The Best Strength Tools for College Athletes
Lots of things change at college. Tighter deadlines, more social life and a lack of sleep can all feature in a typical college student's daily life. However, the most notable change is that students begin to specialize in whatever field they plan on building a career.
If you are a college athlete, it's no different. A lot is changing - it's like you are crossing the bridge between high school, where many of your workouts are about growing, finding your specialism, and reaching a more competitive level.
During college, you will need to up your game quickly as you niche into a specific sport, and that often includes learning how to implement a more robust workout regime that gives all of the muscles in your body a good workout.
While you may only specialize in one particular sport at this level, it is still crucial to condition your entire body. For example, you might find that there is a lot more emphasis on leg strengthening workouts, but it is vital that players have an overall strong physique when training for college football. Coaching changes can make it hard to know what is expected, but if you know how to make sure you are getting a proper strengthening workout in each week, you will still be set for success while reducing the risk of injury.
For college athletes, it is imperative to:
- Remember that you are an athlete, not a powerlifter; you certainly need strong muscles, but you also need a degree of flexibility that won't be achieved through multiple reps of extremely heavyweights.
- Train all of your muscles to avoid imbalance in one group; even if you are using your legs way more than your arms, you will still need to have sturdiness in your arms.
- Make sure that each muscle is protected against injury; depending on the sport you play, you might want to work on some muscles more to prioritize protecting them.
If you have not weight-trained as strategically as this before, it's certainly possible that you'll find weaknesses in muscle groups that are not frequently used in your sport. Each athlete will be different, but there are plenty of tools and exercises that can help you strengthen any muscle group in your body.
Let's take a look at a few tools you can add to your workout regime and ensure that you are getting well rounded strengthening workouts!
Barbells
The Olympic lifts are named so for a reason; performed by Olympic athletes across the globe, they are one of the best ways to work on strength, particularly in the shoulder and upper back areas. But athletes certainly don't have to be at Olympic training level to do them - the beauty of the Olympic lifts is that they can be easily tailored to an individual athlete's strengths in regards to how much weight they have and the way that the lift is performed.
Some athletes may do the 'clean-and-jerk' move by picking up the bar from the floor before pushing it over their head, while others might start with a 'hang clean' - holding the bar at their hips. The weight of barbells can easily be changed by adding and removing disks, and as well as back training, they can be used for shoulders, biceps, triceps, and legs.
Players of any sport can benefit from using a barbell to increase the workout load on these parts of the body, but Olympic lifts are especially beneficial for players that do a significant amount of catching or hitting, like baseball, football, or tennis. Having strong chest muscles will make that goal of "throwing the fastest baseball pitch" much more attainable!
Pull Up Band
As we mentioned, for athletes, it's best to train a lot of muscles with repetitive but less intense exercises. This means that some of the best strength tools for college athletes aren't even weights! A pull up band is an excellent piece of workout equipment that uses resistance and body weight to focus on building up muscle.
Pull up bands are famous for assisted pull-ups - which can help athletes who want to be able to do more lower intensity pull-ups than just a few high-intensity ones. However, they can also be used for a multitude of other exercises, including chest presses and bicep curls. They are a great multipurpose tool for conditioning the entire body, which means that they are highly beneficial to athletes across the spectrum.
Using bands also has the added benefit of lowering the likely hood of injury during workout! Since bands help you leverage your body weight, the risk of injury from over-doing or over-lifting is much lower than with traditional pieces of gym equipment.
Bench Press
Don't go too heavy on the bench press; they are a great addition to workouts, but too much weight can cause injuries for people who don't specialize in bodybuilding!
However, a lighter weight is excellent for chest strength, which is really important for student-athletes, especially in a contact sport like football. Building up muscles in this region helps to strengthen the area and protect you against any injuries that could result from collisions during a game.
Dumbells
Dumbells are possibly the most versatile piece of work out equipment. They can be used for a range of different workouts for different muscle groups, and come in many different weights, so they are perfect for every type of athlete.
Dumbells are often used for building arm and chest muscles. However, they are also really beneficial as an extra weight when working out legs. College athletes may find dumbells to be particularly helpful for single-leg exercises, like lunges. Lunges are a great way to isolate and build strength in smaller leg muscles, so they are ideal for football players who want to strengthen their legs and improve kicker rankings!
Adding dumbells to lunge exercises gives a bit more vigor to the workout, but doesn't overload the athlete. Remember, college students should be focusing on agility while building muscle, so it is much more advantageous to work on the lunge technique with less weight.
Strengthening tools conclusion
Being a college athlete requires some specific knowledge, but with this and the right equipment, you can cross that bridge and become the professional you are dreaming of becoming!
Remember to focus on conditioning and agility rather than building bulk. You want to have a good workout regime that leaves you feeling like you gave your whole body a chance to grow, but you don't want to sacrifice any mobility while doing so!
Get to the gym and start trying out this advice! You will be meeting your goals and impressing your coaches in no time!
