what is your opinion on athletes strength levels

[Eric Larousse]

If you could give me a rough guideline to what kind of numbers competitive non barbell sports athletes are(basketball, baseball, mms, etc.)I would appreciate it. Obviously certain positions would need greater strength but bear with me. The strength standards chart from what I understand a strength sport competitor would need to be even greater than the elite standards to be competitive at least at a high level but I am just curious as to whether or not this means that the non barbell athletes would need to be at the lowest end of the elite standards to be competitive in their chosen sport? Thanks

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I really hate giving this answer all the time, but like a lot of things......it depends.

I think the best answer is that an athlete in any sport should try to become AS STRONG AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE....with a few caveats:

1) the acquisition of the strength cannot be at the detriment of the actual training/performance of the chosen sport. There are exceptions for this of course.
2) the strength gains cannot drive bodyweight past a point where the excess bodyweight is detrimental to the performance of the sport. I guess technically this could fall under number 1.

Now.....looking at the elite levels of sport, we are often looking at a genetic sample that does not reflect the norm, and sometimes this is not the best place to gather data. Herschel Walker can get by on doing sit ups and push ups and still be an NFL running back. But Herschel Walker is probably one of the most gifted athletic specimens in the history of the human race. The rest of us, including most NFL backs, would need to lift weights to be even close to the same level as Herschel Walker.

Not sure if that answered your question.

[Eric Larousse]

Yes that helped out. Of course there are always outliers such as Kevin Durant who from what I understand is very weak. Most of the top level mma fighters from what I have seen really aren't all that strong at least by powerlifting standards. So I guess getting as strong as possible but not to the detriment of sport training is the best answer with of course the exceptions of genetic outliers like KD who would be there regardless of if he strength trained or not.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Well, right now, I think that MMA S&C is all fucked up. I think you have a bunch of strength & conditioning coaches who don't understand what strength is or how it is developed and literally everything is done in the context of a fast paced circuit.

Although, in MMA I would rate physical attributes like this:

1) Technical Skill
a. Wrestling
b. Boxing
c. Muy Thai
d. BJJ
2) Cardio
3) Strength

Number 1 and Number 2 have to be in place or Number 3 is useless. See Tim Sylvia vs Mariusz Pudzianowski for the best ever example of this