Strength and Conditioning Programs for Women's Sports

Strength and conditioning programs for sports must be designed to build the specific energy requirements of a sport. Weight training programs must be integrated into female athletes' total sports training programs to ensure that the correct balance of energy strength-power-endurance demands is achieved.

For example, women's track and field events span the strength- endurance continuum of energy demands. Throwing events are highly explosive with long rest periods between attempts. High intensity weight training with ample rest between lifts is needed. If distance runners trained in the same way, it would be counterproductive to their performance because their energy requirements are very different.

Distance runners often train with relatively light weight loads using high repetitions for improving muscular endurance and cardio fitness so they can run continuously without rest periods. In both cases, the bodies of these athletes make specific adaptations according to the anaerobic (strength-power) or aerobic (endurance) demands of their respective sports.

Heptathletes, who compete in 7 events of varying demands, must develop an optimal combination of fitness components.

Rowers, whose sport requires both strength and muscular endurance, train with submaximal resistances at a relatively steady pace for extended periods of time.

Running long distances alone would not prepare soccer or basketball players for their sports. The energy demands also involve short intermittent bursts of speed.

Fitness Assessments and evaluations are one way to decide how to design your program to match the demands of your sport, as well as your own fitness level. The 6 Training Steps provide a mechanism to continually improve your total strength and conditioning program.

While weight programs must address the energy demands of women's sports, selecting exercises that improve other fitness components and share common elements with sport skills for optimal transfer are also important parts of the weightlifting program design. For more about exercises, see Weightlifting Exercises

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