One of the biggest problems I see in high school and college athletes is their o ff season training program.

Too often I see high-level athletes performing the W RONG exercises. Instead of focusing on the basic exercises that have been proven to work, they focus on these gimmicky exercises that don t improve athletic perfo rmance. Simply put, you don t have time to waste in the gym doing exercises that might wor k. Focus on the basics, as they are proven to deliver the best results. If I ask you why you are doing a specific exercise and you don t have a legitimate answer, then scrap it. When it comes to choosing the best strength exercises, you need to consider trai ning economy, getting the most bang for your buck. As an athlete you need to spe nd time and energy developing your positional skills. In this post I will focus on the Top 5 Lower Body Strength Exercises for athletes. While jumps, medicine ball throws and sprints are critical to developing rate o f force development and explosiveness, it is really useless unless you have a so lid foundation of strength. Here are the Top 5 Lower Body Exercises For Athletes: 1) Trap Bar Deadlifts Trap bar deadlifts are an awesome exercise for you to strengthen your entire pos terior chain. While conventional or sumo style deadlifts are great, trap bar dea dlifts are easier to learn and very effective when done properly. Trap bar deadl ifts are also less taxing on the body than traditional deadlifts. When you do trap bar deadlifts, make sure you are sitting back and are keeping t he tension on your hamstrings. Do not turn it into a squat. 2) Front Squat I am sure you have heard 1,000 times that squats are the king of all lower body exercises and should be a staple in your training program. There is no denying t hat but a better question is what type of squats should you do? While some coach es prefer back squats, I find front squats to be superior for a few reasons. Fro nt squats are much easier on the lower back because there are less compressive f orces on the spine when compared the back squat. In addition to this the trunk i s engaged much more in front squats compared to back squats. Not to mention, you will have easier time learning front squats compared to back squats because it is much easier to maintain a neutral spine and upright torso in the front squat. Front squats can be done with kettlebells, sandbags or a bar bell. 3) Barbell Hip Thrusts Popularized by Bret Contreras, hip thrusts are the best way to train the glutes. Simply put, if you want to run faster, jump higher or do any explosive athletic movement, you need to have strong glutes. 4) Front loaded Reverse Lunges

Unilateral leg training is critical to your performance because all athletic mov ements require you to produce force off of one leg. Think about anytime you go t o make a cut on the football field, go up for a layup or dunk on the basketball court, or range to your right to field a ground ball on the baseball diamond. Front loaded reverse lunges place a greater emphasis on the core compared to oth er unilateral leg exercises where you are holding the weigh at your side or on y our back. Another major benefit of this exercise is it will improve your hip sta bility and help you overcome muscular imbalances caused from your sport. 5) Prowler Pushes/ Sled Drags The prowler and sled are awesome tools because of their effectiveness and their versatility. They can be used for many different goals and can be good for begin ner athletes all the way to the professional rank. The prowler is a great way to improve work capacity and general physical prepara tion. You can also load the prowler up with super heavy weight and push it for s horter distances to improve lower body strength with minimal stress on your join ts. And finally, the sled and prowler can also be used as a rehabilitation tool when you are recovering from an injury and you need to do low impact exercises. 6) Power or Split Jerk While the power jerk is really a full body exercise, it often gets compared to t he military press and push press. With that said, the power jerk is the king of overhead press variations. When done properly, you should be able to handle a lo t more weight in the power or split jerk then in the military or push press. While the other overhead press variations are good, the jerk is even better beca use it is a much more of an athletic movement. Without your legs producing a lot of force, you will never be able to jerk a good amount of weight. In the video to the right, Jon North of Cal Strength demonstrates a clean & jerk . The clean gets the weight from the floor to your shoulders, while the jerk get s the weight from shoulders to overhead. If you only want to practice the jerk, you can pull the bar out of a rack, or use training blocks. If you do not know w hat I mean when I say that, you are not ready for this exercise and should stick to strict presses for now. 7) Farmer Walks Aside from deadlifts, I can t think of many exercises that will address a weak gri p, weak upper back and weak posterior chain like farmer walks. These are often w eak areas for 90% of athletes. One of the main benefits of farmer walks is they are less taxing on the body the n deadlifts. Perform these by walking with heavy dumbbells, kettlebells for a ce rtain distance or time. "Its a great idea to end two or three training sessions a week with some form of carries. Start light and make short trips, work your way up over time. They are one of my favorite exercises due to the tons of benefits and accessibility of t he exercise." - Matt Wichlinski 8) Gymnastic Ring Push-ups

Push-ups are often overlooked as being too easy but the truth is when done corre ctly, push-ups are an excellent exercise to strengthen the pressing muscles. Whi le the bench press is also great, I prefer push-ups because it is an open chaine d exercise where the scapula can move freely. Gymnastic rings are my favorite variation because the shoulders and abs must wor k harder to stabilize. 9) Pull-ups I remember Joe DeFranco saying a long time ago that there was a correlation betw een how fast an athlete is and how many pull-ups he or she can do. Simply put, i f you want to be fast, you need to have a high level of relative body strength a nd this is exactly what pull-ups measure. Not only are pull-ups a great indication of relative body strength but they are also the best exercise to strengthen vertical pulling. 10) Chest Supported Rows Having a strong back is critical to your shoulder health and there is no better way to strengthen your back then with rows. While there are many different varia tions of rows, chest supported rows are the most effective because there is no s tress on the lower back (like in bent over rows) and more effective training sti mulus then inverted rows.

"Lie face down on an incline bench or chest-supported row machine and start off lighter than you think you should. This is a humbling exercise and to get the fu ll benefits you need to use a full ROM (range of motion). Follow the keys and yo u'll be fine: stretch out at the bottom, pull through the elbows, and squeeze at the midpoint." - Mike Robertson While there are a ton of other great upper body exercises, these are my go to on es because they work! Remember when it comes to choosing exercises, there needs to be a reason why you are doing it. If not, then scrap it.