“Sport-Specific Training”

Debunking the idea that an athlete’s training should always look exactly like their sport

Every year as we approach the Summer, we often hear about athletes concerned that they will be doing “football workouts” or athletes asking for “sport-specific training,” but sport-specific training is a myth!

Okay, maybe it is not a myth, but sport-specific training is not what a lot of athletes and coaches think it might be. The issue is not with the idea of “sport-specific training.” The issue is that the definition of “sport-specific training” has been misconstrued.

Athletes and coaches all over believe that the term refers to doing movements in the weight room or in training that resemble or replicate the skills performed in their sport. It sounds logical but in practice, it is not. Sport-specific training should be defined as training to become a better athlete, which is essentially just training.

The issue with the term is that it’s often used to justify why an athlete shouldn’t be doing “XYZ” movement. Or too often we hear about an olympic-sport athlete doing “football workouts”.

But shouldn’t all athletes want to be stronger? Wouldn’t everybody be better at their sport if they were more explosive? Most athletes would excel if they could change direction more efficiently. And also, the bigger the muscle the more force it can produce, so a little muscle mass wouldn’t hurt anybody.

So, in essence, it would actually make sense if the training for athletes from different sports looked very similar. This is especially true for a novice athlete that needs to develop base-level movement skills and strength.

Now, all this being said, athletes from different sports absolutely have different demands and they should train differently at times. Sometimes even athletes within the same sport should train differently.

Bench pressing probably won’t have a significant impact on cross-country runners. Tall lanky basketball players will sometimes struggle to squat with a bar on their back. Baseball players probably don’t need to condition as much as soccer players.

To address the different needs of athletes we can modify movements to meet their demands. Here are a couple of different examples of presses that we do with athletes who have to be more cautious with their shoulders:

DB Floor Press

Landmine Press Progression

At some point, our training will resemble that of an athlete from another sport because our #1 mission when we train is to become better athletes: run faster, jump higher, change direction efficiently, and get strong enough to prevent injury.

A previous coach of mine told me I should only close-grip bench press because as a lineman in football, “inside hand wins.” If all I ever did was close-grip bench, I would not get as strong as I would if I did all kinds of bench.

Also, the close-grip bench doesn’t really resemble what I would do on a football field. So essentially, by trying to mimic what we do on the field in the weight room, we sub-optimally train for strength and sports skills.

At the end of the day, increased athletic ability will lead to better athletic performance in your sport. Training our sports skills will also make us better at our sport. There is a time and place for both.

We run into issues when we try too hard to merge both into one thing. So to answer your question, yes at Performance Course you will be receiving “Sport-Specific Training!” You will be getting better at your sport!