The Roads to Rome
When I do a presentation about transfer of training, one of the points I emphasize is that almost anything transfers for a beginner. Even take a look at any of Bondarchuk’s correlation tables and you’ll see nearly every exercise with a high transfer. Just get them to work and they will improve. Because of this there are numerous ways to get an athlete to an intermediate level. You can rely on maximum strength. You can rely on size. You can rely on explosivity. You can rely on technique. You can rely on grit. You rely on special strength. All roads lead to Rome if being good is your goal.
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So here is my question re: training of a lower level athlete — Do we take advantage of the time that they can benefit from general strength to help their specific event and do more general strength during that time?
Since many of them play multiple sports still, some don’t even know what their area of specificity is yet.
I do remember reading Charlie Francis stating he liked to develop the body build of a sprinter first, then get more focused on the “Fast Twitch” development of the athlete that was more specific.
What are your thoughts?
You definitely new a general strength base, but tht can be attained quite easily. You don’t need to put all your effort into it to the point where you can’t work in technique because your system is at the limit. Squats 5×5 done regularly at middle intensities can help develop this. (If the athletes are doing lots other sports, this alone will help their general preparation and perhaps you need less time on that. And, at least in throws, we don’t get athletes until 14 or 15 if we are lucky. You can definitely be more speed and specific strength oriented at that age. We’re not talking about 8 year olds.)
I think the key is that with a balanced long-term approach you can build up the qualities you need together. In a way this is like our annual periodization: work on everything at once. Too much of one thing and the system can destabilize.