Sport Specific Training

The physical demands required for different sports vary dramatically. From the duration you play the sport, to the strength needed for a single action such as a golf swing.

Here at Chris Melhuish Personal Training we understand the different variations of physical demands you require for your specific sport. These variations can vary from highly aerobic marathon, to the anaerobic 100m sprint, and the multitude of team sports which require a combination of the energy systems. Sports like rugby require a combination of both systems along, with strength speed and agility.

RUGBY TRAINING

Rugby is classed as a multi-sprint sport. Its intermittent nature demands that players generate high levels of speed and explosive power, as well as possessing the ability to recover quickly between sprints.

Elite rugby league players are quick, performing a 40-meter sprint test in just over 5 seconds. They also possess good speed off the mark and acceleration power. They have aerobic capacities that are moderate to high allowing them to sustain a high work rate for the full 80 minutes.

Strength is an obvious necessity for rugby players. However, muscular size and body mass, although important is not the only goal of a rugby strength training program. Explosive power is equally as important, not only for the development of speed and acceleration but for tackling and jumping.

Although in rugby, different positions have contrasting match play activities, professional backs and forwards have very similar physiological profiles. Backs are typically faster than forwards but there is little difference in aerobic endurance and muscular strength suggesting that rugby training is uniform for all players at the elite level.

CYCLING TRAINING

Professional road cyclists posses exceptional endurance. While VO2max is not always a good predictor of performance in elite endurance athletes, studies have shown that aerobic power is high in this group of performers.

More accurate predictors of performance include lactate threshold, maximal lactate steady state and power output at lactate threshold. Lactate threshold has been shown to be as high as 90% of VO2max in professional cyclists.

Peak power output can also be used to predict cycling performance across the disciplines. For competitive road cyclists, anaerobic power is required for the mass start, hill climbing and a sprint finish. It may be even more important for off-road cyclists and is obviously a prerequisite for track racing. Traditionally, cycling coaches have prescribed increases in training volume to induce overload and adaptation. Yet it may be that a reduction in volume and integration of interval sprint training may be more beneficial. Not only has this shown to improve peak power output and capacity, it also increases VO2max to a greater extent compared to lower intensity, longer duration training.

GOLF TRAINING

Strength, power, flexibility, balance, core stability, body awareness, even endurance... they're all physical traits that every consistent golfer (even the fair-weather players) must possess.

The golf industry is littered with gadgets and gimmicks for increasing accuracy and shot distance. Yet for all their claims and guarantees most remain independently unproven. Compare that to a basic golf fitness program...

DID YOU KNOW? - After 5 weeks of completing 5 minutes of very simple home exercises 5 times a week, golfers increased their clubhead speed by an average of 24%. While it could be argued that clubhead speed is only one small facet of a golfer's overall game, it is highly correlated with a player's handicap. In other words, the lower a player's handicap is, the higher their clubhead speed at impact tends to be. In fact, a 24% increase relates to a reduction of 4 shots off a golfer's handicap. This is just one of several studies that proves the benefits of conditioning for golf.

And the benefits of golf fitness training are not reserved for the young. Golfers aged 55-75 have also benefited from strength and flexibility training - both in terms of general health parameters and their performance on the course.

For the more serious golfers, conditioning can no longer be seen as an unnecessary add-on to their practise routine. Just as a committed amateur athlete spends time on their technique AND their fitness, so must the golfer who demands to be the best they can. There is a caveat however...

In order to improve performance in any sport, training must be specific to the demands of the game involved. Of the few golfers who do appreciate the importance of physical training, most still make the mistake of following a general fitness routine.

If you would like to know how Chris Melhuish Personal Trainer can help you in you individual sport then get in touch now.