a heaping bowl of ice-cream, or rough-housing with my 5-year old, I have always gotten more out of helping “regular peeps” nail their first 2x bodyweight squat or helping someone finally conquer his or her’s chronic low-back pain.

I wanted to get back to former and the joy it brought me.

So that’s what I did.

Bye Felicia.

 

Besides, I don’t feel there’s any less pedigree of coaching involved at accomplishing any of the things mentioned above compared to improving someone’s VO2 max or vertical jump from 31 to 32 inches.

In fact, this quote from Vince Gabriele sums things up nicely:

“I get more satisfaction helping a level 3 become a level 7, than a level 8 becoming a level 9. The former is so much more rewarding.“

4. Also, if I really wanted to be honest with any young fitness professionals reading:

  • There’s more general population clients out there in the world than there are professional athletes. It’s an inevitable mathematical likelihood that, despite how important you feel you are and that only the elite of the elite can (and should) be privy to your superior training methodologies, you may, never, work with professional athletes.
  • But if you do, training athletes can provide a level of prestige that can be leveraged to garner more business.[footnote]Just don’t be that coach that goes on and on and on about how you train professional athletes when you worked with that one Olympian, that one time, ten years ago.[/footnote] That said, and I think a lot of gym owners will agree with this, it’s general population clients that pay the rent and often result in more consistent revenue.

Something to think about.

And That’s That

If anything I hope this little rant resonates with those who may struggle with the notion that they’re “less qualified” because they don’t work with athletes , models, actors, or clowns.

That’s a bunch of hogwash.

Maturity in a trainer/coach is revealed in ‘the process of progress’ rather than who’s connected to it.[footnote]Words of wisdom via strength coach Vince McConnell.[/footnote]

Categoriessport training Strength Training

Why College Athletes Should Not Include Olympic Lifting In Their Programs

It’s not lost on me that the title of this particular blog post may ruffle a few feathers out there. There are many coaches and facilities in the world who implement the OLY lifts with their athletes and find great success with this approach.

Conversely, there are also many coaches and facilities in the world who d0 not use the OLY lifts[footnote]You can include myself on that list.[/footnote] and as a result have been blacklisted from S&C Twitter get resounding results as well.

What follows is one coach’s (Syracuse, NY based strength & conditioning coach Ricky Kompf) opinion with a solid rationale for why he falls into the latter category above.

I hope you give it a read.

Copyright: arseniipalivoda

Why College Athletes Shouldn’t Use Olympic Lifts

First off I want to start this article off by saying Olympic lifts can be a great way to develop power.

(step away from the pitchforks, please)

This is in no way shape or form is a diatribe trying to bash Olympic lifts as a group of exercises. They are a tool and just like any tool in the weight room, they have their time and place.

And that time and place should not be in the college weight room as a main means of training power in their respective sport.

via GIPHY

I see it every year, athletes who we have been working with for years in high school finally gain some respectable competency in the weight-room and reach the point where they can play their sport at the next level.

Their collegiate strength coach sends them their summer training program and there it is:

  • Hang cleans
  • Snatches
  • Power cleans
  • 6 AM lifts

A little piece of me dies inside and I have to fight the urge not to go how and yell at my cats.

How can you except an athlete who you have never trained with or seen workout in person to execute the Olympic lifts correctly and effectively without your watchful eye?  It then becomes our job to teach these lifts to the athletes which I’m happy to do, but it undoubtably takes away from the training due to the time and energy restraints it puts on our training.

To make things worse, when these athlete head off to college, train with these exercises as their key performance indicators and main source of power training, 9 times out of 10 they come back to our gym the next year weaker and many times slower.

Weak man tries to lift heavy dumbbell, wants to be strong and fit, does exercises regularly, dressed

I cannot fully contribute these exercises to the outcome, this is simply an observation I’ve noticed for years.

Here’s why I believe these lifts should not be apart of a college athlete’s training program and are actually causing a decrease in performance.

1. Competing Demands

The Olympic lifts are highly technical.

College athletes are arguably at the peak for their sport’s performance (or at least very close to it). That means the demand of skill in their sport takes up a large portion of their training…

…and rightfully so.

They are trying to reach mastery in their craft.

They are not Olympic weight lifters. They are team sport athletes and should be treated as such.

Learning and training with the Olympic lifts takes a high level of skill, skill that is learned through years and years of training and working at it. By spending the time required to be proficient at these exercises you will be taking away from the motor learning time and energy that could be used in their sport.

Basketball players holding basketball in court

You can only master so much at one time from a motor learning perspective and choosing a highly technical form of exercise during collegiate years will only take away from this mastery.

2. They Won’t Be Good Enough For It To Be Effective

The Olympic lifts do a great job of enhancing powerful triple extension, but you don’t reach peak power until you reach about 80% of you max in an Olympic lift.

For the bulk of collegiate aged athletes who have little experience training with the OLY lifts, they likely won’t truly reach this level for a number of years because of how long it takes to master the skill.

(ideally, one would have started at the age of twelve with a PVC stick and ample time…not at 18 with USC at home next week).

I’d rather utilize an exercise like the Trap Bar Jump, which has a much lower learning curve yet yields comparable peak power production in a matter of minutes (not years).

This way I can develop strength, power and speed with as little amount of time as possible. As a result, the athlete can spend more energy on their sport while still experiencing the benefits of a strength & conditioning program.

 

An argument can be made that you could, over the course of the four years, systematically teach a college athlete how to perfect the Olympic lifts in order to reap their benefit.

However, in my experience most (not all) collegiate strength coaches incorporate these lifts using max loads and testing them as a key performance indicator right away.

This is not ideal if you ask me.

Some strength coaches do a great job and implement the OLY lifts responsibly, but I’d still argue that teaching these lifts over the course of four years is a drain on athletes’ time, energy and resources.

I’d Recommend the Following Exercises Instead:

Trap Bar Jumps

 

Trap Bar High Pulls

 

Trap Bar Speed Pulls

 

Sumo Speed Pulls

 

Band Resisted Speed Pulls

 

Dynamic Effort Box Squats

 

3. Power Is Plane Specific

Team sport is rarely played in the same plane of motion as the Olympic lifts.

When developing power that transfers over to your sport it’s better to do it in the same or similar planes of movement and joint angles that you’ll see in your sport to have the most transfer.

Using sprints, jumps and throws are great ways to bridge the gap and usually are better options than the Olympic lifts.

Here’s some exercises that can train speed and power with great transfer to sport:

10 Yard Sprints

 

Max Velocity Sprints

 

Partner Chase Drills

 

Rotational Med Ball Toss

 

Skater Variations

 

Broad Jump Variations

 

Overhead Med Ball Throws

 

Box Jumps

 

4. Other Variations & Methods

Other variations and methods that have a great effect on power training and can be taught quickly include the use of accommodating resistance with bands and chains as well as contrast training.

Accommodating resistance allows you to accelerate through a full range of motion because the resistance increases as you get into joint angles that can handle greater loads. This allows you to train power at all joint angles in a lift.

In addition to that the use of bands provides a unique training stimulus in which the eccentric portion of the lift is accelerated forcing a great amount deceleration training as well as a high-level reversal strength by using the stretch shortening cycle.

There’re a couple examples of this is the exercises listed above.

Contrast training is a method to peak speed and power production in which you use a heavy compound movement like a squat or deadlift and go right into an explosive expression of speed and power like a sprint, jump or throw.

Note from TG: I posted about contrast sets recently HERE.

The heavy lift provides an activation of higher threshold motor units that will transfer into a more explosive athletic movement.

Here’s some examples of contrast training.

Pre-Season Football Contrast Set

 

Back Squat —-> Box Jump

 

Banded Bulgarian Split Squat —-> Half Kneeling Sprint

 

About the Author

Ricky Kompf is the owner of Kompf Training Systems located in Syracuse New York.  His facility provides semi-private training for predominantly high-school and college level athletes with individualized programming.
You can find Ricky on Instagram HERE.
CategoriesAssessment coaching personal training Program Design Strength Training youth/sports training

Addressing the Stone Cold Facts of Training Athletes

Remember that show diary on MTV? You know, the one that aired back in the early to mid-2000s?

The documentary style show centered mostly on musicians and celebrities and followed them through their daily lives.

Each episode started with said celebrity looking into the camera and saying…..

“You think you know, but you have no idea.”

And then for the next 60 minutes we got a true taste of the celebrity lifestyle, given an opportunity to witness their trials and tribulations with the paparazzi, hectic travel schedules, demands on their time, and what it’s like to demand a bowl full of green only M&Ms in their dressing room (and actually get it), not to mention the inside scoop on what it’s really like to be able to bang anyone you want.

Stupid celebrities. They suck….;o)[footnote]For the record, I’d totally be a “cool” celebrity. All I’d ask for is free Spike, my own personal chef, the option to take a hovercraft to work everyday, a cameo in the next Jason Bourne movie as the guy who kicks the shit out of Jason Bourne, and to take a bath every night with water from the purest glacier and flown in after its been blessed by Beyonce. Seems like straight forward stuff to me.[/footnote]

Sometimes I feel like strength coaches should have their own version of the show diary, because when it comes to training athletes I feel like many people out there “think they know….

“…..but they have no idea.”

Oh snap, see what I just did there?

While I don’t think it’s rocket science, I’d be lying if I said there isn’t a lot of attention to detail when it comes to training athletes – or any person for that matter – and getting them ready for a competitive season. Everyone is different, with different backgrounds, ability level, injury history, strengths, weaknesses, goals, anthropometry, as well as considerations with regards to the unique demands of each sport and position(s) played.

By contrast, there are numerous parallels in training despite athletic endeavors or whether or not someone is an athlete to begin with.

We can take the Dan John mantra of:

Push, pull, hinge, squat, lunge, carry

Do those things, do them well, and do them often….and you’ll be better off than most. It’s complicated in its simplicity.

Much like Dan I prefer to train everyone I work with as if they’re an athlete. There’s something magical that happens when I can get Joe from accounting or Dolores from HR to deadlift 2x bodyweight or to start tossing around some medicine balls. Even better if it’s done while listening to Wu-Tang Clan.

They wake up!

They’re less of a health/fitness zombie, haphazardly meandering and “bumping” into exercises. Once they start to train with intent and purpose – and move – it’s game time.

That said, lets be honest: when it does come to training athletes there are many other factors to consider; many more than an article like this can cover. However, I do want to discuss a few philosophical “stamps” that some coaches deem indelible or permanent when it comes to training athletes, when in fact they’re anything but.

1) Strong At All Costs

There’s a part of me that cringes to admit this, but it needs to be said: strength isn’t always the answer.

Don’t get me wrong, I still believe strength is the foundation for every other athletic quality we’d want to improve.

If you want to run faster (<— yes, this matters for endurance athletes too), jump higher, throw things harder or further, or make other people destroy the back of their pants, it’s never a bad thing to be stronger.

When working with athletes, though, there’s a spectrum. If you’re working with a college freshman who’s never followed a structured program and is trying to improve their performance to get more playing time, you can bet I’ll take a more aggressive approach with his or her’s training and place a premium on strength.

When working with a professional athlete – who’s already performing at a high level, and is worth millions of dollars – is it really going to make that much of a difference taking their deadlift from 450 lbs to 500 lbs?

Moreover, we’ve all seen those snazzy YouTube and Instagram videos of people jumping onto 60″ boxes:

 

It may get you some additional followers and IG “street cred”…but man, the risk-reward is pretty steep if you ask me. I’m not willing to risk my career (and that of my athletes) for some stupid gym trick.

Besides, if I wanted to I’d up the ante and have them do it while juggling three chainsaws. BOOM! Viral video.

To that end, I like Mike Robertson’s quote which sums my thoughts up the best:

“I think athletes need to be using the weight room as a tool to improve efficiency and athleticism, not simply push as much weight as possible – MR”

2) You Don’t Have to OLY Lift

Some coaches live and die by the OLY lifts, and I can’t blame them…..they work. But as with anything, they’re a tool and a means to an end. They’re not the end-all-be-all-panacea-of-athletic-and-world-domination.

I don’t feel any coach should receive demerit points – or be kicked out of Gryffindor – because he or she chooses not to implement them into their programming.

Lets be real: If you know you have an athlete for a few years, and have the time to hone technique and progress them accordingly, the OLY lifts are a good fit. It’s another thing, too, if you’re competent.

I for one am never guaranteed four years with an athlete, nor am I remotely close to feeling competent enough to teaching the OLY lifts. And that’s okay….

I can still have them perform other things that’ll get the job done:

Jumps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUbClRjpLGk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn5v85ekXFs

 

NOTE: both videos above courtesy of Adam Feit.

Starts/Acceleration

5 yd Starts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TklqD8uN_Ds

 

5 yd Jog to 10 yd Acceleration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-BPJKTslg

 

Change of Direction

Up 2, Back 1 Drill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSFDp1QSA2w

 

That One Time I Looked Athletic

Medicine Balls Drills

Scoop Toss

 

OH Stomp

 

Kettlebell Swings

 

Punching Ramsay Bolton in the Mouth

No video available.[footnote]But Jon Snow did a nice job.[/footnote]

3) Single Leg Work Matters

This is probably the part where some people roll their eyes or maybe scroll past, but hear me out.

I think it’s silly when I see coaches on Facebook argue over bilateral vs. unilateral movements and try to win everyone over as to which is best.

They’re both fantastic and warrant attention.

Where I find the most value in single leg training:

  • Serves as a nice way to reduce axial loading on the spine when necessary.
  • It can be argued all sports are performed – in one way or another – on one leg, so from a specificity standpoint it makes sense to include it.
  • Helps to address any woeful imbalance or weakness between one leg and the other.
  • Places a premium on hip stability and core/pelvic control.

All that said, I do find many people are too aggressive with their single leg training. It’s one thing to push the limits with your more traditional strength exercises like squats and deadlifts, but when I see athletes upping the ante on their single leg work to the point where knees start caving in and backs start rounding that’s when I lose it.

I’m all about quality movement with any exercise, but more so with single leg training. I’d rather err on the side of conservative and make sure the athlete is owning the movement and not letting their ego get in the way.

Like that one time I posted this video and Ben Bruno shot back a text showing me a video of Kate Upton using more weight than me. Thanks Ben! Jerk….;o)

Unfortunately, some coaches are so set in their ways that they’ll never cross the picket lines. They’re either team bilateral or team unilateral.

How about some middle ground with B-Stance variations?

 

4) Recognize Positions Matter

I’m not referring to Quarterback or Right Fielder here. But rather, joint positions and how that can play into performance in the weight room and on the field.

If you work with athletes you work with extension.

As I noted in THIS post, anterior pelvic tilt is normal. However, when it’s excessive it can have a few ramifications, particularly as it relates to this discussion.

Without going into too much of the particulars, people “stuck” in extension will exhibit a significant rib flair and what’s called a poor Zone of Apposition.

Basically the pelvis is pointing one way and the diaphragm is pointing another way, resulting in a poor position; an unstable position.

Anyone familiar with the Postural Restoration Institute and many of their principles/methods will note the massive role they’ve played in getting the industry to recognize the importance of breathing.

Not the breathing that’s involved with oxygen exchange – evolution has made sure we’re all rock stars on that front.

Instead, PRI emphasis the importance of the reach and EXHALE; or positional breathing.

It’s that exhale (with reach) that helps put us into a more advantageous position to not only encourage or “nudge” better engagement of the diaphragm, but also better alignment….which can lead to better stability and better ability to “display” strength.

NOTE: this is why I’m not a huge fan of telling someone to arch hard on their squats.

 

When joints aren’t stacked or in ideal positions, it can lead to compensation patterns and energy leaks which can compromise performance.

5) You Need to Control Slow Before You Can Control Fast

It’s simple.

Learn More With Elite Athletic Development 3.o

Mike Robertson and Joe Kenn released their latest resource, Elite Athletic Development 3.0 this week.

I can’t begin to describe how much information they cover, but if you’re someone who trains athletes then this is a no-brainer.

Many of the concepts I discuss above are covered, in addition to twelve more hours worth of content over the course of ten DVDs

Point Blank: You’ll learn from two of the best in the biz.

The seminar is on SALE this week at $100 off the regular price, and it ends this Friday (7/22), so act quickly.

Go HERE for more details.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

How the Powerlifts and Sport(s) Go Together Like Peanut Butter & Jelly

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength coach, and good friend, Kelsey Reed. Some of you may recall Kelsey’s popular post – Fitness Marketing to Females: Don’t Be a Victim! – from a few months ago.

She’s back. And this time she’s discussing the powerlifts and how applicable they are when training for sport(s).

Enjoy.

Recently, I have been immersed in Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel. (Tony mentioned it HERE.) If you’re a strength coach and you have not read it, do yourself a humongous favor and do so. Your athletes will thank you.

Dan and Pavel divvy up the various types of trainees into four quadrants. Today’s post will focus on Quadrant III: athletes/clients who possess a symbiotic relationship of strength training and their sport or goal in question. I’ll leave the other three quadrants as a mystery awaiting your discovery.

Unless you work with elite athletes, Olympic hopefuls or professionals, the bulk of your clients will be in QIII.

The mentality when working with said clients should be:

They are ___ athletes (i.e. football, soccer, or fill-in-the-blank) who happen to lift, NOT lifters who play ____.

Personally speaking, this has always been helpful for me to keep in mind when I’m tempted to allow one of my teenage boys to go for a 1RM (the answer is usually “No.”). After all, my athletes are training with me to improve their sport performance, not their weight room performance.

In general, there are two types, or spheres, of training: general physical preparedness (GPP), and special physical preparedness (SPP).

As strength coaches, our job often falls more in the realm of GPP rather than that of SPP. The bulk of GPP training is derived from the basic human movements: push, pull, hinge, squat, carry/walking pattern, and crawling. Those look remarkably like, bench press, rows, deadlifts, squats, and farmer carries.

Nikolay Vitkevich, a full-contact black belt and world-class powerlifter, says:

“You must clearly understand the difference between basic training and special physical preparation. [SPP] is different for everybody; one beats up on a tire with a sledgehammer, another does figure eights with a kettlebell, and someone incline presses. Basic training is roughly the same in all sports and aims to increase general strength and muscle mass. Powerlifting was born as a competition in exercises everybody does.”

Did you read that last sentence? Read it again and let it sink in.

A strength coach can easily accomplish 90% of what an athlete needs by intelligently dispersing those movements throughout the training week. From a training economy standpoint, you can’t go wrong by placing a premium on squatting, deadlifting, and pressing.

Deadlifting, squatting, and pressing are exercises every athlete should perform. They are the meat and potatoes (or meat and sweet potatoes for the Paleo adherents out there) of strength and conditioning. The number of muscle groups involved in the powerlifts allows for higher poundages to be used, which in turn, stimulates the neuromuscular and endocrine systems in ways not found in other exercises. The effect produces really strong people. And with everything else being equal, the stronger athlete will win.

Not that it’s impossible to become strong without the powerlifts, it just takes much, much longer. You cannot beat the efficiency and efficacy of picking up heavy things in building powerful athletes.

The powerlifts are also scaleable to each athlete’s strength and experience level.

A 9 year-old can benefit from the squat while using a 5 pound plate as much as a 20 year-old with 200lb on the bar in the next rack over.

That same little guy can deadlift with 15 lbs, while our older athlete has 300lb on her bar: both will increase the strength in their posterior chains. The 9 year-old may learn how to hold a plank (still a press) while an older athlete benches, again both are developing full body strength.

What’s more, the powerlifts are broad enough to apply to every sport and so effective at strength building, why wouldn’t you use them?

Now, before you attack me with pitchforks and PubMed articles, I know that some lifts are not optimal choices for all sports or for all athletes. It’s the difference between contraindicated exercises and contraindicated people.

For example, I will rarely (if ever) bench press an overhead athlete, but will defer to one of the hundreds (literally) of push up variations.

 

I would be remiss to note, too, that non-powerlifter athletes should use the powerlifts, but should not train like a powerlifter.

The powerlifts, programmed appropriately, build a solid strength foundation from which speed and power will spring.

What do I mean by that?

Powerlifting methods can produce CNS fatigue, joint/muscle soreness, and require substantial recovery time. Which is fine if the athlete’s sole goal is to add weight to the bar. But, the human body has only so much capacity for adaptation and recovery. QIII athletes are focused on another goal, typically involving their sport, and need to have plenty of gas in the tank for sport practice.

Another point to remember, in most, if not all athletic endeavors, power (force x velocity) is driving force behind quick athletic movement, like this dude:

 

Max strength does contribute to maximal power output, but only up to a point. If it takes .3 seconds to reach maximal force output but a broad jump only takes about .1 second, you’re not going to be able to express your full strength in that brief amount of time.

Therefore, power athletes (which is pretty much every sport) need to increase their rate of force development. To prevent this post from becoming longer than the lines for the new Star Wars movie, read this and this for more in-depth information.

Max strength and power are not distinct entities, but the latter is built upon the former. Thus, it is imperative to develop a solid strength foundation from which an athlete’s power explodes (pun definitely intended). How to train for power is another post for another day.

As Yoda Pavel says, “Power is strength compressed in time, so to get powerful, you must get strong.”

Athletes have a limited amount of time and energy therefore, exercises that require minimal amount of time are ideal; the powerlifts fit the bill. Like peanut butter is to jelly, barbell work should complement sport practice in an athlete’s overall development.

About the Author

Kelsey Reed is head strength coach at SAPT Strength & Performance located in Fairfax, VA. Bitten by the iron bug at 16, Kelsey has been lifting ever since. Her love for picking up heavy things spurred her to pursue a degree in the Science of Exercise and Nutrition at Virginia Tech.

Now she spends her days teaching and coaching others in the iron game. In her down time, she lives life on the wild side by not following recipes when she cooks, fighting battles through characters fantasy fiction novels, and attempting to make her cats love her.

Kelsey, along with her husband, Coach Steve.