Strength and Conditioning for Enhanced Athleticism and Longevity
- Ravi Deol
- Jun 10
- 6 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Strength and conditioning is not just for athletes but part of a heathy lifestyle for everyone. It is to improve sports performance for athletes but has a lot of good attributes for normal everyday gym goers as well. The reason for this is that it improves mobility by including corrective exercises part of warm up and following a compound movement utilizing the opposing muscles the antagonist muscles, Also the training programs are structured to work on posture, so the question why is it just for athletes? My answer is that it is not as everyday gym goer needs mobility as well especially as we age and if you have children, young nephew and nieces, grandchildren you are going to need good mobility to play with them or even pick them up for long periods.
A well structured strength and conditioning program can help all age groups to become more agile, resilient and capable in their everyday life. The reason why I say it enhances longevity is that we focus on functional movement patterns by utilizing our mobility and increase our range of motion overtime gradually with strength training with functional movement patterns such as working in the frontal plane to the side utilizing a lateral lunge and corrective exercises such as the overhead squat to improve shoulder mobility. Also single leg hip thrust to improve stability of the lower body to help improve mobility for imbalances with followed by single leg exercises(unilateral) such as lunges.
We want to improve our injury prevention by warming properly with a 15-20 min warm up. In my opinion the warmer you get the better depending on your time barrier but 15 mins minimum. Also the stronger we get reduces the likeliness of injury but even if your super strong there is a chance you can get injured. There are various of reasons such as not drinking enough water before and after training or throughout the day leaving you dehydrated, poor nutrition, pre workout and post workout. Not warming up long enough or going straight into a heavy compound movement cold which means muscles are stiff and decreased range of motion resulting in pulling a muscle. This is why we want to raise the body temperature a light jog 3-5 mins then going in to the dynamic movements 12-10 mins minimum to really get the blood flowing, Then include some power exercises such box jumps if you have the mobility if you are an older athlete and lack mobility you can do low level plyometrics such as pogo jumps and squat jumps. Upper body power exercises would be medball throws, tosses overhead, rotational medball throws, rotational slams etc. I will include various power exercises in the programs.
I am going to do 2-3 whole body programs for skilled training athletes younger and older. I will program them differently for different age groups as we are younger we need to develop strength to develop mobility and as we age we lose muscle and strength which mobility declines.
3 Day Program for Athletic Performance
Below I'm writing up exercise's as alternatives if you don't have equipment or don't have the mobility to perform the exercises. I have included lots of different variety's for you to choose from which best suits your needs.
I fully suggest to try to utilize the trap bar or sumo barbell deadlift if you feel confident and have the knowledge to perform the lift. If you don't I would suggest you hire a personal trainer so you can perform the lift with good foam. If you perform with bad foam can result in lower back pain if lifted with wrong foam. You may not feel it straight away but over time can fleer up and cause inflammation and if it keeps flaring up will make it worse. If it does I suggest to see a professional and get advice on how to treat it and not train through the pain. Bands are also good variation for you to get a feel of the exercise and build your strength up and then just lift the bar without weight to get a feel and gradually progressively load the bar with weight 2.5kg on each side.
1A. Choose which meets your mobility or availability
Trap bar deadlift
Sumo barbell deadlift
Kettlebell deadlift
1B. The Iso step down is for more advanced athletes, I would suggest the reverse lunge for children and older athletes.
Iso step downs
Reverse lunges
The reason why I suggest to do a corrective after a compound movement so you will improve your mobility.
Choose which deadlift variation you feel best suits your mobility. Younger and older athletes I would suggest to utilize the kettlebell deadlift until you can feel can put some muscle mass and strength in order to have more power output to perform the more advanced variations. Then move up to the sumo or trap bar which you have access to training at home or in the gym. If you are limited on weight you can attach bands for more resistance to make the exercise more challenging.
Choose which squat variation suits your mobility as we want to get to at least parallel. When you place the weight in front of you it emphasises your quads and the back squat emphasises your glutes.
Total Body 2 Days
DAY 1 | DAY 2 |
WARM UP-RAISE BODY TEMPERATURE FOR 5-10 MINS ON BIKE OR TREADMILL | WARM UP-RAISE BODY TEMPERATURE FOR 5-10 MINS ON BIKE OR TREADMILL |
POWER EXERCISES BELOW | |
STRENGTH | STRENGTH |
TRAP BAR OR SUMO DEADLIFT FOR MOBILITY FOR MORE POWER-X3 SETS AND REPS GO DOWN EACH WEEK AS INTENSITY INCREASES REQUIRED AMOUNT DEPENDING ON LOAD USED | SQUAT-GOBLET OR BACK SQUAT DEPENDING ON MOBILITY-X3 SETS AND REPS GO DOWN EACH WEEK AS INTENSITY INCREASES REQUIRED AMOUNT DEPENDING ON LOAD USED |
CORRECTIVE EXERCISE-HELP WITH POSTURE | CORRECTIVE EXERCISE-HELP WITH POSTURE |
ISO STEPDOWN OR REVERESE LUNGE | ISO STEPDOWN OR REVERSE LUNGE |
ACCESSORY | ACCESSORY |
BENCH OR DUMBELL CHEST PRESS | UNILATERAL SHOULDER PRESS-(SINGLE ARM PRESS) SEATED OR STANDING |
UNILATERAL LUNGES(SINGLE LEG)/STATIONARY/DYNAMIC | UNILATERAL(SINGLE LEG)LUNGES/STATIONARY/DYNAMIC |
PULL UPS X3 SETS AMAP(AS MANY AS POSSIBLE) | BICEP AND TRICEPS |
PLANK/SIDE PLANK X3 SETS 30SEC/1MIN | PLANK/SIDE PLANK X3 SETS 30SEC/1MIN |
COOL DOWN-5-10 MIN TO BRING THE HEART RATE DOWN AND CAN PERFORM SOME STATIC STRETCHS TO RELAX THE MUSCLES BOTH UPPER AND LOWER. SUCH AS THE PRAYER STRETCH AND THE LYING GLUTE STRETCH FOR 30 SEC TO 1 MIN | COOL DOWN-5-10 MIN TO BRING THE HEART RATE DOWN AND CAN PERFORM SOME STATIC STRETCHS TO RELAX THE MUSCLES BOTH UPPER AND LOWER. SUCH AS THE PRAYER STRETCH AND THE LYING GLUTE STRETCH FOR 30 SEC TO 1 MIN |
Total Body 3 Days
WARM UP-RAISE BODY TEMPERATURE FOR 5-10 MINS ON BIKE OR TREADMILL | WARM UP-RAISE BODY TEMPERATURE FOR 5-10 MINS ON BIKE OR TREADMILL | WARM UP-RAISE BODY TEMPERATURE FOR 5-10 MINS ON BIKE OR TREADMILL |
STRENGTH | STRENGTH | STRENGTH |
1A. TRAP BAR DEADLIFT OR SUMO DEADLIFT FOR BETTER MOBILITY AND POWER-1A AND 1B IS A SUPERSET 1A AND THEN 1B STRAIGHT AFTER | 1A. FLAT BENCH CHEST PRESS | 1A. SQUAT VARIATION-BACK SQUAT OR GOBLET-WEIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU-1A AND 1B IS A SUPERSET 1A AND THEN 1B STRAIGHT AFTER |
CORRECTIVE EXERCISE | CORRECTIVE EXERCISE | CORRECTIVE EXERCISE |
1B. ISO STEP DOWN OR BODYWEIGHT REVERSE LUNGE | 1B. BANDED PULL APART | 1B. FORWARD BODYWEIGHT LUNGES |
ACCESSORY | ACCESSORY | ACCESSORY |
1.DUMBELL CHEST PRESS | 1.SPLIT SQUAT | 1.OVERHEAD PRESS OR UNILATERAL(SINGLE ARM)LANDMINE PRESS |
2.PULL UP OR ASSISTED PULL UP | 2.BARBELL GOODMORNING OR BARBELL RDL | 2.SINGEARM/UNLATERAL ROWS |
3.BODYWEIGHT LATERAL LUNGE OR WEIGHTED | 3.LATERAL REAR DELT SHOULDER COMPLEX | 3.BUDDY/HAMSTRING CURLS ON RESISTANCE MACHINE |
4.BICEP HAMMER CURLS | 4.HEEL WALKS 3 X 10YDS | 4.TRICEP EXTENSTION |
COOL DOWN-5-10 MIN TO BRING THE HEART RATE DOWN AND CAN PERFORM SOME STATIC STRETCHS TO RELAX THE MUSCLES BOTH UPPER AND LOWER. SUCH AS THE PRAYER STRETCH AND THE LYING GLUTE STRETCH FOR 30 SEC TO 1 MIN | COOL DOWN-5-10 MIN TO BRING THE HEART RATE DOWN AND CAN PERFORM SOME STATIC STRETCHS TO RELAX THE MUSCLES BOTH UPPER AND LOWER. SUCH AS THE PRAYER STRETCH AND THE LYING GLUTE STRETCH FOR 30 SEC TO 1 MIN | COOL DOWN-5-10 MIN TO BRING THE HEART RATE DOWN AND CAN PERFORM SOME STATIC STRETCHS TO RELAX THE MUSCLES BOTH UPPER AND LOWER. SUCH AS THE PRAYER STRETCH AND THE LYING GLUTE STRETCH FOR 30 SEC TO 1 MIN |
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