At the end of eight weeks, both groups were assessed on a variety of tests of strength and power.

After eight weeks of the specialised sessions the athletes' strength and power improved by 21 per cent!
Why common exercises don't work

Now here's the big one: cyclists and sprinters taking typical squat exercises to increase knee-extension power showed no improvement at all, even though they worked on the key muscles involved in knee extension – the quadriceps muscles.

Why wasn't there an increase in knee-extension power? Even though exercises focused on the quads, the muscles are used in a totally different way.

Warning: Doing too much hard training can devastate your muscles, harass your hormonal system, and implode your immune system.

Ultimately, nervous-system recruitment of the various motor units within the quadriceps muscles is totally different in the two activities, so we shouldn't expect squat training to benefit knee-extension power.

The study showed that knee-extension exercises don't improve running ability. Yet knee extensions are among the most popular exercises carried out by the running community!
The upper body

The story for the upper body is pretty much the same. Athletes didn't improve at all on the maximal press-up test, even though press-ups involve the same shoulder and arm muscles utilised during bench pressing. The difference, of course, as the squatting case revealed, is not in using the muscles, but how you use them.

Training a particular muscle to be more powerful won't make that muscle more powerful in competition, unless the precise movement patterns used in training are very close to those used in competition.
How to enhance power, speed and stamina

So what's the bottom line? If you're a runner, for example, the strength exercises that most runners utilise are not specific to the body postures or neuromuscular patterns employed during running and therefore won't help your running very much. If you really want to improve your running, you should focus on resistance exercises that are more specific to the act of running.

Whatever your sport or event, you'll find our training program will progressively enhance your power, speed and stamina.

You'll quickly move far ahead of the people doing the usual non-specific exercises such as leg extensions and bench presses in the gym. And you'll be on your way to some truly amazing results! For your free report on selective training, click here.

Why these exercises fail
By now, you know the reason for the failure of these exercises: they are specific only in the muscles used, not in the way they are used.
Dynamic Mobility exercises to boost competitive performance

What you do just before your workout begins has a big impact on what you are able to do during your workout. Many athletes prepare for a training session by carrying out routine stretching exercises, but it's important to remember that stretching helps to improve your static (non-moving) flexibility and may not do such a good job at preparing your body to move quickly and efficiently.

That's why I recommend that you focus on ‘Dynamic Mobility' exercises before every workout.
Dynamic Mobility exercises

Dynamic Mobility training is for injury prevention and performance improvement. Mobility exercises during your pre-workout warm-up period prepare your body for the vigorous movements that make up the main part of your workout. Most sports involve forceful, strenuous activity, and mobility exercises and drills stimulate your nervous system, muscles, tendons and joints in a very dynamic manner.
Exploding the myth of 'hard training'

Carrying out great training is not just a matter of conducting tough, high-quality workouts. If reaching one's potential depended solely on training very hard, all resolute athletes would be in top form. But just a small percentage of them actually reach their pinnacle of fitness.

The reason is not that athletes are lazy; most work very hard. The real problem is that high-quality work is a double-edged sword: it can lead you to your highest-possible level of performance, or it can destroy your ability to perform as well as you can.

Doing too much hard training can devastate your muscles, harass your hormonal system and implode your immune system. Strenuous training must be balanced optimally with rest and recovery in order to reach the mountain-top.

Unfortunately, identifying the right balance of hard work and recovery is the most difficult part of serious training. If your training program has too much recovery, you won't be able to carry out enough quality work to reach your peak. If your schedule has too little recovery, muscles won't be able to repair themselves properly after workouts. Performances actually worsen instead of getting better.

The leading training newsletter Peak Performance reports that recovery should be so well understood and actively enhanced that it becomes a determinant component in training.

Peak Performance explains that recovery must do more than simply rest the muscles; it must actually move fitness upward.

For that to be true, you must completely understand recovery. You must know exactly what recovery is and precisely how long it takes.

You must learn techniques for increasing your speed of recovery, so that the amount of quality work you do can be progressively expanded.

Click here for information on recovery techniques
What about the usual stretching exercises?

Static stretching exercises, in which you're not moving around at all but are simply elongating a particular muscle or group of muscles, do have a place in your training program, but their value and proper usage are often misunderstood.

It's probably best to place your static stretches at the end of your workout as part of the cool-down, not at the beginning of a training session. Static exercises help bring your body back toward a state of rest and recovery and allow you to relax and lengthen the muscles that you have put under stress during your workout.

Placing static stretches at the beginning of a training session, on the other hand, tends to interrupt the natural flow of an optimal warm-up and fails to prepare you fully for the dynamic movements that follow.
Improve your workouts – and your competitive efforts

Dynamic Mobility exercises warm you up, stretch you out and keep you moving as you make the transition from resting to highenergy activity. You'll feel a sense of warmth and relaxation in your muscles – and perspire lightly by the end of your five- to seven-minute warm-up period.

Dynamic Mobility exercises work on joints from your neck to your toes - and if you're wondering why you should attempt to expand the mobility of your neck and shoulders when the 'prime movers' during your workout are probably your legs, wonder no more.

Your whole body functions as a unit - a 'chain' of interrelated parts. For example, if your shoulders are stiff, you won't have a quick, fluid arm swing when you are running. If you don't have proper arm swing, your legs will slow down and so will your performance.

Mobility training should be carried out before every workout. It has a cumulative effect over an extended period of time. After about four weeks or so, you should notice appreciable gains in your mobility, flexibility and ability to move smoothly during your training sessions. Best of all, you'll also notice an appreciable improvement in your workouts – and your competitive efforts!

A full program of Dynamic Mobility exercises are contained in our free report - click here
The best strength training exercises for you

A key problem for all athletes and sportspeople is that there are an infinite number of strength exercises and almost as many workout programs. How do you select the exercises and program that are perfect for you? How do you coordinate your strength program with your training routine?
Pinpointing your weak links

The truth is that there is not a single set of strength exercises that is best for your particular activity. Instead, there are a few best strength-training exercises for YOU.

That's because you have unique strengths and weaknesses. For each of your weaknesses, there is a handful of strengthtraining exercises that will make you stronger. Your job is to identify your weaknesses and strengthen them.
But how do you pinpoint your weak links?

Certainly, if you're recurrently injured in one part of your body, that area is unnecessarily weak and needs to be bolstered. Or, if you find that you're always breaking down with a variety of different injuries, then you may need to develop basic overall strength (and/or flexibility).

On the other hand, if you're seldom injured and have good endurance but need to improve performance, your need is for a resistance program which will ‘teach' those strong muscles of yours to function more quickly. For example, your program needs to emphasise power training. Sometimes, working with a knowledgeable coach or trainer will help you identify things you should stress during strength training.

If you are a runner, for example, you need to know that there are really just four basic types of strength training, each of which can assist you in accomplishing a specific goal. These are explained in full in the exclusive training newsletter Peak Performance, available only on private subscription. To summarise, the four strength training routines are:

1. General Strength and Conditioning Exercises: these include many of the conventional weight-training exercises. Also included in this category are some of the less conventional exercises and various activities for the ‘core' muscles: abdominals and low back. These conventional exercises provide ‘generalised' strength – strength throughout your body to protect your muscles and connective tissues from repetitive stresses and impacts etc.
2. Specific Strength Training: this category includes exercises that more closely imitate the biomechanics and motor patterns required for your activity. This specific type of strength training is becoming increasingly popular in the sports-training community because it provides ‘specific strength' – more strength to carry out the actual movements needed in a particular sport.
3. Reactive or Speed-Strength Training: this type of training teaches your muscles to generate more force and generate the force more quickly. The goal, of course, is to develop more power. Reactive training fosters a high degree of strength in the muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones, since the impact forces are usually higher than they are during regular workouts. Reactive training also stretches muscles, tendons and ligaments vigorously, promoting greater elasticity and efficiency of movement.
4. Preventive Gymnastics Exercises: strengthening, rehabilitative, or restorative exercise or therapy. The function of preventive gymnastics is to strengthen particular parts of the body in order to minimise the risk of injury.