-Sports Science Exchange Roundtable 49
· The Phosphagen System
On the one extreme would be the so-called "phosphagen" system that supplies energy for brief, high-power events like the sprints, jumps, vaults, and throws in track and field; batting, base-running, and fielding in baseball; power lifting and Olympic weight lifting; and much of the blocking and tackling done by interior linemen in American football. Each of these activities lasts only a few seconds, and the energy is provided mostly by the breakdown of phosphocreatine stored in the muscle. Oxygen is not required during the exertion, so the energy is said to be supplied "anaerobically."
If you are using mostly the phosphagen system in your sport, spend most of your strength and conditioning time on brief, near-maximal exertions. In other words, train as you compete. It would be largely a waste of time and probably detrimental to their performance for sprinters and interior linemen to train by running repeat miles and lifting light weights for 50 repetitions. Rather, most of the conditioning time should be devoted to repeated maximal-intensity sprints, e.g., 10-100 yards with sufficient recovery time between sprints to allow high-quality repetitions, and heavy lifts, e.g., 3-5 sets of 1-6 repetitions with the maximal load that can be lifted correctly for each repetition and at least 3 minutes separating each set.
· The Aerobic or Oxygen System
At the other end of the energy-system continuum is the aerobic (oxygen) system that provides most of the energy for activities that last longer than a couple of minutes and for recovery between repeats of brief, high-intensity activities. Other than sprints at the beginning and end of the race, distance runners and swimmers and road cyclists rely almost entirely on aerobic metabolism. Under most circumstances, athletes in these endurance sports are not required to produce high-power outputs, so excessive time spent in the weight room that may add unwanted muscle mass would be counterproductive. If yours is an aerobic sport, you should be building up your cardiovascular system and the aerobic capacity of your muscles with longer-duration activities that require less than maximal intensities of exertion. In the weight room, your focus should be on lifting relatively lightweight, i.e., those you can lift correctly for 3-5 sets of 15-30 repetitions with about 90 seconds of rest between sets.
· Anaerobic Glycogen Breakdown: The "In-Between" System
For activities that last longer than about 10 seconds but less than 2 minutes, the majority of the energy is supplied by the anaerobic breakdown of glycogen (a carbohydrate) stored in the muscles. (This is sometimes called the "lactic acid" system.) Events like a 400-m run in track, a 50-m swim, a series of fast-breaks in basketball, or a series of sprints down the field in soccer or football would require energy from this system. Strength and conditioning activities would be intermediate between those recommended for the phosphagen system and those for the aerobic system.
· Mixed Energy Systems
For most player positions in most sports, soccer, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse, rugby, tennis, ice hockey, field hockey, and rollerblading athletes must rely on both anaerobic and aerobic metabolism to produce their energy. This means that the optimal training for most sports should include a combination of brief, high-intensity activities along with more-prolonged, lesser-intensity exertions. If you believe that the majority of your movements rely on anaerobic metabolism, you should emphasize more of the high-intensity activities in your program, but if most of your efforts are of an endurance nature, you should focus more on endurance training.
What Sport Skills Can You Improve During Your Strength and Conditioning Workouts? Determine the most important skills in your sport especially those you must improve to raise the level of your performance and then modify your strength and conditioning program to emphasize those skills. For example, soccer players can work on both their aerobic conditioning and their ball dribbling skills simultaneously by dribbling a soccer ball as they do their running practice. Alternating performance of this conditioning activity with a partner who is simultaneously trying to intercept the ball on the soccer field could be especially useful training. As another example, tennis players can build their endurance while simultaneously improving their skills by working with a partner who intermittently hits lobs and drop shots, requiring sprinting back and forth from net to baseline.
In the weight room, it makes sense to design your strength exercises so that they reflect the general movement patterns used in your sport. It’s not necessary (or even possible) to truly mimic sports skills in the weight room, but what is important is to develop increased strength in the muscle groups used in the activity. For example, part of a baseball pitcher’s strength-training program should be designed to strengthen the pectoral and anterior/posterior deltoid muscles in both shoulders, not just in the throwing arm.
