Strength, Muscular Endurance, and Power in Sports

by Tudor O. Bompa, PhD

Almost all physical activities incorporate elements of force, quickness, duration, and
range of motion. Exercises to overcome resistance are strength exercises. Speed
exercises maximize quickness and high frequency. Exercises of long distance or
duration, or many repetitions are endurance exercises. Maximum range of motion
results in a flexibility movement. Exercises with complex movements are known as
coordination exercises.
Athletes vary in their talent to perform certain exercises. Talent is mostly genetic.
Inherited strength, speed, and endurance play an important role in reaching high levels
of performance and are called dominant motor or biomotor abilities. Motor refers to
movement; the prefix bio- illustrates the biological importance of these abilities.

Main Theories Influencing Strength Training for Sports

Five theories influence strength training for sports: bodybuilding, high-intensity
training (HIT), Olympic weight lifting, power training throughout the year, and
Periodization of Strength.

Key Words
Adaptation: Persistent changes in muscle structure or function as a direct
response to progressively increasing training loads.
Eccentric Contraction: Muscle function that lengthens muscle fibers as it
develops tension.
Isokinetic Contraction: Muscle contraction that develops maximum tension while
shortening at a constant speed over the full range of motion.
Periodization of Strength: Strength training programs structured into phases to
maximize sport-specific strength.
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilders are chiefly concerned with increased muscle size. They perform sets of
6 to 12 repetitions to exhaustion. With few exceptions-possibly football and some
throwing events in track and field-increased muscle size is rarely beneficial to athletic
performance. Since most athletic movements are explosive, the slow speed of
contraction in bodybuilding has limited positive transfer to sports. Athletic skills, at 100
to 180 milliseconds, are performed quickly, but leg extensions in bodybuilding are three
times slower, at 600 milliseconds (table 1.1).
High-Intensity Training (HIT)
High -intensity training (HIT) requires high training loads through the year with all
working sets performed to at least positive failure. Firm believers in HIT claim that
strength can be achieved in 20 to 30 minutes and stand against high-volume strength
training, so important in events of long, continuous duration (mid- and long-distance
swimming, rowing, canoeing, and crosscountry skiing). HIT programs are not organized
according to the competition schedule. For sports, strength is periodized according to
the physiological needs of the sport in a given phase and the date for reaching peak

performance.
Olympic Weight Lifting
Olympic weight lifting was an important influence in the early days of strength
training. Even now, many coaches and trainers still use traditional Olympic weight-lifting
moves such as the clean and jerk and power clean despite the fact that these moves
rarely work the prime movers, the muscles primarily used in specific sport skills.
Carefully assessing the needs of Olympic weightlifting techniques is essential,
especially for young athletes or athletes with no strength training background, as
injuries have been reported in several such instances. Even highly trained athletes have
reported injuries caused by exaggerated use of Olympic weight-lifting skills.
Power Training Throughout the Year
Some coaches and trainers, especially in track and field and certain team sports,
believe that power training should be performed from day one of training through the
major championship. They theorize that if power is the dominant ability, it has to be
trained throughout the year except during the transition phase (off-season). They use
exercises such as bounding and implements such as medicine balls and the shot.
Certainly, athletic fitness does improve through the year. The key element, however, is
the athlete's rate of improvement throughout the year, especially from year to year, not
just whether the athlete improves. Strength training has been shown to lead to far better
results than power training. especially when Periodization of Strength is used. Power is
a function of maximum strength. To improve power, one must improve maximum
strength. Under these conditions, power improvement is faster and reaches higher
levels.
Periodization of Strength
Strength training for sports must be based on the specific physiological requirements
of the sport and must result in the development of either power or muscle endurance.
Furthermore, strength training must revolve around the needs of planning-periodization
for that sport and employ training methods specific to a given training phase, with the
goal of reaching peak performance at the time of major competitions.

Strength, Speed, and Endurance

Strength, speed and endurance are the important abilities for successful
performance. The dominant ability is the one from which the sport requires a higher
contribution (for instance. endurance is the dominant ability in long-distance running).
Most sports require peak performance in at least two abilities. The relationships among
strength. speed. and endurance create crucial physical athletic qualities. A better
understanding of these relationships will help you understand power and muscular
endurance and help you plan sport -specific strength training. Combining strength and
endurance creates muscular endurance, the ability to perform many repetitions against
a given resistance for a prolonged period (figure 1. 1). Power, the ability to perform an
explosive movement in the shortest time possible. results from the integration of
maximum strength and speed. The combination of endurance and speed is called

speed-endurance. Agility is the product of a complex combination of speed.

coordination, flexibility. and power as demonstrated in gymnastics, wrestling, football,
soccer, volleyball, baseball, boxing. diving. and figure skating. When agility and flexibility
combine, the result is mobility, the ability to cover a playing area quickly with good
timing and coordination.

A relationship of high methodical importance exists among strength, speed, and

endurance. A solid foundation for specialized training is built during the initial years of
training. This sport-specific phase is a requirement for all national-level and elite
athletes who aim for precise training effects. As a result of specific exercises, the
adaptation process occurs in accordance with an athlete's specialization. For elite
athletes, the relationship among strength, speed, and endurance is dependent on the
sport and the athlete's needs.
Figure 1.2 illustrates three examples where strength or force (F), speed (5), or
endurance (E) is dominant. In each case, when one biomotor ability dominates, the
other two do not participate to a similar extent. This example, however, is pure theory,
and applies to few sports. In the vast majority of sports, each ability has a given input.
Figure 1.3 shows the dominant composition of strength, speed, and endurance in
several sports.

Using figure 1.3 as a model, try to define the combinations among the dominant
biomotor abilities for your sport. In figure 1.4, place a circle in the location you feel is
most ideal. Try to evaluate your own dominant abilities or those of your athletes and
place another circle in the appropriate location inside the triangle. The second circle
tells you what areas to train to match the dominant combinations of biomotor abilities for
that sport.

Effect of Strength Training on Other Biomotor Abilities

Specific development of a biomotor ability must be methodical. A developed dominant
ability directly or indirectly affects the other abilities. To what extent depends strictly on
the resemblance between the methods employed and the specifics of the sport. So,
development of a dominant biomotor ability may have a positive or, rarely, a negative
transfer. When an athlete develops strength, he may experience a positive transfer to
speed and endurance. On the other hand, a strength training program designed only to
develop maximum strength may negatively affect the development of aerobic
endurance. Similarly, a training program aimed exclusively at developing aerobic
endurance may have a negative transfer to strength and speed. Since strength is a
crucial athletic ability, it always has to be trained with the other abilities.
Misleading, unfounded theories have suggested that strength training slows down
athletes and affects the development of endurance and flexibility. Recent research
discredits such theories (Atha, 1984; Dudley & Fleck, 1987; Hickson et aI., 1988;
MacDougall et aI., 1987; Micheli, 1988; Nelson et aI., 1990; Sale et aI., 1990).
Combined strength and endurance training does not affect improvement (Le., no
negative transfer) of aerobic power or muscular strength. Similarly, strength programs
pose no risk to flexibility. Thus, for endurance sports such as rowing, cross-country
skiing, canoeing, and swimming, concurrent work can be performed safely on strength
and endurance. The same is true for sports requiring strength and flexibility.
For speed sports, power represents a great source of speed improvement. A fast
sprinter is also strong. High acceleration, fast limb movement, and high frequency are
possible when strong muscles contract quickly and powerfully. In extreme situations,
however, maximum loads may momentarily affect speed. Velocity will be affected if
speed training is scheduled after an exhausting training session with maximum loads.
Speed training should always be performed before strength training.

Sport-Specific Combinations of Strength, Speed and Endurance

Most actions and movements are more complex than previously discussed. Thus,
strength in sports should be viewed as the mechanism required to perform skills and
athletic actions. The reason for developing strength is not just for the sake of being
strong. The goal of strength development is to meet the specific needs of a given sport,
to develop specific strength or combinations of strength to increase athletic performance
to the highest possible level. Combining strength (F) and endurance (E) results in
muscular endurance (M-E). Sports may require M-E of long or short duration, a
distinction that must be made because of the drastic differences between them. This
distinction determines the type of strength to train for each sport.

Before discussing this topic, a brief clarification of the terms cyclic and acyclic is
necessary. Cyclic movements are repeated continuously, such as running, walking,
swimming, rowing, skating, cross-country skiing, cycling, and canoeing. As soon as one
cycle of the motor act is learned, the others can be repeated with the same succession.
Acyclic movements, on the other hand, constantly change and are dissimilar to most
others, such as in throwing events, gymnastics, wrestling, fencing, and many technical
elements in team sports.
With the exception of sprinting, cyclic sports are endurance sports. Endurance is
either dominant or makes an important contribution to performance. Acyclic sports are
often speed-power sports. Many sports, however, are more complex and require speed,
power, and endurance (for example, basketball, volleyball, soccer, ice hockey, wrestling,
and boxing). Therefore, the following analysis may refer to certain skills of a given sport
and not the sport as a whole.

Figure 1.5 analyzes various combinations of strength. The elements will be discussed
in a clockwise direction starting with the F-E (strength-endurance) axis. Each strength
combination has an arrow pointing to a certain part of the axis between two biomotor
abilities. An arrow placed closer to F indicates that strength plays a dominant role in the
sport or skill. An arrow placed closer to the midpoint of the axis indicates an equal or
almost equal contribution of both biomotor abilities. The farther the arrow is from F, the
less importance it has, suggesting that the other ability becomes more dominant.
However, strength still plays a role in that sport.
The F-E axis refers to sports where M-E (muscular endurance) is the dominant
strength combination (the inner arrow). Not all sports require equal parts strength and
endurance. For example, swimming events range from 50 to 1,500 meters. The 50meter event is speed-power dominant; M-E becomes more important as the distance
increases.

Power-endurance is on top of the F-E axis because of the importance of strength for
activities such as rebounding in basketball, spiking in volleyball, jumping to catch the
ball in Australian football and rugby, or jumping to head the ball in soccer. All these
actions are power-dominant movements. The same is true for some skills in tennis,
boxing, wrestling, and martial arts. More than power has to be trained to perform such
actions successfully throughout a game or match since these actions are performed 100
to 200 or more times per game or match. Although it is important to jump high to
rebound a ball, it is equally important to duplicate such a jump 200 times per game.
Consequently, both power and power-endurance have to be trained.
M-E of short duration refers to the M-E necessary for events of short duration (40
seconds to 2 minutes). In the 100-meter swimming event, the start is a power action as
are the first 20 strokes. From the midpoint of the race to the end, M-E becomes at least
equally important to power. In the last 30 to 40 meters, the crucial element is the ability
to duplicate the force of the arms' pull so that velocity is maintained and then increased
at the finish. For events such as 100 meters in swimming, 400 meters in running, 500 to
1,000 meters in speed skating, and 500 meters in canoeing, M-E strongly contributes to
the final result.
M-E of medium duration is typical of cyclic sports 2 to 5 minutes long, such as
200and 400-meter swimming, 3,000-meter speed skating, track and field mid-distance
running, 1,000-meter canoeing, wrestling, martial arts, figure skating, synchronized
swimming, and cycling pursuit.
M-E of long duration (over 6 to 10 minutes) requires the ability to apply force against
a standard resistance for a longer period as in rowing, crosscountry skiing, road cycling,
long-distance running, swimming, speed skating, and canoeing.
Speed-endurance (S-E) refers to the ability to maintain or repeat a high velocity
action several times per game, as in football, baseball, basketball, rugby, soccer, and
power skating in ice hockey. Players in these sports need to train to develop a speedendurance capacity.
The remaining two types of speed-endurance alter in combination and proportion of
speed and endurance as distance increases. In the first case, sports require training
velocity around the anaerobic threshold (4 millimoles [mmol] of lactate or a heart rate of
approximately 170 beats per minute). In the second case, training velocity must be
around the aerobic threshold (2 to 3 mmol of lactate or a heart rate of 125 to 140 beats
per minute).
The F-S (strength-speed) axis refers mainly to strength-speed sports where power is
dominant.
Landing and reactive power is a major component of several sports, like figure
skating, gymnastics, and several team sports. Proper training can prevent injuries.
Many athletes train only the takeoff part of a jump, with no concern for a controlled and
balanced landing. The physical/power element plays an important role in proper landing
technique, particularly for advanced athletes. Athletes must train eccentrically to be able
to "stick" a landing, absorb the shock, and maintain good balance to continue the
routine or perform another move immediately.
The power required to control a landing depends on the height of the jump, the
athlete's body weight, and whether the landing is performed by absorbing the shock or
with the joints flexed but stiff. Testing has revealed that for a shock-absorbing landing,

athletes use a resistance force three to four times their body weight. Landing performed
with stiff leg joints requires a force of six to eight times body weight. An athlete weighing
60 kilograms (132 pounds) requires 180 to 240 kilograms (396 to 528 pounds) to absorb
the shock of landing. The same athlete requires 360 to 480 kilograms (792 to 1,056
pounds) to land with the leg joints stiff. When an athlete lands on one leg, as in figure
skating, the force at the instant of landing is three to four times body weight for a shock
-absorbing landing and five to seven times for landing with stiff leg joints.
Strength training can train landing power better, faster, and with much more
consistency than specific skill training. Specific power training for landing can generate
much higher tension in the muscles of the legs than performing an exercise with only
body weight. Higher tension means improvements in landing power. In addition, through
specific power training for landing, especially eccentric training, athletes can build a
"power reserve" that is a force greater than the power required for a correct and
controlled landing. The higher the power reserve, the easier it is for the athlete to control
the landing, and the safer the landing.
Reactive power is the ability to generate the force of jumping immediately following a
landing (hence "reactive"). This kind of power is necessary in the martial arts, wrestling,
and boxing and for quick changes in direction, as in football, soccer, basketball,
lacrosse, and tennis. The force needed for a reactive jump depends on the height of the
jump and the athlete's body weight and leg power. Reactive jumps require a force equal
to 6 to 8 times body weight. Reactive jumps from a platform of 1 meter (3.3 feet) require
a reactive force of 8 to 10 times body weight.
Throwing power refers to force applied against an implement, such as throwing a
football, pitching a baseball, or throwing the javelin. The release speed is determined by
the amount of muscular force exerted at the instant of release. First, athletes have to
defeat the inertia of the implement, which is proportional to its mass (important only in
throwing events). Then they must continuously accelerate through the range of motion
so that maximum acceleration is achieved at the instant of release. The force and
acceleration of release depend directly on the force and speed of contraction applied
against the implement.
Takeoff power is crucial in events in which athletes attempt to project the body to the
highest point, either to jump over a bar as in high jump or to reach the best height to
catch a ball or spike it. The height of a jump depends directly on the vertical force
applied against the ground to defeat the pull of gravity. In most cases, the vertical force
performed at takeoff is at least twice the athlete's weight. The higher the jump, the more
powerful the legs should be. Leg power is developed through periodized strength
training as explained in chapters 6 and 10.
Starting power is necessary for sports that require high speed to cover a given
distance in the shortest time possible. Athletes must be able to generate maximum force
at the beginning of a muscular contraction to create a high initial speed. A fast start,
either from a low position as in sprinting or from a tackling position in football, depends
on the reaction time and power the athlete can exert at that instant.
Accelerating power refers to the capacity to achieve high acceleration. Sprinting
speed or acceleration depends on the power and quickness of muscle contraction to
drive the arms and legs to the highest stride frequency, the shortest contact phase when
the leg reaches the ground, and the highest propulsion when the leg pushes against the

ground for a powerful forward drive. The capacity of athletes to accelerate depends on
both arm and leg force. Specific strength training for high acceleration will benefit most
team sport athletes from wide receivers in football to wingers in rugby or strikers in
soccer (see table 1.2).
Decelerating power is important in sports such as soccer, basketball, football, and ice
and field hockey. Athletes run fast and constantly change direction quickly. Such
athletes are exploders and accelerators as well as decelerators. The dynamics of these
games change abruptly: players running fast in one direction suddenly have to change
direction with the least loss of speed, then accelerate quickly in another direction.
Acceleration and deceleration both require a great deal of leg and shoulder power.
The same muscles used for acceleration (quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves) are used
for deceleration, except they contract eccentrically. To enhance the ability to decelerate
fast and quickly move in another direction, decelerating power must be trained.

A Brief History of Periodization of Strength

The concept of Periodization of Strength for sports has evolved from two basic
needs: (1) the need to model strength training around the annual plan and its training
phases, and (2) the need to increase the rate of power development from year to year.

The first athletic experiment using Periodization of Strength was done with Mihaela
Penes, a gold medalist in javelin throw at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. The results
were presented in 1965 in Bucharest and Moscow (Bompa, 1965a, 1965b). The original
Periodization of Strength model has been altered to suit the needs of endurance-related
sports that require muscular endurance (Bompa, 1977). Both models of Periodization of
Strength are discussed in this book, including training methods. The basic Periodization
of Strength model has also been presented in Periodization: Theory and Methodology
of Training (Bompa, 1999).
In 1984, Stone and O'Bryant presented a theoretical model of strength training in
which Periodization of Strength included four phases: Hypertrophy, Basic Strength,
Strength and Power, and Peaking and Maintenance. A comprehensive book on
periodization, Periodization of Strength: The New Wave in Strength Training (Bompa,
1993a), was followed by Periodization Breakthrough (Fleck & Kraemer, 1996), which
again demonstrated that to achieve high athletic benefits from strength training,
Periodization of Strength is the way to go! Most recently, Serious Strength Training
(Bompa & Cornacchia, 1998) was published by Human Kinetics.

FROM: PERIODIZATION Training for Sports -- Programs for peak strength