Mike Boyle: Is Sport-Specific Training a Myth? (excerpt)

Is Sport-Specific Training a Myth?
by Michael Boyle
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Strength training is and always will be a major part of the conditioning process for athletes. In fact, nothing seems to help sport performance more than the development of strength and power. This is great news for those of us who've made a career out of helping athletes reach those goals.

But even though we all agree about the importance of strength training, and even though there's some general consensus about the best ways to improve athletes' strength and power, debates have raged for years about the specifics. One particularly contentious debate is over the very idea that there are specifics for training players in individual sports.

Athletes and their parents or coaches love to hear that a particular exercise is good for a particular sport. It makes strength and conditioning specialists like me sound like we know what we're talking about, and it gives athletes confidence in our ability to help them with their individual needs.

Plus, let's be honest about this: The guys who write for fitness magazines love you when they're assigned articles called "The Best Exercise for Every Sport" and you can actually supply them with material that pleases their editors and helps them get paid.

So it's in my best interest to tell people that such things as "sport-specific training" and "sport-specific exercises" actually exist. But is it true?

Let's think about what we're asking here:

Say I'm training two high school kids. One's a cornerback on the football team, and one's a center fielder on the baseball team. Both are fast and would benefit by being even faster. Both would benefit by being stronger and developing more power. Both want to add some muscular size, but not at the expense of their speed or agility. Do I train them differently, even though their goals are basically the same?

In the most fundamental sense, the answer is no. The best methods to develop speed and power are somewhat universal.

However, there is a catch. Although it's dubious to say that certain exercises are better for certain sports, I think it's fair to say that some exercises are worse for athletes who play particular sports.
Best Exercises for Size and Strength

You need more strength and power in some sports, but the way you build it doesn't change.