Training design

Training – is the most significant manifestation of focused physical activity. Owing to training all aims and assumptions are achieved. From the point of view of an athlete it is time of focused physical exercise due to which both new skills are acquired and motoric parameters indicating organism’s adaptation to physical activity are improved. From the point of view of a personal trainer/coach it is the smallest unit which enables achieving the assumptions of the whole training process.

The structure of the training process.

In the structure of the training process we can distinguish three main parts specific to the achievement of the training assumptions.

• First part – warm up – it is the initial part of each training, its aim is to thoroughly stimulate the organism and prepare it for the work in the next part. Through warm-up, among others, stimulation of cardiovascular, endocrine, respiratory, nervous and muscular systems is achieved. Stimulation of these systems results in quickening the pulse, increase in breathing frequency, neuro-muscular excitability and temperature of working muscles and tendons.
• Second part – main part – it is the fundamental part of every training in which the assumed training goals are achieved. During this part the technique is taught, focused motoric parameters are developed as well as achievement of other assumptions in accordance with the training plan. This part is usually characterised by a great strain to the organism of the athlete.
• Third part – cool down – it allows for a fluent transition from exercises of high intensity to relaxation ones. It also plays an important role in the process of after-training regeneration. Hence, thanks to the smooth transition to organism’s relaxation, it allows for shortening the time of after-training regeneration. For this reason different types of suppleness exercises are applied in this part. They allow for better blood supply to the working muscles and therefore disposing after-training metabolites from the muscles.

Every well-planned training should have the features of the division made above to provide for high effectiveness. The proportions between the particular parts of training should be as follows 1:3:1. Nevertheless, they can be diversified when it comes to highly specialised trainings. In such trainings the warm-up phases can be extended and additionally divided into general, focused and main part. The main part can be short but should be focused on the development of a given parameter or a habit formation which require a very specialist warm-up. To sum up, every training session should consist of the above described parts. The proportions between them should depend on what and how is trained and also on the aims training.

General training rules

• Appropriate training load rule – according to this rule intensity of exercises as well as the overall training load must be appropriate for a particular person. Appropriate that is constituting a threshold stimulus for an organism as this is the only stimulus which influences adaptive processes evoking focused training progression. Threshold stimulus is the smallest amount of stimulus essential to evoke adaptative reaction. For this reason below threshold stimuli do not evoke training progression. It should also be stressed that the maximal and supramaximal stimuli are not advisable as they cause inhibitory reactions. It means that too intensive training will not bring any results and what is more it will have inhibitory effect.
• Training progression rule – organism’s ability to adapt to a given training load after some time turns a training, which constitutes above threshold level stimulus, into a training constituting below threshold stimulus. So as to maintain continuity of focused training effect a constant increase of training loads is indispensable owing to which every training influencing adaptation processes will evoke focused changes referred to as being training progression.
• Training variability rule – the process of forming new motor acts as well as motoric parameters which undergo the processes of adaptation and formation of sensory-motor habits that is why in the training process the variety of exercise is indispensable as it provides constant training progression. The same as in case of training loads the organism adapts to a given work – exercise which prevents from the decrease of organism’s reactivity, that is why periodic change of the character of work is essential so as to achieve a constant increase of the training effects.
• Systematic training rule – according to which only a systematic training evokes gradual improvement of the desired parameters, that is focused increase of training progression. Each break in the training continuity results in the regress of adaptive changes, which causes the decrease of training progression.
• Cyclical training rule – it assumes the periodisation of the training period resulting form the phase-like development of training progression and the need of application of the above rules. The training period has to be subordinated to the achievement of the given training assumptions and goals which require specific organisation of training into a system of rhythmically repeating cycles which realise training assumptions and goals. The smallest training cycle is called microcycle which consists of a few training units, the more extensive one is called mezocycle which consists of few up to a dozen micorcycles and the greatest one is macrocycle which is associated with a year-long or multi-year-long training plan.