The most important, yet perhaps most difficult part of training is learning how it should progress as you move from a beginner to advanced athlete. This section is designed to teach you what needs to change in training as you move from humble beginnings to the upper echelons of training an athlete!
Training Progression and Arrangement:
Becoming an elite athlete takes a large amount of time and a lot of hard work. In a world where everyone is looking for the hottest ‘3 month program’ to take them to new heights of athleticism, intelligent athletes realize that training is a much longer process. Depending on where you are at in your athletic career, it will affect the way that you train. Athletes who have been training for a long time will be able to handle more weight training sets, more reps of plyometrics, more speed work and more specific jumps than an athlete with little training background. As an athlete reaches a level of higher training volume with specific exercises, the body can really start to zero in on what is known as “sport mastery”. This process takes a significant period of time to achieve. Science has shown that it takes an athlete around 10 years to reach a level of absolute mastery in their given field. Compare this now to a mail-order program that promises you the vertical or 40 yard dash of your dreams in only 12 weeks. Granted, you can increase your abilities in any given movement significantly in a short period of time if you have not been training correctly, but achieving the highest levels of sport is a long process!
The best way of arranging training is by following two main principles. The first is the principle of progression. Progression is what defines an athletes training over the course of their lifetime. The key to this aspect of training is shooting for increases in the volume or intensity of training in your program by around 5% a week. Dramatic increases in the training load, such as increases of 15-20% or more can cause instability in the adaptation patterns of the human body, and lead to inconsistent gains. This can especially be the case in novice to intermediate athletes who may not have the work capacity of those more advanced athletes who have a greater work capacity. It is very important to keep gains stable and rolling in over the course of time. When looking at progression in the long term, an athlete should be able to handle more training with each upcoming year than they had beforehand. Elite athletes are handling fairly heavy training loads 4-7 days out of the week, and this is something that they have built up to over a period of time.
The second principle that athletes need to be aware of when arranging training is that of variety in the training load. Performing the same type of training for a long period of time will lead to stagnation and eventually regression in a training setup. Beginners can handle periods of the exact same training longer than elite athletes can, but once an athlete has a few months of training under their belt, they need to make some changes in the general structure of their workout every 2 weeks. Novice athletes can continue to make gains on the exact same weekly setup for 5-6 weeks or more. It is also important to realize, when considering the principle of variety, that training modalities such as strength training, plyometrics, sprint speed or speed endurance really shouldn’t be emphasized for more than 3 months at a time, or stagnation will start to occur.
In terms of training intensity, high loads (especially high CNS based loads) cannot be sustained year round with continuous gains for the average population. Science and practical experience has recommended that 1-2 week long active recovery sessions should be undertaken after 3 months of consecutive intense training. Reasons that heavy/intense CNS work may only be sustained for a limited period of time are the risks of overtraining and the timing of the competitive season of the athlete. Overtraining the CNS (through the prolonged use of heavy lifting/plyometrics) can be a reality if large speed-work volumes, heavy plyometrics and weightlifting are performed for too long of a time period without a break. Scientifically speaking, this overloading has been referred to as “Chronic Loading Syndrome”. Research has shown that exposure to high demand CNS training such as maximal strength training for a time period of longer than 8 weeks at a time can be harmful to the muscle structure of the athlete. Losses of fast twitch muscle and elasticity can be a reality if an athlete is exposed to this type of high intensity training for too long of a time period.
Athletes can only sustain heavy CNS training for a couple of months at a time before becoming prone to “Chronic Fatiguing syndrome” and regressing. Unfortunately, ceasing heavy CNS training for too long can also cause a regression in progress. (Sounds unfortunate, but if these facts were not true, athletes would be packing massive amounts on their vertical and dropping their 40 times immensely year in and year out.) It is because of this principle that I personally recommend 2-3 weeks of heavy CNS loading to one week of low CNS stress for the majority of the preseason and in-season training of strength/power athletes. Shorter training blocks will allow athletes to use consistent amounts of CNS intensive training for a large portion of the training year while minimizing the chances of Chronic Fatiguing Syndrome due to CNS burnout.
Regarding the directional loading of training, it should generally progress from strength to speed in any given movement for the course of one training year, or for those who do not train for yearly competition, each training cycle (between 1-3 months). In progressing from strength to speed, the goal is always to shift the force-time curve from high force-lower speed activities to high-speed, low force activities. This means a track and field sprinter will want to spend much of their early training performing activities such as hill work (slower/strength based emphasis) and then shift the emphasis towards something faster (flying sprints/overspeed training) as the season progresses. A shot putter will start out the year performing various throws with implements heavier than the 16lb shot, and then start doing more speed work with shots lighter than 16lbs as the season continues. Build a base of strength and move towards speed. A base of strength is vitally important due to the fact that structural changes in the muscle, such as increased cross-sectional area of muscle, will be longer lasting and more constant than changes in performance due to the improvement of nervous system qualities (brought about by training such as sprint training and plyometrics).
Although it is important to change the focus of training over time, it is also important to maintain the crucial aspects of performance over the training year. The main area that cannot be neglected for very long during any aspect of the training year in speed/power athletes is…..power! Doing power training such as plyometrics and medicine ball multi-throws does not have be present in high volumes over the whole year, nor should they be, but it should be present, even if in only small amounts. A good example of this aspect can be seen when considering the training of Jamaican Sprinters, the current world record holders in the 100 and 200m dashes, as well as the 4x100m relay. In the training of one prolific group of Jamaican sprinters, the MVP track club, training is approached in a “long to short”system, meaning the early season is spent doing a lot of endurance based sprints that are longer than the 100m race distance, sprints of up to 400m, 2-4x those sprinters actual race distance. Despite the fact that there is a lot of more endurance based work going on early in the training year, there is one element of training that is always present: The 30m hard sprint. This is done to maintain power and the skill of acceleration in the sprint. Since power is vital to any speed/power athlete, it cannot be neglected for a significant period of time in any athletes training setup.
The biggest mistake that speed/power athletes can make in planning their training is building the so-called “aerobic base”, which is characterized by a large amount of distance running prior to more intense training. The “aerobic base” is not really a base at all, but more a misconceived idea that, for some reason, doing a lot of long, slow running will pay off later in the year (It won’t). Training needs to be at least somewhat relevant to the final product early on.
With that said, they way that an athlete structures their training over the course of the year is going to depend on their goals for the year, when their competitive season is, and also their current work capacity as an individual. Below are two training programs designed to help increase vertical jump. The first is a program for a beginner athlete with less than 6 months of training experience. The second is designed for a collegiate athlete with several years of training experience. Note the difference in terms of total training volume between the two programs. The first is the beginner training program.
Beginning Athlete Training Program
Take this type of training versus a program designed for NCAA division I track and field jumpers (more advanced athletes). This off-season program, although repetitive in parts, led to an NCAA national championship in high jump. Notice that this particular program features a large volume of strength training performed 3 times per week, and then features plyometric and stadium runs 2x each per week as well. Obviously, the training load here is much higher than a program for a beginning athlete, in fact, science has revealed that elite athletes can have up to 10 times the work capacity of a beginner with only 6 months of training experience.
Elite Athlete Training Program
Summary
- Power training should be included the whole training year to some degree in speed/power athletes
- Performing intense CNS loading for too long of a time period can cause chronic overloading syndrome in athletes
- Performing heavy strength training for more than 8 weeks can cause negative effects in the fast twitch qualities of athletes
- 2-3 weeks of heavy loading to 1 week of deloading is a good ratio to ensure consistent gains in speed/power athletes.
- Speed-power athletes should build a base of strength and build towards speed. The aerobic base is a myth.
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