Why You Need to Take A Scientific Approach to Training
Are you looking to increase strength, speed, or power?
It’s the first question I ask athletes looking to undertake a new training program — and it’s a vital one. Different athletes have different needs, and designing a program to help them meet their goals without fully understanding them first is a waste of time.
There is no single best approach to training. Not every athlete needs to build strength; conversely, not everyone needs to increase their speed. Two athletes of the same age, playing the same position in the same sport can both need completely different training programs. A program that isn’t built for your specific needs isn’t going to help you reach your goals effectively. That’s just science.
One Approach Does Not Fit All
How can your needs be that different from those of another athlete who plays the same sport and has the same general level of physical fitness as you? Because each body is unique. The physical characteristics you were born with, your athletic history, and the training programs you’ve undertaken up to this point will all influence what type of program you need to reach your full potential.
A typical training program can fall into one of three key categories, and understanding which one best meets your needs is crucial to achieving your goals.
1. Ballistic Strength Training: A Need for Speed
Ballistic training focuses on increasing your power output to improve things like speed, jump height, or strike power. This type of training is ideal for athletes with a high maximum strength that doesn’t translate to power in movements like pedalling, running, kicking, pushing, or pulling. If your athletic performance feels like it’s less than it should be, given your strength, ballistic training could be right for you.
2. Maximal Strength Training: Building Power
In contrast, maximal strength training is about increasing the total amount of force your body can exert — basically, how strong you are. Strength plays a vital role in both performance and protection against injury. The stronger you are, the less likely you are to be hurt. If your speed and power are being held back by limitations on how strong you are, a training program focused on building maximal strength can help you improve your performance.
3. Concurrent Training: Finding a Balance
With few exceptions, most sports aren’t focused solely on athletes’ maximum strength, speed, or power. A combination of all three is necessary to achieve optimal performance. Athletes who have developed the ability to access their full strength when running, jumping, or striking need to increase their maximal strength while also maintaining their ability to translate strength into speed and power. In these cases, concurrent training combines elements of both ballistic and maximal strength training to ensure strength gains translate to improved performance.
Ready for a Science-Based Approach to Training?
I hope I’ve been able to convey the importance of taking a scientific approach to training with this blog post. (Or at the very least, explain why a one-size-fits-all approach to training can often result in wasted time and disappointing results.) In my next post, we’ll dig into assessments you can use to help determine which type of training program will best meet your needs.
At Scienced Athletics, we’ve built our business on developing custom training programs for athletes, regardless of age or skill level. Contact us with your questions about choosing the program that’s right for you, or book a free, no-obligation consultation to get our expert advice.
