The following are
commonly accepted principles of training. A sound training program should address
each of these principles. You should be able to identify these principles clearly
and quickly. I maintain that if all of these principles is not observed then
the training program is fundamentally unsound.
Progression – The most fundamental
of all the principles. Clear progression pathways should be articulated. The
goals of the overall training program, the goals of each season should be clear.
There must be a means of evaluation to determine a starting point and progress
to the ultimate training goal.
Accumulation – Adaptation
is a cumulative process. No one workout can make an athlete but one workout can
break an athlete. A good program must plan for immediate, residual and cumulative
training effects.
Variation – Systematic planned
variation will insure continued adaptation. I emphasize that this must be
planned, but it does not mean that every workout has to be entirely different
and unique. Variation can occur due to type of load, frequency, intensity or
volume.
Context – Everything in a
program must be in context. It must fit with the objectives of the overall
program and the goals of the individual session.
Overload – This is
basic, you include a stress beyond a normal stress to elicit an adaptive
response. What is often misunderstood is that overload can come from volume,
intensity or density/frequency.
Recoverability – The training
program must take into account the ability of the athletes to recover from the
training load. If the workouts continually bury the athlete then there will not
be a positive training response significantly increasing the risk of injury,
illness or overtraining.