Sharmer,
I appreciate your response. Let me present my views on this issue as I believe they differ from anyone I have seen post on this forum.
I believe that the more specific training is to the sport action we are attempting to enhance, the greater the carryover will be. Let me first define what I mean by specific so that we are all clear.
You can’t really say that one exercise is specific and one is not. There are varying degrees of specificity, and what is specific for one sport is not necessarily so for the other. The most specific exercises are those that most closely match the conditions or demands of competition. Hence, performing your sport is as specific as it gets. The continuum of specificity would look something like this:
general exercises----------specific exercises-----------competition—>
Specificity increases in the direction of the arrow.
Now, how do we determine which exercises are most specific? This is a very complex question, and one that doesn’t have a definite answer. In short, we must look at the sport and fully understand what is occurring with the body. We must understand the biomechanics of the sport action, mental aspects of the sport action, physiology of the body during the sport action, etc., etc. There is nearly an infinite amount of information that can be incorporated into formulating a specific exercise, much of which is not yet known. Obviously, the more quality information we use in formulating a specific exercise, the more specific it will be.
If you look at the process of formulating a specific exercise that I have just explained, it should immediately become apparent that not just anyone can effectively formulate such exercises. One of the reasons the Soviets had so much success with specific exercises is that they had several people of various specializations working together.
As you can see, creating an effective specific exercise is not just as easy as saying, “Well, this athlete has been using traditional (bilateral) back squats, so lets make his training more specific. Let’s use 1-legged squats.” Instead, you must look at all of the factors I have discussed and more. Can you use 1-legged squats without an in-depth analysis of the sport action? Sure, but don’t expect to get the results of a highly specific exercise.
So, you see, your examples of unilateral versus bilateral movements don’t make a difference here. Sure, 1-legged squats where the knee passes far beyond the toes increase shearing forces at the knee joint. So what? This is not a specific exercise in my book.
I hope through my explanations you understand that I am not advocating the type of “sport-specific” training espoused by some coaches and organizations. This is real specific training. Not “hop on your Swiss balls and swing your kettlebells.”
Understand that I am in no way knocking what Charlie does. To do so would be ludicrous. Charlie has a training system that he has used to develop many world-class athletes and I refuse to argue with undisputable results. However, the Soviets used specific exercises and also obtained fantastic results.
It should be noted that I do not advocate the use of solely specific exercises. General exercises can and should be incorporated into the program.
It should also be noted that specific exercises are used to enhance the strength quality being exhibited in the sport. In the case of speed-strength sports, this quality is obviously speed-strength and not maximal strength. The issue of maximal strength in speed-strength sports is a whole other topic though.
With this new understanding of what I mean when I refer to specific exercises, I look forward to any questions and criticisms.
