When I tell athletes that their skill technique is the key to establishing their training program, they appear to be quite shocked.Their first question is, “But how can this be? I was told you mainly have to get stronger.”
Yes, you must get stronger but the strength that you develop must be specific to what you do in your sport.In other words you must develop strength in the same manner as is displayed in execution of the skills involved in your sport.This means developing strength as needed in a specific joint action that is used in execution of a specific sports skill.
For example, in baseball batting it is possible to see two distinct techniques.The most popular one today is what is known as the sit and spin technique, also known as the squash a bug technique. In this technique hip rotation is accelerated because of the extension of the lead leg which keeps the weight back on the rear leg when contact with the ball occurs.
The other technique, which was most popular 20-30 years ago, involves strong hip abduction to shift weight forward so that the weight is on the front leg as the hit is carried out.In this technique there is also hip rotation but it is due to contraction of the hip joint medial rotators in the lead leg.This takes place after the forward weight shift.
Thus in the sit and spin a technique emphasis in the strength training would be on lead leg extension to drive one side of the hips back.In the forward weight shift technique emphasis is on hip abduction for a powerful forward weight shift and strengthening the medial rotators in the hip joint of the lead leg.
This is why it is important to first look at technique to determine how you execute the skills and if qualified, determine if the skill is in need of improvement.If the answer is yes, then the training should be dictated by the exercises needed to help you make the necessary changes to make the technique execution even more effective.
This is a relatively new concept in the training of athletes. Before this, emphasis was on general strength training.The idea was to strengthen the major muscles of the body or the main muscles that are used in your particular sport.This concept still holds today andit is an extremely important objective. The only major change is the addition of skill specific exercises.
Thus skill specific and general strength exercises should dominate general physical preparation (GPP).The ratio should be approximately 20 to 30 for skill specific and 70 to 80 for general strength.This ratio changes however, in specialized physical preparation (SPP) which follows GPP.In SPP up to 70 to 80% of the exercises are specialized (a combination of strength and technique) and only about 20% are for general strength.
Thus your technique determines which skill specific exercises you should do.Analysis of your technique can also determine where you are the weakest in relation to the physical abilities that you need to execute all the skills.This in turn can modify the emphasis on particular exercises in your general strength training program. Keep in mind that the key to success in playing a sport is to be able to execute the main skills that are involved in the sport. Being the strongest man on the team means little if you cannot execute as needed.
See Build a Better Athlete for more information.