Commonly heard from sports commentators is that athletes are getting bigger, stronger and faster. Even practicing coaches are prone to say this especially those involved in football and sports that require bigger sizes and great strength.
This includes up and coming baseball pitchers who most coaches won’t even look at unless they are 6’5″ tall and can throw 95 mi/h. Coaches involved in the track and field throwing events won’t even consider athletes for these events unless they are big and strong. Even in sports such as volleyball and basketball coaches want their athletes to be bigger and stronger.
In most cases the coaches also want the athletes to be faster and/or quicker. But are they getting faster with the programs that they are on to get bigger and stronger? This appears to be taken for granted even though it is obvious to see that many athletes are getting slower.
Many team sport coaches look for or desire athletes who are quicker and faster. In their zeal for greater quickness and speed they have come to believe that the more strength the athlete has, the faster he will be. As a result, most high school, collegiate and professional teams emphasize greater strength and mass.
But some recent studies have proven that many athletes are getting slower when their best high school running speed times are compared to their times at the end of their college career. This is not surprising even though it has always been assumed that the athletes were getting faster. But after four years of heavy weight training they are getting slower, not faster!
As should be well known, success in most sports depends upon increases in speed, not on size or strength except in some instances. In general, most athletes show superior performances with an increase in speed and quickness. This includes speed of movement of the arms or legs or entire body.
For example, quick arms for stealing in basketball, quick legs for tackling in soccer, quick leg actions for cutting actions on the field or court and quick leg actions for getting started. Athletes need faster arm movement in the final stages of a throw. For example, the distance that one can throw the shot put or discus depends upon how fast the arm is moving prior to release.
In baseball pitching how fast the hand is moving at release determines the speed of the pitch. In baseball hitting, it is the speed of the bat when contact is made that determines how far the ball will go. In running, how fast the legs can be driven forward and backward through a full range of motion determines running speed.
Many more examples can be given but these should be sufficient evidence for the need for greater speed, not strength. This does mean that strength is not important: it is very important but must be developed so that there is no decrease in speed.
The reason for decreases in speed (greater slowness) lies in the strength training programs that are presently in use. They are maximum intensity programs which use weights in the 85-95% of maximum zone. They are believed to be the key to greater increases in speed even though this has not been substantiated.
Understand that when heavy weights are used they cannot be moved quickly. As a result the movements are very slow. This in turn results in slowness of the limbs or body movements.
For greater information see Biomechanics and Kinesiology of Exercise and Build a Better Athlete.