How Athletes Should Train

People train for different reasons and they are influenced for different reasons.  Some may know this about me, most might not but I was a baseball player and I ended up playing at a high level in college but did not go pro.  I started training at an early age of 11 years old.  My motivation came from watching the 1998 home run race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire.  I figured if I started lifting early I could increase my chances of being as strong as them to hit as many home runs.  I’m not sure at what age I became aware they had some “assistance” but I know that my mindset was to figure out how to train and work hard so I could do it without “assistance”.  My problem was it took me too long to learn what I needed to learn and create a training system that could get me there.  I was done playing baseball in 2008, and I would say I started to figure it out in 2011 working for Athletes Performance which is now known as EXOS.

What did I learn?

I learned an athlete cannot train like a bodybuilder.  I didn’t learn this in 2011 but overtime I figured out why.  In fact, when I think about it, I get kinda pisses me off no one could simplify it for me like I’m now able to do.  People would just tell me I’m not a bodybuilder.  To be honest, that was never enough because no one could tell me why that’s a bad thing.  Here’s the bottom line…. It’s not about bodybuilding.  It’s about low output exercises fiber type and mis aligned rep schemes.  I would call any exercise that is focused on the mindset of isolating a muscle a bodybuilding exercise.  That would include bicep curls, lateral raises and any machines including cable exercises.  Think about any of these exercises and ask yourself, when you do a bicep curl, a lateral raise etc… are you trying to create as much force and move the dumbbell as fast as you can?  No, you’re moving it at a speed that keeps the tension on the muscle throughout the full range of motion for the entirety of the set to maintain and accumulate “time under tension”.  You even do it on a lat pulldown machine.  Some of you that have followed me for a long time, you’ve seen I am notorious for adding a band to my lat pulldowns, and the real OGs have seen me promote pulling the cable down as hard as I can and creating literal slack in the cable followed by a big yank.  That’s because I’ve learned that those low output reps are really counterproductive for athletes who seek to be fast and explosive. So next time you’re trying to keep the tempo steady for that pump and “time under tension….THAT is an example of low output reps.  That is the exact opposite of what an athlete needs to do.  Any athlete needs to focus on high output exercises.  These are your compound exercises, and preferably barbell and dumbbell exercises.  Does a bodybuilder use bench press?? Yea, but think about how they do it, slow and controlled.  That’s low output.  Athletes should bench with the intent to move the bar up and down as fast as you can.  Ideally an athlete does this with light weight, moderate weight and heavy weight.  Time constraints play a vital role in force outputs.  Heavier weight has less time constraints meaning the athlete has a longer time to reach their peak force output on a given rep.  With lighter weight, they have less time and must create their max force output more quickly.  This is important for athletes because they need to do this with their bodyweight on their field of play, which makes it vital for athletes to “surf the curve” and practice moving a variety of loads as fast as possible.  

What’s wrong with low output reps? For athletes, a lot.  Number 1, they recruit the wrong muscle fiber type.  Number 2, they are not great for improving rate of force development.  Number 3, low output reps are very inefficient for developing strength and power.   

Wrong Fiber Type

I’ve written and spoken about motor unit recruitment many times and it definitely comes into play here.  Henneman’s Size Principle states, motor units are activated from smallest to largest as the intensity or force requirement of an exercise increases.  Low output reps primarily activate smaller more endurance based, and less powerful type I motor units.  You can get some type II recruitment at the end of low output sets by way of fatigue, which I argue is not only inefficient but also ineffective especially for athletes. So you will see people argue that training close to failure allows you to recruit your bigger and stronger type II motor units which is true but only for a rep or two.  Also true, the majority of the low output set is promoting slower type I motor units.  On the other hand, when you try to move a barbell or dumbbell as fast as you can, you increase the force requirement which is more advantageous for targeting and training those larger, more powerful type II muscle fibers.  

Not great for Rate of Force Development (RFD)

Low output sets are not improving rate of force development, which is the ability to reach max force outputs especially with time constraints such as sprinting and jumping.  Think of it like running.  If you are a sprinter, and your training is predominantly running miles and long distance, do you think that is an effective way to improve your sprinting? No.  Long distance running is low output.  The opposite of the sprint.  I am very purposeful with my words and if you re read that statement I said if your training was “predominately” running miles…. key word predominately because I do believe SOME low output exercises and reps can be beneficial as long as it’s not the primary method of training for an athlete.  An example would be, sprint based athletes can benefit from cardiovascular adaptations from longer distance running and compliment their sprint based training.  You can apply this same metaphor in the gym with bodybuilding exercises. Time of year also comes into play here, a sprint based athlete would most likely be doing any longer distance running in off season phases and not as much in season when peak performance is needed.  

Not Ideal for Strength/Power

Let’s tie all that in to the 3rd point I made that low output reps are inefficient for strength and power….simply put, strength is your ability to generate force.  If you’re not practicing generating more force, we can’t expect it to happen magically. Using the sprint and long distance running analogy, think of what long distance runners look like, and now think of what sprinters look like.  In the weight room, force=mass x acceleration.  The acceleration is needed to increase your force output with any given load which requires you to attempt to produce high outputs each rep. Also with low output sets, you are usually doing sets of 8-12 reps which by nature is lighter weight which also does not align with improving strength or power.  

S.A.I.D Principle

The S.A.I.D acronym stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. Bodybuilding exercises and low out put reps and sets aren’t aligned with this principle for athletes.  Athletes need to improve their strength and power and express it in a movement based model.  Athletes also need to be exposed to sport specific demands in the form of speed eccentrics, sprint and agility training, maximal strength, explosive full body power, and strength or muscular endurance for repeated high intensity bouts throughout the game. You’re not going to get these on a machine or doing single joint isolation exercises.  Athletes need to train with mostly free weights in a movement based mixed method system.

Mixed Method System

The mixed method system is simply using a variety of training components to develop a wholistic approach for the athlete to train.  I use a mixed method system that used 8 different training components. Numbers 1-4 are usually done outside in or with open space.  Numbers 5-7 are usually done in a weight room and number 8 can be anywhere really.  

1. Dynamic Warm Up

2. Plyometrics

3. Med Ball

4. Movement Skills (speed and agility)

5. Power

6. Strength

7. Hypertrophy

8. Cardiovascular Endurance

These can all be delivered in different ways.  In a perfect world, you have 3-4 days to train for 90 minutes to go through all components each session.  Or you may need to break them up, lifting in a weight room 3-4 days a week utilizing numbers 5-8 and on the off days you’re hitting numbers 1-4.

90 Minute Example

1. Dynamic Warm Up- 5 minutes

2. Plyometrics- 5 minutes

3. Med Ball- 5 minutes

4. Movement Skills- 25 minutes

5. Power- 10 minutes

6. Strength- 15 minutes

7. Hypertrophy- 10 minutes

8. Cardiovascular Endurance- 10 minutes

Any other time constraint can be a variety of combinations where you pick and choose which components to spend time on.  Regardless, inside a week, as a coach I’m looking to utilize each component and the time of year, sport, weaknesses, and goals usually dictates priority.  Some might be reading this and thinking to themselves, there’s no way you can do that in 90 minutes.  To that I would simply say, yes you absolutely can and there are many highly skilled and highly trained coaches that can do it and teach it.  The value of a great coach goes far beyond his or her ability to design a program and I’d argue the highest value comes from their ability to execute it.  This is the EXACT framework I use and have used for the past 12 years when training athletes in person.

To sum it all up.  You can’t get “TOO BIG”.  You can only get “WRONG BIG”.  Wrong as in you spend too much time with low output reps and hypertrophy the wrong type I fibers instead of your bigger stronger and faster type II fibers.  Ironically, when you train like an athlete on compound exercises, you’re able to build a much bigger and more impressive physique and it’s not even close.  Perception is your biggest barrier.  Look around, there aren’t many outliers.  Everyone is doing the same thing and repeating the same mistakes.  Make the change now, if you need help I offer a variety of remote training services.  Shop my programs below or schedule a call with me, I would love to help coach and guide you to your goals.

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