Principles of training

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While Dublin City Marathon is coming this weekend, some of us are planning our new season. I thought some of the tools in this article might help you to do so.

Rest and Regeneration

It is during rest and recovery that gains are made as the body supercompensates for the stress accumulated in training. Without adequate rest and periods of regeneration, performance may stagnate or even decline.

• Schedule a minimum of one 24-36 hour period with no training during the week.
• Adhere to the guidelines for recovering the various energy systems. E.g. a high intensity hill climbing session will require a longer recovery time than a moderate aerobic session
• Ensure training plans include unloading weeks; time to recover both physically and psychologically that includes easier practices and different activities.
• Schedule a transition or off-season every year that lasts 2-4 weeks that does not involve any formal training (athletes can still cross train for enjoyment)
• Include activities in the training plan that promote rest and recovery. E.g. flexibility. Breathing and relaxation exercises (e.g. yoga, meditation, mental skills); massage, hot-cold treatment; water therapies and so on.
• Encourage athletes to consume adequate nutrients. Proper nutrition aids recovery.

Overload and progression

Overload involves stressing physiological systems beyond a normal level. Improvements in fitness can only be achieved if greater than previous demands are made on the energy system being trained. Training must place a demand on the body system if desired adaptations are to take place. The rate of improvement is related to 3 factors, namely:
Frequency (F) Increasing the number of sessions or repetitions Intensity (I) Increasing the pace (or resistance) of the activity, Volume (V) Increasing the duration (time) or distance of the activity.

Progression involves a combination of overload and rest-regeneration. Once adaptations are made to training, then the training must be increased or changed, the F, I, V of activities may all be modified. The degree to which they are modified depends on many variables such as: athlete’s age, strengths, weaknesses, stage of development, response to training, experience level, requirements of the sport.

Recommended range of increase for F, I, or V is 5% to 15% depending on the situation. Be cautious about changing more than one of these variables of the same time. E.g. increasing the time (or volume) of an activity and adding a speed session (intensity) will compound the progression an may cause too much overload.

The diagram below illustrates the interplay between rest-regeneration, overload, and progression. The black line is the body’s response to training. A progressive training stimulus causes the body to break down and fatique. If training is followed by sufficient rest and regeneration then the body builds back stronger than it was prior to the training stimulus (supercompensation).

Training stimulus occurs at that point and offers sufficient overload and progression then the body will repeat the cycle. If the training stimulus is too extreme or begun too soon then the body will continue to break down and performance will suffer. If the training stimulus is too small or begun too late, (too long after supercompensation) then the body will return to its original state and improvement will not occur.

Idealy the progression will go through an adaptation phase then surcompensate, If you over trained or try to reach a higher load than yoru body can take then you will crash !

Or you progress as the grafic below demonstrate :

Specificity

The outcomes of training are directly related to the activity employed as a training stimulus. Swim training will improve swim performance. Run training will improve run performance. There is some transfer of cardiovascular and core stability across a variety of activities. However, in most cases, training does not transfer across sports, activities, and even techniques within a sport. For example, cycling long miles on flat roads is unlikely to improve performance on a hilly race course at a higher intensity. Training must meet the demands of the sport – technically, physiologically, tactically, mentally)
Training is specific to

• Muscle groups and joint angles (range of movement)
• Metabolic demands (energy systems, intensity)
• Mode of activity, sport – e.g. swimming vs running. Terrain – e.g. hilly versus flat.

Specificity also refers to ‘training for the demands of competition’. For example: specific training for triathlon should include brick workouts that simulate the order of sports in a race: cycling after swimming and running after cycling.

Variation

Just as athletes’training and programme need to be specific, they also need to include variety of each technique, energy system, workout, and sport trained. Why? Variety…….

• Helps athletes maintain interest in the programme
• Helps prepare athletes for the possible events, changes, and situations in a race. For example, if an individual always trains alone, they may be ill prepared for swimming in a crowd of flailing athletes
• Prevents injury by allowing the body to adapt to a more diverse range of movements, workouts, intensities, and terrains
• Allows for optimal adaptation, E.g. following hard sessions with easy sessions and loading periods with unloading periods permits the cycle of regeneration to occur.
Try varying: direction of movements, speed of movements, location of practices (venue), terrain (e.g. hills), length of intervals and periods of loading-unloading.

Individuality

Every athlete responds differently to training. No 2 athletes are alike. Athletes vary in physical size, shape, physiological strengths, temperament, psychology, and more.
A programme that allows one athlete to perform a personal best at the National Championships may cause another athlete to ‘burn-out’ or get injured.
The training plans must address individual differences to ensure maximum gain.

Online programs, club programs, must be adjusted according to individual needs.

Everyone has ceiling or genetic limit for performance, As athletes get closer to their peak potential, the rate of improvement slows down. Training can modify an athlete’s genetic limit to some degree, but only in smaller and smaller increments as they improve. For example 2 athletes run 40 minutes for 10km. One athlete is new to the sport and is a ‘natural’ runner. The other athlete has been training for 5 years and is a stronger in others sports. At the end of the year, the new athlete is running 37 minutes for 10k while the experienced athlete is still running 40min.

Readiness and adaptability

The body requires a certain amount of time and training in order to adapt.

If you rush the process, you will risk illness, injury or both. (see above picture)

The best you can do is prescribe a sensible programme with patient progress in order to achieve measurable adaptations. This is particularly important when coaches read guidelines for developing physical and psychological abilities. A source may say’it takes 8 weeks to develop an aerobic base at the beginning of the season’. However, an athlete who has been training for 8 years may not require as long a period. Likewise, a new athlete may need a longer period, and more aerobic base throughout the entire season, not just at the outset.

Tendons, ligaments, muscles, bones, etc. need to adjust to the stresses imposed by new activities. If necessary adaptations are not allowed to rake place, injury can result. Coaches must also take psychological adaptation into account. The mind requires time to adjust to changes in physical training regimes and progression in mental skills training. Some athletes will be able to deal with change more easily than others. Conditioning programs should begin with performance criteria that are within the athlete’s limits. The athlete should be allowed time to gradually adapt to changes in activities and intensity level.

Maintenance and Reversibility

If the training load is not increased, performance will stagnate or stay the same. “Use it or Lose it”.

When a training stimulus is removed or reduced, performance stagnates an may eventually revert to original levels (reversibility). With intensity held constant, aerobic fitness can be maintained at a lower frequency and volume of training than what was required to improve aerobic fitness. If an athlete stops training, performance declines begin within one week.

Note: some athletes may want to do train for lifestyle and fitness reasons, opposed to performance improvement. Therefore, maintenance may be a goal for some athletes.

Sebastien Locteau

First published on runireland.com 30/10/2011