Sports Training Workouts – Why Should I Perform Sports Training Workouts?
Article by Joe Collinsworth
Whatever sport you play there are many types of sports training workouts you should be doing if you are serious about your craft.
Just hitting the weights and doing some sprints isn’t going to cut it anymore. You need to put a total package together if you want to compete at your highest levels.
How do I know this? Because I spent years working on various sports and once I got to the point of competing against other athletes that were bigger, faster, could jump higher, could hit harder, and more, I need to find some sports training workouts to take my game to the next level.
Whether you play basketball, baseball, golf, soccer, football, wrestle, or whatever, there are certain types of sports training workouts you’ll need to focus on.
For instance, a lineman in football needs to be big, agile, strong, and have abilities to block and rough it up inside. A wide receiver must be fast, quick, mobile, leap well, have good hands, and more. They are not tuned to be the same so their workouts and training regimen must differ extensively.
Another example is that a golfer is not going to do the same workouts as a basketball player. I think you get my drift.
Some sports training workouts that must be considered:
Plyometrics – these increase speed and agility. They help you to move quicker, leap higher and faster, make body shifts smoother and faster, and more. There are specific types of plyometric workouts to perform for each sport. These were instrumental in strengthening my abilities in sports. Without them I would not have been able to compete against the better, more naturally talented athletes (have to hate those God-given athletes).
Weight Training – This should be in every sports training workouts arsenal. However, there are many ways to weight train for certain sports. For instance, a wrestler is going to work on increasing muscle mass while decreasing body fat. A basketball player is going to want to stay lean but have strength to battle. A golfer doesn’t want a lot of upper body mass, but needs solid strength in their legs. The list can go on. The point is that you need to tailor your weight training to fit the desired body type of the position you play in your sport.
Sports Training Workouts – Then there is your workouts. When I played basketball, on top of the above, I would do various ball drills, sprints, stair runs, leaping drills, and other drills that helped me increase my ability to run up and down the court for long periods of time. Depending on the sport you play obviously determines what drills you do. There are loads of books out there by various experts and pros that show you the best drills to do to perfect your skills.
Conditioning – Man I hated this part. From the stretching to the sprints to the long jogs, this was the least fun. However, when I was able to continue going at a 110% when everyone else was tired set me apart near the end of the games. The ability to dominate became easier.
Your Mind – Of all the sports training workouts, getting from a level 7 to a 10 is important to do. We’ve all had those days when we were off. Yes, part has to do with your body, but if you work on your mind, your body will listen as it feeds off of it. This is the one area that I wish I had worked on harder. This is what separates the Michael Jordan’s from the benchwarmers. One coach in baseball used to tell me that if I wanted to make it past high school I would need to become mentally tough. I never understood that until I started to compete with the big boys.
Nutrition & Rest – This is an important point as well. Be sure you are getting plenty of nutrition and plenty of rest. This will ensure that when you are ready to perform you will at peak levels.
If you want to achieve your personal best and go above and beyond that, you will need to focus on the above and more. This is just a basic outline of why it is important to utilize sports training workouts. Most athletes don’t understand (whether they are good or not) that it takes a combination of the above to succeed in their given sport. Although things will vary from sport to sport, the fundamentals never change.
About the Author
Being a top athlete is something many strive for. Understanding that it takes more these days to achieve peak performance is something many athletes miss and why they never make it. If you truly want to make it in your given craft, then you must learn which sports training workouts are best!
