Before Super Compensation

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From the course by University of Florida

Science of Training Young Athletes Part 2

34 ratings

University of Florida

Science of Training Young Athletes Part 2

34 ratings

In this course you will learn how to design the type of training that takes advantage of the plastic nature of the athlete’s body so you mold the right phenotype for a sport. We explore ways the muscular system can be designed to generate higher force and power and the type of training needed to mold the athlete's physical capacity so it meets the energy and biochemical demands of the sport. We also examine the cost of plasticity when it is carried beyond the ability of the body to adjust itself to meet the imposed training stresses. The cost of overextending plasticity comes in the form injuries and chronic fatigue. In essence, a coach can push the athlete’s body too far and it can fail. Upon completion of this course you will be able to assemble a scientifically sound annual training plan.

From the lesson

Training Science

In the first topic you are introduced to the fundamentals of training science. This knowledge underlies your ability to design the type of training that will most effectively improve an athlete’s performance. Essential concepts such as homeostasis, core training principles, magnitude and timing of the training stimulus, and periodization theory are all discussed.

Introduction5:21

Terminology3:10

Categories of Physiological Responses9:44

Optimal Stimulus Timing4:58

Before Super Compensation4:53

Measuring Intensity5:07

Meet the Instructors

Dr. Chris Brooks
Instructor
Coaching Science Coordinator for USA Track and Field

Okay, so what happens to physiological functioning if the training

stimulus is applied before supercompensation occurs?

For example, what would happen if an athlete becomes frustrated because

a friend is performing better during competition than she is, and

decides to train harder by running twice a day?

When this athlete trains once a day, there is time for

supercompensation to occur, and here is the familiar supercompensation curve.

If the athlete runs the second 5K with insufficient recovery,

homeostasis will barely be re-established.

And here you see the second run being done when the athlete has just almost

restored her body back to homeostasis, but before supercompensation.

The next day the athlete does the first 5K run in the morning, but

this time slightly before homeostasis has been reestablished.

During this training session, the athlete will go into a deeper fatigue.

The 2nd training run of the day will result in even a deeper fatigue.

And over time, the physiological functioning will gradually

decline due to lack of adaptation and injury or illness may result.

Adaptation cannot occur without adequate recovery.

Increasing the training stimulus to a 6 to 7K run once a day,

thereby keeping the 24-hour recovery period, is better for

long term progress of the younger athlete than reducing the recovery time.

Okay, so now we can say that this timing option is not that effective for

improving an athletes performance.

So, what if a training stimulus is applied after supercompensation?

And this can happen when the training sessions are not frequent enough.

If the athlete has an injury and

decides to run 5K every four days instead of every 24 hours,

supercompensation will be lost during every training run.

So here's her first run, then 4 days later she

does a second run, and then 4 days later she does a third run.

There is too much time between training sessions and

in each case supercompensation has decayed.

And as a result the athlete's peak performance will

gradually decay back to its original point.

Now for this reason, if the athlete does no training during the off season,

physiological working capacity decays back to the untrained level.

So, let's go back to this chart and answer our question.

From a theoretical perspective the ideal timing for

another training stimulus is at the peak of supercompensation, that is point B.

There are variations to this rule depending on the athlete's training age,

but we'll talk about those later.

Mistiming of the training stimulus can occur inadvertently

when athletes of different physiological capacities are group trained.

A workout might be perfect for some athletes, and

not hard enough or too hard for others.

Only those athletes with the correct timing of the training stimulus will

show performance improvement.

It's not always better to group train an athlete.

It's always much better to sort the athletes into groups according to

similar levels of physiological functioning,

even though it's convenient for a coach to group train.

Timing of the training stimulus is certainly an important consideration.

The goal is to usually apply the next training stimulus

at the peak of supercompensation.

And as you will see in later lessons however, stimulus timing for

advance athletes can sometimes violate this basic rule.

For beginning and intermediate athletes, the timing of the stimulus for

supercompensation is a good rule to follow.

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