3 Exercises to Improve Athletic Performance
“Athleticism is a skill, it needs to earned”
1. Skill Based Drills
2. Mobility & Stability Development
3. Power & Explosion
Skill Based Drills: Practicing, rehearsing and patterning the sport skills you want to be athletic at takes repetitions. Skills are formed over time and long hours of zeroing in your craft. What ever your sport is my #1 top exercise is, working on your weaknesses. For example, start your workouts with drills or games that need skill and coordination. This can be done with creativity, but it will get the athletes attention and focus. The drills or games should be focused on timing, coordination and a weak aspect of an athlete. For example: Only use your non dominate leg, arm or force your weak side to preform at any athletic task or game. 5-10 minute drills or game time is ideal.
Mobility & Stability Development: Tight muscles are not always a bad thing for an athlete, however poor joint mechanics can be problematic and lead to injury. Here’s the difference: If a muscle is tight, its tight for a reason. The muscle is protecting itself by restricting movement that it doesn’t have stability to move into. If the muscle is strong and the joint feels stable, more mobility will given in that movement. My #2 exercise is joint mobility and stability exercises. Pick a joint and pattern each workout and do 1-2 drills to achieve maximum joint stability then move through range of motion to achieve athletic and sport specific mobility. For example: Holding a deep lunge position with perfect joint mechanics for a length of time or moving through full range of motion at different tempos with quality. This can be sport specific, but functional movement and full range of motion should be achieved 1st. For example: Work on basic patterns 1st, such as Squating, Hingeing, Lunging, Pushing Vertical & Horizontal, Pulling Vertical & Horizontal and then Rotations Combos.
Power & Explosion: Depending on the sport athletes need to warm up properly for explosive movements. Most full body power movements will come from the power of the hips and various rotation patterns. To activate power & explosion use plyometric or speed drills before games. My #3 exercise is hip extension drills that get the posterior muscles firing explosively. Olympic Lifting can be an excellent choice, but in a warm up, I often choose non loaded body weight movements.
For example: 3 exercises done in a circuit.
1st: Hip bridges or hip thrusters, both double leg and single leg styles.
2nd: Tuck jumps or jump lunges
3rd: Med ball rotation tosses or throws.
Follow my programming each month to see program templates and styles of programs that meet a wide range of athletes and exercise goals.
Chris Giesking 