The Truth About “Sports Specific Training”

“Sports specific” sounds nice, and it works marketing wise to Dads who don’t know any better

But the reality is that for athletes all training is GPP: general physical preparation. GPP is a critical aspect of development because it raises force outputs, and increases robustness and durability of the body; but it’s a general stimulus

The problem for athletes is when the “sports specific marketing becomes the actual training; and poor trainers have guys trying to mimic swinging and mimic throwing with weight room exercises

Trying to mimic specific skill from your sport in strength training actually makes you worse, because you will never be able to re-create the bio mechanical nor physiological rate of force development and rate coding of the nervous system that occurs on the field, in the weight room

If you could, why practice?

-Fenske