Strength training is an essential element of fitness for virtually every sports man and woman. Long gone are the days when coaches believed resistance exercises only added unnecessary bulk to the athlete, hindering their ability to execute skill.

There is no longer any doubt that effective, targeted resistance training is not just beneficial but critical to improvements in sports performance. Sports such as rugby, American Football, and rowing have employed weightlifting techniques of some form for what seems like forever. However, these are sports where the size of the athlete has in the past been viewed as bigger is better hence the enthusiasm for lifting weights.

The benefits of strength training to athletic performance are enormous and many. Not only is it an integral conditioning component for power athletes such as football and rugby players, performance in the pure endurance events can be improved with a well structured strength routine.

Fortunately now, even coaches in sports which have traditionally ignored weight training for fear of bulking up realise that weight training can be programmed in such a way as to cause dramatic improvements in performance without large increases in muscle mass.

However, aside from perhaps bodybuilders, sport specific resistance training requires a more refined approach than simply lifting heavy weights to complete exhaustion. A physiological analysis of any game or event will confirm that most athletes require explosive power, muscular endurance, maximal strength or some combination of all three in order to excel. Rarely is pure muscle bulk the primary concern and when it is, other elements of strength are equally as important.

Maximal strength is the highest level of force an athlete can possibly generate. Its importance will vary between sports but this relates more to the length of the maximal strength training phase than whether it should be included or not. The greater an athlete's maximal strength to begin with, the more of it can be converted into sport-specific strength endurance or explosive power.

The right nutrition is very important when training in any sport, if you desire to see the best results and intend to do you very best. Just like training for different sports will require different alterations to your strength training routine, your body will require different types of nutrients to help you train harder and perform better in your chosen sport field.

I interested in giving you the practical knowledge you need to train hard and effectively whether you have a keen interest in a particular sport or just want to find the most effective, time efficient ways to achieve particular fitness goals.