"No matter what your sport or your age, in the off-season, general conditioning with weights should take first priority," explains [Johnny Parker]. "Be ready to spend at least an hour a day several days a week, going easy one day, hard the next while working on different body parts." During the season Parker recommends scaling back weight training to twice a week. "Depending on your sport, either lift before or after practice, and for maximum performance, don't do any weight training forty-eight hours before your event or game."

Free weights, either dumbells or barbells, are not fixed to any machine, so you are free to move them through your body's range of motion. Free weights are the preferred choice of most highly trained athletes because little-used synergist or "supporter" muscles are called upon to assist larger muscles in supporting, blancing and stablizing the weights. By strengthening these auxiliary muscles, you can develop more explosive power.

Weight-training programs are generally the same for men and women. Women can make significant strength gains if they follow a carefully monitored program. Because women lack significant levels of testosterone, the naturally produced tissue-building hormone, they will not develop the oversized muscles that men do. Instead, they'll develop a firm, well-contoured figure. Still, many women are hesitant because they are afraid of developing huge muscles. "I try to explain to the women that it takes an awful lot of lifting for a woman to look like a man," says [Ramona Petty]. "Once a woman is convinced of this and finally gets started with the weights, I've yet to find one who didn't like what weight training did for her body."