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How To Improve Sport Performance: Insight From A Houston Personal Trainer TX

As Houston Personal Trainer TX, I often hear the question: how do I lift to improve sports performance? This is definitely not asked enough by the athletic population. It could be a baseball player, football player, or basketball player. It really doesn't matter. All groups need to lift and get bigger and stronger to produce the necessary ingredient in every sport called power.

Many athletes that do lift tend to focus on bodybuilding methods that do little to nothing for sport performance. There's no power in cross country you say? There's aerobic and anaerobic power involved in the sport. It all comes from having a good strength base. This means everyone in every sport should be stronger. Unless, of course, you're in "the top 10% of your sport" like Mike Boyle says.

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So you aren't at the top of the spectrum? Well, as a Houston Personal Trainer TX, I suggest you need to work on getting stronger. This will enhance strength, power, speed, agility and endurance. All of these qualities need to be addressed in every training program. If the program doesn't increase the athletes sports performance and reduce the chance of injury, it is inappropriate.

When designing my programs as a Houston Personal Trainer TX, I place emphasis on large compound movements. This means fewer bicep curls and more chin ups as an example. Also, in terms of growth, focus needs to be placed on the more explosive muscle fibers. The fast twitch or type II fibers are emphasized because of their high strength and power properties.

To the athlete, this means focusing on acceleration of the barbell, dumbbell, medicine ball, or whatever implement is being used. By performing the movement quickly, preferential recruitment of fast twitch fibers come into play. An example of this would be the barbell front squat. The athlete lowers the barbell under control followed by an acceleration of the bar upward. Sound simple? I hope so, but it's really not. As a Houston Personal Trainer TX, I can tell you many different things go into a quality sport performance program.

Frequency of training also needs to be addressed and is dependent upon the sport and possibly the position. Personally, I prefer 4-day upper/lower splits. This way all motor patterns are hit with adequate rest in between sessions.

Further on down the road I may change my mind, but this is essential to producing the best quality product as a Houston Personal Trainer TX. At the present, I feel athletes should be on a 3-day total body routine or a 4-day upper/lower split to improve sports performance. Fewer or lower volume sessions can be performed during the competitive or in-season phase. Nutrition is another area of importance. Athletes spend a lot of time training and therefore need a quality nutrition plan to maximize progress. As a Houston Personal Trainer TX who trains/trained a lot of athletes, I can tell you quality protein, carbohydrate and fat are essential to optimal progress.

On that same note, I feel carbohydrates are necessary, but I think the recommended percentage is too high for most sports. Really, it comes down to the type of sport when determining macronutrient ratios. Endurance athletes probably need more carbs in their diet while baseball players need a little less. Body type also figures into this which I cover in more detail in my nutrition articles.

Athletes need to work in heavier repetition ranges. This is how the recruitment of the fast twitch fibers are maximized unless performing a ballistic or Olympic movement such as a loaded squat jump or hang power clean. As a generalization, repetitions need to be 12 or fewer. This doesn't necessarily apply to rotator cuff, abdominal, or scapula work as well as other exceptions. The above statement is especially true for the intermediate to advanced trainee so strength improvements can be made.

Strength and conditioning coaches, such as Charles Poliquin, say that as the athlete gets stronger, fewer and fewer reps can be performed at a certain percentage of maximum on each lift. This is due to the efficiency of the nervous system in recruiting muscle to move the load.

Without getting too sciencey, this means more force is being generated per repetition and there are fewer "reserves" to continue the set as fatigue sets in. As a general rule, to get stronger, athletes need to lift 70% or more of their 1 rep max to achieve the desired result. This percentage can be as low as 60% for the novice or beginner because of neural inefficiency. It also doesn't necessarily apply when performing lifts emphasizing power or the eccentric/lowering phase of the movement.

I hope this gives you a little insight into how I train athletes as a Houston Personal Trainer TX for sports performance. By placing more emphasis on getting strong, you'll see much better transition over to the playing field.

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