Strength: Foundation for athletic performance

Editorial Comment
THIS IS the time of the year when foundations for the coming season’s performance are built. At this time one needs to point out strength and endurance as base for training.

THIS IS the time of the year when foundations for the coming season’s performance are built. At this time one needs to point out strength and endurance as base for training.

Be it in the life of an athlete or in a single competition year, athletes need strength and endurance to be able to train.

In simple terms one needs to be strong enough to carry their body during training and have the endurance to last the distance.

Strength is defined as the ability of one’s musculoskeletal system to generate high amounts of force. Or put more simply, strength is the ability of your muscles to move stuff.

That stuff might be a barbell that you’re moving through heavy squat, or your own body that you’re moving over a distance, could be 100m or 100km.

Regardless of the resistance, it takes a certain amount of muscle to move that stuff. A lack of muscle and strength may be an issue for an athlete. Strength training exercises are a must for all athletes.

Ideally, this type of training should be included liberally as part of normal physical activity in a training programme.

Some people believe that strength improvements are only required by men, but they would be wrong, it is needed by both male and female athletes to maximise performance.

Strength training exercises are of different types and if one is a track and field athlete, one would have different requirements. It does not just build one’s strength, but also provides one with more endurance.

It is not by chance that all good athletes undergo some sort of strength training.

It’s certainly true that it is not necessary for an endurance athlete to build rippling muscles capable of producing enormous amounts of force.

Since muscle takes significant amounts of energy to cool and carry, there is without doubt a point of diminishing returns as an aerobic athlete builds muscle.

But muscle mass is not necessarily synonymous with strength. The reason for this lies in the relationship between nerves, muscles and something called the motor unit.

However, the goal of weight training and strength building is not to increase the signal to the fibres, but rather to train the body to be able to recruit multiple motor units, whether those motor units are comprised of slow-twitch or fast-twitch muscle fibres.

The strongest athletes in any sport have the capability to recruit multiple motor units, which means more fibres are firing, increases force production and strength.

So as an endurance athlete, one could have a relatively small number of motor units, but with proper training, can gain the ability to recruit a significant number of those motor units simultaneously.

If this is the case, one does not need much muscle, but just the ability to be able to wholly recruit the muscles that one has.

The hormonal response to strength training is significantly different than the response to endurance exercise.

From the perspective of an endurance athlete, an increase in anabolic hormones such as testosterone may be beneficial for decreasing body fat, improving mood, having a better sex life, or increasing longevity.

The take-away message for endurance athletes is that a focus on pure aerobic training with no strength training may result in a less-than-ideal hormonal response to exercise, which may affect reproductive function, libido, and physical appearance.

The principle of specificity states that training should mirror the demands of the sport as closely as possible.

This applies not only to way the body’s energy systems and neuromuscular system is taxed (through manipulation of intensity and rest intervals etc) but also to the movement patterns of each exercise.

Athletes should train movements rather than muscles. By choosing only the most appropriate resistance exercises volume can be kept to a minimum saving energy for other types of training.

Unlike bodybuilding, where the only aim is to increase the size and appearance of muscles, strength training programmes for sport ultimately must develop either explosive power or muscular endurance.

However, rather than immediately embarking on a programmes to improve either or both of these fitness components, a more effective approach is to first build a solid foundation.

Basic strength training programs adapt the body for more strenuous resistance training later on. It’s objective is to prepare the body by targeting all of the major muscle groups, tendons, ligaments and joints helping to prevent injury.

The less experienced an athlete is, the more time they will need to spend developing foundational strength before progressing onto more advanced forms of resistance training.

But even experienced athletes should set aside some time during the year to complete a phase of basic strength training.

It can help to redress some of the muscle imbalances that inherently occur with competitive sport. Some athletes will benefit from increasing their lean body mass by adding extra muscle bulk. However, the number of athletes that require hypertrophy training or a phase of bodybuilding is far fewer than most would expect.

Larger muscles are not necessarily stronger and more weight — even lean, active weight — can be a hindrance in many sports.

Maximal strength training programs do not necessarily increase the size of a muscle (hypertrophy) but they do lead to neuromuscular adaptations that are favourable to most athletes. Even endurance athletes can benefit from maximal strength training.

Just as an athlete can be extremely muscular and lack an associated level of strength, they can also be exceptionally strong but lack significant power.

Most athletic movements occur more rapidly and demand significantly more power than lifting maximal loads.