Most of you have been in a weight room just like this one, at some point. The equipment falls into two broad categories. There are free weights, and there's equipment designed to isolate specific muscles, just as you see here. And when I ask coaches about the type of weight training they prescribe, and why they prescribe this type of training, they have many reasonable sounding answers. However most really lack a true understanding about the science they may, or may not have, to support their resistance training program design. An athlete's strength and power has a varying effect on their performance on their performance of sports skills. And the problem that their coach must address is how to enhance strength and power, so the effects transfer to performance of that skill. And for most sports the objective is to not maximize muscle mass, higher muscle mass in fact is frequently detrimental to performance. There's an optimal muscle mass that is suitable for most sports, and this is what the coach is trying to achieve. There's also the problem of insuring specificity of training. If you want to train an athlete's speed, for example, what type of equipment, and what exercises do the best job improving the sprint speed? In the case of the 100 meter sprinter, overall performance is the outcome of acceleration and maintenance of top speed. And sprinters run a straight line as fast as possible, that's all they have to do. No one's allowed to interfere with them in any way. The situation though is very different for a team sport athlete who must accelerate quickly, change direction while running at top speed. Stop quickly, jog a wee bit, and then sprint again while avoiding the opponent. How do you train the strength and power needed for all this type of ability, while concurrently enhancing aerobic capacity? Do exercises using free weights, or machines, have the higher transfer effect to the athlete's performance? What exercises do you use? Do you use a squat, or a dead lift, or a snatch? Do you train maximum strength, or do you train power? How much strength does the athlete actually need? What muscles should the athlete train? What lifting speed should they use? And the questions go on, and on, and on. When I lift this weight, look at all the muscle coordination required, even though it's a very simple motion. I have to stabilize my elbow joint while flexing my elbow. I also have to stabilize my body so it doesn't move, so my abdominal muscles are working. And I also have to balance myself with my leg muscles, so this action here requires a lot of coordination. The machine, however, limits what you do, it limits the action to just this motion. It doesn't recruit all the stabilizing muscles. You can strengthen the muscles that are doing this motion, but the stabilizing muscles, and the core, and the legs will all remain weak. You need also ask, what relevance does this particular exercise have on an athlete's performance of a skill? It's great for doing this kind of exercise. But where on the sports field does an athlete just do that, and not have to balance their body while also producing a force? As well, athletes only have a certain amount of time to devote to their training. When they're here in the weight room they're not out there on the sports field, practicing the skills and the tactics they need. So it's very important you know what type of resistance training to prescribe. And how much to prescribe, so it has maximum impact on the athlete's performance in minimum possible time. There's little question that training the athlete's strength and power is a difficult aspect of coaching. A whole course is needed to discuss the nuances of sport specific strength and power development. And I've selected just four points of discussion that I think you will need to set your way toward a deeper understanding of what you're trying to accomplish. In the first lesson of this topic I discussed some basic terminology, such as strength, and torque, and work, and power. And how these terms are relevant for understanding the application of strength and power to the athlete's performance. In the second lesson, I focus on how to apply the principle of specificity, and transfer of training effects to the athlete's strength and power development. And this will help you make informed decisions about the type of equipment and exercises to use. What exercise here do you choose for your specific sport? And the third lesson analyzes the peripheral structural adaptations that occur due to strength and power training. And the final lesson in this topic examines all the important central nervous systems adaptations. These four lessons will give you a great start on your ability to figure out the most appropriate strength and power training program for your athlete. I have drawn quite a bit from the ideas of a Russian sports scientist, Vladimir Zatsiorsky, who's written wildly about sport specific strength and power. He immigrated to the US in the early 1990s, and spent a large part of his academic career in the Penn State biomechanics lab. Of all the academics who have written about strength and power, Zatsiorsky provides the most relevant insights for athletes, and their sport specific strength and power. So, with this brief Introduction to this topic I want you to have fun with it because it is a really interesting topic. I know you're going to enjoy the content, and will immediately see how to apply what you're learning to developing the strength and power of athletes. And, most importantly, know what you're doing.
