In the beginning stages of an athlete’s career the window of adaptation is huge. Virtually anything you with the athlete at this stage in the developmental process will result in gains in performance. Generally the more you do the better they get thus sowing the seeds of the volume trap. As the athletes grows and advances in training age and gains technical proficiency the window of adaptation narrows. At the point where the athlete reaches an advanced training age the window of adaptation is very small. Progress now comes in small increments. Volume will not have the same positive effect it did at the earlier training ages. So build upon what has been previously been done. Training accumulates, that volume work when the window of adaptation was big is the foundation to build on. Don’t get trapped into thinking it is necessary to keep repeating those volumes that kick started the system when the athlete was young and starting out. The stimulus now is intensity and laser like refinements. More is no longer better.
This is all a process of constant refinement of the training stimuli in order to insure continual adaptation. That is why it is so important to have individualized programs from the earliest stages of the athlete career with careful monitoring to account for different levels of adaptability. Lest we forget there are fast adaptors and slow adaptors. Training is a process that must grow and change as the athlete’s windows of adaptation change. Recognize that and design training accordingly.