There’s still a huge misconception out there that strength means big, and big means slow and immobile.
In reality, strength is the quarterback of all athletic performance. To make this simple, let’s use a pyramid.
The Performance Pyramid
Base Layer — Muscle Size & Structure (Cross-Sectional Area)
At the bottom of the pyramid is muscle morphology — the size and structure of your muscles and tendons.
A larger muscle has a greater force potential. That’s basic physics and physiology: more muscle fibres = more contractile tissue = greater force capacity. Bigger doesn’t make you slow. Being weak makes you slow.
Second Layer — Strength
Next comes strength — your ability to recruit those muscles and apply force through your nervous system.
This is where your body learns to actually use the muscle you’ve built. You might have potential force from size… but strength training is what turns potential into output.
Third Layer — Power
Above that is power — how fast you can express your strength. Power = force × speed.
It’s not just how strong you are, it’s how quickly you can produce that strength.
This is where athleticism becomes visible.
Top Layer — Sport
At the top of the pyramid is your sport:
- movement skill
- decision-making
- motor patterns
- timing
- game efficiency
Your sport doesn’t live in isolation. It sits on top of physical qualities. You can’t express athletic skill in a body that can’t produce force.
Why Strength Matters More Than Anything (Especially for Young Athletes)
Yes — sprinting and jumping are the most powerful tools we have for speed and explosiveness.
But when you’re young, inexperienced, or under-developed, the biggest performance return is simple:
Get stronger.
If you don’t have enough muscle, you don’t have enough force.
If you don’t have enough force, you won’t be fast, elastic, or resilient.
Strength is what allows you to:
- absorb contact
- stay injury-free
- break tackles
- accelerate hard
- sprint faster
- jump higher
- kick further
- dominate collisions
- hold your ground under pressure
Ultimately…
Athletics is applied force into the ground.
Speed is force.
Change of direction is force.
Power is force.
Contact is force.
Jumping is force.
Braking is force.
NO FORCE = NO PERFORMANCE.
So What Do We Actually Train?
First: Get Bigger
We build hypertrophy first.
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
- Quads
- Calves
- Upper body
Bigger muscle = more force potential.
Second: Get Stronger
Size without strength is unrealised potential. So we train heavy.
- 80–100% of your 1RM
- 1–6 reps
- Progressive overload
- Add weight to the bar
100kg for 3, 105kg for 3, 110kg for 2, 115kg for 2
Strength changes your nervous system and your muscle fibres.
This is where output is built.
Third: Express That Strength With Speed
Now we convert strength into power. This is where faster intent matters.
- 60–85% strength work
- Ballistics
- Jumps
- Med ball throws
- Olympic-style lifts
- Explosive squats & variations
We’re still lifting… we’re just lifting fast.
Fourth: Reactivity & Speed (On the Pitch)
Now we close the loop. We convert power into motion:
- Hopping
- Bounding
- Pogo work
- Sprints
- Rapid foot contacts
Elastic rather than strong legs
Sport happens under extreme time pressure. Ground contact times under 0.25 seconds.
If you can’t apply force fast, your strength never reaches the pitch.
Finally: Play Your Sport
Strength doesn’t replace skill. It unlocks it.
- Side-steps
- Feints
- Breakouts
- Kicking under pressure
- Contact resilience
When your physical base improves, your technical ceiling rises with it.
The Takeaway
Don’t sleep on strength.
It is the engine underneath everything you do:
Bigger muscle → Stronger muscle → More powerful muscle → More reactive muscle → Better sport performance
Strength doesn’t slow you down. Weakness does.