The Real Impact of Strength and Conditioning on Sports Performance (POV)

In the World of Sports Performance, Strength and Conditioning coaches play a crucial role in the development of athletes. In this blog I will attempt to explain my thought process behind my programming, which starts by exploring the impact, if any, of strength and conditioning training to your sport specific performance.

Here is what I, a Division 1 Athletics Strength and Conditioning Coach, think…

There Is No Direct Impact!

I believe that deep down, most coaches would agree with me on this: Strength and Conditioning does not have a direct impact on specific sports performance. The activities performed in the weight room are generally not specific enough to cause a direct, causal improvement in sports performance. My central point is that without practicing the sport itself, weight room work alone will not lead to more victories. This is an important realization when writing programs or interacting with athletes and sports coaches.

Deep down, all of us Strength and Conditioning coaches understand this. How can lifting weights, jumping onto boxes, or pushing a sled help you score a free kick in soccer, hit a winner in tennis, or shoot a three-pointer (It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point). Doesn’t it make more sense that actual practice of your sport would better develop the skills critical to your performance?

So, what is the role of Strength and Conditioning? Let’s get into it.

Side note, please keep reading this blog at this point. More about why Strength and Conditioning is important later (Hint: it is important).

The specificity of sports skills is developed through practice and repetition of the actual sport, not through Strength or Conditioning exercises. This is because sports skills are highly specific and involve complex motor patterns, decision-making processes, and situational awareness that cannot be replicated in the weight room. For example, a basketball player practices dribbling, shooting, and passing in a dynamic, game-like environment to develop that hand-eye coordination, timing, and spatial awareness required on the court. Similarly, a tennis player needs to participate in drills that simulate match scenarios to improve their shots and tactical understanding. These skills are honed through repeated exposure to the specific demands of the sport, allowing athletes to build muscle memory and refine their technique. The primary avenue for developing sports skills remains the dedicated practice and repetition of sport-specific actions that athletes must perform during competition.

So What Is the Role of Strength & Conditioning?

In my opinion, Strength and Conditioning’s primary goal is to enhance GENERAL physical capabilities of athletes: strength, speed, endurance, and coordination. It is important to note that these physical qualities can impact ones athleticism, helping the athlete become bigger, faster, stronger. However, without the specific practice of the sport, there is no translation of those qualities to an athlete’s sport (hence, the difference between DIRECT and INDIRECT effects of Strength and Conditioning).

The Continuum of Sport Specific Training

I also believe that "sport-specific training" does not exist on a continuum. I disagree with the notion that movements performed in the weight room translate better to sport performance simply because they resemble the movements athletes do in their sport (in terms of being unilateral, matching the plane of motion, force application, or muscular contractions). This is not necessarily true. Nothing done in the weight room will directly translate to sports performance because it lacks the specificity required. For example, a split squat will not be more relevant to agility-related sport performance than a back squat without sport-specific practice. What truly enhances agility is practicing agility within the specific context of the court or field.

Given the lack of direct impact on sports performance, it raises the question: Why we should make our weight room activities look like the sport of the athletes we are training?

My response:

Mimicking sport-specific movements in the weight room is unnecessary because they will not translate to better sport performance, and they will not train the necessary sports-specific qualities to the fullest. So, us Strength and Conditioning coaches are stuck in “no-man’s land” (tennis jargon for somewhere we do not normally want to be, a disadvantageous position).

The Development of the General Qualities

While the exercises in the weight room may not directly improve sport-specific skills, they play a crucial role in raising the general physical capabilities of athletes. Strength and Conditioning coaches should aim to develop general qualities that make athletes stronger, faster, more conditioned, and better coordinated. These improvements widen an athlete’s base of general physical preparedness to which they can stack more sport specific training through more and better practice sessions, with increased capacities, athleticism and resiliency (reduced risk of injury), leading to better performance in matches, games, or meets.

Strength

Strength refers to the maximum force an athlete can exert to overcome resistance. The way I look at it in the weight room is through absolute strength training involving very high intensity and slow to no movement, caused by high resistance. A common argument against this is thinking that because the movement looks slow, it does not train rate of force development. This is misguided as there is still intent to move the bar as fast as possible, there is still maximum force exerted into resistance, the speed will be just limited by the heavy resistance. I think it is a given that lower resistance will move quicker. To start, I do not necessarily agree with percentage work (topic for another blog post). Also, I do not think that purposely staying at lower percentages to move faster is providing the stimulus that we are, or at least I am, looking for. Again, it is redundant as lighter weight will move fast. It is not heavy enough to provide strength adaptations and not fast enough to provide speed adaptations.

I often measure this by a maximum weight lifted in a specific lift for a 1-5 repetition maximum (RM). Heavy barbell lifts, such as squats, deadlifts, presses, rows or pull ups are essential for building maximum strength through the most foundational, compound movement patterns.

Coordination

We are going to talk about two types of coordination: internal and external coordination. I think of internal coordination as your body’s ability to time, sequence, and control muscles and motor units to execute actions smoothly and effectively; anything along the lines of contraction, co-contraction, stretch-reflex, or sequencing of power from the lower to upper body. On the other side, I believe external coordination to involve the ability to interact with, against or in response to external objects, forces or stimuli.

Hear me out. In my opinion, a very useful and efficient way to work on both types of coordination with more benefits added (more on this in a later blog) is through weightlifting. Is it absolutely necessary? Is it the best? Maybe not. But it is very effective. In the weight room, an athlete’s ability to snatch, clean and jerk is an excellent indicator of development of coordination. These exercises require precise timing, synchronization, sequencing, co-contractions, contract-relax mechanisms and technical coordination to produce a powerful and technical movement.

Speed

Speed is the ability to move as fast as possible. This would encompass both sprinting and jumping at the highest velocity. I think the development of this quality is unclear. In order to develop speed you have to move as fast as possible (as the definition states). I stated above why moving weight fast does not develop speed. Sled sprints, med ball throws, weighted jumps do not develop speed either. These are too slow to develop speed. They can be helpful to work on leg drive or intent or technique, but, by themselves, they do not make an athlete faster. Resistance slows you down and thus you cannot move as fast as possible.

In order to increase speed, we have to sprint and jump at the highest speeds consistently. We can definitely include some type of resistance somewhere as an addition, not as a substitute or as means to increase speed. Another factor that is important is consistent exposure to top speed. This is the maximum speed achieved and therefore the greatest change of getting faster. Even if your sport is only deemed as “accelerative,” increasing your top speed will trickle down into increased submaximal outputs and higher acceleration.

Endurance

Endurance is the capacity to sustain physical activity for extended periods of time. Athletes need to be able to exert their technical, physical and mental capacities for the amount of time their event, meet, match or game requires. I think this is one of the most foundational qualities to have. It is important to know that for athletes, most of the needed endurance is going to be built in practice. Or at least it should be. This would be the most efficient way to think about it, especially if the athletes are students and have more going on. That way you do not pile up extra hour sessions they could allocate differently. In a different scenario where you are responsible for building that endurance base, this is what I would think about:

• What energy systems are involved in the sport? I do not necessarily think that you have to match exact work:rest ratios to the sport, but it is important to know and realize how much can the athlete give in the average work/play time. For example, if the average tennis player point is 10 seconds, it could be valuable to know how much distance an athlete can cover, average wattage or any other form of measurement, and measure that over time.

• How much or how long do the athletes play/run for in totality? I think it is necessary to be able to condition at zone 2 for at least the amount of time a match or game are. I do not think it is necessary to use more impact for this. For example, if a soccer match lasts 1:30-2:00h, being able to sustain zone 2 on a stationary bike, air bike or rower can be very beneficial.

• Cardiovascular health. We have a good amount of randomized control trials expressing the benefits of aerobic cardiovascular activity for body composition (PMID28836987, 2017), blood pressure (PMID37872373, 2023), as well as general health, vitality, social functioning, physical function, self-esteem, tiredness, back pain, and physical stamina (PMID35209911, 2022).

Endurance training includes both interval work and long-distance continuous activity. Any type of cyclical activity would work: run, bike, row, swimming, ski erg… These activities improve the cardiovascular and muscular endurance needed for prolonged performance in sports.

Conclusion

While lifting does not have a direct impact on specific sports performance, its indirect effects are undeniable. Focusing on general qualities such as strength, coordination, speed, and endurance in the weight room is more beneficial than trying to mimic sport-specific exercises. Exercises designed to replicate sport-specific movements often fail to provide a level of stimulus that is enough to create change and improvement of these essential qualities. Sports practice itself has the most significant impact on sports performance, as practicing specific skills and movements is crucial. Therefore, the weight room should aid, not replace or mimic, sports practice by enhancing an athlete's overall physical capabilities, leading to better practice sessions and improved competitive performance. Understanding this distinction allows for a more effective and comprehensive approach to athletic training.