Athletes need deer’s muscles, not those of an ox! At least that is what the opponents of Dr. Yuri Verkhoshansky said… before his dominating, strength trained athletes made them eat their words. Ever since the 1960’s, weight training has revolutionized sport. Athletes are bigger, faster and stronger than ever. It seems like a circus museum to see the “tiny” football and baseball players from the early 1900’s.
There have been cases of athletes who have done very well without weights, however, as there are always genetic freaks out there. Take for example, Carl Lewis, who hated weights and only lifted his last 3 seasons (which were his worst). Or consider Obadele Thompson who ran 9.69 wind aided in the 100m dash and was, according to his coach Dan Pfaff, “allergic to iron”. There are always outliers, but part of the reason that these athletes may have been able to succeed was due to the fact that they escaped some of the negative aspects of lifting (yes there are some that exist).
Weights are awesome! Are there aspects of it that can set you back though?
Chances are, if you are a competitive athlete, you need to lift weights. It’s not really a chance in fact, because you must lift weights if you want to become better in the long term. What is the purpose of weights? Strength training will help the following:
• Increase muscle mass,
• Improve the force production potential of an individual muscle,
• Reduce the risk of injury (when done right),
• Improve joint stability
• Improve the ability of the body to coordinate powerful movements
Also, the more force and time needed in the athletic movement (jumping requires a greater ground contact time than sprinting), the more an athlete will need strength training to reach their full potential. To break it down further, a high jumper will need more strength training than a long jumper because a high jump requires a longer ground contact time than a long jump. A shot putter will require more strength training than a javelin thrower because the strike of the javelin is faster than that of the shot put. The more time available to apply force, the more strength training that must be done to reach success.
There are some negative aspects of lifting weights that must be addressed before beginning a program however. Believe it or not, there are multiple ways that lifting can sideline your athletic progress. The good news is that there are solutions for all issues that may arise through strength training, so without further adieu, here is a list of 5 problems and solutions of weight training and athleticism.
Pitfall #1. Injury
Obviously, the number one setback of lifting is the time lost via injury through strength training. Many strength coaches will actually say that their job is first and foremost to prevent injuries, and then improve performance. Most strength training programs are safe if done effectively, but over time, long term issues can creep up. Two surefire places that lifters suffer are the lower back and the knee.
Why are knee injuries so common? Mostly because the large portion of our society suffers from some form of gluteal amnesia. Because of weak glutes, extra forces are transferred to the knee in everyday movements, as well as athletic ones. Throw in squatting with the pressure on the forefoot and knees caving into valgus, and you have a ticking time bomb. Ankle mobility can be another issue in squatting. Immobile ankles will make it tough to keep through the heels during a squat, and as soon as the athlete shifts to the forefoot in squatting: Boom! Tendonitis.
The “No-booty” swaybacked, sit at the computer/couch all day male is going to have a host of issues with his posture in lifting and is going to be much more susceptible to injury than his more mobile counterparts.
Hip control goes hand in hand with strength when fighting injury. When was the last time you worked on training the medial glutes and external rotators of the hip? You know those muscles that keep your knee from caving in during single leg movements? I have found in testing dozens of athletes that athletes deficient in controlling their knee from caving in during squatting also have problems with a stable and powerful hip extension. Hit the glutes and rotators from as many angles as possible to allow your hips to carry the load of sport.
Squatting isn’t bad for you. Bending your hips with weight on your back while your knees cave in with is bad for you. Strengthen your hips and focus on your technique to help build bulletproof knees.
Why is back injury so prevalent in lifters? Because it is the sum of other common issues in the kinetic chain. Immobile ankles or hips will transfer forces that typically end up in the lower back. Here is a fun fact: Third world country residents who are constantly squatting for a variety of purposes rarely have lumbar spine issues. Their regular deep squatting helps them to maintain the important mobility to keep their back healthy. If there is one joint that I could pick to make sure all my athletes were mobile in, it would be the hip joint. You probably think you have mobile hips, but I am not so sure! Check out the video by Kelly Starret below on mobilizing your hips to improve your squat.
Solution:
Spend some time getting a good coach to help you with your lifting technique. Push the balance of your lifts towards slower, hip dominant, full range work. Spend some time working the external rotators and stabilizers of the hip by doing clam shells, monster walks, and single leg squats focusing on the knee staying in line. Be slower and more deliberate in the squat rack and save being fast and ballistic for dynamic work such as sprints, jumps, med ball, Olympic lifts, etc. Make sure you spend some time working on mobility in your hips and ankles. You should absolutely be able to do a Goblet squat in bare feet beyond parallel, as well as being able to push your knees out with your elbows at the bottom. If you can’t do this, you are at risk!
(Obviously, there are technical aspects of lifting that go far beyond the scope of this article in regards to injury prevention; enough to fit into several volumes of encyclopedias. For the sake of the interest of my viewers, I have kept my solution very brief)
Pitfall #2. Muscular Imbalances
Lifting is awesome, don’t get me wrong. Putting slabs of muscle on your athletic frame is one of the cooler adaptations of the human body; how many weight rooms out there don’t have mirrors? Unfortunately, the athletic body works best when muscles are set in balance. For example, there needs to be a balance of hip flexor and quadricep strength, or sprint speed will suffer. An athlete needs to have a balance of glute strength to back strength, or they will risk injury and decreased performance. Constant abdominal flexion exercises will tighten up the psoas and constant bench pressing and pushups will pull the shoulders forwards. Every time you strengthen a muscle group there is an adaptation that will cause extra force on a joint from those muscles.
Check out this cyclist’s huge quads. Great for cycling and “quad only bodybuilding competitions”, as well as squatting. Not very good for playing other sports and staying injury free.
Imbalances acquired from lifting will also take a heavy toll on athletic posture. Having good posture means that your upper body and spine is free of imbalance and muscular force distributed in the wrong direction. Bad posture will result in an injury prone spine, as well as a bent line of force production. Posture tends to get worse during the aging process, so it is imperative to start off on the right food. Strength training is something that can definitely improve posture and is typically marketed along those same lines.
What will sitting at the computer or TV all day, squatting and bench pressing a lot with no corrective work do for you? Check out the picture above for a hint.
Solution:
Consider the effects of the lifts you are doing on posture and pull on your joints. Squats, deadlifts and Olympic lifts will pull your hips into anterior pelvic tilt and shorten your hip flexors. Balance standard power lifts with learning and strengthening posterior pelvic tilt. Stretch the hip flexors on a regular basis, as well as seeking out soft tissue work and manual therapy on them if available.
Every upper body push should be balanced with an upper body pull, especially for the sake of posture. Pullups are a great pulling motion, but don’t forget horizontal pulls to keep your scapula pinned back! Don’t treat glute and hamstring exercises as an auxiliary exercise, keep them in the program as part of the meat and potatoes of a strength workout. Gear your lifts to emphasize the posterior chain. If you work a muscle group regularly, stretch it out! Perform static stretches for 2 to 3 sets of 20-30 seconds for each muscle group you are heavily training each day.
Learn and reinforce posterior/neutral pelvic tilt to combat injury and imbalance found in the weightroom.
Pitfall #3. Excess mass in auxiliary muscles
If you are a football player, baseball player, rugby, basketball, team sport, etc, extra muscle mass by lifting is never too much of a problem. Individual and weight class sports need to be more careful about where their weight is going. An Olympic weightlifter doesn’t want to pack a huge amount of mass on their pectorals and biceps, because that mass might push them up a weight class, and it won’t help all that much during their lift. A high jumper who does too much Olympic lifting is going to have some potential issues with too much mass in their back, which isn’t all that useful in a one leg jump.
Here is some truly awesome spinal erector development brought about by Olympic lifting. The majority of athletes would love to have the strong posterior chain of the athlete above, but for those athletes where excess bodyweight is an issue, the site that muscle gains happen is an important issue.
Here is something that most strength coaches don’t realize: Hang cleans or hang snatches are driven primarily by the glutes and trapezius muscles. The shins are pretty vertical during this lift, so the legs don’t get a whole lot of effect. If you are interested in jumping higher or running a 400m better, do you want an extra 5-10lbs of upper back and arm muscle to carry with you? Probably not, and take a look at the builds of some world class athletes top track and field jumping and sprinting events. Muscle mass is good, but only if it is in the right places.
Solution:
If you are in a sport which places a premium on strength to bodyweight, you must work hard to select exercises which deliver muscle mass to the correct areas. The prime suspects in need of evaluation are the Olympic lifts, in which the volume may want to be limited, especially if the athlete is prone to gaining mass. Also, keep an eye on the upper body work that is done, and the balance that is present in that work (a pull for every push).
Bonus Pitfall. Taking attention away from gaining sport proficiency
If you want to jump higher, practice jumping! If you want to run faster, practice sprinting! If you want to throw farther, practice throwing! Beyond this, it is not only important to practice a lot, but there must be movement expertise beyond that practice, which requires focus on the part of the athletes and coaches. Unfortunately, strength training often takes emphasis away from mastering the art of human movement.
If there is a way to describe the western world’s take on athletic development, it is characterized by “strength”. Look at the way the Euro’s train athletes, and it is more focused on movement and skills. American track and field athletes will demonstrate much better proficiency in strength than a lot of Euro athletes, but Euro athletes are typically guaranteed to have superior technique. Why can’t these two worlds meet?
In my opinion, weight training is a wonderful tool to build strength and technique in one package. Weight training can and should be given cues that transfer to real world dynamic movement. Check out the video below highlighting a barbell step up with some cues that will assist in the transfer of the lift to single leg jumping.
References
Advances in Functional Training for Sport, Mike Boyle
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training, 2nd Edition: Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Science and Practice of Strength Training, Second Edition: Zatsiorski and Kraemer.
Free Training Guides!
Sign up for the newsletter, get your FREE eBooks, and receive weekly updates on cutting edge training information that will help take your knowledge of athletic performance to a new level.