The Training Principles – 4 Principles Of Training That You Must Know !

The fundamental of strength and conditioning or any training programme is the training principles .

Training principles are just like a company”s SOP(standard of procedure) .Follow the SOP , and the possibility of screwing things up will be minimum , and you are able to maximize results.

So now , lets look at the 4 Principles of Training .

The Training Principles NO.1-SOAP

S= Specificity O=Overload A=Adaptation P=Progression

This is the very first training principle that i learn when i was studying in the New Zealand Institute of Sports ,back in year 2009 .This training principles really is the staple in strength and conditioning programming .

S=Specificity

The training that you prescribe to your athletes must be relevant their sport. A few things that you plan according to :

1. What position the athlete plays at the game
2. What is the major energy system that the athlete uses most of the time .
3. What are the muscles group that the athlete use the most .

For example, when i train my basketball athlete , the training programme for a point guard and a center will have slight different .

O=Overload

In order to improve strength or any fitness elements ,  you need to add new resistance or time/intensity to your efforts. There are a few variables that you can use to overload :

1. more weight
2. reduce rest time
3. more repetitions

A=Adaptation

I always tell my athletes , the best thing about our body , is that it able to adapt , and this apply to training as well .  The body becomes accustomed to exercising at a given level , and this adaptation means that you are one level higher than before .

For example : At first a 5km run will take you like 60 minutes and you are half dead after the run . After a period of time , your body get stronger , and you manage to finish 5km within 30minutes , and you feel like you are just warming up !

Being said so , in order for adaptations to happen , recovery plays a vital role . If you train hard , but you do not have enough rest , and your body has not recover well from the previous training , whatever training that you give to your body will only screw your body up , and this is what we called detraining . We will talk more about this in the later article.

P=Progression

To reach the peak of your performance, you have to run the first 5km ,10,15,22,30 km , before you can run a full marathon . In order to run a full marathon, you need to build your muscular endurance , lung capacity well enough to repeat the necessary motions enough times to finish. In short,in order to get better you have to gradually work harder.

The Training Principles NO.2-FIIT

This is another training principle that is important when programming.

F=Frequency I=Intensity T=Time T=Type 

Frequency

Frequency Can be simple explained by  increased by training to a greater amount of times each week.

For example , a basketball team might train 3 days a week on the strength and conditioning , and the head coach decided to increase it to a 4 days training .So , the frequency of training has increased.

Intensity

Intensity of the training can be training with a greater resistance,  working on higher percentage of maximum heart rate (maxHR) ,such as doing HIIT workout . Intensity is similar with overload which you can manipulate on the shortening the rest time to increase the intensity of the training . The only different is that overload is adding intensity , and INTENSITY on FIIT ,can be increased or decreased .

Time 

Time can be change by training for longer, reducing recovery times or by completing a greater number of sets or repetitions (also known as reps).

Type

The are alot of different type of training , the most common one will be hypertrophy training , strength training, power training and endurance training .Different type of training able to produce different type of result . Therefore it is very important to understands the needs of an athlete when prescribing a training programme for him/her .

The Training Principles NO.3-PERIODIZATION

Periodization can be describes as the need to make a long , medium and short fitness plan . Strength and conditioning coaches use periodization training principle to plan training programe for their athletes for peak performance .

There are 3 stages in a typical periodization :

1. microcycle (weekly plan)
2. mesocycle (monthly plan)
3. macrocycle (yearly plan)

The Training Principles NO.4-REVERSIBILITY

Reversibility happens when an athlete  take a long break from his/her regular training .The athlete body will begin to revert to its pre-trained state.Well , of course this does not happen overnight but takes a few weeks of inactivity.