Recently there has been an increase in athletes crossing over from strength sport to strength sport and even to the stage. This is a trend that will tremendously help the strength community but the individual athlete as well. The increased communication between sports will allow more knowledge to be shared amongst large groups of people.
The individuals who are crossing over from sport to sport however are left with the most to gain. Specificity is incredibly important to maximizing sports performance, but can taking aspects of other sports further your performance? The answer is absolutely.
The goal of this news post is not to convince you to compete in every sport possible, the goal is to give you motivation to step out of your comfort zone and reap the benefits of doing so.
This past weekend Amit Sapir broke the world record squat for the 198 class with an astounding 766.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVo9xp-j9kQ]
Amit has participated in olympic lifting, has reached pro status in bodybuilding and just established himself in the history books of powerlifting.
"When I started 700 was heavy, now I can hit 700 for 5 "
I spoke to Amit about what attributes from bodybuilding have allowed him to find success in powerlifting. The massive musculature he developed bodybuilding gave him a great foundation of fibers just waiting to be recruited for maximal strength. His work capacity also allowed him to handle more volume without overly taxing his body, after competition and paused squats he would often complete five other movements. Neural efficiency is what Amit claims made the biggest difference. He was able to culminate all of the attributes he built previously into a refined and very powerful squat.
Amit exemplifies that different attributes from different sports have very successful transfer when approached properly.
This forces you to look through a broader training lens. Eight to ten weeks is more than enough time to specifically prepare to hit a PR total on the platform or hitting a huge log. The rest of your macro cycle should be focuses on improving individual weakness, expanding the work capacity and improving quality of movement.
If you are a strongman competitor who has not been seeing appropriate improvement or training has become stale, here is a 9 week program to transition you from tacky to the platform. Drop Mike Mastell a line after finishing it thanking him your all of your imminent success.
The new P2 belt is just what you need to help facilitate some PR's or browse through the powerlifting section of the store for all of your strength endeavors!