Strength and conditioning

The competitive environment in high performance sport has undertaken such rapid change in recent years that UQ Sport is now made a conscious decision to focus on the injection of resources into strength and conditioning services.

The goal is to focus on the athlete’s ability to develop functional strength that is required for his or her sport. The program incorporates a spectrum of functional strength training skills including:

Functional competence

We identify fundamental movement patterns that can be aggressively loaded and require developmental attention and identified through your specific sport.

Body-weight exercises

Bodyweight exercises are the ideal choice for individuals who are interested in fitness, but do not want to strength training equipment and/or is an alternative solution to strength training equipment. Weights can be incorporated to increase the difficulty of most bodyweight exercises and some exercises do require some sort of apparatus to lean on or hang from, but the majority of bodyweight exercises require only a floor. These are things like abdominal crunches, chin ups, dips, push ups etc.

Core training

The abdominal muscles have very limited and specific action. The "core" actually consists of many different muscles that stabilize the spine and pelvis and run the entire length of the torso. Core conditioning exercise programs need to target all these muscle groups to be effective. The muscles of the core make it possible to stand upright and move on two feet. These muscles help control movements, transfer energy, shift body weight and move in any direction. A strong core distributes the stresses of weight-bearing and protects the back.

Plyometric training

Athletes from a wide range of sports use plyometric training to help them reach peak physical condition. Used correctly, it can be a highly effective form of power training, especially when combined with a suitable strength training program. In particular animated exercises for upper and lower body power organized into low, moderate and high intensity groups. Plyometric training is said to bridge the gap between speed and strength.

Free weight training and machine training

Machine weights (Focus on isolation exercises)

• They are supportive. Most machines provide support, which is great for people who need help when learning new exercises. It can also be good for people rehabbing injuries or those who want to lift heavy weights without a spotter.
• They are easy to use: Because most machines work on a fixed path and have instructions and diagrams posted, it's easier to use good form.
• They save time: It usually doesn't take as much time to change weights on machines as it would for many free weight exercises.
• They are less intimidating: Trying to figure out what to do with a bunch of dumbbells can seem impossible. With machines, you know exactly what muscles you're working and how to do the exercise correctly.

Free weights (Focus on all/more muscles)

• Versatility: Free weights can be used for a variety of exercises for the entire body, so you don't have to move from machine to machine to work different muscle groups.
• Functionality: With free weights, you're able to move the body through natural motions as well as through a variety of planes allowing you to mimic movements you do in real life like squatting, lifting things over your head and rotating the body.
• Building whole body strength: Because you're supporting your own body, you can work on specific muscles while involving smaller stabilizer muscles that can get neglected with machine training...this can also help you burn more calories during your workout.

Netball Queensland Strength and Conditioning programs

Olympic lifting

Olympic weightlifting is a sport in which competitors attempt to lift heavy weights mounted on barbells. Sport made up of two lifts: the Snatch and the Clean-and-Jerk, where the weight is lifted above the head, Opposed to bodybuilding where the weights are used simply as tools to stress the muscle and cause it to grow, in this sport the main goal is the lifting of the weight itself with flawless execution. It takes great functional strength, power, flexibility, dexterity, concentration, and great lifting technique to be successful at Olympic Weightlifting.

Power lifting

Power lifting is a strength sport, consisting of three events: the squat, the bench press, and the dead lift. Power lifting is a sport that was conceived as a pure test of strength.

Flexibility

Flexibility is the ability to move joints and muscles through their full range of motion, which increases blood circulation. Being active means allowing your body to "practice" breathing, stretching, and lifting. The more practice your body gets, the better it works. Aerobic activity, like walking, riding a bike, or swimming. This helps your heart, lungs, and muscle tone. Muscle strength and endurance, like resistance training. This helps build strong bones and muscles. Stretching, for flexibility and balance. Do all stretches gradually. Don't push or bounce the stretch. You should feel a stretch, not pain.

Speed and agility

It is the ability to reach a high velocity of movement in whatever mode of locomotion running, cycling, skating swimming Agility and quickness training improves an athletes ability to change direction, brake suddenly and perform sport-specific skills with speed and agility.

Power and endurance

Athletes like baseball pitchers, sprinters, 50m freestyle swimmers, martial artists, wrestlers, fencers, tennis players, rowers, cyclists and so on must produce powerful movements and repeat them several times with little or no rest. In order to maintain the same amount of power with each effort, a certain level of power endurance is required. The combination of strength and endurance results in muscular endurance - the ability to perform many repetitions against a given resistance for a prolonged period of time. Traditionally, muscular endurance programs have used moderate loads lifted for 12-25 repetitions with little to no rest between each set.

These services are available for individual athletes as well as sporting clubs and teams. Competitive rates apply.

Current clients and partnerships

UQ Sport is a proud service provider for the following clubs:

Wynnum Seagulls	Netball Queensland	UQ Boat Club	Queensland Softball
Skiracing Queensland	Brisbane Lions Academy	AFL Queensland

UQ Sport is also a proud facility provider for the following clubs:

Brisbane Broncos	Rowing Queensland	Triathlon Australia

More information

To enquire further please phone contact the Athletic Performance Coordinator on (07) 3346 6242 or email