Practical Strength &

Conditioning for Sport

Shane Pizzey MKin, CEP, CSCS

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Introduction
Determining the needs of the athlete
Age, sport, position

Physical Screening
Performance Testing
Building the program

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Determine Needs
What sport is the athlete competing in?
Possibly multiple sports

What is the age of the athlete?

Developmental age vs. chronological age

What skills are in this developmental window?

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Sport Specific or Sport General?

Train to Train
75% of volume is General training
25% of volume is Specific training + Competition

Train to Compete
50% of volume is General training
50% of volume is Specific training + Competition

Train to Win
25% of volume is General training
75% of volume is Specific training + Competition

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Sport Specific or Sport General?

Early off-season should focus on general
training
More specific as season approaches

Sport Specific training can perpetuate muscle

imbalances
Skiing: Quad dominant (ACL tears)
Hockey: Vastus Lateralis dominant (MCL sprains)

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Developmental Windows
Developmental Window refers to the sensitive
periods of accelerated adaptation to training,
which occurs prior, during and early postpuberty
The window is fully open during the sensitive
periods of accelerated adaptation to training, and
partially open outside the sensitive periods.
The window is never closed!

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Developmental Windows
Age and Critical Periods
Motor Skills

10

Motor Learning
Ability
Agility
Muscular Endurance
Strength
Speed
Flexibility
Aerobic Power
Balance

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11

12

13

14

15

16

Physical Screening
Simple hands on tests that give valuable info on
what is happening with the body
Can assess many athletes in a short amount of
time
Focus on usual suspects
Shoulders, hips, mid-section

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Physical Screening

Postural Assessment
Pushup Plus
Overhead Squat
Hip Extension

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Postural Assessment
What are we looking for?
Front/Back View

Head Tilt
Shoulder Height
Hand Position
Scoliosis
Iliac Crest Level
Genu Valgus or Varum

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Postural Assessment
What are we looking for?
Lateral View

Head Position (chin poke)

Shoulder Posture
Spinal Curvature
Knees Bent

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Postural Assessment

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Postural Assessment

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Pushup Plus
How do we test?
From top of a pushup position, lock elbows, drop
chest to the ground. Push back up.
Is there winging of the medial border of the scapula?

What does it tell you?

It can indicate weak serratus anterior

Who cares?
Ever try shooting a cannon from a canoe?

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Pushup Plus

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Overhead Squat
Can get a plethora of information from one test
How do you do it?
Hold a broomstick/dowel overhead with locked
elbows.
Hands should be very far apart.
Dowel should be in line with ears.
Push bum backwards and drop hips as low as
possible.
Stand up.
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Overhead Squat
What does it tell you?
Dowel moves in front of head
Poor shoulder flexibility and/or strength

Upper body closes and faces the floor

Weakness through the mid-section

Knees knock in**

Weakness in Gluteus Medius and lateral hip stabilizers

Cannot get into deep position

Overall lower body weakness and/or poor lower body
flexibility
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Overhead Squat
Who cares?
Muscular imbalances can rob an athlete of their
potential for speed, strength and power
By correcting any imbalances, true potential can be
expressed
Performance will increase by creating muscular
balance alone, let alone specific training

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Overhead Squat

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Hip Extension
Used to determine which muscles are active and
which arent in hip extension
How do you do it?
Lay face down on the ground
With his/her knee straight, athlete raises leg off the
ground as high as possible
Place one of testers hands on the belly of the
hamstring, the other on the belly of the glute max

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Hip Extension
What does it tell you?
The proper firing sequence should be glute max,
followed closely by hamstrings
If the hamstrings contract first, there is a recruitment
issue for the glute max
Try to identify how long the delay is, and how
powerful the contraction is with the glute max
This can tell you just how bad the problem is

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Hip Extension
Who cares?
The Gluteus Maximus is the powerhouse of
movement
Jumping, running and all other lower body
movements will be enhanced
The Gluteus Maximus is the bodys largest muscle

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Hip Extension

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Performance Testing
Performance tests are used to assess any sport
specific weakness an athlete has
When at all possible, tests should be specific to
the demands of the sport
Would a triathlete need to test his/her bench?

To get VALID and RELIABLE data, all tests

must be administered in a very controlled
fashion
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Performance Testing
Performance tests all great to monitor training
progress
Tests can also be compared to norms
Tests can help in the evaluation of and picking
of team members
Performance Tests can be VERY stressful, so
limit the amount of structured testing days in a
season
Regular monitoring is much more favorable
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Performance Testing
Agility
T-Test
20 yd shuttle (5-10-5)
Hexagon Test

Speed
40 yd Dash
10 m Sprint (acceleration)

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Performance Testing
Power
Vertical Jump (with & without countermovement)
Margaria-Kalamen Power Test
Broad Jump (2 feet & 1 foot)
3 Hop Test

Anaerobic Capacity
30 second Wingate ( I think this is too short)
Cunningham-Faulkner Treadmill Test
RHIET (Repeated High Intensity Endurance Test)
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Performance Testing
Aerobic Power
Beep Test (Leger, Boucher)
1 Mile Time Trial
VO2max
Submaximal Tests

Body Composition
Skinfold Equations

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Building The Program

Take what you know about the sports demands
Determine the players current preparedness for
the sports demands
Determine the players structural balance, or lack
thereof
Consider their performance test scores

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Building The Program

First address the structural balance component.
This is the most important element in a training
program. The biggest benefit will come this alone

Once structural balance is improved, then start

to add in more advanced and specific exercises

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Building The Program

Build the program around each athlete
Johnny is different than Jimmy and needs to have a
different program
In a group setting, I suggest having each individual
do their own structural balance exercises at the start
of the session, then the group meets up for the team
component

Monitor progress by assessing structural balance

on a regular basis (once a month in an informal
setting)
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Conclusions
Determine what fitness characteristics are appropriate
for the athletes current development
Spend most of your time on that characteristic for best bang
for buck

Determine what the athletes body is telling you

Each body tells a story, its up to us to be able to read it

Performance Tests can give you an idea of the

strengths/weakness in a sporting context
These tests are not the end all be all however

The most important principle in program design is

Individualization

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Contact Info
Shane Pizzey MKin, CEP, CSCS

250.764-3189
shane@aspirehealth.ca

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