As is well known, specificity of training is the key to improving an athlete’s performance. However, exactly what specificity means is not always clear. The most popular definition is that the exercise duplicates the entire sports skill.
But if this is the case, it becomes impossible to create different exercises that will enable the athlete to perform better. You have to do the entire sports skill all the time. In essence, this means playing the game or doing the same thing over and over.
For example, repeating the jump shot in basketball or just throwing the shot put all the time or just running the same event without any variations. There’s no questioning the fact that all of these will produce results. But, stagnation will soon come into play.
Increases in results will slow down and eventually cease. This is why the athlete must do additional training to improve not only his or her motor abilities, but also technical abilities. But will such improvement transfer to improved performance?
The answer here is unequivocal. In general, for the low-level athletes the answer is yes while for the high-level athlete the answer is no. Because of this we must look at exercises that will not only improve the athletes motor abilities (strength, speed, explosiveness, etc.) or technical abilities (technique) but that will also transfer to the sport.
From research and practical experience exercises that do this have been determined. They are called specialized (dynamic correspondence or conjugate) exercises. Because of the term specialized, this definition is often misunderstood. This is what has led to confusion in this area.
Thus, rather than looking only to improve motor or technical abilities, we must look to see if the exercise truly transfers to the sport. This should be the key criteria used for specificity, i.e., the exercise shows a positive and significant improvement in performance.
For more information on specificity especially as it relates to transfer, read the two books by Anatoly Bundarchuk, Transfer of Training in Sports: Volumes I and II. Also read Secrets of Russian Sports Fitness and Training and Build a Better Athlete.