Training Principles and Program Design

Qualities of Training

• High-quality training and program design are vital for creating safe and effective methods to boost health or athletic ability.
• Training is essential for maximizing athletic performance.

Common Training Principles

• Specificity: Training should be relevant to the specific sport or activity.
• Progressive Overload: Gradually increasing the frequency, intensity, or duration of training.
• Recovery: Rest is essential for the body to adapt and rebuild.
• Variety: Incorporating different exercises and activities to prevent plateaus and boredom.
• Reversibility: Fitness gains can be lost if training is discontinued.
• Periodization: Planning training in cycles to peak at the right time.

Key Considerations for Program Design

• Measuring baseline values and progress is an important component of design.
• Macrocycles, mesocycles and microcycles impact athletic performance.
• Adaptive responses will vary based on intensity, methods, individual genetics, and whether the athlete is a responder or non-responder.
• Training programs should consider the individual's fitness level, age, sex, reproductive status, hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle (28-day cycle) and phase of the macrocycle.
• Poor program design or maintenance can lead to overreaching and overtraining.

Training Definitions

• Training involves systematic, repeated structured workouts over time to achieve a specific goal.
• Undertraining is not providing enough stimulation for performance improvement, usually through infrequent or low-intensity training.
• Overtraining is training too often or at too high an intensity for a prolonged period. It can lead to decreased mental and physical health.
• Overreaching is briefly pushing the body beyond its limits to stimulate a training response, followed by a performance decrease lasting days to weeks.

Overtraining Details

• Overreaching combined with recovery is a common training method.
• Recovery lasting more than a few weeks indicates nonfunctional overreaching.
• Adaptive changes are expected to occur within a few weeks when recovery takes place after overreaching.
• Nonfunctional overreaching and overtraining are marked by fatigue, hormonal disturbances, and decreased performance.
• Overtraining is more severe than overreaching, with recovery taking months to years.

Overtraining Syndrome (OTS)

• OTS occurs when training exceeds physical/mental tolerance and has inadequate recovery which makes it hard for athletes to train or compete.
• Recovery can take several weeks or months.
• There is no single diagnostic test for OTS; it is diagnosed after ruling out other potential causes.
• A sudden decrease in performance that doesn't improve with training adjustments is a good diagnostic indicator.

OTS Symptoms

• Elevated resting heart rate
• Chronic muscle soreness and prolonged delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)
• Tissue inflammation regulated by cytokine proteins causing systemic inflammation with high concentrations
• Sleep disturbances and reduced sleep quality
• Increased rates of infection
• Fatigue
• Decreased appetite due to altered hormone levels

Training Principles Explained

• Training adaptations are specific to the type, intensity, and volume of activity.
• Adaptations can be lost if training stops.
• Progressive overload is a gradual increase in effort or volume (reps, sets, frequency, density).
• Adequate recovery (rest, sleep, diet, recovery strategies, periodization) is essential.
• Variety, such as changing the exercise mode or volume is important.

Periodization Strategies

• Sport-specific periodization is key to track athletes will need multiple performance peaks: Soccer requires consistent high performance.
• Periodization involves three phases:
  • Transition: Recovery from post-season fatigue using 3-4 weeks of light exercise, with different activities.
  • Preparation: Pre-competition conditioning for 3-6 months, including general and specific preparation.
  • Competition: Maintaining physical condition with reduced training volume, and avoiding major improvements.
• In swimming, involves off-season conditioning with cross training like yoga and weight lifting followed by pool training then taper before final competition.

Periodization Sub-Phases

• Microcycles: Weekly training programs with specific goals that aid the overall training phase.
• Mesocycles: Several-week blocks with goals that contribute to seasonal goals, such as improved aerobic fitness.
• Macrocycles: A yearly or seasonal plan with broader goals like achieving a certain standard, usually working backwards from a target event.

Training Program: Baseline and Status

• Measuring baseline metrics helps in understanding improvements related to broader macrocycle goals.
• Training requires a balance between activity and recovery to prevent fatigue or undertraining.
• Coaches/athletes must assess the athlete's readiness (fatigue levels) to determine how far to push them.
• Training load quantification is possible both externally (distance, power, reps) and internally (O2, heart rate, lactate, exertion).

Training Program: Age and Sex

• Children have smaller heart/lungs but greater endurance.
• Males have more testosterone and muscle mass.
• Males tend to experience more upper body, hip/groin, thigh, and foot injuries whereas females will see greater ACL injuries.

Training Program: Menstrual Cycle Phases

• Menstruation: Start of the cycle when the uterine lining is shed, causing cramps, bleeding, and tiredness.
• Late Follicular Phase: FSH, LH, and oestrogen levels rise after the last day of menstruation.
• High Oestrogen: Body uses less glycogen, increasing the risk of injury.
• Ovulation: Oestrogen levels peak, and progesterone starts to increase.
• Luteal Phase: Between ovulation and menstruation the high level of progesterone increases water use and cause a change in fuel availability (insulin resistance, fat use), and food cravings.

Menstrual Cycle: Glycogen

• In the luteal phase, high progesterone and oestrogen inhibit gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis.
• Decreased glucose formation, and increased glycogen storage.
• Increases triglyceride use
• Limited use means that glycogen will be available for longer during exercise
• Progesterone promotes glycogen and lipid storage, and oestrogen promotes glycogen and lipid breakdown.

Menstrual Cycle: Thermoregulation

• Oestrogen reduces body temperatures, and occurs during the follicular phase.
• Progesterone increases body temperature, and occurs during the luteal phase.
• Increased hydration demands.

Menstrual Cycle: Performance Window

• Most female athletes report menstrual cycle affects their performance (2020 Olympics).
• Competing just after one's period is preferred.
• Progesterone correlates with low competitiveness (luteal phase).
• Many athletes experience physical symptoms that hinder performance and training.

Menstrual Cycle Considerations: Population

• There are not enough studies that involve elite athletes during competition.
• Menstrual disorders are more prevalent in athletes than non-athletes.
• Female athletes tend to be more receptive to discussing issues with female coaching or support staff, which influences their ability to adjust their training according to their cycle.

Individual Responses to Training

• Genetics/individual differences influence the response and adaptation to training.
• High responders show large responses to training.
• Low/non-responders show less improvement from single training sessions.
• Athletes may respond differently in various categories.
• Non-responders may require higher intensity or frequency, and this can decrease their non-response rate.

Genetics and Athleticism

• Genes are sections of chromosomes that code for proteins.
• Humans share the same genes but have different versions (alleles) that lead to individual differences.
• Athleticism combines many factors; there isn't an athlete gene.
• Genetic factors include height, muscle fiber type, anaerobic threshold, lung capacity and flexibility.
• Environmental factors include training, nutrition, technology, and climate.
• Environmental factors can maximize the effects of genetics
• Genetic screening and athletic ceilings have ethical implications (diseases, injury, exclusion, gene doping).