As an athlete, let’s say you’ve bought into the idea that strength training is beneficial for sport, and you’ve taken the time to get strong (whatever that means for you as an athlete).
Now what?
We’ve climbed the mountain and get to see how good it is up here, but are we done? Can we stop strength training now and only focus on our sport? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
Because the body is good at doing what we ask it to do, if we ask it to lift heavy things, it will get stronger to do that (and we already know that strength is good for power and speed and all that).
The problem is that when we stop asking it to lift heavy things, it will stop “getting stronger” because it does not need to. The body may even “forget” what lifting heavy weights is like and let go of some of that strength.
You might say, “I’m in my sport – that will keep me strong.” Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Any given sport will have certain demands (“asks”) that the body must overcome, but it won’t be the same as strength training, and the big base of strength that was built will often be lost if strength training is discontinued.
Again, you may say, “OK – but I’m in GO mode for my sport, so I can’t take that long to lift weights.” The beautiful part about strength is that once it’s on board, it doesn’t take much to keep it there.
Yes, it does require some time and effort. But it doesn’t need nearly as much as if you wanted to keep building strength. And holding onto the strength you have can make that extra time/effort pay off when it translates to more power and speed in the sport.
Once you’ve climbed the mountain of strength training, it’s good up there. But you don’t get just to stay there. You must work to stay up there, or you’ll be shoved back down the mountain.
Let’s keep you up there – it is a good place to be.