Is Sport-Specific Training Real?

Is there such a thing as sport-specific training in the gym? Are there really specific exercises for soccer? For hockey? For Basketball? Let's find out.

Let's start off by talking about some ground rules. No matter the sport you play, everyone will use the same 3 muscular contractions to produce any kind of movement; concentric, isometric, and an eccentric contraction.

Let's look at a simple two-foot jump for example. It starts with an eccentric contraction (bending of the knees), then an isometric contraction (pause at the bottom - just before going back up), and finally finished off with a concentric contraction that extends the knees and propels the body up into the air. No matter the movement in sport (ie. jump, cut, stop, sprint, or turn) the body will end up going through these same 3 muscular contractions and in the same order.

So what does it mean to train specifically for your sport? Mike Boyle, a well-respected strength coach, made a post recently where he states that sport-specific training in the gym is total b.s. (his words, not mine). He goes on to say that fast is fast and strong is strong. A fast baseball player would make a fast football player and so on.

I would agree with him and say that"sport-specific training" is simply just a fancy term thrown around in the fitness industry. The reality is if you are a soccer player, the most sport-specific training is playing soccer. If you are a hockey player, sport-specific training is playing hockey. I think you get the point.

When talking about fitness in the gym, you wouldn't want to do a squat while doing keep-ups with a soccer ball just to call it a "soccer-specific exercise". Soccer players need strong legs but so do hockey players. You can argue that a hockey player needs to lift more weight and be stronger but both can still do the same exact exercise and benefit equally.

I'm not saying that strength coaches shouldn't understand the mechanics of each sport. Coaches need to have at least a basic understanding of the athlete's sport to understand the body's positioning and muscles used during play.

But remember, the majority of all athletes are all trying to accomplish a common goal; the ability to produce the most amount of force in the shortest amount of time possible. A wrestler needs to work on his power just as much as a football player.

Also, we can't forget to factor in the age of the athlete. When an athlete is young, it's going to be very important for them to build a solid foundation or base of fitness. There is a saying in strength and conditioning which goes like this,"You cannot fire a cannon from a canoe". What that means is that to be able to produce a lot of power, you need to have a strong base. Too many coaches will teach their athletes advanced exercises - such as plyometrics or jump training, without first making sure they have a base level of strength to work from.

Youth athletes need to know how to master the basics. A push-up, a pull-up, and a wall-sit are just a few examples of exercises that every athlete needs in their exercise program. At MOTIV8 Sports Academy, we train youth athletes from all sports for this exact reason. To work on mastering the fundamentals!

To sum it all up, sport-specific training is a misused term. If you want to train specifically for your sport, then play and practice your sport! Because there is nothing more specific than that. Let strength coaches help you develop the proper muscles that will help you develop more strength, power, and speed. Then it's up to you to apply it to your sport. LeBron's strength coach can't help him directly on the basketball court. But what he can do, is to make sure LeBron is physically prepared to play and excel at the highest level.