Try many different sports, not necessarily your best one.
Olympic weightlifters specialize for Olympic weightlifting.
Powerlifters specialize for powerlifting.
Girevoy (kettlebell) sport specialize for kettlebells.
If you are talking about building muscle and strength, you have a variety of options. The problem is lifters stay on a program too long or without progressive overload and they plateau. Always challenge yourself!
When talking about athletes of all ages, they need a wide variety of training adaptations and protocols. Sometimes those who “specialize” think that their training is the ULTIMATE TRAINING and everyone should be only doing that. Well, they’re wrong.
Yes you can get strong with kettlebells, yes you can get strong with barbells, yes you can get strong with dumbbells….it ALL WORKS! These are tools but it is all dependent upon how you use these tools. When training athletes, you must make a choice on how to choose the right training protocols (yes plural) after and only after you analyze the following:
– The training maturity (how long they’ve been training) of the athlete / lifter
– The sporting age (how long they’ve been playing their sport(s)) of the athlete / lifter
– The metabolic, physiological and neurological demands of the sport
– The movement patterns of the sport
– The athlete or lifter’s ability to adhere to the prescribed training and restorative modalities (sleep, massage, foam roller, good nutrition, etc.)
– The athlete / lifter’s current injuries and / or stage of recovery