Olympic Champion Michael Johnson counts on his strength to explode out of the blocks in the 200 and 400 meter sprint.

Super Bowl champion Brett Favre's strength has led him to be one of the top quarterbacks in NFL history.

Strength is the universal requirement of all athletes in every sport. Strength is the essential ingredient to your success as an athlete. Strength is a misunderstood principle in the world or sports and athletics. Your development of strength must be carefully planned and executed. If not, you could be harming your potential rather than realizing it.

Strength is not just a word that bodybuilders, powerlifters, and weightlifters toss around. Some strengths are less important than others as it relates to your sport. The common denominator among all peak performance athletes, is a higher than average level of sport-specific strengths. You must focus on developing the specific combination of strength required of your sport.

• Limit Strength
• Speed Strength
• Anaerobic Strength
• Aerobic Strength
• Mental Strength

Just as you need a combination to open a lock, you need to find your combination of strength to increase your potential as an athlete.

The first step is to achieve a solid base of physical strength - limit strength. This is where a good coach, mentor, or trainer is invaluable to help you locate and build upon your weak areas.

Strength is simple the ability to exert force against an object - strength has five components. All of them working together in the right combination is critical to success in any sport. These five 'strengths' are known as the Pentagon of Strength, and are as follows:

Limit Strength

Limit strength is the amount of musculoskeletal force one can generate for a single, all-out effort. This type of strength is usually built in the weight room. Although there are ways to build limit strength on the tennis court, football field, track, etc.

An adequate level of limit strength must be developed to reach higher levels of speed strength, anaerobic strength, and aerobic strength. And as you make an increase in any of your physical strengths, your mental strength is raised because of an increase in confidence. Therefore limit strength is the foundation of an athlete.

With too much focus on limit strength, one might end up adding 10 lbs. of muscle mass that could create problems - as tennis player Andre Agassi did a few years ago. And his career was hurt because of it as he slipped to number 142 in the world. When he committed to sport-specific muscle strength his career took off again.

You probably want great limit strength in your calves and thighs (hamstrings and quadriceps), a strong upper body (yet not bulky), and a strong, flexible trunk (abdominal and erector muscles).

Speed Strength

The Russians believed that 'speed is everything,' and they produced some of the best athletes and training methods the world has ever seen. Speed strength is critical to most anaerobic athletes. Speed strength is the application of force with velocity. Movements that employ 'fast-twitch' muscle fibers characterize speed strength. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are those that respond rapidly but fatigue quickly. Speed strength is of two types:

Starting Strength -The ability to 'turn on' many muscle fibers (muscle cells) instantaneously determines your starting speed strength. Throwing a 100 mph fast ball is an activity requiring starting speed strength. Tennis players Greg Rusedski and Mark Phillippousses have tremendous starting speed strength that is very apparent in their 140 mph, and above, serves.

Explosive Strength - Once your muscle fibers are 'turned on,' the ability to leave them on is a function of your explosive speed strength. The five-yard acceleration to a soccer ball is an example of explosive speed strength. Explosiveness occurs just after the 'starting' of an activity requiring speed. Linebackers in football, tennis players, and sprinters all require a high explosive speed strength.

Anaerobic Strength

The word 'anaerobic' means without oxygen. If your muscles do not need oxygen supplied to them during an activity, you are performing an 'anaerobic' activity. You need oxygen to survive, so when you have completed the 'anaerobic' activity, you repay your muscles by breathing hard. This is when you pay back your body for the 'debt' of oxygen. Because of this, a 5-10 yard sprint is much more of an anaerobic activity than an 'aerobic' activity. 'Anaerobic' endurance is made of two characteristics:

Linear anaerobic endurance - Linear means that the same movement is done repeatedly, like a weightlifter doing 10 repetitions on the squat rack. The ability to sustain all-out running speed, as Carl Lewis does in the 100-meter sprint, is an example of linear anaerobic endurance. Even the elite sprinters, like Carl Lewis or Ben Johnson, fatigue in the latter half of a 100-meter sprint. The degree to which they tire is a measure of their anaerobic endurance.

Non-Linear anaerobic endurance -The ability to play tennis with exceeding explosiveness for the length of a tennis match is a measure of non-linear anaerobic endurance. The tennis players with the best five-set victory records have a high non-linear anaerobic endurance.

Aerobic Strength

Aerobic strength is critical to all athletes. It is the critical factor to a marathon runner. Unlike 'anaerobic,' the term 'aerobic' means with oxygen. The efficiency to which you are able to feed your working muscles with oxygen and relieve them of the metabolic waste products that accumulate is your cardiovascular endurance. Just like 'anaerobic' strength, your aerobic strength is comprised of two categories:

Linear aerobic endurance - An example of an 'aerobic' activity is running a marathon, or rowing a boat. Any repetitive movement done all-out and recurrently, such as a running stride in a marathon, is a linear aerobic movement.

Non-linear aerobic endurance - An 'aerobic' activity with frequent time interruptions, like in a fast paced soccer or basketball game. A non-linear aerobic activity can take place over a three-hour time frame with frequent stops and starts, which may be comprised of running, kicking, jumping, etc.

Mental Strength

Mental strength is your essential key to becoming a better than average athlete. Your mental strength is based on two principles:

The ability to be calm and relaxed in all situations;

Keeping the conscious mind from becoming involved with the process. This is sometimes referred to as 'thinking too much.'

To monitor your own mental strength, ask yourself provocative questions such as;

• "Do little things aggravate me?" Or "Am I easily frenzied?"

• "Am I able to concentrate single mindedly on the task at hand?

• "Do I say things to myself such as, 'If I don't start fast, I'll lose." Causing myself to lose focus easily.

Because of the mental strength needed, sports can be up to 90 percent mental at the higher levels of competition. Not everyone will be competing at these levels, although most would like to achieve a higher level of success; which you will when you understand and train your five strengths.