How To Train Athletes…Sport Specific Strength & Conditioning

I love all the marketing that I see for training athletes! I see it every day. Yes, let me tell you. There are some amazing strength and conditioning coaches in this country who have found their niche. Whether it’s focusing on the baseball athletes, golfers, or soccer players. 

I have often been asked by parents, well, what are the sport specific things you do and how do you differentiate between all of the different athletes and their respective sport.

Here’s the thing.

Every athlete (just like in their sport) needs to first build the foundation. They need that solid foundation of strength. They need to understand how to brace properly, where they should be feeling movements, and be educated on proper technique for all of the main lifts and the accessory. From there, they need to progressively overload those movements. Once the foundation is built, then some more of the sport specific movements can be introduced as well as the preventative arm care/ACL/ etc. 

For our golfers, we always start with the Titleist Performance Institute Screen. The best part about this, is that the screen can be applicable to tennis, lacrosse, baseball. All rotational sports. The screen helps us to identify what mobility or stability work may need. We may have to help a young golfer disassociate their upper and lower body to help prevent an injury. Or how about that golfer that is constantly complaining about knee pain? The screen will help us identify the problem areas and develop a program to fix them. 

For our soccer players, we need to teach them how to decelerate properly, change direction quickly and more.

For our baseball players, you are only as strong as your weakest side. So damn, you better believe we are focusing on the non-dominant side when it comes to throwing/hitting/pitching. 

So, the next time you see some sports specific training, ask the right questions. Do they first focus on building that solid foundation of strength and then include the sport specific stuff? How do you get faster and more powerful? Strength Train. How do you prevent injuries? Strength Train. But, everything needs to start with the foundation and build an athlete from the ground up.

You don’t teach a 5 year old soccer player how to do a rainbow on day 1. 

Why the heck would you start with a ballistic movement when training an athlete if they haven’t built their foundation yet?

Interested in learning more about our sports performance program for athletes 10 years and up? 

Respond, ATHLETE to this email [email protected] and I’ll get you more details!

• Charlene