There are many factors that contribute to the success and physical prowess of the pro athlete. This article will aim to tackle some of their training elements which you can emulate and apply to your own chosen sport. Of course, the range of sports and athletes out there is enormous – some are built for speed, some are built for endurance, some need both physical components! Below, you’ll find our “Power of Three” tips for you to start implementing in your pursuit of excellence.
Athlete Tip #1: Core Training
Every athlete, regardless of their chosen discipline needs a strong core. When you run, jump, or move in any way at all, the impact and shock of that activity travels through your whole body. The role of the core is to absorb this shock and maintain posture. All athletes have a rock solid core that they’ve developed through (almost) daily sit ups, crunches, leg raises and planks! Despite the vital importance of the core, many fitness enthusiasts neglect it. Remember to always finish your workouts with a core session if you want to train like a pro athlete!
Athlete Tip #2: Weight Training
Weight training is one of the best ways to strengthen the muscles and ligaments across the whole body. You’ve only got to quickly look at the television during the Olympic Games 100m Final to see all the athletes are literally, SHREDDED with muscles bulging! However, they weren’t born like this. Top sprinters and many other elite athletes across other sports spend many hours in weights room, building their strength.
Common exercises are back squats, bench press and shoulder presses. Athletes will also make use of weight machines in the gym too to add in a different variation of resistance training. Generally speaking, their programs will be free-weight dominated, but you’ll often see them on the leg press machine, pushing out some heavy reps. Some power orientated athletes even perform Olympic lifting movements, such as, the clean and jerk!
Athlete Tip #3: Flexibility
Every top athlete is insanely flexible. Why? Because, not only do they require advanced flexibility to perform their sport to its fullest extent, but it helps them avoid injury. The latter applies to anyone in or out of sport. Even office workers, who spend all day sitting at a desk are at risk of becoming injured without doing any exercise at all due to tightness in their backs, hips and hamstrings. Ultimately this can lead to pain or injury further down the line, because their body biomechanics become tightened and they are not able to move in an efficient way.
In order to stay loose and nimble, some great daily stretch exercises to perform are hamstring stretches, lunges, quadricep stretches and calf stretches. Also, be sure to stretch the upper body, too. Try the cat stretch, tricep stretche and the chest stretch, which you can achieve by sitting with your arms stretched out behind you.
For more information on how to train like a pro athlete, check out TheTennisBros.com for quality workouts that can be applied to any sport!