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Athletic Development
The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning
312 Pages
Athletic Development offers a rare opportunity to learn and apply a career full of knowledge from the best. World-renowned strength and conditioning coach Vern Gambetta condenses the wisdom he's gained through more than 40 years of experience of working with athletes across sports, age groups, and levels of competition, including members of the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, and U.S. men's 1998 World Cup soccer team.
The result is an information-packed, myth-busting explanation of the most effective methods and prescriptions in each facet of an athlete's physical preparation. Gambetta includes never-before-published and ready-to-use training approaches in
- sport-specific demands analysis,
- work capacity enhancements,
- movement skills development,
- long- and short-term training program progressions, and
- rest and regeneration techniques.
Athletic Development explains what works, what doesn't, and why. Gambetta's no-nonsense approach emphasizes results that pay off in the competitive season and reflect his work at the highest echelons of sport. Merging principles of anatomy, biomechanics, and exercise physiology with sports conditioning applications and four decades of professional practice, this is the definitive guide to performance-enhancing training.
Part I. Elements of a Training System
Chapter 1. A Functional Conditioning Framework
Chapter 2. Factors Affecting Athletic Movement
Chapter 3. Sport-Specific Demands Analysis
Chapter 4. Options and Methods of Testing
Chapter 5. Strategies for Performance Training
Chapter 6. Program Planning and Fine-Tuning
Part II. Physical Contributors to Performance
Chapter 7. Energy and Work Capacity
Chapter 8. Movement Aptitude and Balance
Chapter 9. The Critical Body Core
Chapter 10. Full-Spectrum Strength
Chapter 11. Integrated Power Training
Chapter 12. Linear and Multidimensional Speed
Chapter 13. Multi-Phase Performance Preparation
Chapter 14. Recovery and Regeneration
Vern Gambetta is currently the director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems. He served as the director of athletic development for the New York Mets (2004-2005), speed and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Mutiny major league soccer team (1996, 1997, and 1999), conditioning consultant to the U.S. men's 1998 World Cup soccer team and the New England Revolution (1998), and director of conditioning for the Chicago White Sox. Gambetta has also worked with the Canadian men's and women's national basketball teams and the Chicago Bulls. Recognized internationally as an expert in training and conditioning for sport, Gambetta has lectured extensively and conducted clinics in Canada, Japan, Australia, and Europe.
"What a thrill it is to gain easy access to Vern Gambetta's years of research, experience, and expertise! The detailed descriptions and photos in Athletic Development show exactly how to apply the conditioning drills and exercises to your own training program. Use this book to train your athletes to their maximum potential."
Anson Dorrance
Women's Head Soccer Coach
University of North Carolina
18 National Championships
"Vern Gambetta's new book is his magnum opus of sport training. This book takes on the most difficult task of blending state-of-the-art science with practical application. The effort is both elegant and easily usable. This book will be a classic among top coaches."
William A. Sands, PhD
Head of Sport Biomechanics and Engineering
U.S. Olympic Committee, Sport Science
"Work capacity, strength, speed, agility, quickness, plyometrics, coordination, skill, and program design have never been presented in a more intelligent and useable manner. Vern Gambetta has written the blueprint to creating successful athletes."
Tim Lang
Strength and Conditioning Coach
DePaul University
"Athletic Development is an excellent presentation of Vern Gambetta's time-tested methods. It will help coaches design sport-specific programs that get results. Apply the information in this book and watch your athletes succeed!"
Jose Vazquez
Head Strength Coach
Texas Rangers
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Defining supercompensation training
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body’s subsequent adaptation to that stress.
The body is always seeking to maintain a state of homeostasis so it will constantly adapt to the stress from its environment. Training is simply the manipulation of the application of stress and the body's subsequent adaptation to that stress to maintain homeostasis. The adaptation that occurs is fairly predictable. In training the desired adaptive response is called supercompensation.
The supercompensation model is still the most straightforward representation of the training process. I use it as a conceptual basis for the construction of my training sessions and microcycles as well as construction of mesocycles. The process is predictable and quantifiable once you have developed your training system.
Supercompensation is a four-step process. The first step is the application of a training or loading stress and the body's subsequent reaction to this training stress, which is fatigue or tiring. There is a predictable drop-off in performance because of that stress. Step 2 is the recovery phase. This can be a lighter training session, a recovery session, or active rest. As a result of the recovery period, the energy stores and performance will return to the baseline (state of homeostasis) represented by the point of the application of the original training stress. Step 3 is the supercompensation phase. This is the adaptive rebound above the baseline; it is described as a rebound response because the body is essentially rebounding from the low point of greatest fatigue. This supercompensation effect is not only a physiological response but also a psychological and technical response. The last step in the process is the loss of the supercompensation effect. This decline is a natural result of the application of a new training stress, which should occur at the peak of supercompensation. If no training stress is applied, there will also be a decline. This is the so-called detraining phenomenon.
Different physical qualities respond at different rates, so it is misleading to think that there's one generalized supercompensation curve. Essentially each physical quality has its own individual supercompensation curve. These differences in timing for supercompensation are due to the duration of the various biological regeneration processes that take place during the recovery phase. The replenishment of creatine phosphate will take only a few seconds to a couple of minutes to return to normal levels, but the glycogen-reloading process in the muscle may last 24 hours; in some cases, it may last even longer. The production of new enzymes (proteins) may also take hours, sometimes even days, to complete (Olbrecht 2000). The art is designing these curves of adaptation so that they coincide at the proper time. Working out the timing of the various components is possibly the most difficult aspect of planning. It is as much an art as it is a science. The best way to perfect this is with practice.
In supercompensation the athlete can handle the same training load or a greater load with ease in the subsequent workouts if recovery is adequate and the new stress is timed properly. This adaptive phenomenon is an ongoing wavelike process. If all the variables are manipulated correctly and the proper ratio of work to recovery is achieved, the result is a continually rising sinusoidal curve pointed toward higher-level performance.
To ensure supercompensation, the athlete must be healthy. The training volume, intensity, and frequency must be appropriate for the particular athlete. If training is too intense, the athlete will struggle to get back to baseline, and no supercompensation will occur. If training is too easy, there will be very little adaptive response. If extremely easy training is continued over several training cycles, then the principle of reversibility will take effect. Simply stated, the principle of reversibility is “use it or lose it.” If the training load is adequate and the timing of the application of the training stress is correct, then a supercompensation effect will occur.
There is another theory regarding the process of adaptation to the stress of training; it is called the two-factor, or fitness fatigue, theory. “According to the two-factor theory of training, the time intervals between consecutive training sessions should be selected so that all the negative traces of the preceding workout pass out of existence but the positive fitness gain persists” (Zatsiorsky 1995,
p. 15). The premise is that the fitness effect of training is slow changing and long lasting while the fatigue effect of training is of shorter duration but of greater magnitude. The two factors, fitness and fatigue, are the immediate training effects of every workout. The most immediate effect of any workout is fatigue, but the long-term effect is the adaptive changes in the targeted motor qualities over time.
The two-factor model has been proposed as a more sophisticated model. I do not think this is the case; rather, it is a logical extension of the supercompensation model. I think that both models are complementary and further explain the process of adaptation to the stress of training. The key to applying the models is understanding that different motor qualities and physical capacities adapt at different rates. In planning training, I use a blend of both models with a slight bias toward supercompensation because that is the model I started with and it has always worked well for me.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Monitoring training is critical for success
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Training is a repeating (rollover) process consisting of four steps: assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Monitoring this process is essential to making the training meaningful and keeping it on track. The most effective training programs that I have seen and implemented are those that have a built-in monitoring system. It does not have to be anything elaborate or scientific. Whatever it is, it just needs to be used consistently. Monitoring increases training effectiveness. The more consistent the monitoring, the more meaningful the information will be. Monitoring training allows you to reconcile what was planned for training and what was achieved. It is very specific to the sport, the performance level of the athlete, the age of the athlete, and the gender. Once a system of monitoring has been implemented, the information gathered must be straightforward and simple so that it can be easily interpreted and modifications can be made easily as needed.
The goal of training is the long-term adaptation of the cumulative training effect. You must monitor each of these effects in order to assess the program of training. Monitoring training will allow you to maintain control of the training process and ensure a proactive adaptive response. Planning the training and implementing the training are only two prongs of a three-pronged attack. Monitoring the training is the third.
Be specific. It is more than just gathering information; it is gathering information you can use. Jan Olbrecht, in his book The Science of Winning (2000, p. 225), gives the following analogy: “Testing a swimmer on a bicycle or treadmill in order to obtain the right information for water training is like taking temperature with a barometer; both have to do with the weather but measure something quite different.” The message is clear: Monitor the training quality for which you hope to achieve adaptation. The question, then, is what should be monitored. The answer is to monitor those components of training that are the focus of that particular training period. It is not possible to monitor too much. You must look at the factors of training stress as well as total life stress factors. Monitoring should be both subjective and objective where possible. Monitor what is practical. It is different for team sports and individual sports. Remember that a team is a collection of individuals. Know what you want to do with the information you gather. Decide how training monitoring will help you.
During certain training periods where particular qualities are emphasized, other qualities should be repressed. For example, during a heavy maximal-strength block of training, explosive power and maximal speed will tend to be inhibited. This must be monitored. Perhaps the simplest training indices to look at throughout the training year that can give good objective feedback is a simple jump test protocol consisting of squat jump, countermovement jump, repetitive jump, and stiffness jump tests. These tests can be easily administered as part of training without detracting from the athletes' performance. They monitor the state of the nervous system. A one-shot battery of these tests will establish a baseline, but remember that there is a learning curve. Performance on these tests will improve with practice. This must be taken into account when establishing a baseline. These tests should be administered frequently throughout training in order to monitor training status of strength, elastic strength, and repetitive power. I want to emphasize that the comparison must be intraindividual and must be looked at serially over time.
A preworkout assessment can be useful in anticipating problems in training. It uses a 10-point scale graded from 1 (“I feel great”) to 10 (“I feel absolutely awful”). I use this in comparison with the postpractice training demand rating to see if there is a relationship. My feeling is that this will give me feedback on the residual effect of the prior training session and a window into life stress. Another aspect of the training demand rating scale is that as a coach I will project what I think the training demand of a particular workout should be and I will compare that with the actual training demand as reported by the athlete. The two numbers should be fairly close. If there is a wide divergence, then I really need to reassess the process. The key to this is honest feedback from athletes. They are active participants in the process. I stress that training is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. The training demand rating scale will make training work for each athlete.
Perhaps the simplest and most effective means of monitoring training is a detailed training log. The log is an athlete's personal monitoring tool. It should represent the athlete's input about responses to training. Each log, regardless of the sport or person, should contain certain basic information. The log should monitor factors outside of training: sleep, diet, and other stressors that can have an effect on training. The coach's training log should be as detailed as possible and still practical in order to isolate variables to identify possible patterns. It should incorporate the following: evaluation of planned work versus work completed, rating of the athlete's response to the work, and a breakdown of the duration of each training component.
The rating of perceived exertion scale (Borg 1998) is another valuable tool, and it can be easily adapted for use in a team as well as an individual sport. It can be used in rating training demand on individual components of the workout or for the workout as a whole. It really depends on how detailed you want to get. Regardless of how you apply it, it provides reliable feedback on the stress of training in healthy exercisers. Perceived exertion is certainly not a new concept. It originated with Gunnar Borg, a Swedish exercise scientist, who designed an RPE scale for use in monitoring training stress in cardiac rehabilitation. Conceptually, athletes simply rate how hard they think they are working by assigning a number to the sensation of their effort.
For simplicity and ease of use, many coaches use a 10-point scale that has proven to be effective in the athlete population. Athletes must first be educated on the effort relative to the assigned numerical value. It must be fine-tuned for each athlete in order to provide reliable feedback on training stress. I use such a scale by having the athlete, at the conclusion of the workout, state out loud or in writing the effort of the workout. I have found it useful once I orient the athletes to the scale to allow them to develop their own verbal descriptors for the various points on the scale. This personalizes the process, which makes the information that much more meaningful.
Monitoring will also help you assess how the performance was achieved. Two athletes can do the same workout, achieve the same results, and have opposite adaptive responses. One may have to tap deep into the adaptive reserve to achieve the result and the other may require much less effort. That is why it is so important to have additional means of monitoring training. Also monitor readiness for the workout and monitor indices of adaptation.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.
Learn the variation or fartlek method
One method of work capacity development is the variation, or fartlek, method.
One method of work capacity development is the variation method. This is also called fartlek, which is the Swedish word for speed play. I like to think of this method as high-level game or race simulation. It is essentially a continuous workout in which intensity is varied throughout until the target time of the workout is reached. Various activities occur in different combinations and at varied intensities to make up all the movements of the game. The variation method affords the opportunity to incorporate all those varied movements and intensities into a workout that will simulate the demands of the game. The workout can be designed to be more specific to positions or to how an athlete plays the game. The variation method can be very structured or loosely structured depending on the objective. It can be inner directed (driven by the athlete) or structured to respond to demands from the coach to perform various activities throughout the workout. For nonendurance athletes, one fartlek workout in a seven-day microcycle for a maximum of six workouts is sufficient for achieving the desired training response. For endurance athletes, this is a great workout to simulate the various changes of pace that occur throughout the race. It is a race-hardening workout.
The following is an example of a variation workout for soccer. I call it the smorgy to describe the variety of activities that are incorporated. This particular workout was a game-hardening workout done late in the preparation phase for a professional soccer player. It was placed on Saturday, the sixth day of a training week, when cumulative fatigue was highest to achieve a game-simulation effect. It consists of six segments done continuously. The runs should involve curves, angles, and cuts. The goal is to simulate the demands of the game, and in the game very little running is straight ahead.
- 15/15/15 runs. 15-second walk, 15-second run, 15-second sprint X 6 sets.
- 10-second bursts (30 seconds easy jog recovery) X 10.
- Short/short/long X 10 reps. Two short touches with the ball followed by a longer touch; sprint after the ball. Easy dribbles for 30 seconds of recovery and repeat.
- 1-minute shuttle (20 meters-as many reps as possible in the minute).
- 30 seconds of juggling, then sprint 10 yards; repeat five times.
- One versus one with passive defense (in penalty area); three touches and a shot, then sprint to midfield. Jog back for recovery. Repeat five times.
Another way to structure fartlek workouts that is less movement specific but still very demanding metabolically is to pick a target time that you would like your athletes to achieve in the fartlek workout (for example, 20 minutes). Then devise a logical progression to get the athlets to that time goal. Assign a specific number of hard efforts for each time period. For example, use 10 efforts between 30 and 90 seconds in 20 minutes, then let each athlete determine the actual distribution. This allows you to control the density of the workout but the athletes can control the intensity. I have found that it takes a more mature athlete with a good work capacity to get a good training effect from this method. For less mature athletes or team-sport athletes, "whistle fartlek" is especially effective. The procedure is the same, but the coach blows a whistle to begin the hard effort and then blows the whistle again to signal the end of a hard effort until the number of hard efforts in the target time is reached.
This is an excerpt from Athletic Development.