A Great Training Program

A fundamental training principle is that training should be as specific to the demands of competition as possible. That is, your training should replicate either in parts or as a whole what happens in competition if you want to optimize your training for a given event. Another basic training principle is the idea of periodization of training that simply refers to the balance between hard days of training or overload and easy days of training or recovery.

Essentially, in order to adapt, the training stimulus needs to be greater than recently experienced – an idea referred to as overload. At the same time, any period of overload needs to be followed by a period of rest or recovery to allow the body to heal and grow stronger. If done correctly, over time an individual’s training load looks very similar to a stock chart for a successful company. Despite periodic highs and lows, the general training load that person is able to handle continues to grow.

The right training program is crucial. What works well for one individual may not work as well for another. This idea is called individuality and reflects the unique genetic attributes of each individual. Because every individual may respond differently to training, to reach a given fitness or performance goal, it is important to develop techniques and strategies for a given person to quickly and efficiently experiment with their own training rather than adopting strategies developed or tested in potentially dissimilar groups or individuals.