FAQs

Strength and conditioning (S&C) is the process of athletic development that is specific to a sport. It involves the application of evidence-based training and recovery to improve movement, resilience and performance.

Strength 

Simply, strength is our ability to produce or apply force. This can be thought of as the highest amount of force that you can apply in any given situation while training or doing your sport. 

We measure strength as the ability to produce or apply maximal force.

Strength is typically trained by performing high-load resistance exercises, such as lifting weights.

Conditioning

Unlike “strength”, “conditioning” doesn’t really have a scientific definition. It refers to a collection of activities and exercises that “condition” or prepare the body for the demands of training and sport.

Conditioning programmes might aim to improve: 

• Posture 

• The stability of your torso while your limbs generate force

• Range-of-motion at relevant joints 

• The ability of muscles, tendons and ligaments to tolerate repeated loading during training and sport

• Movement patterns associated with your sport 

• Energy system development and the ability endure high intensity exercise

Good strength and conditioning that is specific to you and your particular sport will drive a number of fundamental outcomes that will lead to performance gains: 

• Improved ability to generate maximal force specific to your sport

• Improved efficiency and economy of your sub-maximal movements in your sport – stronger muscles will allow you to run, move, ride or climb, for example, at a smaller percentage of your maximum, with less perceived effort at any given force

• Improved ability to generate force quickly – power and speed

• Improved agility

• Improvements in your capacity for training, allowing you to train more often and at a higher level

• Improvements in the effectiveness of your energy systems, particularly your ability to endure high intensity exercise

• Improved resilience and injury-resistance, which in turn supports the number one factor in athletic development: consistent training

This is a widely held concern that prevents many outdoor athletes from even considering strength training, since many of our sports involve fighting gravity.

Although it is true that lifting weights will, in general, increase muscle mass, the overall picture is much more nuanced than that. With a well designed strength training programme that is specific and appropriate for outdoor athletes, increased bodyweight through strength training is simply is not a concern. Why not?

1. A good programme won’t just build muscle for the fun of it – it will help you develop the attributes needed so that your strength:weight or power:weight ratio goes up. So even if you do gain some muscle mass from strength and conditioning, done right, it will be muscle mass in the right place that will improve your performance, despite any small increases in body weight.

2. Because most of your training for your sport should be actually doing your sport, the amount of time you should spend in the gym for most of the year simply isn’t enough to produce such large amounts of muscle growth that it becomes detrimental to your sporting performance.

3. Classical strength training (high load, low rep lifting) that will at some stage form part of your S&C programme, doesn’t induce large amounts of muscle growth in comparison to the body-building type exercises that many people think of when they imagine gym training. The physiological reasons are a little complex, but principally it’s because adaptations to this kind of lifting are not predominantly driven by muscle growth (hypertrophy). Rather, strength adaptations to high load, low rep lifting are driven by changes in neuromuscular systems (how your nerves and muscles communicate and coordinate), musculo-tendon stiffness (how much elastic energy is stored in your muscles) and energy systems (how your body produces energy).

The scientific and real-world evidence is clear: strength training with the correct, scientifically-based protocols does not add significant amounts of muscle mass that are detrimental to power-to-weight ratio.

Strength and power gains suitable for most outdoor athletes can be made with just 1–3 short gym based sessions each week. In fact, depending your physiology, during the sporting season we might only strength train for an hour or two every 7–10 days.

At Strata Performance we set goals and objectives that are appropriate to your lifestyle, and we periodise training based on the needs of the individual, for example by doing heavier more frequent lifting at different times of year.

In contrast to endurance, which we lose relatively quickly if we stop or reduce training load, once strength is developed, it decays less quickly and can be maintained at meaningful levels with realtively small amounts of training. This is because the physiological mechanisms that determine strength and endurance are profoundly different.

In general we recommend that people join a local gym, or establish a basic home gym. These days, most commercial and independent gyms tend to have enough of the right equipment for well-rounded strength and conditioning programmes.

Ideally, as a minimum, you need access to:

• A barbell, squat rack, weight plates

• Dumbbells and/or kettlebells

• Resistance bands, a foam roller and an exercise mat

Resistance machines can be useful, but aren’t essential.

Bodyweight exercises and light dumbbells or kettlebells have their place, but we tend to find that eventually, relying solely on these methods can limit progress.

Other pieces of basic equipment such as trap bars and plyometrics boxes can be useful, as can specialist items like hangboards for climbers, for example.