My S-Tier Exercises for Athletes
(bucket matters more than the exercise)
- Squat: High bar back squat
- Sprints: 10m fly sprints
- Upper-power: Smith machine throw
- Hinge: RDLs
- Pull: Weighted Chin-ups
- Plyometric: Hops
- Jump: Broad jump
- Push: Bench press
- Fitness: Play
JT Performance retweeted
We need to learn how to disagree without taking it personally.
Social media has eroded this. It makes folks think they are defending their life instead of discussing an idea.
A thanks to all those who continue to engage and even disagree in a civil and productive manner.
I do these instead.
I’m not a huge fan of landmine punches.
They’re popular with combat athletes because they look like a punch.
But that’s an easy trap to fall into.
Just because a strength exercise looks like a sporting movement doesn’t mean its a good exercise
There are no mandatory exercises for athletes.
Adaptations > exercises.
So I put together 80+ of my favourite exercises for athletes across strength, speed, power, plyometrics, conditioning + more.
Including a few I missed in the YouTube video:
jacktylerperformance.com/80-…
We're hiring a YouTube Fitness Editor
Apply here:
ytjobs.co/job/44591?r=855&ut… #ytjobs #VideoEditor
JT Performance retweeted
If your tendon hurts, just slow things down.
3 second eccentric, 3 second concentric works like magic.
Destroys muscle, spares tendon.
Overrated Recovery Tools:
- Obsessively Tracking HRV
- IV Drips
- Peptides
- Ice Baths
- Light-blocking Glasses
Underrated Recovery Tools:
- Surround yourself with close friends
- Spend quality time with family
- Get out the house
- Eat like an adult
- Naps
If I could only pick two neck exercises, it would be incline neck flexion and harness extensions.
Both allow for a greater range of motion than most neck exercises and will build pretty much all the size and strength you need.
Do 1–3 sets of both, twice a week.
However, if you don’t have access to this equipment or you’re a beginner, I’d highly recommend starting with manual resistance:
Twice a week, do 1–2 sets of 3–5 reps in every direction: flexion, extension and lateral flexion.
That’s all you need.
For advanced athletes, you might also want to consider heavy isometrics, particularly if isometric neck strength is crucial in your sport - for example, rugby scrummaging or grappling.
Finally, to prepare your neck for the high-velocity demands of sport, consider partner reactive work or overcoming isometrics.
But for most people, just pick an exercise, do it once or twice a week, and actually start training your neck.
The easiest way to do this is to throw a couple of sets in between sets of bench, squats or any other compound lift.
JT Performance retweeted
The influencers in grind culture speak in absolutes:
No alcohol, candy, sugar, etc.
Super strict crazy routines
Every world class athlete I know: eats some candy, drinks an occasional beer, has routines but is flexible
Why? Neuroticism gets in the way of performance.
Here’s what training athletes should look like:
1. Build the car
Develop the raw physical abilities of:
- Speed
- Strength
- Size
- Conditioning
- Change-of-direction
- Etc.
It’s far less sexy than it seems.
Basic training methods, progressed properly, for a painfully long period of time. No short cuts.
2. Develop the driver
You can have the body of a Ferrari, but if you can’t drive it, you’ll still crash.
I see too many athletes obsess over improving their physical qualities while forgetting the main thing:
Getting better at their sport.
Technical skill.
Tactical understanding.
Decision-making.
Thousands of hours of practice.
I see too many athletes obsess about building their physical abilities that they forget the main thing - your sport.
Your training should be built around developing your technical and tactical abilities, not your bench day.
This doesn’t mean I “hate” contrast training, primers, or isometrics - I just think we’re majoring in the minors.
“Supplements” for improving performance in contact athletes
In my opinion, many athlete simply don’t eat enough carbs (particularly around training)
Despite being drastically more effective than any sports “supplement”
P.S. I first posted this about 5 years ago. Sorry for the repost, working on long form YouTube content. Good stuff coming…
Building athletic legs obviously depends on what sport you actually compete in.
A rugby winger should train slightly differently from an O-lineman.
But the general principles are pretty similar.
If you strip it right back, I think about it in 3 parts:
1. Build a bigger force ceiling
2. Learn to produce that force faster
3. Learn to apply it in a sporting context
The best tool for building a bigger force ceiling is, of course, weight training.
More muscle gives you more potential to produce force, heavy strength training increases maximal force production, and your tendons and bones adapt to tolerate those forces.
Basically, build the hardware.
The second part is probably what most contact athletes neglect.
You need to be able to produce a lot of force when you don’t have much time to do it.
I don’t tend to lean heavily on Olympic lifts here.
They can definitely help, but I don’t think there’s anything particularly special about them, and I’d rather spend that time on max-speed sprinting, maximal jumps and plyos.
Top-end sprinting in particular is massively neglected.
Then you’ve got the final part: actually applying all of that force in your sport.
And this isn’t doing random “functional” exercises that sort of look like sport.
It’s years and years of actually playing your sport and learning to solve those movement problems.
You can then use drills to isolate specific things you want to improve - like high-speed 1v1s for evasion.
Build the hardware.
Learn to use it quickly.
Then learn to use it in your sport.
Recovery isn't about doing more, it's about doing less.
That's one of my favourite ways to frame recovery.
Most people think of saunas, ice bath, massage guns.
But real recovery is training less, getting some more sleep, spending time with family, switching off and eating good food.
The other stuff can help, but it's not something you should rely on year round.
I like Dr. Andy Galpin's framing on this.
He says, are you chasing adaptations or performance?
If you're in the middle of a tournament, say, rugby sevens, ice baths are a legitimate tool.
Yes, they may blunt training adaptations, but you don't really care about that.
You just care about performing and getting your legs fresh for the next day.
But we know they do blunt training adaptations. So if you're chasing adaptations in the middle of a training block, these shouldn't be something you rely on.
Your main tool will be quality sleep and nutrition - as everyone knows.
But probably most importantly - quality load management.
Load management doesn't always mean doing less.
It just means pushing yourself a bit beyond what you're capable of.
So you build your capacity over time. But not spiking volume that drastically increases your injury risk.
In athletes, this takes a lot of maturity.
Because it's easy to optimize for short-term results instead of playing the long-term game.
But fundamentally, good load management is the most important part of recovery.
What does “train like an athlete” actually mean?
“Train like an athlete, not a bodybuilder’ has become a buzzword on social media
Usually followed by:
Random, underloaded strength exercises
Thousands of low level plyometrics (that aren’t doing much)
Or, worst of all, fascia training nonsense.
But training like an athlete actually looks more like this:
Build the car
Develop the raw physical abilities of:
Speed
Strength
Size
Conditioning
Change-of-direction
Etc.
It’s far less sexy than it seems.
Basic training methods, progressed properly, for a painfully long period of time. No short cuts.
Develop driver
You can have the body of a Ferrari, but if you can’t drive it, you’ll still crash.
I see too many athletes obsess over improving their physical qualities while forgetting the main thing:
Getting better at their sport.
Technical skill.
Tactical understanding.
Decision-making.
Thousands of hours of practice.
I saw GSP hit his first 2 plate bench the other day. Elite athletes aren’t always as impressive in the gym as you think. They’re just masters of their craft.
The gym should help you become a better athlete.
It shouldn’t become your sport.
Here are 24 conditioning sessions you can steal 👇
Most contact athletes I know need a bigger engine.
But their legs are already getting hammered by sport, sprints + gym work.
So adding MORE running isn’t always the answer.
24. Autoregulated Glycolytic
Max 5 × 60s
VERY HARD
2 min easy
Stop when distance drops below 90% of rep 1.
Target: keep every rep within 10% of your best.















