Strength Training for Athletes: Getting Started
Strength training is a type of exercise and workout regimen where you work to increase your core and full-body strength by applying a resistance to prevent muscle contraction. By strength, I’m referring to the strength of your ligaments, muscles, and bones, including the mass and endurance capacities. There are different methods for strength training; some are based on hydraulic forces while some are based on gravity.
At earlier times, many people thought that strength training was only meant for bodybuilders to develop bigger muscles and a big muscular frame. Now, it’s common knowledge that any athlete can benefit from utilizing the rigorous strength training exercises. The discipline required for strength training workouts can even make you more focused and motivated in your daily life because you must learn to keep pushing until you hit your fitness goals, enabling you to be strong both physically and mentally.
There are three main types of strength training: Weight, Isometric and Resistance training. Let’s look at these three briefly.
Weight Training
In weight training, the force of gravity or a hydraulic force (using a machine) forms the foundation for workouts to produce opposition to muscle contraction and each workout under this category will stress the muscles based on their position and the strength demanded from them.
Resistance Training
In resistance training, you apply effort to overcome an opposing force which then provides the needed resistance. Resistance training workouts are called ‘Isotonic’ if the part of the body you use moves against the resisting force. If they don’t, then they are called ‘Isometric’ workouts. Hence, isometric training means there is zero movement between the points where the output (muscle power) is met with the resisting force.
Males vs. Females
Biologically speaking, women and men are created very differently, and as a result, they must train differently. Firstly, females only a small fraction of testosterone required for building large amounts of muscle, therefore it’s quite counter-productive for a female athlete to train with a heavy resistance-mass workout program.
In my own opinion, very few female athletes love to build big muscles. In fact, it is presumably the most common fear women have regarding strength training. They dread developing bigger muscles. However, it’s important to understand that the single most important criterion for determining body size and shape is genetics. This means that the maximum size your muscle can obtain has been determined by genetics before you were even born. But that doesn’t mean you can’t considerably improve the size and shape of your muscles, it only helps you to set realistic and achievable fitness goals.
Considering the above facts, male and female athletes should proceed with somewhat different strength training programs. For instance, female athletes can attempt lighter resistance exercises with more repetitions and males who desire to build more muscle mass can lift heavier weights and do more intense resistance exercises with few repetitions. This will ensure that both athletes get the best out of their workout routines.
If you’re a male athlete that doesn’t want to bulk up on muscle size or a female that wants to achieve that ‘bigger’ look, then this article is probably not for you. This article was written from the viewpoint of the general purpose strength training ideal for males and females. ‘Toning’ your muscles, for instance, is not a general, specific goal but a vague term that may imply both well-defined muscle size or body leanness. The information in this article is for building muscle size and increasing power, endurance and strength.
Tip #1 Exercise frequently
It’s a good idea to do a minimum of two strength training workout sessions every week for both male and female athletes to ensure consistent results. If you try to work out over three times every week, you might be wasting your time, because you will get the same results. In the same vein, having only one full body workout day weekly is sufficient to sustain your progress, but not sufficient to satisfactorily exercise your whole body. Remember, the frequency of exercise is ultimately determined by the intensity of your workout, so multiple low-intensity strength exercises may not produce the same effects as a few highly intense workouts.
Tip #2: Vary Your Routine
There shouldn’t be anything ‘routine’ about your workout routine. Remember, your body adapts very swiftly to any stress you subject it to. You can actually hit a ‘plateau’ right after a few weeks of strength training! For you to keep seeing results, you must regularly vary your workouts to keep your body wondering what’s coming next. Doing the same exercises week in, week out can also make you become bored. I personally recommend that you vary a few of your exercises in the following aspects every week:
Types of exercises
Varying the type of resistance you place on a muscle group keeps things interesting by improving new muscle groups. I think it’s a good idea to combine free weights with using machines, although each has its pros and cons.
Resting
Muscles can become sore if they are not rested adequately. Resting can help to recuperate worked muscle group energy by up to 90% after just 60 seconds of inactivity between sets. If you reduce the rest interval between sets you could be placing too much stress on your muscles, however, strength training exercises might be too rigorous for some athletes to use every week. For male athletes, it’s recommended to take a 1.5 to 2-minute rest between sets, particularly for bigger muscle groups like those of your legs.
For every four workouts, you could decrease your rest interval by half, placing extra strain on your muscles. Soon, you won’t be able to lift that size of weight or complete so many sets. At this point of intensity, your full chest workout may take under 10 minutes. For female athletes who aim to build endurance and strength, it’s a good idea to take at least one minute of rest between sets.
Varying the order of exercises
Vary the order of your exercises and the muscle groups you work on weekly. With the exception of your back muscles, always start working on the larger muscles first. Think about it: You can’t fully exercise the big muscles of your back if your biceps are already exhausted; and if you’re unable to carry your shoulders, how do you work on your chest?
The following design provides sufficient variety for switching up the exercise order:
2-Day Splits
Week 1: Shoulders and Legs, 1- Triceps & legs
Week 2: Chest/Triceps/Back/Biceps, 2- Back/chest/Shoulders/biceps
Week 3week 4week 5
- legs / biceps1. legs / chest1. legs / back
- back / chest / triceps / 2. back / arms / 2. chest / arms /shoulders shoulders-shoulders
Start over with week 1
3-day Splits
week 1week 2week 3
- back / biceps1. chest / triceps1. back/chest
- legs / shoulders2. legs / biceps2. legs/shoulders
3 chest / triceps3. back/shoulders 3. Arms
Week 4, Week 5 and Week 6
- chest / shoulders1. arms1. chest/biceps
- legs / triceps2. legs / chest2. legs / back
- back / biceps3. back3. triceps/shoulders
Start over with week 1
Number of workouts per body section
The number of workouts done will vary between muscle groups. For instance, your biceps (a generally overburdened muscle group) may require only a few exercises as against the larger muscles of your legs.
Furthermore, the number of exercises you perform for each muscle group will be directly determined by the number of sets you do for each workout. To avoid getting perplexed, I would suggest the following number of workouts be completed per muscle group. Please note that this is just a guideline to sufficiently strengthen the fibers in each muscle group. You can always work out new specifics for your personal routine. The precise number of workouts you do can differ in intensity, the number of reps based on your current fitness level.
Men
- Chest 4-6 exercises
- Back 4-6
- Triceps2-3
- Biceps1-2
- Shoulders2-3
Women
- Chest3-4 exercises
- Back3-4
- Triceps1-2
- Biceps1-2
- Shoulders2-3
Number of reps per exercise set
When choosing the number of repetitions per set, it’s essential to consider the intensity of each workout. For male athletes that want to increase muscle mass, every set should be done to ‘failure and form.’ This means that you should complete as many repetitions as possible until temporary muscle failure while ensuring the proper form. Females may not have to train this hard but should instead focus on achieving a good muscle ‘burn’ without total muscle failure.
Male workouts
This recommended repetition plan is based on muscle breakdown (tear down) for the purpose of rebuilding and strengthening it. Doing many reps will not exercise the muscle group enough and doing too few will stress it too much and may lead to injury.
- 2 sets3 sets4 sets
- 10 reps- 12-12
- 6 reps- 8-10
- 6- 8, 4
Female workouts
Females don’t require as many reps as males and may maintain the same number of reps per set:
- 1 set2 sets3 sets
- 16 reps- 12 to 20- 12 to 20
Pro Tip: Avoiding muscle overuse
Like they say, too much of anything is bad. The same goes for strength training. If you do it properly, it can produce considerable improvements in energy and your overall health with countless physical benefits. But if you overdo it, it can lead to injury. The wrong method of doing strength training workouts can make your body not just fatigued and unhealthy, but you may not observe any improvements at all, even after several months of intense training. The benefits of strength training include increased strength, endurance and physical fitness of several body parts, healthier joints and bones, and increased metabolic rates among others.
Isolation vs. Compound workouts
Both isolation and compound exercises offer unique benefits to an athlete for yielding the maximum results of a strength training program in the shortest possible time. For the purpose of simplicity, let’s assume that your body can be exercised in two ways, either by working each individual muscle or by tasking a group of muscles at the same time. Whichever workout you choose will depend on your own fitness technique and goals.
Let’s briefly discuss the two types:
Isolation exercises
When you exercise an individual muscle or group of muscles that work on a joint in the same way, we call that an isolation workout. Some fine examples of isolation workouts for your legs are Quadriceps (leg extensions), hamstrings (leg curls), heel and calf raises.
Compound exercises
Compound exercises work several muscles or muscle groups at once. Examples of compound exercises for your legs include leg presses, squats, and lunges which work the butt, quadriceps, and hamstring as well as the numerous smaller supporting muscles.
Which is better for you?
The answer to this question is both. Many strength training experts recommend that athletes combine both isolation and compound workouts. For instance, after you must have pre-exhausted your quadriceps by doing several leg extension workouts, or exercising them extra hard by doing squats (squats is an excellent exercise for ladies who want to develop a bigger butt, by the way), you can just complement your leg presses by doing some hamstring curls to ensure that you get the full benefits of all the workouts. You could even rotate between doing isolation and compound workouts, but make sure the larger compound actions are more emphasized during your workouts.
Last Words
Whatever your field of sports may be, whether you’re a track and field athlete, soccer player, weightlifter, footballer etc., strength training is ideal for you because as an athlete, you must have sufficient strength and energy to engage in that particular activity. For example, skills, technique, and attitude are vital for an athlete to become a basketball star, but if the athlete cannot last for half an hour running around the court before getting fatigued, then the skills, technique, and attitude count for nothing. Strength training can help athletes to achieve their fitness goals, and even feel better about themselves. It could also provide vital functional benefits and better overall health and wellness like enhancing muscle, bone, ligament and tendon strength, improving joint flexibility, cardiac function, bone density and good cholesterol levels while reducing the possibility of injury.
