Why all athletes need STRENGTH

So I was training one of my athletes the other day and she asked me why we do so much strength and explosion work and why we aren’t doing speed/plyometrics work. Being the smart ass that I am I told her simply because I am a strength coach not a speed coach. I then gave her the logic behind my madness. There are way too many so called experts out there that open there own training facilities where they work with athletes and have them hopping through hoops, balancing on bosu balls, and doing so called speed work. Basically what these athletes are doing is practicing movements that will not translate to the field or mat and coincidently these trainers are the ones that are not turning out the stud athletes. So back to why I focus so much time and energy to strength.
Most major aspects in sports are based off strength. You want to run faster or jump higher? Guess what if you don’t have the strength to develop the proper amount of force off the ground your speed and vertical isn’t going anywhere! That is why the major concern I have with training my athletes is not only building up there speed but also there explosiveness. By mixing these two components together you will create one bad ass mofo! The funny thing is out of all the athletes I have trained very little if any time was dedicated to strictly speed work, and guess what? Every one of my athletes not only improves there speed and jumping ability but also become more athletic in the process. How is this possible you may be wondering? By focusing our time on speed and explosiveness these athletes are developing more POWER (P=Work /Time). The more weight you can lift the more work you are doing and the quicker you can explode through that lift the more power developed, simple. Yet so many “sports trainers” out there do not understand this concept, yet continue to build up cliental without developing the athletes the way they should. I am not sure the exact reason this is still happening but I have a couple ideas. The athletes don’t want to work hard plan and simply. They feel they are doing what is needed by going to this training facility and running through an obstacle course to improve there lateral movement. Yet what this skinny kid really needs to be doing is flipping tires, lifting sandbags and training the UNDERGROUND STYLE. How can we change this? The first step for me is getting my butt in gear and getting my facility open and kicking ass. Lately I have been doing just that and I am hoping this constant grind will pay off sooner rather then later. So next time you’re talking to a friend whos kid can’t wait for the football season to start because he made so much progress at this facility (he could barely balance on a bosu when he started, now he can do a full squat!), simply tell your friend nicely that they are wasting there money and the kids time and energy and they need to be lifting heavy shit period!





























Whos gunna win this battle?