If you really want to improve your training game, you’ve got to do more than what everyone else is doing. These three workout styles go beyond the obvious to give you an edge.
Tabata for Conditioning
Most sports superstars are famous, not for what they do in the first quarter of the game, but for how they perform in the clutch at the final buzzer. If you want to be a hero when it counts, your conditioning must be at a high level. Tabata is a great form of high-intensity interval training, which you can implement in phases to challenge yourself as you improve. The formula is eight rounds of 20-second bursts of intense exercise, each followed by a brief 10-second respite.
If you’re a basketball player, you can do Squat Jumps. Football players can use Elevated Push-Ups. After you get used to four minutes, add a second exercise and four more minutes. Once you get to 20 total minutes, use more challenging movements to make it tougher on yourself.
Learn more about how to take your conditioning to the next level with Tabata training.
Yoga for Flexibility and Focus
You might think a Downward Dog or Warrior Pose isn’t for you, but yoga benefits athletes in many ways. Many of the asanas (poses) increase flexibility, which reduces your chance of injury. Holding most yoga poses requires endurance even though you’re not moving. This is because the muscles and tendons work to keep the body stable.
Yoga styles for relaxation and meditation can lead to a decrease in stress and an improvement in focus. Competitive sports are as much mental as they are physical. And power yoga can help improve overall strength.
The best part? Although yoga (especially hot yoga) can help you burn calories by elevating your heart rate, it placed zero impact on your joints, which are already dealing with wear and tear from practices and games. Yoga can also improve your posture overall, which helps you move more efficiently.
Check out the 10 best yoga poses for athletes.
Powerlifting
I’m not talking about competing in meets, but rather adopting powerlifting-style training based around the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift.
It takes energy to exert force. Generating force quickly requires even more energy. As you develop your ability to exert force, you require less energy.
Powerlifting is based on how much force you can generate in three types of effort: maximal, dynamic and repetitive.
- Maximal Effort: Involves moving an extremely heavy load for a low number of reps.
- Dynamic Effort: Moving a lesser weight as quickly as possible.
- Repetitive Effort: Lifting a lower amount of weight until you reach failure.
If you implement power training in the weight room, you could see an increase in all three efforts, boosting your power, speed, and endurance when it matters.
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If you really want to improve your training game, you’ve got to do more than what everyone else is doing. These three workout styles go beyond the obvious to give you an edge.
Tabata for Conditioning
Most sports superstars are famous, not for what they do in the first quarter of the game, but for how they perform in the clutch at the final buzzer. If you want to be a hero when it counts, your conditioning must be at a high level. Tabata is a great form of high-intensity interval training, which you can implement in phases to challenge yourself as you improve. The formula is eight rounds of 20-second bursts of intense exercise, each followed by a brief 10-second respite.
If you’re a basketball player, you can do Squat Jumps. Football players can use Elevated Push-Ups. After you get used to four minutes, add a second exercise and four more minutes. Once you get to 20 total minutes, use more challenging movements to make it tougher on yourself.
Learn more about how to take your conditioning to the next level with Tabata training.
Yoga for Flexibility and Focus
You might think a Downward Dog or Warrior Pose isn’t for you, but yoga benefits athletes in many ways. Many of the asanas (poses) increase flexibility, which reduces your chance of injury. Holding most yoga poses requires endurance even though you’re not moving. This is because the muscles and tendons work to keep the body stable.
Yoga styles for relaxation and meditation can lead to a decrease in stress and an improvement in focus. Competitive sports are as much mental as they are physical. And power yoga can help improve overall strength.
The best part? Although yoga (especially hot yoga) can help you burn calories by elevating your heart rate, it placed zero impact on your joints, which are already dealing with wear and tear from practices and games. Yoga can also improve your posture overall, which helps you move more efficiently.
Check out the 10 best yoga poses for athletes.
Powerlifting
I’m not talking about competing in meets, but rather adopting powerlifting-style training based around the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift.
It takes energy to exert force. Generating force quickly requires even more energy. As you develop your ability to exert force, you require less energy.
Powerlifting is based on how much force you can generate in three types of effort: maximal, dynamic and repetitive.
- Maximal Effort: Involves moving an extremely heavy load for a low number of reps.
- Dynamic Effort: Moving a lesser weight as quickly as possible.
- Repetitive Effort: Lifting a lower amount of weight until you reach failure.
If you implement power training in the weight room, you could see an increase in all three efforts, boosting your power, speed, and endurance when it matters.
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