In recent years the concept of the horizontal application of force has become important in the strength and conditioning world. I actually devoted a significant part of my last book to it. With this, like the name implies, we’re talking about the ability to exert force in a horizontal direction. This is important because many athletic skills involve this. For example, sprinting, stopping, changing directions, throwing, hitting, kicking, batting, the list goes on.
Strength and power are both really important for this ability. But, strength and power aren’t enough to develop this ability. Being stronger and more explosive gives you a higher potential, but it’s up to you to train how to apply that potential.
For example, a bigger squat means you are stronger, which potentially means you can run faster, throw harder, etc. But, you have to learn how to apply that strength to those skills. I don’t care how strong my baseball catchers are, if they don’t practice the techniques to throwing to second base they won’t be as effective as someone who does.
Now, to use the older language of periodization, strength and power are general preparation exercises. These types of exercises develop the physical qualities that are required to be successful. So squats, deadlifts, hip hinges, and the Olympic lifts are going to be important foundational exercises. But, keep in mind that most weight room exercises are vertical in nature.
Horizontal jumps, bounds, resisted sprints, and medicine ball throws are your special preparation exercises. These take strength and power and apply them horizontally. Long jumps, triple jumps, jumps over hurdles/cones/boxes, medicine ball throws, all kinds of bounds and resisted sprints, agility drills – all help develop and teach application.
Finally, sport skills are your specific exercises. For example, our baseball catcher may squat, deadlift, hip hinge, clean, and snatch in the weight room. He may work on sprinting, bounding, long jumps, hurdle hops, and medicine ball throws to teach application. But he still needs to work on his footwork, transferring the ball, and applying all this physical development to his throws to the bases.
