One of the most integral pieces of an athlete’s training puzzle is strength & conditioning training. It’s easy to assume that it’s the same for all fitness experts and trainers to ensure that their athletes are going through strength & conditioning training, but there is still an array of athletic and sports coaches out there who get a lot of argument from their athletes as to whether it’s effective at all.
These concerns and arguments often come from the fact that athletes are often told by misguided coaches, gender-bias coaches and even misinformed parents that strength & conditioning training is not necessary, but those opinions are incorrect. Strength & conditioning training is essential for all aspiring athletes and sports players.
Benefits of Strength & Conditioning Training
The benefits of strength and conditioning training are many, and we’ve put together a list of these for you below:
Reducing Injury
Athletes are susceptible to a lot of injury when they are playing sport or taking part in competition. Putting a lot of pressure on the body isn’t always easy, and the constant working on the muscles and bones can take a heavy toll. However, with the right strength-training programme implemented as part of their training, athletes will find that they can better cope with the rigours and stresses of competitive sport and competition.
Improved Flexibility
There’s a common misconception that if you do a lot strength and weight training, your muscles and their range of motion begin to shorten. While this can potentially happen, if the athlete trains correctly doing the right exercises and follwing the correct training techniques and methods, their flexibility will not decrease but actually improve.
Healthy Body Composition
Working with qualified and professional S&C coaches and following the correct strength and conditioning training programme will produce desired results such as muscle gain and body fat loss. By replacing excess body fat with lean, hard, tight muscle, this will dramtically help to achieve a much healthier body composition. It is worth noting however that nutrition and diet also play an integral role in achieving this.
Improved Resting Metabolism
Athletes are always active, and muscles themselves are active tissues. Every new pound of muscle works to burn up to 40 calories a day even when resting. The athletic metabolic rate can be raised by around 7% or every 3lb of new muscle, and this enables the body to be more efficient. Even when resting, athletes will be working overtime to maintain their new weight goals.
Added Power
For sports players, power is necessary to improve muscle force and movement, and the combination of strength & conditioning for athletes will help to improve the force behind the movement. Larger muscle fibres result in a higher muscle force production, leading to a more powerful and efficient athlete.
Without the right level of strength and conditioning training all athletes and sports players, will not be able to enhance their craft and are unlikley to reach their full potential. As highlighted above this type of training comes with numerous benefits and therefore should be an integral part of all athletes and sports players training programmes. However going it alone with this type of training could not only increase your risk of injury but also seriously hinder your progress and your chances of sporting and athletic success.
As our name suggests, our team of personal trainers are highly specialised in the field of strength and conditioning training, who are all fully equipped with the industry qualifications, know-how and experience i. Our team work with sports players and athletes of all ages and all levels right across the Swansea area including Gorseinon, Mumbles, Pontardulais, Morriston etc. For more information gives us a call on 07814 731224, email us on info@swansea-strengthandconditioning.co.uk