Sport-Specific Training: Follow-Up
I posted yesterday about how athletes’ focus in the gym really just needs be getting stronger, before wandering into any fancy sport-specific stuff. I am not an absolutist in this sense the way some of former colleagues are, and grant that there may be a place for some targeted sport-specific work at some point down the line. One of my former students who lifted properly, got strong, was in the process of learning to coach, AND competed at a very high (national) level in BJJ told me he swore by a certain band rotation exercise for BJJ. But this is a line that many athletes, at least right now, never cross, because their S&C programs don’t focus on actually getting them brutally strong.
Today I happened to see this video on Instagram, featuring Desmond Watson, a defensive tackle for the Florida Gators:
Desmond is huge, and brutally strong, as can be seen both in the video on the field, as well as his gym numbers. So strong, in fact, that he’s able to dominate despite being quite overweight and deconditioned compared to his position’s needs. He will need to work on that to maximize his potential, but just think about this for a moment.
Despite being THAT overweight and THAT deconditioned, he’s still tossing people around like rag dolls. Not just Average Joes, but fellow D1 football players, who are in the 99.99%th percentile for strength and athleticism. Like ragdolls.
I’ll let you tell me if you think the side of this that isn’t football-skill related, is more likely due to agility ladder drills and SPARQ training (lol no), or because he’s a real life hulk who squats over 700 and benches over 500 lbs.
Go ahead and watch this video, read my article from yesterday, and then you tell me.
Yesterday after posting my article, I tweeted the following:
Never and always are a little hyperbolic, but only a little. That’s by far the most common response I get from people who disagree. Even though I never said they should do powerlifting. But they SHOULD get very strong, which is not the same thing as powerlifting, though there can be considerable overlap. The way they get strong can vary: Some are genetic freaks, some get help from PEDs, some train hard, and at the top levels, some are a mixture of all three. But no matter the case, training effectively to get stronger will help a lot, all else equal, as Desmond’s raw strength demonstrates here.