Basic concepts of training theory. Lecture taken from Science and Practice of Strength Training, 2nd Edition. Given to Wilmington College students for HPE 345, Strength Programming for Sport.

1. Science and Practice, Chapter 1

3.  All gains in fitness during training are
because of adaptation
 Adaptation can be defined as the adjustment
of an organism to its environment
 In a training program, physical activity is the
typical stimulus used to produce adaptation

4.  Magnitude of the Training Stimulus
 Accommodation
 Specificity
 Individualization

5.  In order to make
training gains, an
overload in the
training program
must be applied
 The magnitude of the
training load must be
above the normal
level, in other words,
homeostasis must be
broken.

6.  Two ways are available to cause adaptation
◦ An increase of the training load or volume
 These are known as qualitative changes
◦ Change the exercise modality (type of lift/drill)
 These are known as quantitative changes

7.  An example:
◦ If I am working to increase my bench press, and
have been doing 3 sets of 10 with 135lb for the last
8 weeks, my body has most likely accommodated to
this load. I need to break the homeostasis that this
load has induced by either:
 Change the weight and sets, say to 5 sets of 5 with
155lb, OR
 Change the type of lift, I could switch to 3 sets of 10
suspended pushups with weight.

8.  Stimulating
 Retaining
 Detraining

9.  To increase in fitness/ability over time, there
is a need for progressive resistance training.
When the strength of an athlete improves, the
training load must be increased in order for
further improvements to occur.
 The training load (work capacity) of elite
athletes is around 10x greater than that of a
beginner with 6 months of training.
◦ Elite weightlifters can lift 5000 tons a year of
weights and still improve fitness. A beginner can
only lift around 500 tons and improve, anything
over that and they will overtrain.

10.  If an athlete keeps doing the same exercise
for a period of time, they will see less
performance improvement the longer they
keep using that same exercise.
 Principle of Diminishing Returns
◦ Hot Dog Example
◦ Leg Press Example

11.  I am working to improve my leg strength and use
only the leg press machine to help increase my
performance. Even if I keep changing the sets
and reps, the fact that I am repeating the same
general motor movement will cause my body to
adapt, and it will be difficult to achieve overload
as time goes on. If I change my exercise from
leg press to barbell front squat, I will get greater
gains until my body adapts to that exercise,
which means I will have to change it again in a
few weeks or months.

12.  On the elite level, some coaches will save the
most effective exercises in their arsenal for
the 4th year of a 4 year olympic training cycle.
 If they were to use these exercises in the first,
second or third years of the cycle, it would
diminish the training effect of using them the
4th year.
 An example would be using high altitude
drops in the olympic year for an elite high
jumper.

13.  Training should be specific to the sporting
skill that is trying to be improved.
 A basic example of this would be: If I am
trying to improve my quickness and short
speed (<40 meters), I am not going to spend
most of my time doing endurance based
workouts such as distance running.

14.  We can go into greater detail regarding how
specific training is by looking at “training
transfer”

15.  Specificity is largely based on what is known
as “transfer of training results”.
 The transfer of training refers to how well a
certain exercise will improve a sporting skill.
◦ For example, a barbell pullover might help a
quarterback‟s throwing ability more than a flat
barbell bench press
◦ Repeated maximal efforts in bench press will not
help an elite distance runner cover a 10k distance
more effectively, and thus the bench press has a
low training transfer to distance running.

16.  Specificity can include
◦ Muscle Groups
◦ Joint Angles
◦ Joint Velocities
◦ Energy Systems
◦ Types of Muscle Contractions (e.g. isometric)

17.  The higher the training level of the athlete,
the more specific the training needs to be
 Beginners will make performance gains from
almost all types of exercises. Advanced
athletes need more specific work than
beginners to provide a positive adaptation.

18.  Everyone is different, not every training setup
works the same for everybody
 Attempts to mimic the training efforts of
famous or championship athletes have
proven unsuccessful
 This typically represents the “art” portion of
coaching more than the “science” portion, i.e.
this is something you have to have
experience in the field to become better at

19.  A generalized training theory is a simple
model that a coach can use to plan out their
training cycles and workouts. There are two
main types of theories.
◦ One Factor Theory (Supercompensation)
◦ Two Factor Theory (Fitness-Fatigue Theory)

20.  Workouts deplete biochemical substances in
the body and reduce performance temporarily

21.  After a rest or „restitution‟ period, the biochemical
levels rise above their previous levels in the point
known as „supercompensation‟

23. Figure 1.6 The overloading microcycle of the supercompensation theory. Rest
intervals between the first three training sessions are too short to allow full
restoration, so fatigue is accumulated. The interval between the third and fourth
training workouts is longer than usual but optimal for the situation. The next
workout coincides with the supercompensation phase after the first three training
sessions.

24.  A supercompensation phase for many muscle
metabolites has never been proven. ATP
concentration in muscle does not change
substantially after hard workouts.
 The restoration of different biochemical
substances takes different amounts of time.
 It is too simple to be correct….a PhD‟s view.

25.  Based on the idea that the athletes potential
sport performance (preparedness) is not a
stable entity. It varies with time.
 The two components of two factor theory are:
◦ Gain in fitness prompted by a workout
◦ The fatigue generated by that workout

26. Figure 1.7 Two-factor theory (model) of training. The
immediate effect of a training session is characterized by the
joint action of two processes: fitness gain and fatigue. Athlete
preparedness improves because of fit-ness gain and worsens
because of fatigue.
Workout

27.  The fitness that is gained in a workout is of a
moderate magnitude but is long lasting.
 The fatigue that accumulates in a workout is
of a high magnitude, but does not last very
long.
 Typically fatigue will be three times shorter in
duration than fitness. (a crude measure)
 If the fitness levels of a workout lasted 72h
than the fatigue would last about 24h

28.  Largely in peaking athletes
 1FT would have athletes doing hard workouts
all the way up until peak, but just fewer
workouts at peak.
 2FT would have athletes doing low to
moderate level maintenance workouts at the
peak to reduce fatigue, but since fitness is
long lasting, would not need hard workouts.
◦ Vern Gambetta, “You cannot make an athlete in one
workout, but you can break an athlete in one
workout”.

29.  2FT allows for more weekly workouts and a
little less guessing generally speaking. In the
2FT the next workout will be done when the
effects of fatigue from the previous workout
wear out rather than at the estimated
moment of supercompensation as in the 1FT.

30.  http://www.inno-sport.net/
 Based on using % drop off numbers to find
the optimal point to work out again based on
supercompensation theory.