Specialized strength exercises are physical exercises used to develop the physical or psychological qualities that apply directly to a specific sport discipline. These exercises are designed and selected so that the movement and actions closely match those seen in a specific sport.
Specialized exercises that promote psychological traits consist of movements and actions that require decisiveness, willpower, perseverance and confidence to achieve specific goals. They have similar concentration and psychological qualities as seen during competition.
For example, execution of certain specialized exercises requires concentration to develop the neuromuscular pathway needed. A strength exercise which duplicates a particular portion of a skill requires ultimate concentration and perseverance to repeat exactly the same movement time after time to develop the necessary muscle feel. For the specialized exercises to have maximum positive transfer an athlete must be decisive in their movements and actions in order to develop the confidence to repeat the action during competition.
Criteria
For an exercise to be specific it must fulfill one or more of the following criteria:
- The exercise must duplicate the exact movement witnessed in certain actions of the sports skill. For example, an exercise to duplicate the exact ankle, knee, hip or shoulder joint action.
- The exercise must involve the same type of muscular contraction as used in the skill execution. For example, in the push-off in sprinting, the muscles undergo an explosive shortening contraction (after being pre-tensed) to produce maximum force and resultant running speed. After the initial contraction the limb continues on its own momentum until the antagonist muscles undergo a strong lengthening (eccentric) contraction to slow down and stop the limb before an injury can occur. The special exercise can also duplicate the speed of movement.
- The special exercise must have the same range of motion as in the skill action. For example, in running, doing an exercise with the arm raised above the head and then pulling it downward may use the same muscles but does not duplicate the same range of muscular arm action. More specific is to move the arm backward and upward so that it duplicates the exact range of motion which occurs in the running stride.
The key to improving your performance is to do general exercises to develop a base and to then do special exercises that duplicate the movements and actions seen in the actual skills execution. In this way the development of the physical abilities that are specific to a sport will have the greatest impact on maintaining or improving an athlete's ability to perform better.