When it comes to athletic development, we know it takes much more than 5 simple exercises. However, there are some exercises that are better than others. We asked our mentor, Laurence Bloom to share with us the top five exercises he would recommend for athletic development, particularly associated with football. Keep reading to check them out.
Laurence is the expert on this specific question as he specialises in the physical and athletic development of elite football players. He’s currently Head of Sports Science at Charlton Athletic Football Club. His role is to deliver general (gym) and sports-specific (field) Strength and Conditioning programmes to optimise the player’s physical performance levels.
If you’re interested in football, work with football players, or want to enhance your athletic development, keep reading to learn more…
Top 5 Exercises for Athletic Development
It’s difficult to choose just 5 exercises as there are many good exercises that can be used within the players’ gym programmes. The gym programmes are designed to develop strength, power and speed. When selecting these exercises my thought process was to choose exercises that give the most bang for your buck. In other words, tick as many physical competency boxes as possible within each exercise. I was also thinking about working the curve, so that we’re hitting different elements of the force-velocity curve throughout these exercises.
1. Overhead Squat
The overhead squat is a great exercise for assessing and developing whole-body strength and mobility. This exercise challenges the mobility of the ankles, hips, spine and shoulders. These are all important areas for all athletes and should be considered within your strength and conditioning programmes. When an athlete can perform the movement well the load can be increased in order to develop total body strength. For this reason, I think the overhead squat is one of the most powerful exercises for athletic development.
2. Hang Clean
The hang clean is a great exercise for developing power. The hand clean works through the middle portion of the force-velocity curve. One of the best things about the hand clean is you can build either strength-speed or speed-strength dependent upon the load being used. This exercise works on both force production during the 2nd pull and force reduction during the eccentric phase of the catch. These are both essential qualities for athletic development and performance.
3. Box Jump/Depth Jump
The box jump is another great exercise for developing explosive power. There are lots of variations and progressions that can be made to the exercise in order to make it more complex and challenging for your athlete. Once your athlete can perform a good box jump and has good landing control, you can then can progress their training to depth jumps. By having the ability to progress into depth jumps your athlete will be able to develop reactive strength and speed too.
4. Single-Leg Squat
The single-leg squat is a great exercise for developing strength, stability and mobility simultaneously. Most athletic movements are performed whilst on one leg so it’s also important that we train in this manner. Training in this way will also help to build symmetry between the dominant and non-dominant legs. There are lots of great progressions that can be made in order to make it more challenging for your athlete too.
5. Walking Lunge Series
The walking lunge exercise is another great exercise for developing unilateral strength, stability and mobility. It’s a more dynamic exercise than the single-leg squat. Walking lunges involve moving through the sagittal plane. Again there are a number of progressions that can be implemented:-
A) Walking Lunge with overhead reach
B) Walking Lunge with rotation
C) Lateral walking lunge
D) Reverse walking lunges
Try adding these exercises into your programmes and let us know how you get on!
Download our Strength and Conditioning Courses Brochure
