Sports require ballistic movements. Think about it for a minute? What are athletes doing? Athletes are always going all out and using all of their muscle groups together and never in isolation. This is because in any sporting event; players are diving, moving their arms/legs in many positions and putting their bodies out there on the line.

There are two basic ways to train. One is training with compound movements and the other is training with isolation exercises. An isolation exercise is working a muscle group by itself such as when using a machine. A compound movement is bench pressing, deadlifting and training with free weights where several muscles are involved and working together. If you want to be a great athlete you will need to start performing compound movements and working more than one joint at a time when training.

I strongly suggest that athlete should perform hybrid lifts today. Hybrid lifts are compound lifts, where the athlete will do two different exercises All-in one. An example of a hybrid lift would be doing a power clean and then a shrug, or a dumbbell curl followed by an overhead press. Athletes will also need to do compound exercises, such as deep front squats, power cleans, push presses, dumbbell overhead presses off a Swiss ball and any exercise that works the muscles simultaneously and trains the athletes core.

The next thing that the athlete needs to train is their abs, as the abs support the core of the total body. Not only do the abs support the core, but when the athlete trains their abs, they will be able to run faster! Having strong abs will also help the athlete stabilize their upper body and their abs will virtually help them with every movement that they do. Strong abdominal muscles will also help increase lower back strength and promote a healthy posture.

In order for the athlete to train their abs, they should get on an incline ab bench and perform 3 sets of 15. The athlete's right elbow should touch their left knee and then they should alternate and have their left elbow touch their right knee. The athlete should also take a 5-10 pound medicine ball and do sit-up or straight crunches on a decline bench or on an ab machine for reps of 20-30. Hanging leg raises and knees to your chest are also essential for athletes in order to develop stronger abdominal muscles.

To perform knee raises get on a dip machine, raise your knees up and down for a series of repetitions. Then the athlete should lay on their backs, get a spotter to put his/her feet behind the athletes head, as the partner will throw the athletes legs up in the air and as the athlete raises their legs, and then the athletes partner will throw the athlete's legs back down again. The athlete should perform this exercise for a minute length of time before stopping while always training with intensity.

After performing this exercise, the athlete can perform exercises such as standing crunches with a cable strap wrapped behind their neck. To perform the exercise, do a crunch, standing with a strap around your head on a cable machine. This type of training is far more effective than a traditional crunch because we use our abs when we are standing more so than when we are laying down. If the player sees a specialized strength specialist, then they are going to be put on machines that will work their abs and lower back all together. For example the reverse hyper rehab machine will build fluid into the players back to keep their backs healthy and strong.

Other exercises that will help improve the athlete's core are one-legged squats with dumbbells. If the athlete wants to make this exercise more challenging, then have a partner throw a medicine ball to the athlete as the athlete can perform this exercise on a balance ball. All of these types of exercises would be a great way for the athlete to improve their abs, balance and core strength. Remember, that if you want to be a great athlete the abs and core are the base. After the athlete develops a strong ab and core base the rest of their athletic game and physical abilities will improve rapidly.

So, put down the bodybuilding exercises and remember that the core lifts are the movements that are the invaluable sources for athletic success. In a game a player will never use their bicep by itself, in a game a player will never be doing anything in slow motion. As a result the athlete needs to incorporate explosive techniques like (bands, chains, weight releasers) core movements, squatting singles with 500lbs for 10 sets of 1 with only a minute rest between sets, different shocking methods, one legged movements and exercises that involve medicine balls and quick movements.

Ben can be contacted at ben at criticalbench.com. He is also co-author of the ebook "50 Keys To A Bigger Bench Press", which can be downloaded as a pdf file free of charge using this link. http://www.criticalbench.com/samples/50-keys-Ben.pdf

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