Do You Need Strength Training for Sports?

I’ve got friends who are into climbing. Most of them are skeptical against

non-specific strength training: they feel it would add bulk.

    The strength training that they do is focused on the upper-body, and
using the campus board for finger strength. I think they would frown
upon the Squat.

    I’ve gotten the impression that most climbers have the opinion that
the best training for climbing is climbing.

Reader Patmanpato replied:

    I believe strength training in the gym is only productive once
you’ve reached a certain level in your sport. Just my observation of
others and experiences with various martial arts and strength training.

    As for needing to work lower body for rock climbing… unless you’re
very unfit, it’s not as important as upper body.

Strength Training for Sports. Years ago, coaches believed the best way
to train for a sport was doing that sport. Today they know better. You
learn a lot about how athletes train by looking at their physiques,
compare:

    Pele vs. Ronaldo
    Carl Lewis vs. Ben Johnson
    John McEnroe vs. Rafael Nadal

Ben Johnson did Squats with 620lbs at 200lbs body-weight. Tiger Woods
Bench Press 300lbs. Check out Rafael Nadal’s arm & leg development.

The Squat. Power comes from the hips. Your core helps power transfer.
The Squat builds hip & core strength. Both are critical in sports.

    Volleyball. Lauren plays Volleyball professionally. She does
Overhead Squats, Power Cleans, Bench Press, etc.
    MMA. Fighters on Sherdog recommend Squats & Deadlifts for
overall body strength & development.
    Gymnastics. James from BeastSkills lifts weights. His personal
bests: 375lbs Squat, 450lbs Deadlift & 285lbs Bench Press.

Climbing. Experience climbers will recommend you to move your feet
before moving your arms. You’ll wear out too fast if you use your arms
solely. You need to climb using your bigger stronger muscles: the
legs.

You can’t always use your legs, so you need finger & Pull-up
strength. But neglecting leg strength is playing half the field. Squats
are your friend. They won’t get you bulky. Calories do.

Strength Training