Transfer of Training for Team Sports

May 15, 2015Steve OlsonView All PostsAdd comment

Transfer of training is one of those topics. Everyone that knows about it but very few understand its
application to sport. Even worse, most deny its existence to justify poor training programs. As
strength coaches, we use several training modalities (lifting weights / resistance training / speed and
agility etc) to improve the performance of another activity, and thus there has to be a continuum of
how much the modality we use improves the activity we are ultimately trying to improve. This is
what the concept of transfer of training is, a way to quantitatively and qualitatively describe the
effects your training program has on the ultimate desired sport skill. In this article, I am going to ask
you to evaluate two things:
What kind of transfer are we looking for in team sport athletes.
How do we get a higher amount of that transfer from our training.
The most popular book focused directly on the topic at hand is Transfer of Training by Anatolyi
Bondarchuk. In the book, Dr. Bondarchuk defines three types of transfer:
Positive transfer of training means that there is a positive effect on one exercise on another. In
other words, with an increase in the sports results of one exercise, a parallel increase takes place in
another exercise.
Negative transfer of training, there is always a negative interaction between the exercises being
used. Here, with increased preparation in one exercise, there is a simultaneous decrease in other
exercises.
In neutral transfer of training, there is no increase or decrease in sports achievement. The training
does not show any effect on other training.
-Anatoliy P. Bondarchuk, Transfer of Training in Sports
To summarize Dr. Bondarchuks training results, Dr. Vladimir Issurin states:
His concept involves the selection and implementation of separate sets of specific and semispecific exercises, whose content is restructured from one stage to the next of annual preparation.
Such program modification maintains the athletes higher sensitivity to renewed stimuli, which
meets the demands of positive training transfer. As a consequence, athletes achieve magnificent
results whereas the total volume of workloads is even less than in the traditional approach to
training. The outcomes of this experience are extremely impressive: in two Olympic Games (1988
and 1992) all the athletes on the podium for medals in hammer throw (gold, silver, and bronze)
were coached by Bondarchuk.
-Training Transfer
Evaluating the transfer of training of exercises and programs on the main sporting movements helps
you design a more effective training program by improving positive transfer, decreasing neutral and
negative transfer, at minimal expense to the athlete. In addition, it provides the information needed
to more accurately structure the exercises and movements that you wish to train over the course of
your annual training plan.
In Science & Practice of Strength & Conditioning, Dr. Zatsiorsky recommends using a
dimensionless unit to estimate the training result:
Result Gain = Gain of Performance / Standard Deviation of Performance
Transfer = Result gain in nontrained exercise / Result gain in trained exercise
By planning the exercises with the least transfer early in the offseason, and exercises with most
transfer closer to the season, you achieve multiple positive training effects. The low transfer
exercises may increase the general and functional ability to train and complete the specialized
training later in the season. Second, by sequencing training from non specific to specific, the

athletes increased ability to accomplish sporting activities will have a direct transfer to the field of
play, which is the ultimate goal of team sport strength and conditioning.
In addition to planning on a yearly cycle, training must be accommodated based on the development
of the athlete. The volume of specialized (high transfer) work will increase over the course of the
annual cycle for elite athletes vs lesser trained athletes. The calculated transfer in lesser trained
athletes can be high with general training, however in elite or highly trained athletes, these exercises
and movements will develop the qualities specific to that exercise and not specific to the desired
sporting movements, and may actually have negative transfer on sporting ability. For example, in
untrained athletes we can see simply increasing maximal strength will increase most performance
tests. In more advanced and highly trained athletes, increasing maximal strength will not only not
improve performance ability in team sport athletes, it may actually decrease on field performance
results, both in lack of specificity to the desired training goal and opportunity cost of training.
We can see this in the evaluation of a world champion hammer throwers testing evaluations seen in
Dr. Bondarchuks Transfer of Training:
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Exercises such as Barbell Snatch, power clean and power snatch stayed relatively stable over this 7
year period, however his sporting specific movements increased in performance. The effectiveness
of those exercises no longer increased his ability to perform the specific sporting movement, in this
case a hammer throw. You can also see how this correlation changes for multiple athletes based on
qualification in the following graph:
Screen Shot 2015-05-08 at 3.25.16 PM
With this table, the same concept applies: general exercises and testing modalities had a higher
correlational effect to sport form in low qualified athletes than in highly trained athletes. But, you
may be saying, hammer throwing is a power sport; my team sport athletes require running,
jumping, and other forms of athleticism. However, even in high level 200m and 400m runners, there
was an extremely weak correlation between average level athletes and general testing and training
modalities and sport specific skill.
Screen Shot 2015-05-08 at 4.25.06 PM
Screen Shot 2015-05-08 at 4.26.16 PM
To put it into terms more recognizable to most coaches, at what point do RDLs no longer contribute
to the ability to squat more weight? And when do weighted dips stop contributing to a bench press
max? Now this is an overly simplified view because the training exercises ARE the competition
lifts, but the same process can be applied to athletes and the abilities they need to display in their
sports. Training must become more specific over time, and this is one of the reasons velocity based
training is becoming more popular by the day: you can begin to more closely mimic the training
needed to cause the desired training effect.
In his article on Training Transfer, Dr. Vladimir Issurin states
Low- and medium-level athletes are more sensitive to any kind of training stimuli, including nonspecific ones, whereas train- ing transfer among high-performance athletes is strongly restricted by
the specificity of auxiliary exercises To maximize positive transfer of skill, an exercise should
thoroughly correspond to sport- specific coordination demands. This is why a relatively narrow
circle of exercises provides positive transfer to movement technique preparedness.
Now that we have established the need for training specificity, how do you do it? Planning your
training sequence for maximal transfer can begin first by categorizing your exercises and placing
them appropriately in your annual plan. Dr. Bondarchuk recognizes four types of exercises:
General Preparatory Exercises Do not repeat competitive actions in part or in whole. Typically
used as a foundation exercise, for use in all around body development. These exercises increase
the general abilities of work, flexibility, coordination and strength.

Specialized Preparatory Exercises Exercises that use the same muscle groups as the competitive
action, but do not replicate the action in part or in whole.
Specialized Development Exercises Exercises that repeat the competitive exercise in separate
parts. These exercises follow the laws of dynamic correspondence to ensure maximum transfer to
sporting ability. The improvements seen in these abilities are realized after further execution of the
competitive exercise.
Competitive Exercises These movements are the exact sporting events which are trained in
practice or in competition.
The ability for each of these to have transfer to the desired effect depends on the training status of
the athlete. An amateur athlete (think underdeveloped freshmen) may need a plan similar to this:
Screen Shot 2015-05-14 at 9.08.23 AM
In this model, much more time is spent on general and specific preparatory exercises and very little
on specific development. If you were to use the aforementioned transfer equation, you would find
increases in your general exercises would have direct increases in the desired testing movements.
However a senior receiver with adequate levels of development may need a plan more similar to
this:
Screen Shot 2015-05-14 at 9.08.28 AM
This plan would require very little development of the general and specific preparatory phase and
much more time spent on specialized development. These exercises specifically train the
movements that need to be increased, as the foundation has previously been set and further
increases in those qualities will no longer transfer to the desired sporting movement.
What is the practical difference here? The first one will have more volume and effort work, as well
as a more general exercise selection for a longer period of the year. The second one will use volume
and effort for short stints purely for retention and re-development purposes, then move to more
sport, movement and speed specific work at an earlier period in the year.
In addition to having different exercises for each cycle, the same exercises can be used from one
cycle to the next, but the execution, load and speed may differ to transfer it from general
preparatory to specialized preparatory. Lets look at the various types of strengths that can be
developed (lets look at this in terms of velocity and intensity):
VBT speeeds
For most team sports, this works mostly inversely from GPP to SPP. You can change the execution
of a squat from a Parallel 93% for 31 in strength development phase, to a narrow half squat at
35%, using one of Dr. Manns velocity based protocols for maximal power development.
In Dr. Manns Use of Velocity Based training in Sports, he states:
During my first statistics class for my doctorate, I had to do a 25-page project based on the results
from a regression analysis in my field. I thought I would do something easy that wouldnt take me
much thought. I was going to be really busy at the end of the semester so I decided to do a paper on
how the Olympic lifts had the greatest relationship to vertical jumps. I figured Id fill in the
statistical portion as I learned how to do them.
Well, it backfired. I wrote the entire paper, and then toward the end of the semester, I learned how to
do the statistics. I ran them and was appalled by what I found. The improvements in the Olympic
lifts not only had no significant effect, but the bench press was more highly correlated to the vertical
jump than the Olympic lifts.
We were doing Olympic lifts as an absolute strength type exercise with our athletes. Technique

suffered, but as long as the weight went up, it was good. This led to nearly no hip extension, a great
amount of back extension, great amounts of lateral foot movement, limbo style bar catches, and
most importantly, ultra slow bar speed I found the speeds for the Olympic lifts that we were
doing. For a repetition to count, it had to be done at the speed required. The sample size was small,
but a regression analysis showed now that the use of VBT (and emphasizing proper technique) did
lead to the clean having an impact on vertical jump. It went from fifth to third relationship behind
body composition and the squat.
Simply performing and executing a speed-strength or strength-speed exercise is not sufficient to
have transferable effects to the field. It must be done with proper technique, intensity, intent and at
the right time of year, to have maximum transferability to sport form. Maximal ability is still
important, as doing a 60% clean with an athlete whom has a 1RM of 145lbs will have minimal
transfer for that athlete, so be careful to apply these methods with the proper population.
So we have established that to ensure a high level of transfer, there must be a high level of
specificity. This brings two questions to the table: what are you trying to get better at, and how do
you do it?
For most sports, we need acceleration, top speed, short area quickness etc. For a pitcher, it may be
pitch speed, and training to decrease his 60 time likely wont transfer to that ability. For a running
back, short quickness acceleration and explosive horizontal power, with excellent change of
direction ability, will contribute to his ability to compete more than a 6 plate box squat. Putting a
volleyball player on a top speed program will not help them play their sport, as short area quickness
and burst are the key movement factors involved.
Unlike competition and Olympic type sports, where the final event may be a single hammer throw,
a straight ahead sprint, or a squat, team sports are built off a collection of general athletic
movements, comprised of several complex multi joint movements, followed by a few specific
sporting activities. Specialized exercises can contribute to both of these skills to increase the
transfer to the field. They are usually single joint exercises that meet the laws of dynamic
correspondence.
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For most team sports, specific sporting skills (pitching and swinging a bat in baseball, spiking and
blocking in volleyball, lineman blocking in football) are handled by the sport coach. By having a
solid understanding of biomechanics and a varied exercise selection to attack these various skills we
need to train, we can improve these abilities without sacrificing or changing the technique that has
been acquired.
However, several general training techniques are taught specifically by the strengthcoach (for most
sports): running, change of direction, vertical and broad jump, as well as a multitude of other tests.
By understanding your job in terms of that team and their development, you will know which
exercises are appropriate to place in their training program, and which means to use with those
exercises.
So what is the takeaway? When planning your athletes programs, dump the general mentality and
focus specifically on development of the desired tasks at hand. Ask yourself, the end goal of my
training is for my athletes to improve at these tasks, is my program helping them get there?
transfer
References
1. Bondarchuk, A. (2007). Transfer of Training in Sports. Ultimate Athlete Concepts.
2. Issurin, Vladimir B. (2013) Training transfer: Scientific background and insights for practical

application. Sports Medicine 43: pp. 675-694

3. Mann, B. (2013). Developing Explosive Athletes: Use of Velocity Based Training in Training
Athletes (2nd ed.).
4. Zatsiorsky, V., & Kraemer, W. (2006). Science and Practice of Strength Training (2nd ed.).
Human Kinetics.