Competitive Athletes

competetive athlete

Developing a Competitive Edge

Competitive athletes can improve their performance by focusing on the
four conditioning goals of athleticism.

Athleticism is a general term used to describe exercises and games requiring
physical skills. The components of athleticism can be broken down into four
basic conditioning goals

On this website we hope to help the reader understand the importance of each,
and how each component relates to the others. Having been involved as a competitive
athlete and now an active coach for over four decades, I can see that each
of these four basic components is essential to optimal performance on the field.

In this section, "Developing the Competitive Edge", I will prioritize the training
goals which will help you achieve the maximum carry over to the athletic event
in which you participate. It is critical that a training program address each
component during different times of a particular athletes season.

It has been said in training circles, that there are three topics which will spawn an instant
debate. Politics, Religion, and Training techniques. American strength coaches and exercise
researchers often work independently and often in direct competition with one another. There
are different "camps" of training methods, each working in direct competition. I have witnessed
extremely heated debates between coaches from differing camps. There are a number of
Internet forums that are defenders of the ultimate training program. In the U.S.,researchers
seek publications and compete for grants, often keeping their data and ideas to themselves for
fear that another lab will publish similar studies. There is often a sense of competition between
coaches and researchers in the US rather than cooperation.

Watch an NFL football game, and then ask yourself some questions. Which team used only free weights? Which team used only machines? Which team followed training methods from the "HIT" camp? Which team used only Olympic- Lifts? Which team followed "Power lifting" protocols? Can you tell just by watching the game? Does it matter? What I see are individuals who display some great "athleticism". They obviously have trained the four basic components at some time during their athletic career. If competitive athletes want an extended professional career they better pay close attention to the components of "strength, power, speed, and agility.

So which training program do they use? Which one is the absolute best? What do you the aspiring athlete want to use? This is what I have learned after four decades of training. Are you ready for the best kept secret in the world of strength and conditioning? OK, here goes...THEY ALL WORK !!!! I know, "you can't handle the truth".

Why did the old USSR/Eastern Europeans dominate world arenas in Olympic sports, especially in strength-power type events. Because Soviet coaches worked together with the exercise scientists to field test and apply their theories. There was no "gap" between the scientists and the coaches as there is in America. In addition, the Soviets were firm believers in coaching athletes to learn basic movements prior to teaching them complicated sport-specific skills.

So, before we start to develop a competitive edge in your training methods. Ask yourself yet more questions. OK, I will ask them for you. Is this guy an expert? Sorry... Nope, just someone who has spent four decades under the bar as an athlete and current coach. I have a passion for research and using myself as the guinea pig.

I hope that you will use the links at the top of the page to continue reading about the four areas that I feel are most important to developing a competetive athlete. Strength, Power, Speed, and Agility are the key components to increasing your athleticism. It definately takes hard work, determination and a cerain degree of genetics to be the best at your sport, but many athletes have used strength training to enhance their talents and become more competitive.

I hope that this website can answer most of your questions about developing an edge for competitive athletes through strength training. However if you are still looking for more information on sport-specific training you can check out Star Potential Sports.

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