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Top 10 Exercises for Athletes

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Created by Certified Personal Trainer, Coach Austin Flath (ISSA).
    
Updated Sunday October 19th 2025.


 Top 10 exercises for athletes.
   

     Effortlessly gliding across the basketball court and gracefully finishing a lay-up. 



Tracking down the running back like a missile and making a bone crushing, spectacular tackle. 


Smashing a baseball over the fence and hearing the crowd go wild.


We all dream of being an athlete. Few achieve this goal at a professional level and even fewer become legends. 

Blood, sweat, and tears... A killer work ethic, and a focused mindset to match.

That's what it takes to succeed.

After chasing down running backs in high-school as a linebacker/saftey and going on thrill seeking dangerous longboarding sessions. Coach Austin Flath has the experience and training background to get you to your goal.

I also have great coaching experience. A dedicated coach can make all the difference in the world. The goal of my blog is to make videos and programs that are easy to understand, easy to implement, and that are free. 

I want to share my passion for sports and fitness through this blog. I want to help that one athlete and even just the few chosen people that find my blog and that can't afford a personal trainer, but believe in me and my blog. 

That’s my number one goal.

That's why I made this blog over the last decade and continue to make new posts and updates dispite barely making any money. 

It's my passion to share my knowledge. In my years a certified personal trainer and sports performance/track coach, I've put together the core of what I learned in a free 12 week strength training program and the top ten exercises you need as an athlete to excel.

Learn this program and be on your way to dominance!
 
A quick side note, if your coming from the Practical Nutrition eBook this is the strength/fitness training program that goes with that program.

If you want to lose weight and are not an athlete the skip down to the 12 week strength training program. It also has a cardio program and I recommend incorporating a regular walking program into your routine.


 Start with 3 days a week 30 minutes.

Also a quick tip.. The amount of time it takes to deplete your glycogen levels from walking is an hour in a half to 2 hours. 

Thats an important note to remember because to lose weight your body uses stored glucose as energy when working out, and if you deplete your glycogen levels first from walking, while lifting weights after you are going to be burning stored body fat as energy during your workout.

This tip is for losing weight so if you do alot of cardio before lifting, your strength gains will suffer. So make sure your eating plenty of carbohydrates if your goal is to build strength.

Remember that tip if you have time.  Try for 2 hours walking a day after work with the strength training program. If your goal is losing weight.

If you don't have time to walk for 2 hours a day then try doing HIIT Workouts for 10-15 minutes 2-3 times a week.

For a good HIIT Program go to my On-Demand Workout blog post and my fitness app, which I will make you custom workouts based on your current fitness level.


​1. Deadlifts

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​Deadlifts and squats are in a close tie for the best exercise for athletes. Both strenuously workout your glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and quads.

Any top strength and conditioning coach will tell you that focusing on your posterior chain (Glutes, Hamstrings, Lower Back, Claves) is the key for athletic development.

You can train for power development. 3 sets of 6 reps. You can train for strength, 5 sets of 1-5 reps. Or, if your looking to put on weight you can do 3 sets of 12 reps (Hypertrophy). 


A fantastic variation includes hex bar deadlifts.
This is a great choice for athletes because the bar places all the stress in your center of gravity. 

Think of any athletic movement… A vertical jump, screening your opponent in basketball, or getting in position to smash a backhand stroke across the tennis court. 

All your power comes for your center of gravity with a great athletic base. Stay in that zone, and you will be on your way to success.

Also, another variation you can do with the hex bar deadlift is a 10-30 second isomeric hold. Isometric holds strengthen your body at that specific joint angle your holding the weight in. This will recruit fast twitch muscle fibers. 

Even though this may seem counter intuitive because your not moving your body fast at all, and even your actually not moving at all.

The way this works is that you are overloading your muscle fibers and training your nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers. 

A highly trained professional athlete recruits more muscle fibers than an untrained athlete so become a believer that you can run faster and jump higher, with proper training and the right attitude.

In every exercise your nervous system starts by recruiting your slow twitch muscle fibers first, and after they are finished or maxed out you start using your fast twitch muscle fibers. 

Training your fast twitch muscle fibers is key to training for athletic development, and training your deadlifts heavy, and with this variation and other weight training exercises, you are without a doubt going to be a better athlete. 

That's another reason why you want to limit long distance running for your sports training, as running trains you're slow twitch muscle fibers and makes you slower.

For a jump/speed training program for athletes that train your fast twitch muscle fibers, check out my speed training blog post.

Legendary track coach Nate Wilford teaches that sprinting is nothing but a series of accelerated jumps. So improve your sprinting and sport with this amazing jump training series used by a Rio Olympian in the Triple Jump. A Pac 12 Triple Jump Champion, and a Big 10 Triple Jump Champion as well as many scholarship athletes.

I was an assistant track coach for Coach Nate Wilford for about 5 years. I was responsible for training the drills to the new clients and I put together the videos and a how to guide on the jump/speed training.

Let's get back to topic..

(To perform a barbell deadlift, walk up to the bar and stand as close to the bar as possible. Keep your head facing forward or slighting looking up. Squat down and squeeze the bar as tight as you can. Keep a good athletic posture with no bends in your back, and lift the bar using your glutes and hips. Make sure you stay away from bending your back as that can add stress to your lower back leading to injury).


​2. Barbell Squats

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​Squats are second place on this list, but many say that these leg builders are the king of exercise. Just like deadlifts the squat works primarily your posterior chain. 

And as we know now that’s one of the keys to training athleticism.

Whether your sport is bodybuilding and your using squats for building mass, or for getting your legs ripped or your a college level sprinter. Squats have a place in your training program and must be emphasized.

The guidelines set in the deadlift post above about strength, power, and muscle building, and sets and reps apply to squats, and the following exercises expect Power Cleans, Sprints, Vertical Jumps, and Bounding. 

Also, a great benefit from squats is that they will help you set records for your vertical jump and short sprint times. 

(To preform a proper barbell squat, start by setting the barbell on the squat rack to about just above chest level. Then get under the bar, placing the bar just under your traps on your upper back, (You don't want the weight too high up, putting pressure on your neck during the lift). Use a medium to wide grip and squeeze the bar as tight as possible. As you descend with the weight, keep your body tight, and try thinking about it like your sitting down and back on a chair while using a wide stance. This puts emphasis on your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back and takes pressure off your knees. Then make sure you get as low as comfortably possible. You don't have to get full range of motion at first, but you want to strive for full range of motion in your squats, and all your strength training exercises. Once you get as low as you can go.. briefly pause, keep your body tight, and lift the weight up by thrusting your hips forward while you lift the weight up. Also, keep your back in a good athletic posture throughout the lift to prevent any injuries. If you would like to focus on your quad development (the front of your legs, above your kneecaps) focus your attention on front squats. But remember, because of the bar placement, your going to be putting more pressure on your knees.)


​3. Bench press

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​Bench press should be a staple in every athletes training program as it trains your chest, triceps, and shoulders. 

Think of a lineman in football blocking a defender and pushing or extending out with his arms, or of a sprinter forcefully pumping their arms in a race.

A strong and powerful upper body is key for any athlete as it’s crucial for running and sprinting. 


(To preform a bench press correctly I recommend a powerlifting style. This way you know that your going to maximize strength gains as the sport of powerlifting is all about lifting as heavy as possible. Use a wide grip and when you lower the bar, tuck your triceps in.

This may seem awkward at first but your going to be able to lift heavier guaranteed. 

Also, keep your feet flat on the ground during the entire movement and keep your core/entire body tight. Keeping your body tight is key to any strength training exercise.

And finally, if your looking to lift as heavy as possible arch your lower back. That’s the way powerlifters do it). 

Another variation for bench press is the close grip bench press. This variation will put size your triceps and grow your arms like crazy.


​4. push-ups

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​There’s a reason why the push-up has been one of the stable exercises the military uses and without question, there’s a great reason why.

Push-ups not only use your upper body but they activate your core and lower body as well. 

Think about this when doing push-ups.

Your essentially doing a plank while doing a push-up, which just got added in as one of the military’s fitness tests to evaluate core strength. So know your getting a high quality core workout as well.

(To perform a push-up start by thinking about squeezing your core as you do the push-up, and when lowering your body to the ground, squeeze your upper back together. You can also change it up with different hand positions (hands together work your triceps more, and wide hand position works more of your chest). Also, don’t forget you can add a weighted vest for more resistance and an added challenge).

A side note about the weighted vest..

In strength training and muscle building in general, there is something called the progressive overload principle.  

In this principle, you need to constantly be adding more resistance to your exercises and keep challenging yourself. Otherwise you will hit a plateo and not make progress.

This is as simple as adding the 2.5lbs weights to your workout consistently. You don't have to make progress every workout, and everyone is different, but you should try to add the 2.5lb plate every 2-3 workouts to keep this principle.


​5. Push press

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If you haven’t done this exercise, then your missing out on one of the best workouts you can do to improve your vertical jump.

Do this exercise 4 Sets of 6 Reps to develop lower body power.

​(To preform a push press correctly, start by moving the bar on the front of your shoulders in a squat rack. Grab the bar and do a quick quarter squat and press the bar over your head using the momentum of your lower body).


​6. Single leg stair hops

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This drill I learned from my track coach Nate Wilford. It will have you begging for mercy when finished and setting personal records.

This is considered a unilateral movement which is very important to focus on when training for sport.

Unilateral movements focus your energy on one side of your body at a time, and are great for fixing muscular imbalances.

Other important unilateral movements that didn’t make this list are step-ups and lunges. 


Jumping up steps on one leg offers a more explosive workout than weights. and once you start skipping steps with your jumps, you will improve your stride length and stride frequency, which is a fundamental speed training concept that every coach knows. You can improve your stride frequency with quickness and drill training. But unfortunately this is the part of speed that is mostly genetic. But Don't worry, your stride length is a much more improveable fundamental by improving your strength and power through weight training, sprinting, and plyometics, and perfecting your sprinting form through drills and practice. You can see  dramatic improvements in your stride length and overall speed.

Start with 2-3 sets on each leg and build up to 7 sets on each leg as well as the speed/jump training program in my blog and sprints.


​7. Sprints

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​Sprints are a great explosive workout every athlete should be focusing on, and having elite speed can set you apart from the competition.

They say speed can't be taught.

That's definitely not true as I have experienced first hand coaching track for 5 years, and making major progress myself, going from mediocre speed with a 5.3 forty yard dash to a 4.6 in only 6 months doing speed training and lifting weights with Coach Nate Wilford.

When training for sport you should focus your time on movements that are specific to your sport.

What better options do you have than sprinting that will improve your power and technique in the same movement.

Start with striding and build up to 10 sprints for 60 meters or vary the length depending on the distance you cover in your sport.

​(To preform a sprint use explosive arm action, like you are using a hammer. Lift your knees parallel to the ground and land with your foot flat on the ground (Dorsi-flexion), and the extend your leg back, finishing on the front of your foot/toes). (Plantar-flexon).


​8. vertical jump

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​Admired by many, mastered by few. This is the primary test coaches use to evaluate lower body explosiveness. 

There is no better way to improve your vertical jump than to actually practice it! 

Also, the exercises in this program including heavy squats and deadlifts will improve your vertical. 

Other exercises that improve your jumping are power cleans, high pulls, snatches, box jumps, and push-presses. 

Add a weighted vest to improve power when practicing the vertical jump. Do 5 sets of 5 reps.


​9. Bounding

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This track and field exercise as well as single leg stair hops is most likely one of the best power workouts you can do for sport, that your probably not doing. 

Do 5 sets of 30 meters. 

(To preform a bound start by pretending like you are on lava, and you have to jump from rock to rock. Raise your knees as high as you can each jump. Use good arm action for each jump. Also, land flat on your foot each jump then extend your leg on your toe as far as you can.
​

10. Barbell ROWs

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When training to become a better athlete it’s easy to focus on your lower body and do bench presses. 

Don’t forget balance and training your upper back.

This is where barbell rows come into place. I don’t think you’ll ever see Arnold miss barbell rows and you shouldn’t miss this mass builder either. 

If you want a thick back, big biceps, and an overall strong upper body, then this exercise is for you. 

(To perform a barbell row start with the barbell on the ground with 25-45lb plates in each side. Instead of a deadlift where you have your chest up, keep your back horizontal to the ground, keep your core tight and with a medium to wide grip, and pull the weight towards your chest and squeeze your upper back together.

Don’t forget to control the weight down on this lift and on any of the other weight training exercises.

Lowering the weight (eccentric phase) vs the (concentric phase) is what tears the muscles down the most and is how your muscles work).


There you have it! 
 
Exercises that didn’t make the top ten but are still great for athletes.

Power cleans, high pulls, Chin-ups, pull-ups, step-ups, Lunges, jump squats, planks, weighted sit-ups, jump Lunges, power snatches, russian twists, weighted dips, med ball slams/drills, jump rope, tuck jumps.

The Top Ten Exercises for Athletes by (International Sports Sciences Association Certified Personal Trainer). Coach Austin Flath.



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You can also apply for yourself. I am taking on sponsorship clients as we speak!. Apply by texting me 253.882.6385 and tell me about why you want a personal trainer and nutritionist and how it can change your life!


Thank you for getting this far and good luck and remember quitters never win.
 
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The strength training program is now a separate blog post. Find it under "strength training program" in the blog.
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    • On Demand Workouts
    • Speed Training for Athletes
    • Workout Program For Limited Time
    • Practical Fitness (Strength Training Routine)
    • Practical Nutrition eBook/audiobook >
      • How To Stay Motivated Throughout Your Fitness Journey
      • Low Impact Workout
      • Beginners Guide to Weightlifting eBook
      • No Gym No Problem
  • Blog cont.
    • Top Exercises for Beginners
    • Top 10 Exercises for Athletes
    • 5 Nutrition Tips to Keep You Fit
    • Real Life Success Story
    • Busy Mom Workouts
  • Online Personal Training
  • 30 Day Free Trial to App
  • Nutrition Coaching