The sport requires us to produce force quickly. Whether that’s a return in tennis, drive, in golf or a sprint off the ball in football, it’s great to have a high level of strength, but if you’re unable to deliver that quickly, then it’s not going to be much help.
Strength is a prerequisite of power, and therefore, before developing adequate power, a high base level of strength is required. If you can generate more force, you’ll likely be able to translate that into power. Generating power is vital during sport such as tennis as it enables us to return a short quickly, with force. The better we can do this, the more likely we will win a point.
There is a high and positive correlation between peak power and max strength, clearly showing the importance of strength training before power development.
This suggests that if we can improve our max strength, there is a big carry over to improved peak power. In essence, we must get stronger before we aim to become more powerful.
Sadly people seem to think that getting stronger in the gym for their sport is reserved for the elite performer and that they don’t have the time.
People generally think they need to give up all their time playing their sport to get stronger in the gym. This just isn’t the case. Studies suggest that 4-8 sets per muscle group at less than 6 reps at 80-85% of your max. This means that you could be in the gym twice per week, lifting for 45 mins and you’ll see a huge improvement in your strength and power if you’re training correctly.
You don’t need to give up your sport to spend hours in the gym.
Another commonly used argument against training in the gym for your sport is because you’ll feel sore afterwards which will impact how you play. Whilst this may be true in the short term, if you stick at your training, your body will become used to the training and you’ll just see it as part of getting better.
The right dose WILL compliment your sport and improve how you move.
