The Secret to Athletic Performance

A few years ago, I went to a fantastic strength and conditioning conference hosted by SFU Strength Coach Derek Hansen. The conference featured some the best strength coaches and strength training scientists in the industry. One of the overall take-home nuggets of wisdom from the conference (supported by decades of successful athlete training and the latest research) was one of, if not the biggest, indicators of athletic physical performance.

Success leaves clues

The secret to athletic performance in ground-based sports is all about how much force you can put into the ground and how quickly you can apply it.

In today's high-tech age, it is easy to get sidetracked with silly exercise equipment gimmicks, “miracle” supplements and all sorts of other nonsense that can distract you from the simple truth of what is needed to improve performance. While some of these things may help a little as an accessory exercise, they often distract the performance-minded individual from the heavy and explosive barbell training necessary to improve performance.

Training programs for performance should emphasize variations of squats, deadlifts, Olympic style weightlifting variations and weighted and un-weighted jumps and sprints. If you're serious about improving your athletic performance, work hard on these exercises and be sure to progressively add weight to the bar. Do this and watch yourself soar (literally and figuratively) to new heights.