Increase the Effectiveness of Your Training to Enhance Your Performance
The main aim of strength training is to cause structural and physiological adaptation through the use of physical loading which when correctly planned and executed increases physical fitness. Adaptation is the adjustment of a living organism towards the environment in order to survive. Placing our bodies under additional load (strength training) causes our cells to adapt to the ‘environment’ and therefore increases tolerance to such loads.
In order to progress your athletic ability, it is vital to optimise your level of adaptation from your training stimulus. Here are 4 components your training routine should consist of, to exploit your body’s cellular survival instinct and thus promote adaption:
1. Overload
Overload is where the magnitude of the training load is above the habitual level of an athlete’s ability. An increase in an athlete’s ability (adaptation) can only occur during exercise overload. The magnitude of your training load can be classified into 3 levels:
Stimulating– the magnitude of the training load is greater than athlete’s abilities.
Retraining– the magnitude of the training load is equal to the athlete’s abilities.
Detraining– the magnitude of the training load is less than that of the athlete’s abilities.
Training loads need to be stimulating to cause a positive change and athletic progression, otherwise there will be no change (retraining) or even a decrease in performance and functional capabilities (detraining).
Exercise overload can be achieved in two ways. The first way is to increase the training load through intensity and/or training volume (reps x sets) for a particular drill, and the second is to change the drill to something which you are not accustomed to. It is necessary for a constant increase in training loads in order to cause continuous physical adaptation. This also reduces the chance of training and performance plateaus from the body getting accustomed to the exercise and load transferring from stimulating to neutral.
Progressive resistance overload is a vastly used method where intensity, training volume or a combination of the two is used to overload an individual leading to adaptation and an increase in strength. Once the athlete has reached a desired level training load is increased further. The aim of any athlete should be to increase training load over time both short and long term not only to promote physical ability but also to handle the demands of the sport and a heightened level, i.e. elite is more demanding than intermediate which is greater than amateur. This can be seen in the training loads of an elite athlete than has roughly 10 times the training load of novice.
2. Specificity
Adaptations derived from training are highly specific. From the energy systems you use, to the movement patterns you perform and even the angle of load and its relationship to gravity, these are all contributors to the given physiological change. It is for this reason that strength training varies for different sports, for example a runner will train differently to a powerlifter. Specificity can also be known as a transfer of training results as it is a vital component for adaptation efficiency and training effectiveness.
For the majority of athletes, the sole purpose of training is to improve performance, so when constructing your training routines consider what does your sport require? And are you training those elements correctly? Here are some of the pointers you need to think about:
Energy systems– Is your sport aerobic or anaerobic? Does your sport require high volume/low load or high load/low volume? Once you know the answer to these questions you have a basis for the style of training you should prioritise. Training the specific and/or dominate energy system for your sport enhances the efficiency and capacity of the utilised energy system, along with other long term training adaptations which lead to your whole body’s physiology becoming better suited to your sport.
Movement Patterns– Within your sport and as part of team sports, your personal role or position requires you to consider the movement patterns involved. Practise of sport specific movements is the bread and butter of strength training! Regular repetition of the movement demands of your sport will boost performance through faster more efficient nerve impulses, better muscle recruitment and control as well as a greater level of force production. Moreover, your body’s specific adaptation to these movements reduces chance of injury from fatigue or poor biomechanics.
Angles of Load– When it comes to exercise selection for your routines consider the angles of most load and if that is most ideal for the transfer of training results. Training gains can greatly change even in similar exercises. Positioning of the body along with the range of motion and the form of resistance will determine the exact adaptation. Exercise selection is a real skill in itself to get the optimal outcome as the exercises you select in your training can impact certain movement pattern(s) both positively and negativity.
For example, a basketball player may benefit more from a box squat rather than a full depth squat. As when they jump only part knee flexion occurs, in order to utilise the elastic stretch shortening cycle, rather than going to full depth. Although full depth will increase strength at the bottom of the movement it doesn’t transfer to basketball as well.
Athletes with greater levels of physical fitness and more advanced sport mastership will experience a higher specificity of adaptation. Beginner level athletes will have a better transfer of training gain from a wide array of exercises whether they are strength, endurance, speed or flexibility based. However, as training age and experience increases more sport specific exercises and training methods are required to increase competitive preparedness.
3. Individualisation
A simple element of successful training, often disregarded, by those starting to increase commitment and intensity to their training following the routines of their idols. Unfortunately, the aspiration to be like the pros leads to suboptimal and sometimes dangerous methods of training. It is important to understand and remember that all athletes are different even those at similar sporting abilities, training ages and even those who play the same position.
Everyone is different! And more importantly everyone has different weaknesses they should be addressing. Past or reoccurring injuries are a major component towards the individualisation of your training. For example, two athletes of the exact same sport, ability, training age but with one who has previously suffered an ACL rupture will train differently.
Individualisation should also be a factor during mobility and active recovery sessions as individuals will experience various different recovery rates, physiological restrictions and tendencies. When planning your training methods and exercise selection remember to customise it to your needs not your peers or to mimic your favourite pro.
4. Variety
Overload, specificity and individualisation will only get you so far. The use of the same loads and exercises over a long period time will result in reduced level of training gain. Initial stimulus that would have led to a physiological adaptation diminishes over time as our bodies become more tolerant to the stressor, this process is called accommodation.
Accommodation follows the law of diminishing returns, athletes will experience huge training gain in the beginning but over time the magnitude of gain diseases. As an athlete becomes more experienced the harder it is to produce any change with elite athletes pushing for miniscule improvements.
To prevent accommodation there are two main methods of adding variation.
Qualitative– changing of the exercise(s)
Quantitative– change of training load (level of resistance)
When people hear training variety they jump on making a qualitative change. Although this is a common strategy for the elite athlete, exposing them to a wider range of physiological demands and thus reduces injury risk, too frequent change for the less experienced athlete can lead to little progression in all exercises. Athletes become a jack of all trades, master of nothing. An exercise should be performed for a period which allows for adequate adaptation and utilisation of the new skill acquired. If an exercise is in need of change, the determining factors are a lack of progression and/or reduction of transfer gain towards your sporting performance.
When substituting exercises, it is important to remember to keep the exercises as similar as the muscular coordination and physiological demand of your sporting discipline. This maintains the specificity element of the training routine yet gives athletes enough training stability to progress.
The alternative quantitative is a lot simpler and the exercise remains the same yet the level of load, reps, sets or rest periods are altered to offer variation in the training stimulus. This method is commonly used more a short-term strategy to delay the diminishing returns of an exercise. Moreover, a quantitative change occurs first then is later followed by a qualitative change. Variation of volume/load is beneficial not only for enhancing athletic advancement but aids muscle hypertrophy and prevention of injury through adaptation of different muscle fibers and a more holistic stimulus to tendons and ligaments.
