Specificity

For the majority of the spring and summer, I train and compete in triathlons. Most of the time, my training time is spent running, riding, and swimming and working on getting faster in all three areas.

During the fall and winter months, my gears switch into an "offseason" mode and I focus more on strength training and playing soccer while the triathlon training takes a back seat. Currently, I only ride and swim 1 x week, while I play soccer 2 x week and strength train 3 x week. Outside of what I get in my soccer games, I'm not doing any running.

After my swim last week, I realized that I was swimming my fastest times that I have accomplished up to date. Upon seeing this, the old competitive juices started flowing again and I began to think about the next swim session and the times I wanted to achieve.

Then, I remembered what time of year it was and what my focus was right now. It was almost too easy to lose focus and start worrying about the wrong goals. And besides, how much faster can I really get if I'm only swimming (or riding for that matter) 1 x week?

This personal example is just my way of taking the long road in discussing an issue that I come across as a strength/conditioning coach for young athletes. I'll use the many soccer players I work with and coach as the example today.

So many of them want to develop their first step quickness or their ability to change directions, yet they (or their parents) don't choose the right avenues to help themselves. Instead of actually focusing on the specific issue and getting specialized speed/agility training, they pick up another team practice session or skills session during the week and get essentially the same type of training they were already getting.

In order to develop better physical skills, your body needs specificity in the training routine. You cannot expect to increase your speed and/or agility with repetitions on the ball in practice. Just like I cannot expect to see significant gains in the water or on the bike if I am only concentrating on building strength. The two examples share a training specificity and a technical skills set that must be worked through repetition and consistent practice.

Now, in my case, strength will certainly be of assistance as the stronger athlete will be able to move faster in both the water and on the bike. However, my gains will be marginal until I actually put in quality time in both areas. And the same goes, for speed/agility training. A weekly session is a good place to start, but when the time allows, the more frequent you can attend training, the more repetitions you will get and the greater the results will be.

In any case, just remember that you cannot expect results to improve unless you are consistent and specific to those goals!