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Schwimm-Ratgeber

Jahrestrainingsplan III

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Kategorie: Training
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[Quelle: NSWIMMING COACHING SCIENCE BULLETIN: Volume 2 Number 6 - July-August, 1994]

The theme of this specific, but preparatory, training phase should be one of improving technical and fitness competencies according to some defined plan. Established objectives should be met but not exceeded.

Precompetition Phase

The precompetition phase of training is the second stage of specialized training and marks where specialized training dominates the content. Competition-specific fitness should achieve its maximum level. In terms of training load, this phase is the most demanding of all. Work quality is increased and displaces volume as the primary emphasis. The heaviest loading should occur in the next-to-last microcycle, should be followed by an unloading microcycle which concludes the phase.

The precompetition phase is the most critical part of an annual training plan. It is likely that most problems associated with fitness training could occur in this phase. Coaches will have to be very cautious and objective in their assessments of the training responses of swimmers. Since this discussion concentrates on fitness development, it downplays the attention that should be given to technique. Coaches have to determine whether the training fatigue that is developed during this stage hinders more important technique development. If it does, then opportunities for recovery should be increased so that harmful fatigue can be avoided. The severity of training stimuli will be governed by the coaching decision of how much fatigue can be tolerated with each training stimulus and the effect of that fatigue on skills.

From the completion of the previous specific preparatory phase to the onset of the next phase should be a period of about 6-8 weeks -- two relatively stressful macrocycles. Specific fitness capacities should be fully developed by the end of this training period. This will allow athletes to move into specific maintenance-training programs in the subsequent competition phase. The intensity of the overall training load will be governed by when competitions will occur. The activities of this training phase should approximate and model the intensities, durations, and stroke forms that will occur in competitions.

Thus, the precompetition phase emphasizes, from a fitness viewpoint, the final development to maximum levels of those specific fitness combinations that govern the performance of intended races. Remotely related activities are almost non-existent in the latter microcycles. The only purposes for their inclusion would be to assist in recovery and regeneration and, for psychological reasons, training program variety. Auxiliary training activities should cease by the end of this phase.

Testing should continue. The specificity of the tests and their relationship to critical features of the sport should be emphasized. Previous tests which have less than a relevant and direct implication for competition performances should cease. It is likely that the most useful tests will center on pace-specific performance rather than isolated fitness variables. The results of these tests should be used to indicate progress to athletes or the achievement of maximum competition-specific fitness states and movement capacities. The frequency of performance fitness assessment should be at its highest during this stage. During the final quality-dominant training bouts, testing and monitoring should be increased to note at the earliest possible time the attainment of development plateaus or any onset of overtraining.

General non-specific activities are beneficial in the early stages of an annual training plan, but are potentially harmful in the latter stages of training. The reason for this reversal in benefit is that the nervous system is particularly fragile. Technique training should emphasize the development of competition-specific neuromuscular patterns. Non-specific activities have the potential to confuse or disrupt the development of those fine-technique structures. If irrelevant patterns become dominant over desired movement patterns, the state of "erroneous specialization" occurs. As the competition period approaches, potentially incorrect patterns of movement should be removed from the training content so that those which remain are competition-specific. This also has direct relevance to how much training is done in debilitating fatigue states in training sessions. With each occurrence of fatigue, imprecise patterns of movement are enacted. The volume of these patterns should never come to exceed those of precise patterns (otherwise another form of "erroneous specialization" would result). If that was to occur, the body would be dominated by incorrect patterns of movement. In competition fatigue, it is likely that these incorrect movements would be evoked since they had been strengthened ("conditioned") through large amounts of training repetition. Coaches should constantly weigh the value of the volume of poor-quality technique work with that of good-quality work. The quality of training efforts should be monitored very closely. With regard to any training stimulus experience at any time, a coach's decision-making should follow these steps:

  • take note of the performance standard that is initially displayed in the training segment;
  • when an athlete's technique begins to deteriorate note its effect on performance; and
  • when performance deteriorates, despite increased effort on behalf of the athlete, terminate the athlete's involvement in that segment.

The volume of poor work should never approach that of good work. The techniques to be used in competitions should achieve their highest levels of precision and volume by the end of this phase.

The success of the precompetition phase is dependent upon the volume of training achieved in the previous two phases, the introduction of judicious amounts of competition-quality stimulation, the achievement of performance-specific peak fitness levels in all critical capacities, the performance of skills under competition-like circumstances, and the final refinement of skills.

Competition Phase

Competitive performances are built on a foundation of training. The training which precedes the competition phase should demonstrate a gradual improvement in the amount of specific training that has occurred. Prior to entering this phase, all competition-specific physical combinations and technical elements should have reached their highest levels of development. The competitive phase involves the implementation of the benefits of previous training. The focus of athlete development in this phase is psychological and tactical.

The amount of fitness work that is done in this stage should be that which is appropriate for maintenance training. Each competition should be preceded by an unloading microcycle, the primary function of which is to allow for adequate resources to be applied to the other stresses which surround competitions (e.g., travel, competition hype, media).

The normal Western-orientation to competition-phase training is to start with a period of reduced work called the "taper." A taper is necessary if an athlete is unduly fatigued and recovery is required. With this suggested structure of an annual plan, the unloading cycle at the end of the precompetition phase allows for regeneration. Thus, the competition phase is not confounded by the anxiety associated with trying to time a "taper" to allow maximum regeneration to occur in concert with the competition. The maintenance training associated with this phase should not allow athletes to be fatigued to any unnecessary degree nor will they regress in fitness. They should be able to proceed with competition-specific training. This marks a major difference from the excessive-work-ethic-training of the West and the Eastern judicious-rest form of training. The latter is supported by scientific research findings and principles.

Some training sessions should model the psychological atmosphere and demands of competitions. Athletes should perform their competition routines in these simulated conditions. Such simulations will reduce the stress of competition (Rushall 1979, 1986; Rushall & Potgieter, 1987). The degree to which simulations do mimic the actual organization, atmosphere, and expectations of competition will govern the success of the preparatory experience practice.

Usually, it is too late to attempt technique changes in this stage of training. There will be insufficient practice trials to allow newer technique features to be conditioned to sufficient strength to supersede previously established movement patterns. There is a psychological principle that indicates that the more stressful a situation, the more primitive will be the responses. This means that the more important is a competition, the further back in training time an athlete will regress with regard to the movement patterns used. It is for this reason that the precompetition phase stresses the final attainment of competition-level technical features. During the competition phase, through repetition, athletes should condition those elements to an even stronger degree. No attempts to alter them should occur. The stress of late (panic) learning should be avoided so that competition performances can be attempted with confident techniques.

The training stimuli of the competition phase should be the most specific of any training phase. The major emphasis is on training intensity, which should, in major part, be the same as parts of the competition performance. Training at speeds other than race-pace (non-specific training) should be confined to recovery swimming and occasional maintenance training sets. Specific training can be attempted without covering the actual competition distance in its entirety.

Within this phase there still is a transition. Right throughout the annual plan, the transition from one phase to the next should be subtle and hardly, if at all, noticeable to the athletes. The early stage of the competition phase should include practice and low-level competitions that are interspersed with stimulating, maintenance-training sessions. These early competitions should be used as testing grounds for the tactical, technical, and psychological features which have been developed. The latter part of the phase should be the period of serious competitions, and by this time, all elements of intended events should have been developed. Only alterations in the emphasis or sequence of already established performance elements should be new features. From a fitness viewpoint, maintenance training should continue to provide the energy base for specific performance. The nature and amount of that training will depend upon what training has occurred in previous phases. The latter stages of this phase should concentrate on providing positive and enjoyable training sessions, only involving activities that have been demonstrated at earlier training sessions or in competitions.

The nature of the competitions and their scheduling will determine what occurs in this phase. Ideally, it would be best to have a period of serious training, perhaps two microcycles, and then an unloading microcycle at the end of which is the primary competition. After each competition, there should be a very brief unloading or moderated microcycle to allow the athlete to recover from the other-than-physical stresses of competitions. Unfortunately, most high-level competitions and agendas do not allow these ideal conditions to occur. An important coaching decision will be whether or not to permit alternations of training and competition microcycles.

The schedule of competitions will affect coaching decisions. The greater the number of competitions, the more stressed athletes will become. In the absence of stimulating training, stresses on frequent competitors tend to accumulate, placing them in a detraining spiral. The various forms of event-specific physical fatigue that result from participation do not occur with sufficient volume or frequency to generate a training overload. Thus, the benefits that have been gained from a final intense training phase will eventually be lost if stimulating training cannot be reintroduced. Consequently, an athlete can detrain while being engaged in frequent, although serious, competitions. The occurrence of other competitive disruptions, such as unexpected travel, rescheduled competitions, injuries, etc., all produce lessened occurrences of physical training stimuli.

Close attention should be paid to the activities of the athlete outside the sporting environment. A conscious attempt should be made to minimize the stress of other features of life-style.

If an annual training plan has been completed successfully, the competition phase will replace the taper procedure of older philosophies of training. The competition phase should be one of enjoying the fruits of previously completed training. It should allow ideal physiological and psychological states to be achieved for implementation in serious and important races.

Peaking

Peaking concerns the development of an athlete to the point of being capable of performing his or her very best. It is a feature that is influenced more critically by psychological factors than by either fitness or skill. Psychological factors mediate the peaking response. The annual plan that is proposed here asserts that both fitness and skill factors should be fully developed before peaking is attempted.

Where possible, competitions should be planned for the end of macrocycles. That time period facilitates adequate development and unloading to occur before the competition. Peak performances generally occur after maximum specific fitness and skill states have been attained -- one of the reasons for attempting to attain those states at the end of the precompetition phase. Peak performances cannot be accelerated by sudden increases in training loads or the introduction of new technique items. The maximum training response will only occur when the stimulation is optimum for an individual. Unexpected distractions and stresses detract from the peaking response, reducing the quantity of resources that can be applied to the competitive performance. Peaking in a maintained fitness state is the least complicated procedure. Consistent fitness states will contribute to consistent performances.

Peaking under the plan that has been described here will be new in concept and implementation when compared to traditional Western training procedures. Indications of performance capacities occur well before the competition since fitness and skill levels will have been attained. Their maintenance will allow other performance factors to be emphasized. This means that gradually, as the competition approaches, athletes should feel good about their fitness and skill precision, and be encouraged by the greater emphasis on factors that are purely related to the competition (e.g., tactics and psychology). This will occur as a refreshing change in the training regimen and will do much to promote high levels of self-efficacy in athletes. This contrasts with the "normal" peaking procedure (tapering) where recovery, skill refinement, tactical development, and psychological focusing all appear to occur simultaneously in a relatively brief time period. The problem with this simultaneity is that a coach or athlete cannot tell which area is progressing well and which is not: it deteriorates into a hit-or-miss process. Such a situation does not need to arise if training plans have been formulated and implemented properly.

Two-peak Annual Plan

The partitions of the training program that have been outlined for the annual plan are maintained, but in abbreviated form, when there are two major competition periods in a year. The alterations that are needed are as follows.

  • Assuming the first competition allows a full six months of training, all phases should be programmed for the first peak.
  • In the second part of the plan, the transition phase and the basic preparatory phase are abbreviated. After an unloading microcycle, which substitutes for a transition phase, the modified basic preparatory phase focuses on reestablishing high levels of fitness capacities and basic technique features. This should not be a lengthy process and will revive the base upon which the next specific training program will be founded. All other stages of planning remain the same in intent, but diminished in extent.

In situations which have more than two, but distinct, periods of competition, the competitive phases should be linked by unloading and specific preparatory phases. The cost of frequent peaked competitions will be the base of training and the possibility of exhausting the potential to improve in each subsequent competition peak.

Excessive Competitions Plan

For programs where weekly or even more frequent competitions occur, it is generally not possible to maintain peak performances. As has been mentioned above, there are not enough meaningful training stimuli which occur frequently enough to produce even a maintenance training form of program. Fitness states deteriorate over the period of excessive competitions. Psychological fatigue ("loss of form", "in a slump") is quite prominent at various stages throughout an excessively long competition period. Training intensities, when they occur, diminish as the competitions wear on.

Scholastic Sports

Scholastic sports in the USA used to be the training grounds for athlete development. However, they no longer provide adequate training for satisfactory improvement. They are limited in two ways. First, they do not allow adequate training to occur prior to the first competition. In most situations, sport seasons commence and athletes are expected to perform within the first month of the season. This means that they become used to competing in a less-than-adequately-prepared state. Second, after the competitive program has commenced, further frequent competitions interfere with the quality of ensuing training to the point that fitness declines (Capobianco, 1991). Programs of this nature have two major deficiencies.

  • They expose athletes to competitive circumstances with inadequate training. Legislating limited maximum periods of training may be good for organizers, but is not beneficial for athletes. As a reaction to this restriction, athletes attend outside-of-school competitions and train elsewhere to gain extra experience and fitness conditioning. However, these haphazard experiences are less than adequate, for they do not provide a soundly-based coordinated program of development.
  • Because athletes receive less than the optimum stimulation that could result from a well-planned training program, their sporting development will be retarded.

The existence of scholastic sports organizations that inhibit the development of sound training programs may be the single most important factor that has added to the decline in international sporting prowess of the United States.

It is not possible to achieve one's maximum potential without adequate stimulation from a sound training program. Any decision made about the content of training should consider all the valid principles and factors that underlie good planning rather than isolating a single or a few items. Sound planning, year-round training, and decisions based on known principles of human performance are the major ingredients required for successful swimming programs. The diminution of any of these factors will degrade the sporting experience.

Planning

When planning the general content of a training phase, the major decisions concern how many macrocycles will be included and the number of microcycles in each macrocycle. The objectives of the training phase covering all facets of the sport should be described. The types and frequency of both skill and fitness testing should also be indicated. The determination of competitions that will be entered and an indication of the relative importance of each should also be included. That features is supposed to produce a commitment and understanding as to the nature of the competitions and their relationship to the various training stages and content of the phase. The final feature should highlight the importance of considering unloading microcycles in the training phase plan. This emphasis is in keeping with the major philosophy of this paper: rest is as important as work in the development of sport fitness. Planning forms are included in the Rushall and Pyke (1990).

A general decision-making sheet for establishing the content of an annual plan should focus on the general objectives of the year's experience, the types of competitions and their importance, and the training phases and their dates. Annual planning forms are included in the Rushall and Pyke (1990).

Each sporting situation will have its own requirements and important considerations that need to be heeded. It is very likely that planning forms could be designed that best meet the needs and circumstances of a particular coaching environment. The forms are meant to help in the construction of suitable decision-making guides. This approach is different from other texts, in which one form is usually recommended. That form includes information on all stages of at least an annual plan. But determining exact information early in the planning process would seem to be counter-productive. The exact content of microcycles and training sessions should not be determined until the end of a previous macrocycle. The progress of an athlete through a training program should, in large part, determine the future training experiences that will be provided. It is believed that the planning process presented here will assist a coach to focus on the concepts of training, while still remaining flexible in specific programming. That flexibility should provide for the individual needs of swimmers as they progress through a year's training, and the planning process advocated should allow the coach to be consistent throughout the year with regard to training decisions while tuning those experiences to the needs of athletes for obtaining specific and general objectives.

Closure

Annual training plans for swimmers have taken many forms over the past several decades. It was customary for the programs of champions to be published in swimming journals as models of how to train. However, those programs rarely considered a whole year's participation. Recently, this has changed with the exposition of coaches' plans for champions' training (e.g., Touretski, 1993). The problem with such models is that if copied, they will likely be inappropriate for anyone other than the champion for which they are intended. Those of others are likely to be wrong for any other individual. There is no substitute for plans that are devised for individual athletes.

This paper has described the structure and decisional variables that are associated with the elemental structures of annual plans for swimmers. A proper plan requires reasoned decisions to be made in concert with known principles of coaching science. When that is done, it is likely that more consistent coaching and, for the athlete, a more consistent sporting experience, will result. In consistency there is security and implied direction. Even if errors are made in decision-making concerning annual plans, the impact of such errors will be lessened because of stable direction within a well-structured plan.

There is no substitute for basic training as the structure upon which specific training is superimposed. That relationship, when employed correctly, will produce the highest level of performance possible in swimmers. To ignore one or the other is to lessen the value of training and subsequent "maximum" performances. At the 1994 US Swimming National Team Coaches' Meeting the value and need for basic training was echoed by several leading coaches who described it as the foundation for swimming excellence (Rushall, 1994b). Concern was expressed that rather than exploiting this necessity, many coaches were shying away from it in favor of "fad" programs or programs that stressed pure "quality and intensity" or excessive competitive schedules without forming an adequate base of training volume. This paper readdresses the need for solid foundational training that underlies almost all successful athletic performances.

The major difficulty with modern annual plans will be the reorientation of physical conditioning from being the major year-long focus to being the required basis for technique, tactical, and psychological development. The limitations of conditioning require coaches to look for other aspects of swimming to continue opening avenues for performance improvements. Structuring annual plans in an appropriate manner will aid swimming programs to service swimmers with better experiences and to produce better levels of performance.

References

  2. Alcevedo, E. O., & Goldfarb, A. H. (1989). Increased training intensity effects on plasma lactate, ventilatory threshold, and endurance. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 21, 563-568.
  3. Bompa, T. O. (1986). Theory and methodology of training. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
  4. Borms, J. (1986). The child and exercise: an overview. Journal of Sports Sciences, 4, 3-20.
  5. Capobianco, R. P. (1991). Aerobic fitness of high school soccer players during a competitive season. Unpublished Master's thesis, San Diego State University, California.
  6. Costill, D. L., Sharp, R., & Troup, J. (1980). Muscle strength: contributions to sprint swimming. Swimming World, 21, 29-34.
  7. Harre, D. (1971). Trainingslehre. Berlin: Sportverlag.
  8. Mercier, J., Vago, P., Ramonatso, M., Bauer, C., & Prefaut, C. (1987). Effect of aerobic training quantity on the VO2max of circumpubertal swimmers. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 8, 26-30.
  9. Noakes, T. (1986). Lore of running. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
  10. Rushall, B. S. (1967). The scientific bases of circulo-respiratory endurance training. Unpublished Master's thesis, Indiana University, Indiana.
  11. Rushall, B. S. (1979). Psyching in sport. London: Pelham.
  12. Rushall, B. S. (1986). The psychology of successful cross-country ski racing. Ottawa, Canada: Cross Country Canada.
  13. Rushall, B. S. (1994a). Tests of the physical condition of elite swimmers: a manual for coaches. Spring Valley, CA: Sports Science Associates -- published in Australia by NSW Swimming Association Inc., Glebe, NSW.
  14. Rushall, B. S. (1994b). Impressions from US Swimming's 1994 National Team Coaches' Meeting. NSWIMMING Coaching Science Bulletin, 2(5), 1-7.
  15. Rushall, B. S., & Pyke, F. S. (1990).Training for sports and fitness. Melbourne, Australia: Macmillan Educational.
  16. Rushall, B. S., & Potgieter, J. R. (1987). The psychology of successful competing in endurance events. Pretoria, South Africa: South African Association for Sport Science, Physical Education, and Recreation.
  17. Sale, D. G., & MacDougall, J. D. (1981). Specificity in strength training: A review for the coach.Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Science, 6, 87-92.
  18. Shepard, R. J. (1978). Aerobic versus anaerobic training for success in various athletic events.Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Sciences, 3, 9-15.
  19. Touretski, G. (1993). Footprints to success. Australian Swim Coach, 10(5), 5-14.

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