Strength and conditioning is a vital aspect of any athlete’s performance and is the stepping stone for greater success, endurance and health maintenance. Having strong and flexible muscles is crucial for all athletes because strong and flexible muscles allow the body to move faster and endure.
Athletic training is more complex than simple fitness training because each athlete needs to strengthen and condition their bodies according to their sport. Various movements and tests are used to measure an athletes capabilities which are strengthened by their strict training regimes.
The stronger an athlete is, the better they perform. Competing on professional levels takes serious dedication as victory is the goal. Athletes winning medals and trophies is a great achievement for them and for anyone having laid out a wager at NZ sports betting sites, the rewards are just as fruitful.
Building Strength with Movement and Resistance
Strength training for athletes must begin with them building basic strength before any resistance training or conditioning can occur.
Basic strength starts with athletes knowing the correct way to perform lunges, push ups, pull ups and squats. These start conditioning the muscles and prepares them for resistance training with weights and allows their bodies to get accustomed to the correct movements.
When weight training begins they must start with lesser weights and build up strength to prevent any muscle damage or injuries.
Weight training itself has not much to do with many sports in particularly but it is vital for athletes to do. It is an important part of athletic conditioning. Bands, chains and various weights are used as resistance.
Alternative Strength Training Methods
Some methods of strength training involve pushing, pulling and carrying heavy objects. This helps athletes of tough sports like wrestling, rugby or football keep their bodies in tune off season.
Medicine balls are another tool implemented in training for athletes to keep their muscles working. The balls are thrown in open spaces in various directions.
Conditioning Speed and Endurance of Athletes
There are many fields of sport that don’t really need athletes to move fast, run around or endure gruelling action but many more do. Athletes need to the momentum to stay in a sporting event for as long as necessary and to be fit enough to face any challenge that may come their way.
This means rest and recuperation is important between training, practice and sporting events but sprinting for the same time expected of a game regularly and then resting is a good method to maintain speed and endurance.
Plyometric is another method of training where athletes increase their muscles ability for speed and endurance. This is a jump training exercise where athletes jump for a number of times, do low reps and then rest their bodies before resuming the jumping again. This should be done correctly to prevent straining knees and putting the pressure on the wrong parts of the body but done at a low level and working up will produce strength in the right muscles.