I know I know

I have been posting a lot from Joe Defranco lately, but that is what I have been doing, is reading over his stuff. When I was in high school my wrestling coach said "if you want to be a stud you have to beat a stud." This same concept holds true with education, training, and life, if you want to better yourself surround yourself with the best, which is why I keep posting excerpts from Ask Joe.

I am a little confused with your question…if you are referring to “sport-specific” training in the WEIGHT ROOM than I think it’s a gimmick and its bullshit! What I mean by this is that some trainers try to “separate” themselves from other trainers by saying that they have their athletes do “sport-specific” training in the weight room. These trainers are usually the ones that over-use stability balls & wobble boards and they bad-mouth exercises like bench-presses and squats because they are not “sport-specific”. Yet, do they think that balancing on a wobble board with your eyes closed and having a pass with a basketball IS sport specific? Or performing your rotator cuff exercises with a weighted baseball will somehow magically make your rotator cuff strength more sport-specific, compared to strength that is gained using dumbells or barbells!? What’s next; should wrestlers wear their head gear during their strength workouts? Should football players wear their helmets, shoulder pads & mouth pieces when lifting? Will that make their strength more “sport-specific”? Don’t get me started! This topic drives me crazy!

The bottom line is that weight training is General Physical Preparation! Read that last statement again…you can NOT duplicate the physical demands of the athletic field in the weight room! What you SHOULD do in the weight room is choose the exercises that strengthen the muscles that are involved in your sport, as well as the exercises that will help to prevent injury. You don’t have to try and duplicate the specific sport in the weight room; just get the muscles strong and then the act of “playing your sport” will make the strength that you gain in the weight room “sport-specific”. For example, let’s say a baseball player and a wrestler are training together in the same group. Wrestling & baseball are 2 extremely different sports, yet these athletes perform the same workout. Let’s use their forearm strength as an example. Part of their workout involves performing various exercises to strengthen their grip & forearms. Even though they are performing the same forearm exercises, the baseball players’ forearm strength will become “baseball-specific” because he PLAYS baseball in his spare time. So his forearm strength can help improve his bat speed, throwing power, etc. The wrestlers’ forearm strength will become “wrestling-specific” because he WRESTLES in his spare time. His new-found forearm strength will help him grab and control his opponent, etc. So in a nutshell, that is my take on “sport-specific” training in the weight room.

The Cliff Notes version of my little rant is this…”Sport-specific training in the weight room is bullshit! Get strong in the weight room using the most economical exercises and then make that strength “sport-specific” by practicing the technical aspects of your sport separately!” Simple enough?

Now, at the end of your question, you asked me if “athletes really need special training for their sport instead of getting stronger…” My answer to this question is, “Hell yeah, athletes need to perform specific training for their sport!” If strength was the only component of athletics, powerlifters would be the best football players, baseball players, basketball players, figure skaters, etc. Although I always thought this was common sense, you wouldn’t believe how many emails I get each week that overlook this component of athletics. Here’s an excerpt of an email that I received from an athlete last week:

“Coach Defranco, I need your advice. I’m 23 years old and I’m going to try out for a semi-pro football team next year. I haven’t played football since high school but I miss it so I’m going to give it another shot. I know I have what it takes to compete with the best. Just last week I was working out with my buddy who played D1 football and I out-benched him by 30 lbs. and I was also able to hang with him on all the other exercises. Below you will find my stats. Please tell me where I need to be to make the team. Thanx!”

Bench – 340 lbs.
Squat – 415 lbs.
40 yard dash – 4.75
vertical – 27 inches
short shuttle - 4.51
My response to the above email was, “In order to make the team, you need to be able to play football.” This may sound rude, but I know a lot of big & strong kids that suck at sports. I am a huge proponent of strength training for ALL athletes, but the most important aspect of any sport is the ability to PLAY THE SPORT! Some athletes may need more sport-specific training than others, depending on their God-given talent, but everyone needs to practice the technical aspect of their sport!

I can’t make it any clearer.

Joe D.