Welcome to Strength and Conditioning Insights, a comprehensive resource for coaches, athletes, and sports science students. This category is dedicated to providing in-depth information, research-backed advice, and practical tips on strength and conditioning principles, training methodologies, and exercise techniques. Our goal is to empower you with the knowledge and tools necessary to optimize athletic performance, prevent injuries, and promote long-term health and wellness.
Explore our extensive collection of articles, covering a wide range of topics such as periodization, functional training, mobility and flexibility, sport-specific conditioning, injury prevention, and recovery strategies. Whether you’re a seasoned coach looking for advanced techniques or an aspiring athlete seeking foundational knowledge, our content is designed to cater to all levels of experience and expertise.
Lat pulldowns and pull ups are great options to increase strength or build muscle in the upper back – particularly in the lats, which are important for propulsion in sports such as swimming.
This is a guide to the differences between each exercise, reasons for programming them and how to effectively programme these exercises.
The goblet squat is performed the same as a regular squat, but whilst holding a dumbbell in front of you. This is a great exercise for athletes learning to squat, as it is easier and safer to learn when compared to other squat variations.
Front Squats are a compound exercise that is a great way to work your lower limbs, particularly your quads, inner thighs and glutes. Here, we’ll delve more into what muscles front squats work, along with how to adapt the exercise to fit your training needs.
The decline and flat bench press are both classic exercises for building upper body strength and size, but how do they differ? And which one should you be doing? In this decline bench press vs flat bench press article, we’re going to cover exactly that.
The main differences between the trap bar deadlift and squat, is (1) the movement patterns, (2) loading demands and (3) equipment lifted.
The trap bar deadlift, requires you to lift a trap or hex bar from the ground in a hip-hinge movement pattern using muscles mainly from your posterior chain whereas the squat, requires you to lift either a dumbbell, kettlebell or barbell typically infront of your chest or on your back in a squat movement pattern using mainly the quads, glutes and abductor muscles.
The main difference between hack squats and leg press is the set-up. Hack squats have you stood about 30 degrees beyond upright with the load placed across your shoulders, whereas leg presses have you seated, with the load supported by your legs at around a 45 degree angle. This creates some unique differences in training stimulus.
The main difference between chin ups and pull ups is the grip you take. With chin-ups you take an underhand grip (palms facing towards you) whilst with pull ups you take an overhead grip (palms facing away from you)
The leg press allows you to really target your quads whilst reducing axial loading and improving stability. It might not have the best direct transfer to sports performance, but it’s a great exercise for hypertrophy.
Reactive strength index is a growing topic in sports science research, and has been shown to relate to various important aspects of sports performance. In this article we’re going to answer questions such as:
The two main differences between the push up and pull up are (1) the type of movement pattern and (2) the muscles you work.
The push up is a horizontal pressing movement, which targets the chest, shoulders and tricep muscles. The pull up, is a vertical pulling movement, which targets the lats, upper back and bicep muscles.
The main difference between sit-ups and crunches is how much you actually “sit up.”
In a sit-up, you lift your shoulders and lower back off the floor until you’re in an upright sitting posture, whereas in the crunch, you only lift your shoulders off the floor, whilst making sure your lower and mid-back doesn’t come off the floor.
Planks require you to hold your body in one position (i.e. a position similar to the start of a push-up), which works your entire core equally, whereas the sit-up is a dynamic exercise where you repetitively move between lying down and sitting up, whilst on the floor, which mainly works one part of your core, the rectus abdominal muscles.
The main difference between the sumo squat and the regular squat is the setup position of the feet.
In the sumo squat, the feet are set wider than shoulder-width and your feet are turned out at 45 degrees when compared to the regular squat, where your feet are set exactly shoulder-width apart and your feet are either pointing forwards or slightly turned out.
The two main differences between the smith machine squat and the barbell squat are (1) the equipment used for each type of squat and (2) the stabilisation and balance required to perform the squat.
The main difference between the power clean and deadlift is (1) the acceleration of the bar off the floor and (2) how the lifts are performed once the bar has left the floor.
The two main differences between a goblet squat and back squat are i) the location of the weight relative to your center of mass, and ii) the equipment used for each type of exercise. In a goblet squat you use a kettlebell/dumbell and the mass is located in front of your chest.
Squats are staple exercise for lower body strength and power, and the box squat is a common variation of the regular squat. This guide will look at ranges of motion, muscles worked, benefits, drawbacks and recommended uses for each.
A box squat is defined as any squatting exercise or variation in which the lifter sits their bottom onto a box before driving back up to a standing position.
Speed training is training that improves how fast you get from point A to point B.
Within most sports and athletic pursuits, speed tends to refer to top end speed, i.e. how fast you can sprint.
The force velocity curve is simply a way to visualise the inverse relationship between force and velocity. This relationship states that if someone generates maximal force in an exercise, then they will generate very little velocity, and similarly if someone generates maximal velocity in an exercise, then they will generate very little force.
The jerk is an incredible movement for full-body power development, overhead strength and stability, and you’d think since it involves throwing a huge amount of weight above your head, that people would pay WAY more attention to it. Strangely though, the jerk is often looked at more as an afterthought for weightlifters and athletes, resulting in missed lifts and a tonne of benefits being left on the table.
