Phenom athletes like Adrian Peterson (our October 2008 cover model) and Olympic legend Michael Phelps employ all the tricks of the trade when it comes to training for their sport. Here are five sport-specific training tips to add to your program, courtesy of Jim Ryno, owner of LIFT, a private personal training facility in Ramsey, New Jersey (InsideLift.com) and former trainer to the likes of professional athletes Hershel Walker (NFL), Ron Harper (NBA) and Tommy Maddox (NFL).
When in doubt, go big.
Training for sport isn’t about doing endless sets of biceps curls or even calf raises. Compound, multi-joint exercises need to be your top priority. Go ahead and do 1-2 exercises each for biceps and triceps near the end of an upper body workout, but when in doubt, do bench presses, squats and power exercises like cleans and plyometrics instead of single-joint moves. More specifically, Ryno suggests that full body movements that are directly related to your particular sport should be your highest priority. For instance, a long jumper will get more out of lower body plyometric moves than heavy bench presses. The sport-specific training program in the October issue of M&F (page 230) is a perfect example of prioritizing compound exercises.
Add a weighted vest to your workout.
One great way to add resistance to non-lifting exercises like sprints, plyos and other bodyweight exercises is to supplement weight via a weighted vest. According to Ryno, a good rule of thumb is start out with a vest that’s approximately 10% of your bodyweight, as a vest shouldn’t compromise speed, form or safety.
“A vest can be easily used to add resistance and increase power development into almost all of your explosive movement work, including plyometrics, sprints and standard jump training,” says Ryno. (Shop for weight vests at WeightVest.com.)
In the aforementioned sport-specific program, a vest can be added to such exercises as split lunge jumps, speed skaters and pull-ups, as well as to cone agility drills. Feel free to ease into it by adding the vest to only your last set of each exercise, then go up from there as you get used to the added resistance.
Utilize a foam roller.
Aside from strength and power, two aspects of your training that need to be addressed are muscle recovery and flexibility. The former will allow you to experience continued gains in the gym instead of breaking down, and the latter will help improve overall athleticism and prevent injury. One way to enhance both is to use a foam roller as a means of giving yourself a massage – the technical term for this being SMR (self massage release). (Foam rollers can be found at PerformBetter.com and many other retail fitness outlets.)
Massage, say, the hamstrings following a grueling leg workout is as simple as placing the roller on the floor (either in your gym’s stretching area or at home) and moving it up and down the muscle firmly. “The foam roller,” says Ryno, “will help to improve blood flow [to the muscle being massaged] and increase flexibility.”
Use elastic bands.
Free weights and machines are great, but the key to any effective sport-specific program is diversity. Elastic bands provide a different type of resistance than free weights and should be employed occasionally in your training to promote a well-rounded program. For one, bands provide variable resistance – the more the band is stretched during the concentric (positive) phase of each rep, the greater the resistance. Moreover, on the eccentric (negative) phase, the elastic band literally pulls your hand down (assuming you’re doing an upper body exercise), and resisting that pulling action places a great amount of stress on the muscles.
“Resistance bands are a vital tool in improving athletic performance,” say Ryno. “They can produce the same effect as traditional weights, but unlike free weights and machines they’re infinitely variable in direction as well as resistance.”
Ryno’s reference to variability of direction means this: Whereas with a machine your path of motion is predetermined, and with free weights the concentric phase pretty much needs to go against the pull of gravity (straight up), bands can be anchored not just to the floor (by standing on them) but to any solid structure to create the line of pull you desire. (Visit TOBands.com to purchase bands and see different exercises that can be performed with them.)
Correct imbalances.
Muscular imbalances are a natural byproduct of virtually any sport. Gymnasts’ biceps are often overdeveloped in relation to their triceps (not to the mention their lower bodies). A rowers’ back muscles can easily overpower his or her pecs. You get the picture. However, such imbalances can be corrected in the gym.
“Prolonged exposure to any sport will produce sport-specific muscle imbalances,” says Ryno. “There’s no easy answer to eliminating muscle imbalances; the only way to prevent them is with correct strengthening and flexibility exercises. For example, in cycling the quadriceps may be highly developed while the hamstrings are not. So when developing a strength circuit for a cyclist, you must include two key exercises – the lying leg curl and the single-leg Romanian deadlift.”
