Most people start off with Tudor Bompa’s Periodization or, in this country, Frank Dick’ssports training principles when learning about periodisation. They cover the basis premise about modulating volume and intensity over a period of time to allow overload and adaptation to take place.
The problem is that these theories have been taken from predominantly single energy system sports such as shot putt or marathon running, in events that have one or two relatively short seasons a year.
Trying to reverse engineer these concepts into multiple sprint field sports that have very long seasons with very short off seasons doesn’t really work.
There has been a paucity of research that compares different periodisation strategies with each other compared with a control group who do standard training.
As a result, coaches either stick to linear periodisation, or 1 or 2 variations within this theme (myself included). There is a need for decent research that analyses what aspects of periodisation would be most useful at different stages of an athlete’s career and also for different parts of the season.
At present it appears that any periodisation- linear, daily undulating, weekly undulating, accumulation and intensification- works on beginners in strength training. It may be true to say that experienced athletes may benefit more from periodisation of modality and intensity with less manipulation of volume.
A few years ago I put together a 4 year plan for young athletes looking at overall themes of training, rather than detailed session plan. As Gary Winckler points out, there i sno point in planning in detail more than 2 weeks ahead, because things change too much.
As Von Clausewitz said “No plan survives contact with the enemy“.
Periodisation is great as an overarching principle, but is must be flexible and adaptable.
This presentation at GAIN in June 2014 covered the training design concepts that work for him and also how he has evolved his coaching.
Training Do’s
The most important factor is the performance requirement of the athlete. This is different from the performance goal. Once you know that, then it is essential that you look at ways of positively influencing that requirement.
Talk with the athlete about goals/ factor of the process, rather than how fast do you need to run. This means as a coach that you need to clearly understand the performance requirements.
Write them down! Then look at when your top performance needs to be achieved.
Evaluate the strengths/weaknesses of the athlete in light of these performance requirements. Can positive changes in the key performance factors be realistically achieved in the short or long term?
What will be required? Train to the athlete’s strengths as this will provide better and more consistent results.
So far, so good.
Devil is in the detail
James practising hip heists with Gary in the background
Do you understand the skills needed to bring about changes in performance? Can you design exercises that positively impact these skills? What exercises exist that I can use?
What exercises can I develop to most efficiently translate skills into performance?
This is what distinguishes Gary: he works from the top down. (Compare that to the current UK paradigm of learning 2 exercises and then reverse engineering how they improve performance.)
Once you have got this set of exercises look to perform them better today than you did yesterday.
Eliminate conflicting training stimuli: it may result in confused adaptations. For example if you have a speed development theme, then every exercise should lead into that or help develop that.
Understand the long/ short term adaptation to prescribed exercises with respect to Overload, Reversibility and Recovery. Does my exercise presrcription adhere to these principles?
“You can destroy a session by pushing that 1 rep too many“
Evaluate
James helping a young hockey player
Constant tweaking of the session and exercises is necessary. “Does the athlete make the bridge between exercise and performance”? If they fail to improve performance, then why are those exercises in place?
Evaluation is a constant: keep good records and take notes.
Design training cycles that appropriately balance general and specific exercises. Too much specificity can halt adaptation. Too much general work can detract from performance.
Training Don’ts
Invest too much time in creating annual periodisation plansas they never end up working in reality. Instead look at the overall theme and then plan the microcyle in detail.
Design the training programme without understanding the current goals.
Get caught up in linear models for training volumes and intensities. A consistent application of volume is necessary for building and stabilising performance. An excessive amount of time dedicated to building volume leads to a decrease in performance.
(I find that with UK athletes, volume appears to be the prime directive. They are often given advice like “you must run 4 times a week” or “swim 8 hours a week” with little thought given to what happens within those sessions.)
Manipulating Intensity, Density and Volume
Gary gave some insights into how he does plan his training. He said that volume in speed/ power programmes has little variation.
Instead “the volume is dictated by the quality of execution demanded by a performance objective”.
Intensity is the degree of difficulty of the session and is expressed as a % of 100. Quality, however, is a % of perfect. Are you aiming for intensity of quality?
Density is the training frequency of a particular stimulus. This directly affects the training load. In order to enhance technical development, a number of smaller doses that are prescribed more frequently is better.
Complexity is the co -ordinative demand (related to intensity) of an exercise or sequence of exercises.
By manipulating these variables correctly, Gary stated that planned restoration is built into the training plan, rather than having to be put in as an extra. He and Vern Gambetta both expressed an opinion that Overtraining did not occur in Speed/ Power athletes (I have to disagree on this having had personal experience of the effects of huge volumes of intense training under stress).
Gary finished by talking about individualisation of training. This can take many forms by varying: sets, distances run, reps, weights, altering heights of boxes or exercise choices.
Low intensity training is safe for groups. High intensity training must be individual.
Summary
It was a privilege to listen to Gary and get the chance to ask him questions. This quietly spoken coach has bags of experience, knowledge and wisdom. He was happy to share this over the course of the conference in his sessions and in the down periods. Really invaluable insights.
I have taken his advice from 2 years ago and applied it in the speed training I do with our athletes. I have used this training design advice already in preparing athletes for upcoming Championships. I just hope that they benefit as much as Gary’s athletes have.
“You’ve Got To Be In Top Physical Condition. Fatigue Makes Cowards Of Us All.
Vince Lombardi.
But, in order to get in top physical condition, athletes risk doing too much, resting too little and can get fatigued. This may result in overtraining.
The British Association of Sports and Exercise Medicine (BASEM) spring conference was held in Manchester on 28 March 2014. The theme was “The Fatigued Athlete”.
Speakers included experts from the fields of Sports and Exercise Medicine, nutrition, physiology, and psychology. Ute Scholl (Fencing coach and Sports Medicine Doctor) attended the day and here is her summary.
Over reaching or over training?
To attain peak performance, athletes and coaches very often tread a fine line between training hard to allow time for positive adaptation followed by recovery periods. When athletes get this balance wrong non-functional overreaching (NFOR) and ultimately overtraining syndrome (OTS) can develop.
NFOR and OTS are less of a problem in elite athletes who are monitored very closely, but are more common in athletes below elite level, especially in athletes without an experienced coach.
What are the Symptoms of Overtraining?
Symptoms of NFOR and OTS include:
Performance decrements
Persistent fatigue
Alterations in mood
Frequent illnesses
The first step when NFOR or OTS are suspected is to refer the athlete to a Doctor to exclude:
Organic diseases
Infections
Negative energy balance
Iron deficiency
Magnesium deficiency
Allergies
Insufficient sleep
Chronic fatigue syndrome
If all of these are negative NFOR or OTS are the most likely diagnosis.
How do I treat overtraining?
If the athlete presents with a brief history of NFOR complete rest is recommended in the short term and the athlete is advised to get as much sleep as possible over the next 48hrs.
If OTS has developed treatment might take weeks or months and consists of rest, attention to dietary and fluid intake and psychological support.
Prevention: the 4 Hs
Awareness of NFOR and OTS is the one of the most important component of prevention. Monitoring for the conditions is an important task for coaches and athletes alike.
The most effective means of monitoring for NFOR and OTS is self-analysis by the athlete. For a quick assessment for NFOR or OTS the coach and athlete should look out for the four H’s.
The well-adjusted athlete should be:
Healthy (no more than the usual number of infections)
Happy (no unusual mood disturbances)
Hungry
Horny (normal libido)
The athlete could keep a daily logbook in which he/she records:
The two most important components of prevention of NFOR and OTS are awareness of the problem and maintenance between training load and recovery.
Athletes who coach themselves are far more likely to be affected by NFOR or OTS. The support of an experienced coach or training partner is one of the best means of maximising performance and avoiding NFOR and OTS.
Exam season is upon us, and they may have pushed your teenager to breaking point
Overtraining is common in young athletes due to the high demand put on them by schools and sports teams.
Schools will get talented young athletes to compete in as many sports as possible and these same athletes will also train outside of school for a team they play for in one or more sports.
Recent weeks have shown us how much pressure is put on young people during exam time by parents and teachers alike.
An example week in the life of a young athlete –
Monday – P.E., School netball training
Tuesday – School hockey training, Team netball training
Wednesday – P.E., School netball match, S+C training
Thursday – School cross country, Team hockey training
Friday – School hockey training, Team netball training
Weekend – Match/tournament
What is overtraining?
Overtraining is a condition (physical, psychological and behavioural) that happens when an individual’s training regime is high in volume and intensity, and does not allow the body to recover from each training session.
Surely training more is better?
The more you train, the better you will become right? Yes, in a way, if you think training once a week won’t give you the benefits that training four/five times a week will.
But as you can see from the example week above, young athletes can train or play a match every day! In order to improve, get stronger/faster etc. the body needs torecover and adapt.
Young athletes bodies are also not fully developed, so they need rest to replenish their energy stores and grow let alone rest to allow their muscles to recover and adapt.
What are the signs of overtraining?
Signs can include –
Persistent muscle soreness
Persistent fatigue
Elevated resting heart rate
Reduced heart rate variability
Increased susceptibility to infections
Increased incidence of injuries
Irritability
Depression
Mental breakdown
(More signs and symptoms of overtraining)
What is the difference between over reaching and over training?
Over training is doing too much in your sessions over a long period of timewithout adequate recovery. Over reaching occurs over a shorter time period (like a training camp) and can be planned into your training, providing it is followed by adequate rest time.
In the short term it is impossible to differentiate between over reaching and overtraining
What can I do to make sure this doesn’t happen?
Planning, diet and sleep are all vital when it comes to preventing overtraining.
Planning – The best thing to do to keep an eye on your training is to keep a log/diary (get one free here) You can record everything if you do this. Training, intensity, volume, rest, sleeps etc. Writing it down will help you see where you can rest and recover. Planning will make sure you get this time.
Making sure your sessions are planned to so that they are progressive in a safe manner and in a way that suits your individual needs and requirements.
Diet – Getting the right nutrients into the body to support it during the recovery process will help too. Going home after a hard training session and eating a chocolate bar or packet of crisps will not support the body. Getting a good balance of protein, fats and carbohydrates will help with recovery and replenish the energy stores.
Sleep – The most important part of the day in terms of letting your body rest and recover. Lack of sleep or poor quality ofsleep will deter this process..
All three of these can be logged. Overtime, you may begin to see a pattern e.g. after a tough session in the evening, your sleep isn’t as good and it affects you the next day. Seeing these patterns and learning about your body will give your training a boost and overtraining can be prevented.
For more information download our free e-book on Overtraining here
Are you constantly suffering from colds and sniffles? Feeling run down and lethargic? Then it could be that your immune system is depressed. Matt has done some research and come up with some ideas on how to to help you.
What is the Immune System?
Anthrax bacteria being swallowed by immune system
It is a complicated defence system, made up of biological structures that protect against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. The biological structures, more specifically are made up of many types of proteins, cells, organs and tissues. These all interact in an elaborate and dynamic network. The immune system is considered vitally important because it distinguishes between its own healthy cells and tissues to allow the body to function properly.
It is the proteins mentioned above that provide immunity to certain pathogens. This immunological memory is created from a primary response to a specific pathogen and thus when the same pathogen is encountered again it is over powered. This immunity can also be acquired due to vaccinations, which is the way many children will perceive immunity.
What can go wrong?
However there is potential for disorders of the immune system, these include autoimmune, inflammatory diseases and cancer. These diseases can be caused by the immune system either being over or inactive, and it attacks itself, it can also be caused by genetic disorders. These can lead to diseases, for example AIDS.
How Does the Immune System Work?
Research has been said to show that it works reciprocally with the central nervous system (CNS). These work together to sense danger in various forms and provide the most adequate form of response. In accordance with the CNS, of which a brain is a part, the brain actually is said to act as a regulator, participating in immune response.
There has also been much research in to the ‘crosstalk’ between the immune system and the endocrine system. This basically means that at a molecular level there is much more interaction between cells, that was previously unknown. In terms of what this means for athletes, it means that the immune system can be affected at a very minute level and thus what you eat, exercise and the amount of sleep you get has even more effect than previously thought.
Greek Soldier
(This has been common knowledge for thousands of years, Plato describes it in the Republic: When considering the training of warriors (or Guardians of the Republic) Plato didn’t want them to train like athletes because;
“It’s a sluggish condition, and makes health precarious. Can’t you see how these athletes spend their lives sleeping and only need to deviate a tiny bit from their prescribed regimen to come down with serious and severe illness?”
Of little use to combat troops who could be asked to fight at a moment’s notice. Interesting that Plato spotted that athletes had depressed immune systems and were vulnerable to illness.
Diet and Sleep are key to being healthy.
Sleep is considered very important for athletes, thus the more sleep an athlete gets the more immune to disease they are, according to research. However it must be stated that if you slept all day every day, not that students would even consider this, it can have the adverse effect. A mix of between six and eight hours a night and a good training regime and diet will all help.
It is very often in the run up to a big event that an athlete can get stressed and thus cause an illness because they cannot sleep or in some instances eat. This is where an immune system boast may be important. Instead of carrying on with daily activities it may be of benefit to wrap up warmer when going outside, maintaining vitamin intake by eating fresh fruit and vegetables and going to bed earlier, in order to get rest, even if you are not sleeping for as long.
There has been research into the taking of vitamins and this is said to help but even with the ‘all in ones’ there are still limitations. By increasing your vitamin C intake and vegetable eating your immune system will improve and allow your normal daily routines to continue.
Overall it is important to maintain immunity and thus allow your body to prepare in the best way for an event. If there are any problems regarding getting ill before an event it is best to consult a doctor.
I hope this has been useful and any comments or feedback are greatly appreciated.
“Jodie can’t make training tonight because she is exhausted and worried about her homework deadlines”
A phone call, text or email late in the day from the Mum, and your plans for the night’s training session are scuppered. This is extremely frustrating as a coach. It happened to me 3 times last week alone.
In all the talk about periodisation, planning and competition preparation, the likes of Tudor Bompa and Vladimir Issurin have neglected to include the impact of the “Mom Taper”.
I have scoured the research and documents surrounding the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Model by Balyi, Cote et al and I have yet to find the “Mom Taper” mentioned.
For all the theory in the world, I am interested in what is happening on the ground. As a coach who has worked with teenage athletes and their parents for over 10 years, I have tried and failed to implement long term plans. But why does the Mom Taper trump my plans?
Put yourself in Mum’s shoes.
First off, it is important to remember that the young athlete is the Mum’s son or daughter. They will always be their child. We as coaches are temporary influences (hopefully positive) in their lives. The longest I have coached any single athlete is 7 years.
I repeat, the young athlete is the Mum’s child first and foremost.
Most Mum’s I know want the best for their child. They are busy trying to juggle work, managing the home and being the taxi driver for 2 or 3 children going to multiple venues on different nights.
They are under pressure to attend every single training session, drive to the competitions, help with homework and somehow pay for all the kit, fees and fuel. They are surviving week to week, and have little time to sit down and think ahead.
(I have to switch my phone off on Sundays, because I get a flurry of texts from about 8pm to 10pm as the Mums finally get a chance to sit down and look at the week ahead!)
This results in;
fixture overload
training conflicts
falling behind on homework assignments
poor eating habits
lack of rest.
This then leads to a short time crisis of homework panic or illness.
Is it any wonder the Mum cancels training?
(This is different from the “I don’t want Jodie getting sweaty doing exercise” version of the Mom taper:it’s impossible to taper off a taper. I have little tolerance for that!)
4 ways coaches can help prevent this problem
Realise that the world is bigger than our sport and our sessions. Ask the Mum and the athlete what else is happening in their lives.
Sit down and plan 4 weeks at a time with the Mum and athlete. This is essential and is the Number 1 reason why the athletes I work with predominantly avoid injury. This is an eye opener for coach. parent and athlete alike. (Use these free 4 weekly planners)
Be adaptable: know your athletes and adjust the sessions according to how they look and feel. They may need 10 minutes of play time and “mucking about” to get rid of the calculus residing in their brain from an exam that afternoon.
Perhaps most importantly, and hard to do, have a real honesty check about the necessity of the sessions. Do our cricketers need winter nets? Is that athlete centred, or is it cricket coach’s income stream centred? Do we have to have 6 hours of selection games on a Sunday in the rain, let alone 4 Sundays in a row. How much value is being added here?
Summary
It is easy to criticise Mums about last minute cancellations, but we as coaches need to recognise the landscape we live in (Living and coaching in Devon, I understand the amount of driving that is required too). I find that advance communication helps all parties.
Periodisation is the term given to the practice of breaking down an athlete’s conditioning plan into specific phases of training. Block periodisation is one version of this.
By varying the emphasis of the training at regular time intervals, periodisation attempts to produce optimal gains in strength, power and endurance.
Periodisation aims to optimise both short term (e.g. weeks, months) and long term (e.g. years, over a career) goals. Competitive athletes will aim to peak their physical performance for major competitions on a weekly basis (e.g. Football, Rugby) or for a major competition (e.g. Athletics, Tennis).
Although young athletes are often competing in matches and tournaments, the goal should always be long term progression and periodisation should be devised to develop quality as well as quantity of physical performance.
The training variables that can be manipulated in an attempt to optimize the training program include:
Volume of work done (e.g. sets and reps, number of sessions)
Load (e.g. heavy or light resistance)
Rest periods between exercises
Types of exercises used (e.g. platform based exercises, multi-directional movements, technique based exercises).
Does periodisation work?
Despite the popularity of periodised training, there is little research examining its efficacy. A handful of studies have examined the effectiveness of a periodised resistance training programme on increasing strength and power.
Studies lasting between 6 and 24 weeks have repeatedly shown that athletes using programmes progressing from high volume and low intensity to low volume and high intensity increased strength (load lifted) and power (vertical jump/cycling force production) compared to constant training
intensity (1,2,3,4,5,6).
Interestingly, many of these studies showed that both groups increased strength in equal amounts up until the periodisation group began a phase of lower volume.
At this point the periodisation group began to see increases in strength significantly greater than the control group.
This supports the Delayed Transformation concept which suggests that a period of low volume is needed for optimum adaptation to take place.
One major limitation of these studies is the relatively short period over which they were conducted. Future research could investigate the longitudinal effects of periodisation to determine its efficacy for long term progression.
Does Periodisation Work for Young Athletes?
A weight lifting programme for boy or girl
Periodisation for young athletes is difficult in practice. Many factors affect the ability of teenagers to attend training, not least school commitments and the increasing importance of academic achievement in society. Youngsters also rely heavily on parents for transport and funding coaching and equipment which could be barriers to regular participation.
Even on occasion when athletes are able to attend training, long school days (probably with inadequate nutrition and sleep) place a large amount strain on the body. This is not the best preparation for a training session possibly including heavy lifts or new complex techniques.
For this reason, flexibility within a training plan is vital, as is the ability of the coach to judge when to apply each exercise or training method.
Another consideration when coaching young athletes is the difference in growth and development rates(7). Individual’s rates of growth and maturation are largely unpredictable, thus making it hard to periodise a programme to peak at a specific time. This is also an important consideration when training groups of young athletes, as individuals will mature at different rates, making a progressive training programme difficult to plan.
In addition to this, periodising different phases of training may not even be necessary for a developing sportsperson. Young athletes have a high degree of neural plasticity and can therefore adapt to almost any training stimulus(8).
Even concurrently training competing physical qualities (such as maximal strength and anaerobic endurance) will result in a positive adaptation of both qualities to some extent.
Conclusion
Although Periodisation appears to be a valuable tool for maximising training of competitive athletes, rigidly sticking to a periodised plan is unrealistic for most developing athletes.
Numerous factors affect the ability of youngsters to train, affecting any opportunity to plan regular training. Physical and emotional stress of training and competing in different sports as well as juggling school work would mean adherence to a strict periodised plan could lead to overtraining and burnout.
Young athletes are also more able to adapt to multiple training stimuli, reducing the need for separate phases of training. Over time, however, as the athlete becomes better developed, training programmes should become more planned and focused.
Matt Durber
Periodisation for young athletes in practice.
At our Athletic Development Club we apply some structure and planning to the teenage athletes, in conjunction with the other sports they play.
For the younger athletes, we use a lot more guided discovery and never count sets or reps.
References
1) McGee, D., T.C. Jessee, M.H. Stone, & D. Blessing. (1992) Leg and hip endurance adaptations to three weight-training programs. J.Appl. Sport Sci. Res. 6:92–95.
2) O’Bryant, H.S., R. Byrd, & M.H. Stone. (1988) Cycle ergometer performance and maximum leg and hip strength adaptations to two different methods of weight-training. J. Appl. Sport Sci. Res. 2:27–30.
3) Stone, M.H., H. O’Bryant, & J. Garhammer. (1981) A hypothetical model for strength training. J. Sports Med. 21:342–351.
4) Stowers, T., J.McMillan, D. Scala, V. Davis, D. Wilson, & M. Stone. (1983) The short-term effects of three different strength–power training methods. Natl. Strength Cond. Assoc. J. 5:24–27.
5) Willoughby, D.S. (1992) A comparison of three selected weight training programs on the upper and lower body strength of trained males. Ann. J. Appl. Res. Coaching Athletics March:124–146.
6) Willoughby, D.S. (1993) The effects of meso-cycle-length weight training programs involving periodization and partially equated volumes on upper and lower body strength. J. Strength Cond. Res. 7:2–8.
7)Arsmtrong, N. & Welsman, J. () Training Young Athletes, In: Lee, M.J. eds. Coaching Children in Sport: Principles. pp191-203.
Any training programme for sport should consist of the following areas:
Preparation: Either planning, warming up, or getting ready to train.
Adaptation: The meat of the workout or training block. What you are trying to change physically (or sometimes mentally).
Application: In your life or sport. Change of directions, rate of force development, footwork or position specific. Putting your new food shopping and menu plan into place.
Regeneration: Mental and physical. Sleep, rest and time out from the sport. Allows you to come back ready to go again, enthused.
This can be applied to the workout, the weekly cycle, the monthly cycle and annual plans.
It’s all about balance
Each area will have different emphasis according to the time and need, but all are important and should be included to some degree.
Too much preparation work (foam roller warm ups anyone?) will not leave time/ energy for the important adaptation and application work to take place.
Too much adaptation work (must squat twice body weight?) will not leave time or energy for the application into the sport.
Too much application (sport specific) will only work in competitive situations for a short time, before burnout or injury occurs, and a decline in performance
Too much regeneration means you are detraining.
Have you reviewed your training programmes to see if you are including the 4 cornerstones in your daily, weekly, monthly and annual plans?
Vern Gambetta did a few presentations on planning training, as well as a couple on coaching itself. The overall theme was “have a plan, then work the plan”. I will cover some specifics in this blog, as well as an overall summary.
Bullet Proof The Athlete
It is important to start out with a goal. Rather than chasing some arbitrary stats, it is important to keep the athlete in shape to train, and of course to compete. This means building and rebuilding the athlete from the Ground Up.
Gambetta looks at what he calls “Foundational Legs” to get his athletes strong first. He uses fast eccentric body weight exercises (rate of 1 rep /sec) along with mini band exercises to help cause eccentric soreness which replicates demands from change of direction on the field /court. He adds load up to 30% of body weight, before moving on to other exercises.
This would include:
Single leg squat: standing, seated
Squat: regular, overhead
Lunge: regular, with reach
Step up: regular, high.
He builds up the reps from 10-12-15-18-20 or 10-15-20, depending on their development. The goal is to get 5 sets of 20. He does this 2 x week, with 2 days rest in between. The legs require more recovery than the upper body.
This is a snapshot of training planning in detail, and how a coach has come up with a plan that works.
Create a Menu of Exercises
One of the most useful insights for me was the classification of exercises, as covered by Kelvin Giles, Jack Blatherwick and again by Gambetta.
Gambetta mentioned the Doherty Strength/ Power Index (DPI) to help decide which lift is where on a scale of strength or speed.
S10 S9…….. S1
V1 V2……………V10
(See yesterday’s blog on acceleration for a similar diagram).
Then for choosing the session itself:
Classify the exercises : type of body part, movement.
Rank the Exercises: order of complexity, or difficulty.
Select the Exercises: what are you going to work on
Combine the Exercises: what complements what, super sets and so on.
In the session Gambetta uses this progression of exercises:
Remedial: waking up the body.
Ancillary: getting ready to lift.
Focus: Lifting
This was a useful way of looking at what needs to be done, providing you know what you want to achieve at the end of the session or micro cycle. Instead of “how can I fit my new exercise I learnt at the weekend into my programme?”
How to Progress your athlete
It is easy as a coach to get caught up in new “stuff”. Progressing your athlete can be done by getting them to solve movement puzzles. This helps increase efficiency.
Get a pristine movement, then create Repeatable Excellence in Movement.
Why progress something that is poor?
Why load a poor movement?
Why keep on loading a poor movement?
“Circuit training to help the movement challenge is a nonsense”.
Instead, look at increasing complexity of movements by using Puzzles that are more spcific to the sport, that involve reactions and also decision making. From working in single planes to a “neural blizzard”.
In the big scheme of things if a new idea/ process/ prescription is recommended: what are you going to sacrifice to accommodate the new unit?
Gambetta then went through different qualities that need to be developed and how. The message was that when trying to develop endurance, speed, strength or flexibility you have to:
Build the quality (efficiency of movement)
Build the Capacity (movement consistency, resilience)
Get the Improvement
Apply it
Get another Improvement
No changes are permanent or relevant unless they are applied and practiced.
Summary of the GAIN 2011
The Eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that I said I would do 5 blogs, not 6 about GAIN. Well, there was so much information and reflection that I could write an additional 5. I haven’t mentioned:
The early morning sessions in detail, applying theory into practice, some useful information there or
The Athletic Trainer type seminars on “Return to play” “Functional Anatomy” and the Physical Competence Assessment in detail.
Greg Thompson’s excellent interactive workshop on analysing and coaching throwing mechanics.
Key lessons learnt:
How the key speakers had developed a system that works and how organised they were in delivering it. This included the importance of classifying exercises.
Using a manual as a tool for organising these thoughts into practice. But not being constrained by theory/ structures and losing adaptability.
The importance of staying sharp when coaching and being innovative in your practice (different from being gimmicky). This requires planning and reflection as well.
How important coaching is when developing the Athlete.
Things that could have been better:
The evening seminars were dire. Too many people in a big group, completely unworkable. After being on the go since 0630, this could have been an opportunity for reflection, discussion and action on our own development. Part of the reason for me signing up to GAIN was to get some critical advice on how I do things from World Class coaches. There just was not the opportunity to do this.
Splitting the seminars up: The diverse backgrounds were an advantage in offering different perspectives. They were a disadvantage when trying to please everyone at the same time with the same seminars. It would have been good to offer a choice of 2 seminars for different backgrounds.
A major part of Coach learning is done through informal interactions. This could have been recognised and time allowed/ encouraged.
The future
It may still be too soon to decide whether the hefty investment of time, money and effort (from my family too) was worth it. One of the bonuses of GAIN is the ongoing learning of an online library and discussion forum. If this works out as fruitful and avoids group think, then that will help my Coaching.
Thanks to all the Faculty and the delegates for their input and thoughts.
This was one part of the Excelsior audit I have conducted this year. The bottom line is will it help me Coach our Athletes better? Thoughts always welcome.
Further reading:
If you want to develop your coaching come along to one of our courses here
Vladimir Issurin is a Coach with the Israeli Olympic Committee and Masters swimmer. His lecture compared traditional periodisation with block periodisation.
He started by comparing training and competition days between 1980-1990 and from 1991-2000 across a variety of sports.
The first decade (pre fall of Berlin wall) was characterised by more training in volume and less competition days compared to the more recent decade. So, with less preparation time, the traditional periodisation model from Mateyev with 2-3 peaks a year would not work.
Issurin said the limitations of the traditional model were the low stimulation produced by mixed training (high stimulation is needed to produce high levels of fitness) and excessive fatigue accumulation. This led to the inability to take part in many competitions.
Block periodisation is the sequence of highly concentrated specialised workouts. The mesocycles are blocks where there is a focus on a minimal number of targets and the total number of blocks is relatively small.
Anatoly Bondarchuk used:
a developmental mesocycle of 4 weeks
a competitive mesocycle of 4 weeks
a restoration mesocycle of 2 weeks
The total duration of this training stage was 9-10 weeks.
(Two of my colleagues at GAIN Martin Bingisser and Nick Garcia use the Bondarchuk method of training and they refute Issurin’s understanding of it.)
What it looks like in Practice
Accumulation: basic motor/ technical abilities, aerobic endurance (necessary to combat stress hormones post competition).
Transmutation: specific motor/ technical abilities, anaerobic endurance, specific endurance, technical well controlled work. Here the athlete will be fatigued, so the mesocycle must be short- 3 weeks is optimal.
Realisation: Tapering, full restoration. speed. This part should not be longer than 2 weeks.
This would then be repeated throughout the year depending on the competition schedule.
Conclusion
Issurin was quite adamant that mixed training doesn’t work, it leads to an imbalance in homoeostasis and the body can’t cope with the stress hormones.
From personal experience I would concur with those conclusions- the exceptions being with junior athletes who are using low levels of intensity and are just getting fit through accumulation of total work.
There are some interesting points in this lecture, but I thought the delivery was over long and there was some repetition. It wasn’t really ground breaking as this information has been available for some time.
Gary gave some insights into how he does plan his training. He said that volume in speed/ power programmes has little variation.
Vince Lombardi.
The two most important components of prevention of NFOR and OTS are awareness of the problem and maintenance between training load and recovery.
Overtraining is common in young athletes due to the high demand put on them by schools and sports teams.
Signs can include –
A phone call, text or email late in the day from the Mum, and your plans for the night’s training session are scuppered. This is extremely frustrating as a coach. It happened to me 3 times last week alone.
First off, it is important to remember that the young athlete is the Mum’s son or daughter. They will always be their child. We as coaches are temporary influences (hopefully positive) in their lives. The longest I have coached any single athlete is 7 years.
Realise that the world is bigger than our sport and our sessions. Ask the Mum and the athlete what else is happening in their lives.
Interestingly, many of these studies showed that both groups increased strength in equal amounts up until the periodisation group began a phase of lower volume.
