The Big Picture on Training, By: Tony Reynolds, MS, CSCS, YCS II

Important Notice
Tony Reynolds, Progressive Sporting Systems Inc, and their associates
and affiliates are not affiliated with Anabolic Steroids in anyway and
do not promote or encourage the use of these drugs. His articles within this section of our site are published to offer a broad range of fitness and nutritional knowledge that will help you to achieve your health and fitness goals without the use of Anabolic Steroids.

                It seems as Sport Specific Training (SST) grows in popularity, the number of specialty training products increases exponentially.  I have to sit back and wonder, is all of this really necessary?  Are these products the reason for the new barriers that are getting broken in sport?  Is the rate of progress any greater now than it was 20 years ago?  Are individuals so fixated on the quick fix that they blindly think these products will magically turn them into superstars with out that horrible thing known as hard work?

I am a huge advocate of SST, but I feel sometimes individuals go overboard.  From time to time, attention needs to be given to the basics.  The traditional lifts that are being shunned by many are extremely valuable movements.  I feel that things become “traditional” for a reason.  There is no one individual out there that makes a list of exercises, engraves them on a stone tablet, and than says “these are the commandments that you shall follow.  Ask not why, just perform them blindly.”  These exercises become traditional, because they worked for the individuals who used them.  They stood the test of time, and proved to be useful.

                I will not argue with those who say that we have just gotten smarter.  Weight training was governed by body builders for so long, that the specificity to sport was late in coming.  However, have the last 5 years changed sport performance that much?

                Many strength and conditioning specialist preach such hard core adherence to SST that it becomes a point of personal criticism and immorality to disagree with them.  If you listen to these people, you would think either you train their way or you are wasting your time.  If this is true, I wonder why athletics, and even more specifically athleticism, has been improving for years, not just the last one-half decade.  I am a firm believer that SST is not the “only way” to train athletes rather just part of a multifaceted program.  I feel that it is an extremely valuable piece of the puzzle, but does not depict the whole picture.  

Although I don’t think I am much of a traditionalist, further thought makes me wonder.  I still feel a certain part of the program should be dedicated to the improvement of absolute strength which may or may not include high degrees of athleticism and specificity.  For instance, I feel in the early stages of training it is okay to utilize exercises that do not stress core support.  I think exercise such as the bench press and chest-supported dumbbell row are good tools to build strength in the chest and upper back with out the limiting effects of the core.  If these exercises are coupled with exercises that emphasize core strength such as good ams, traditional abdominal work, reverse hyper, etc., the outcome is extremely beneficial. 

This time should not be spent avoiding core loading activities, rather developing large muscle groups that may require heavier loading than what the core musculature can handle.  I know there are a few coaches out there who are going to think I am talking about using machines here.  Not so, I am talking about bilateral, free weight activities that do not utilize large amounts of proprioception, but utilize several degrees of movement freedom.  This allows you to build individual strengths that can all be tied together later in the program with that fabulous new idea called sport specific training.

                Finally, I want to leave the members of sportspecific.com with one last piece of advice.  Educate yourself…  I am a true believer that there are many paths that lead to the same destination.  One path may lend itself to some people, while another may lend itself to others.  Other individuals may find they get to the same place, no matter what they do. 

                All coaches have different reasons behind what they do.  This is good because it means people are thinking for themselves and developing processes they feel are most “profitable.”  However, what it boils down to is that many coaches get the same results with very different training methodologies.  As an audience member, it is best to learn from as many different sources as possible and develop your own rational.  Anytime an individual says they have the only way that works, they have just closed the door on learning.