Sport-Specific Strength Training

It’s obvious, isn’t it? If you want to improve your performance in a specific sport, perform that sport more often in order to hone your skills. After all, practice makes perfect.

And because nobody plays “split-squatting”, and few people seek to win a gold medal in “bicep curling”, it may seem like Persevera’s studio is not the ideal place to turn if enhancing skills in your preferred sport is your main goal. But incorporating targeted strength training exercises into a comprehensive fitness regimen can allow you to perform the skills required by your sport more efficiently and effectively. In fact, we can’t think of any sport or physical activity whose athletes cannot benefit from some degree of resistance training.

Take golf. Strengthening an athlete’s legs, hips, trunk and arms improves flexibility, dynamic posture and endurance, and even helps to prevent injury. A stronger golfer can simply swing with more power and control all while incurring less stress on the body than a weaker competitor.

At Persevera, golf enthusiasts can train on the leg extension machine to strengthen the legs; the hip abduction and hip adduction machines to increase hip strength; the medical torso rotation machine to work the body’s trunk and core; the lumbar extension machine to fortify the low back; the pullover machine to work the laterals; and the super forearm machine to boost arm and grip strength. Training on these pieces of equipment can be performed in the traditional manner or using negative-only repetitions to enhance results. And to avoid overtraining during periods when a member is most active in the sport, the equipment and training techniques employed can be varied between an athlete’s peak season and his/her off-season.

And golf is just one example. At Persevera, our members strength-train to improve their performance in a variety of sports and physical activities, ranging from martial arts and boxing to biking, hiking, skiing, running and tennis… and even bowling! So, if you’re looking to gain an advantage in your favorite sport, talk to your Persevera trainer about incorporating sport-specific strength training exercises into your overall regimen.