Commonalities in Sports

In designing and implementing training programs for the various sports certain commonalities between sports are apparent. In fact once you get away from the nuances of the sport and focus on the movements there will be more similarities than differences. Squatting movements, bending movements, reaching movements are universal. Look carefully for commonalities in movements between sports before looking for differences. Once you find commonalities find as many ways to link them. You will find more commonalities than you thought. By looking for commonalities the differences will be very apparent.

The system of sport classification into Sprint Sports, Intermittent Sprint Sports, Transition Sports and Endurance Sports will point you in the right direction. This is the first step that dictates the selection of the training methods. In selecting exercises for training there may actually be similar exercises or even the same exercises. Even though the exercise may be the same, it can be performed at a different tempo, with or without resistance to adapt the exercises to the respective sport. The message is that it is more than an exercise; it is the context that the exercise is applied that ultimately will matter the most.