STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
Basic Principles Part
1
A common misconception held by many athletes regarding
strength training and conditioning is that "more is better".
This line of thinking is often detrimental to the athlete. The body
needs ample recovery time and variation in training to facilitate
improvements in strength and conditioning levels. The mentality of
"more is better" will most likely lead to over-training.
To avoid over-training it is important to understand the bodies response
to training and effective methods for planning training programs.
Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) describes
three phases that occur when the body is confronted with a stress
stimulus. (Examples of possible stress stimuli include but are not
limited to; weight training, plyometrics or running.)
1st Phase (Alarm)
New training stimulus causes soreness and a temporary decrease in
performance.
2nd Phase (Resistance)
Body adapts to training stimulus and performance increases.
3rd Phase (Exhaustion)
Body has already adapted and further adaptation is no longer taking
place.
Performance may decrease unless stimulus is changed.
A principle called Periodization is used to prevent
exhaustion (3rd Phase) and optimize peak performance. Periodization
is the gradual cycling of workout intensity by breaking a given time
period in to smaller more manageable units of time know as cycles.
The Macrocycle is usually a year's training. The Mesocycle is a portion
of the year's training divided into several monthly segments known
as seasons ( e.g. preseason, inseason, post-season ). The Microcycle
is a portion of the Mesocycle divided into weeks consisting of each
training session.
Each training season is characterized by the following
phases:
Phase 1 (General Preparation or Hypertrophy)
Large Volume of exercise
Low loads
Phase 2 (Strength)
Decreased volume from general preparation phase
Increased loads from general preparation phase
Phase 3 (Power)
Decreased volume from strength phase
Increased loads form strength phase
Phase 4 (Peaking)
Decreased volume form Power phase
Increased loads from Power phase
Go to Strength
and Conditioning Part 2
