Even smaller midfield football players need some size for tackling and to ensure they do not simply bounce off of their opponent and lose in the contest for possession. Certain positions like a tall marking forward or ruckman in AFL football demand that these players have considerable strength to have any chance of competing in marking duels. In contact sports like rugby, football, and even basketball a certain degree of muscle size is a requirement in order to compete effectively in close quarter contests and collisions. The strength base allows for speed and power to be produced. We know that explosive movements such as sprinting, jumping and change of direction require a strength base. Reference: Peak Performance Strength Training The Dilemma Facing Sporting Athletes Ask any body-builder what ruins adding strength and muscle and they will tell you endurance cardio. This means that there is a block to improving both our endurance and our muscle mass and strength at the same time. The release of AMPK blocks the activation of mTORC1. AMPK leads to improved endurance and mTORC1 increases strength. The reason it is difficult to build both at the same time has a lot to do with the enzymes that produced from each type of exercise. This type of training improves the muscles’ ability to use oxygen to produce energy in the form of ATP and is a big factor in improving your overall fitness needed for sporting performance. Strength, Speed & Power – To increase muscle strength we need exercise in short bouts at close to maximal effort to increase protein synthesis, producing improvements in strength and muscle size (hypertrophy).Įndurance – Endurance exercise is long-duration exercise performed at a submaximal effort. Many times we had to define exactly what the difference between strength, speed, and power versus endurance to help them appreciate the distinct differences between the two training methods and the effect each has on your body.

We had to educate them on the basics of quality over quantity, timing, longer rest intervals between sets to be able to have any chance of reaching their goal. When I examined their training it was obvious where their problem lied for it focused far too much on endurance. The thing they lacked was the elusive speed and ability to move faster. Very rarely did they have a problem with endurance and overall fitness and most were already incredibly fit. Of all the amateur and elite athletes in sports I have worked with for over 14 years the most common problem they wanted help with was to improve their explosive speed and power. What Is The Difference Between Strength & Endurance? But is there a way you can minimize the losses of strength and power by adopting smarter implementation of your fitness training? This is the question we explore in this article and provide you with some simple ideas you can implement into your training that could be a real game changer.

Compromises must be made, and usually, it is strength, power, and speed sacrificed for fitness and endurance. Unfortunately, sporting codes that run for several months of the year do not allow for this perfect recipe to be adopted. This is the equivalent of trying to be a 100m sprinter and a marathon runner at the same time! All good strength coaches and elite athletes are aware of this principle and know that to improve performance these two opposing methods are best trained on their own which is known as periodization. Physiologically the two processes of building strength, power, and speed versus endurance are completely opposed to each other and training both methods at the same time cancels out their effectiveness.

Many sports demand that you have high levels of strength and power and be able to sustain these repeated bursts in games that last between 2-3 hours. Ask anyone who plays in sports like AFL football and basketball how tough it can be to train for speed and power, yet at the same time try to improve your fitness endurance capacity.

Endurance fitness