Weights make you slow?

Weight training and lifting will make you slow, it is said,  because of bigger muscles and “muscle boundness”. In reality, weight training and lifting usually increase the athlete’s speed.

Muscular strength is the ability to overcome a resistance. Therefore the greater the muscular strength the greater will be the resistance handled. When performing sub-maximal attempts, the greater muscular strength will make the task easier and possibly quicker. Stronger muscles will allow an athlete to move faster by overcoming the force of gravity more efficiently, increasing stride length and frequency. This is why many top-class athletes are using weight training to improve their performance. Remember Flo-Jo with her well developed legs storming to victory in the 100 metres and 200 metres events of the 1988 Olympic Games?

Strength training is not only used by power event athletes, but also those involved in endurance events. Marathon runners perform weight training with a large number of repetitions in order to increase strength and endurance. The result is an increase in stride length and frequency, a greater ability to resist tiredness and fatigue, and the ability to sprint at the finish.

The Principle of Specificity: – if you strength train to improve athletic performance, your weight exercises should duplicate your sport’s movements as closely as possible. The closer the training exercise matches the speed and movement pattern of competition, the more likely the increased muscular power built through weight training will contribute to the power of the competition movement.

A study of serious golfers in USA showed that an 8 week programme of 30 minute sessions, 3 times per week, produced many positive changes including an increase of 6% in club head speed. This was true even though they played no golf in the 8 week period. A control group did not change

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