Training Principles
Why do people get involved in physical activity?
People get involved in exercise for a number of reasons: to improve their health and physical condition, to achieve a sporting ambition, to relive the tension and stress of daily life, to loose weight, it makes them feel good. Participating in sport encourages co-operation in team sports, develops the element of competitiveness, provides a physical challenge and the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.
Principles of Training
Training to improve an athlete's performance obeys the principles of training: specificity, overload, recovery, adaptation and reversibility.
Specificity
To improve the range of movement for a particular joint action, you have to perform exercises that involve that joint action. It is quite possible for an athlete to have good mobility in the shoulder joint but to have poor hip mobility. Conducting shoulder mobility exercises may further improve the shoulder mobility but it will not affect hip mobility.
In addition to developing general levels of all round mobility in an athlete, coaches need to consider the specific mobility requirements of a given event. The coach can analyse the technique of his/her event, identify which joint actions are involved and determine which need to be improved in terms of the range of movement. A thrower, for example, might require improvements in his/her shoulder and spine mobility. A hurdler might need to develop his/her hip mobility.
The amount and nature of the mobility training required by each athlete will vary according to the individual athlete's event requirements and his/her individual range of movement for each joint action. It may be necessary to measure the range of movement for particular joint actions to determine the present range and future improvement.
Specificity is an important principle in strength training, where the exercise must be specific to the type of strength required, and is therefore related to the particular demands of the event. The coach should have knowledge of the predominant types of muscular activity associated with his/her particular event, the movement pattern involved and the type of strength required. Although specificity is important, it is necessary in every schedule to include exercises of a general nature (e.g. power clean, squat). These exercises may not relate too closely to the movement of any athletic event but they do give a balanced development and provide a strong base upon which highly specific exercise can be built.
To use heavy throwing implements or weighted belts may seem the obvious solution to the specificity problem, but it is probable that by doing so the athlete will unconsciously develop compensatory movements in his/her technique in adjusting to the new weight. Most authorities consider that in the throwing events the training implement should be kept within 15% of the competition weight.
Can we be specific in the speed of movement? Training at low velocity increases low velocity strength substantially but has little effect on high velocity strength (Coyle and Fleming, 1980).
Is there then any justification for slow velocity strength training for athletes who have to perform movements at great speed? Yes. Slow velocity training may be of value in stimulating maximum adaptation within the muscle. Muscle growth (and increase in contractile strength) is related to the amount of tension developed within the muscle (Goldberg, 1975). When an athlete performs high velocity strength work, the force he/she generates is relatively low and therefore fails to stimulate substantial muscular growth. If performed extensively the athlete may not be inducing maximum adaptation with the muscles. It is important therefore for the athlete to use fast and slow movements to train the muscles.
Overload
When an athlete performs a mobility exercise, he/she should stretch to the end of his/her range of movement. In active mobility, the end of the range of movement is known as the active end position. Improvements in mobility can only be achieved by working at or beyond the active end position.
- Passive exercises involve passing the active end position, as the external force is able to move the limbs further than the active contracting of the protagonist muscles
- Kinetic mobility (dynamic) exercises use the momentum of the movement to bounce past the active end position
A muscle will only strengthen when forced to operate beyond its customary intensity. The load must be progressively increased in order to further adaptive responses as training develops, and the training stimulus is gradually raised. Overload can be progressed by:
- increasing the resistance e.g. adding 5kg to the barbell
- increasing the number of repetitions with a particular weight
- increasing the number of sets of the exercise (work)
- increasing the intensity- more work in the same time, i.e. reducing the recovery periods
Recovery
Rest is required in order for the body to recover from the training and to allow adaptation to take place.
Adaptation
The body will react to the training loads imposed by increasing its ability to cope with those loads. Adaptation occurs during the recovery period after the the training session is completed.
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If exercises lasting less than 10 seconds (ATP-CP energy system) are repeated with a full recovery (approximately 3 to 5 minutes) then an adaptation in which stores of ATP and CP in the muscles are increased. This means more energy is available more rapidly and increases the maximum peak power output. If overloads are experienced for periods of up to 60 seconds, with a full recovery, it is found that glycogen stores are enhanced. |
The most noticeable effect of weight training with heavy loads on fast twitch muscle fibres is larger and stronger muscles (hypertrophy).
Reversibility or Detraining
Improved ranges of movement can be achieved and maintained by regular use of mobility exercises. If an athlete ceases mobility training, his/her ranges of movement will decline over time to those maintained by his/her other physical activities.
When training ceases the training effect will also stop. It gradually reduces at approximately one third of the rate of acquisition (Jenson and Fisher, 1972). Athletes must ensure that they continue strength training throughout the competitive period, although at a much reduced volume, or newly acquired strength will be lost
Detraining risk for athletes
The effects of a long period of inactivity on physical fitness comes from a UK case study of an Olympic rower, who took more than 20 weeks to fully recover his fitness after an eight-week lay-off.
Reference: 'The detraining and retraining of an elite rower: a case study', J Sci Med Sport 2005;8;3:314-320
Although the athlete in question took the time off in response to the need for a physical and mental break rather than because of illness and injury, this case study has clear implications for injured athletes.
The athlete, an elite heavyweight male rower and current Olympic champion, allowed himself the luxury of eight weeks of inactivity after competing in the Sydney Olympic Games in September 2000. His fitness was assessed by means of a lab-based incremental rowing test on four separate occasions: eight weeks before the Olympics; after eight weeks of inactivity; after eight weeks of retraining; and after a further 12 weeks of training.
The key findings were as follows: After eight weeks' detraining
- V02peak had decreased by 8%. After eight weeks of retraining it had increased by only 4%, returning to just below pre-Olympic values after a further 12 weeks;
- Power at peak oxygen consumption fell from a pre-Olympic value of 546W to 435W - a reduction of 20%. After eight weeks' retraining it had increased by 15%, resuming pre-Olympic values after a further 12 weeks;
- Power at reference blood lactate concentrations declined by 27%, but returned to just below or just above pre-Olympic levels after 20 weeks' retraining.
The researchers recommend that training programs should limit periods of complete inactivity to no more than two to three weeks. Prolonged periods of inactivity should be avoided and the training programme should incorporate some form of "maintenance" training where a prolonged break is desired.
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PeriodisationMaking sure you peak at exactly the right time is one of the most challenging and frustrating aspects of competitive sport. Periodisation: planning your training for peak performance draws on recently published sports research into the science of timing your training and condition so you are at your very best on the day. |
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RecoveryContrary to popular belief, training per se does not make you stronger, faster or fitter. Those benefits only come afterwards, during recovery, when adaptation takes place. No matter how hard you train, without adequate recovery you not only squander your hard training effort – you also struggle to recuperate for your next session. |
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Associated Pages
The following Sports Coach pages should be read in conjunction with this page:
Associated Books
The following books provide more information related to this topic:
- The Successful Coach, P. Crisfield et al., ISBN 0 947850 16 3
- USA Track and Field Coaching Manual, J.L. Rogers, ISBN0 88011 604 8
- Strength Training for Coaches, B. Pauletto, ISBN 0 88011 371 5
- Mental Skills - An Introduction for Sports Coaches, C. Sellars, ISBN 0 947850 34 1
- Advanced Studies in Physical Education and Sport, P Beashel et al., ISBN 0 17 4482345
- Physical Education and the Study of Sport, B. Davis et al., ISBN 0 7234 31752
- Essentials of Exercise Physiology, W.D. McArdle et al., ISBN 0 683 30507 7
- Physical Education and Sport Studies, D. Roscoe et al., ISBN 1 901424 20 0
- The World of Sport Examined, P. Beashel et al., ISBN 0 17 438719 9
- Advanced PE for Edexcel, F. Galligan et al., ISBN 0 435 50643 9
- Examining Physical Education, K. Bizley, ISBN 0 435 50660 9
- Sport and PE, K Wesson et al., ISBN 0 340 683821
- PE for you, J. Honeybourne, ISBN 0 7487 3277 2