Bodybuilding for Sports

Notice when you take a look at athletes of a particular sport many will have a similar build. This is because it is likely the ideal build for the sport. To a degree we should keep this in mind when working on becoming better at a particular sport. We do this mostly through nutrition, but there are other bodybuilding principles that can be applied for sport performance. First is the obvious of building more muscle to have more potential strength. Having more strength is never a bad thing unless we are spending too much of our training time towards strength and not enough towards aspects that will have greater carry over to the sport. After that general base is built up, bodybuilding in the way of targeting specific muscles can be helpful for preventing injuries. Building more muscle will make that area of the body more stable and more durable to handle the rigors of sport. Choosing the body parts to target will depend on the sport. Swimmers and baseball players will have a much greater focus on building the shoulders and rotator cuff than a soccer player. With an average of 7 miles run per game a soccer player will need durable hamstrings and calves. For football and hockey athletes that are going to be taking hits it is a good idea to build muscle to protect every joint. Although bodybuilding is traditionally focused on aesthetics, it has a place within a program designed for sport performance.