For every high school athlete, there are multiple forms of exercise that can be incorporated in order to increase athletic performance. Each training program has different effects on the young individuals, but it is not certain which training method is optimal to maximize performance. A few training programs incorporated into an athlete’s workout would be plyometric training, agility training, and strength training.
Strength training is defined as physical conditioning to increase the amount of resistance an individual is able to produce [2 Faigenbaum].Olympic lifts are a type of power and strength training that correlate with different actions performed in certain sports. They provide acceleration through the entire functional movement which can improve strength, speed, and power [1 Channell]. The purpose of this review article is to determine whether strength training can actually impact a high school athlete’s performance.
Through strength training and Olympic lifts, athlete’s physical performance can possibly increase. Methods The articles were searched using Google Scholars.The keywords used to find the articles were “Olympic lifts in high school athlete performance. ” The articles were then found by clicking the “find through UIC” database option.
The first article was, “Strength Training for Children and Adolescents. ” After being selected through the UIC database, the full text article option was selected in order to retrieve the journal article. The other article searched was titled, “Effect of Olympic and Traditional Resistance Training on Vertical Jump Improvement in High School Boys. Again, after being selected through the UIC database, the link to the full text journal article option was selected to retrieve the full article.
The exclusion criteria were articles that could not be found through the UIC database.The articles were then analyzed by searching for information about the effects of strength training on athletes and preadolescents. Results The results discovered from the articles were that children and adolescents gained a 74% in strength and decreased body fat in only 8 weeks through resistance and strength training [2 Faigenbaum]. The areas gained in trength were multi-joint exercises like the bench press and the leg press.Although there were gains in strength, the results did not show an increase in training-induced muscle hypertrophy in the young athletes because they lack the correct amount of circulating androgens. Also, it was discovered that because of the difficulty of activating their muscles, the subjects would have more potential to gain improvements in neural drive [2 Faigenbaum].
Through Olympic style lifting, it was found that the younger athletes would have a greater bone mineral density than normal athletes their age [2 Faigenbaum].Along with the increase in strength, increases in athletic performance in vertical jump, long jump, sprint speed, and agility. The Channell et al discovered that through Olympic lifts and power lifting, vertical jump improved through adaptations and gains through neural factors such as enhanced anaerobic stores [1]. Not only were there improvements in motor unit recruitment, there were also increased inhibition of the protective antagonist muscles [1 Channell]. Conclusion Both articles give proof that strength training and Olympic lift training will help improve certain aspects in physical performance in athletes.
The increases in vertical jump, speed, strength, and agility can all improve an athlete’s performance in their sport. With the fact that Olympic lifting can increase bone mineral density, it can also be concluded that because of this effect, the prevention of injury is increased [2 Faigenbaum]. Because of the stimulus that Olympic lifts provide, they should be incorporated into an athlete’s regimen which requires great amounts of quick and powerful movements [1 Channell].The articles similarly provided information that Olympic style lifting was not very common for a high school athlete’s workout regimen. Most of the studies conducted on Olympic lifts are for college and professional athletes to help train for explosiveness and power [1 Channell]. This gives opportunity to acquire more research of Olympic style lifting in high school athletes to get more results on the subject.
Though some information is provided on Olympic lifts in high school athletes, more information would give a better understanding of the topic.
