What matters in a training program
In sports, the individualisation of training is a must. However, before getting into the specifics of tailored individual training or sport-specific prescriptions, let’s first understand why not everyone entering the gym requires it.
Most people come to the gym for general fitness purposes. They want to feel good about themselves, improve well-being, increase mobility, and learn a few new skills. Most newcomers likely have no aspirations of becoming competitive athletes; hence, individualised or personalised training plans are not their top priorities.
A different approach is necessary for those who take sports seriously and aim to train to compete and continually enhance their performance each season. They must ensure that their training aligns with their specific needs and consider some variables that will impact their prescription for each session. In other words, when someone proclaims, “This is the best training plan,” the immediate question should be, “Best for whom?”
Unfortunately, we still encounter Coaches and Athletes who implement training plans designed for highly successful athletes, often without considering individual experiences, tolerance levels, or the physiological and physical readiness required for these programs.
So, what must we consider to understand and prescribe individualised training for an athlete?
The first aspect to consider is the athlete’s TRAINING AGE, defined as the number of years an athlete has been training in a particular sport. Just because someone has the opportunity to train twice a day every day does not necessarily mean they should or that their body is prepared for such intensity.
CALENDAR is another crucial aspect to consider. Even if athletes may need to fully understand the intricacies behind the prescription, it raises questions when Coaches align the peak performance of all their athletes simultaneously for an event in which only one or two athletes are participating. Meanwhile, other athletes compete during a phase in which training is clearly designed to foster development, far from optimising & peaking their readiness for competition in the best possible way.
RECOVERY is something that merits careful consideration. When two athletes have identical skill levels and metrics, it’s essential to recognise that their training volume and intensity should not be the same if one has a demanding full-time job and only gets 5 hours of sleep per night while the other is a full-time athlete with 8 to 9 hours of nightly sleep. However, the human body is a remarkable machine that fights for adaptation. Providing the same training stimulus to these two athletes, who appear to be at a similar level, can be an easily made mistake for an inexperienced Coach.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE must be considered, and this topic could be the most extensive one we explore today. All athletes are built differently, and this uniqueness will undoubtedly influence the prescription as well. For instance, an athlete with limited mobility may need to focus on weightlifting movements starting from the hang position for a while.
Additionally, an athlete’s SPORTS HISTORY provides insight into whether they can handle varying training volumes without needing significant technical development phases.
Last but not least, we must consider the athlete’s GOALS. However, even if athletes share the same objectives, it does not imply that they will achieve them through identical training methods. For instance, an individual who is strong and proficient in weightlifting may require a markedly different training prescription compared to someone who has a background as a runner with exceptional aerobic capacity.
Remember that athletes will adapt differently to the same training stimulus because they possess varying capacities influenced by various factors. While emulating the training plans of elite athletes may seem like a sound strategy for those aspiring to reach an elite level themselves, remember that it may not have the desired outcome and could potentially result in injury or maladaptation. The risk arises if the stimulus from those sessions exceeds your capacity to recover effectively.
Eddie
