A common concern for many still deals with making sure to accomplish proper strength transfer into sport. In other words, using or applying the highest percentage of strength from the weight room into usable speed and power across all movement tasks. Regardless of what you may have heard on the topic, you can simplify all of the essential specifics and details into one singular focus and practical training model which is detailed down below. The list of exercises that can be applied to each category is vast and arguably infinite, but the ones disclosed are very common and a great place to start, nonetheless.

UPPER BODY SPEED TRAINING + UPPER BODY POWER TRAINING + UPPER

BODY STRENGTH TRAINING

Plyometrics Olympic Lifting Maximal Strength

Medicine ball drill Hang snatches and cleans Bench press and Chin-ups

Explosive Strength Supplemental Strength

Speed bench press Military Press and DB Rows

LOWER BODY SPEED TRAINING + LOWER BODY POWER TRAINING + LOWER

BODY STRENGTH TRAINING

Plyometrics Olympic Lifting Maximal Strength

Jumping Hang snatches and cleans Squat or Deadlift

Explosive Strength Supplemental Strength

Speed squat or deadlift Single leg movements, GHR, RDL’s

Keep your power work generalized

With this model, you’ll always be incorporating a majority of the training you need to be powerful throughout both the upper and lower body. Ultimately, both regions of the body are going to be utilized in any movement pattern, with generally one half being primary in certain movements and the other half secondary. Therefore you’ll need both halves functioning at a high level if you truly want to maximize a movement pattern, especially in the case of sprinting or speed‐based movements.

The luxury of this approach is that you could optimize any target movement by training within the confines of this model, as long as you successfully address each aspect. As a testament to this, I’ve utilized this model with golfers, boxers, baseball players, lacrosse players, soccer players, skiers, basketball players, football players, etc. several times and the results were fantastic. I should quickly note that the only real difference between devising this approach for say a football player and a tennis player would be alterations in the speed and specific strength categories.

A large majority of sport‐specific movement patterns are lower or upper-body speed‐based motions (throwing, kicking, hitting, running, jumping, cutting, etc.). A tennis player’s speed work prescription to swing a tennis racket should arguably differ from a football player, who may potentially do less swinging and more throwing or pressing activities. Honestly, though, each of these activities is going to create the same speed or plyometric effect in similar areas of the upper body. The only other discrepancy would be the “Specific Strength” category under lower body strength training,