Explosive Sport Weight Training

Explosive Sport Weight Training

Training for sprinting and other explosive sports is pretty straightforward - one must train the muscles used for the sport, and in the specific way they are used during the sport. For almost all sports, almost every muscle must be developed in order to be successful, but certain muscles will be more important than others. For example, a basketball player will use his chest somewhat, but more importantly he needs strong, explosive legs to be fast and jump high.

A basketball player, or sprinter, won’t train for these strong legs the same way a powerlifter would. A bodybuilder trains for size, mostly in high rep ranges. Powerlifters, and athletes looking for explosiveness will both train in low rep ranges, but the athletes differ from the powerlifters in that their movements will be more functional. For example, a powerlifter deadlifts for 3 reps, they are each slow, but pulled out. The athlete does 3 reps of a power clean, which mimics the movement of the explosiveness of the hips while running.  Even if the two different groups use the same exercise, they will execute it in different ways. A powerlifter would squat very heavy, maybe with less range of motion. Athletes also will use heavy weight, but make sure that they can execute full range of motion and explode as fast as they can on the way up instead of grinding it out. They also may considering using elastic bands, as they have been shown to help build explosiveness in muscles.

Example exercises for sprinters:

Train in lower rep ranges, yet as intense as possible. Also make sure the movements are as applicable as possible.

- Power Cleans

- Squats (explode up)

- Bench Press

- Jumping squats

- Pull ups

-Reverse lunge + Knee drive

- Dips

- Sled Push/drag