Key training principles for a successful workout
For a workout to be effective, the following training principles need to be applied. They matter a great deal when it comes to planning and designing your sports training.
Principle 1: the effective training stimulus
This principle states that for a stimulus to be effective in training, it has to exceed a certain threshold if it's going to trigger adaptation. Below-threshold stimuli don't lead to any adaptation and remain ineffective.
So go all out in your training!
Principle 2: progressive overload
The training stimulus needs to adapt to the athlete's training condition. The same stimulus applied again and again gradually loses its effect on performance improvement. The load has to be adjusted from time to time to match the new functional state. To keep improving performance, the load has to be progressive (i.e. increasing).
So increase the intensity from one workout to the next!
Principle 3: continuity
The stimulus needs to act on the human body over a longer period of time if it's going to boost performance. Similar or identical stimuli have to keep acting on the system at the right intervals. If this doesn't happen, the adaptation runs in the opposite direction, which comes with a loss of performance.
Here's something to keep in mind: the time it takes to build up matches the time it takes to lose it again. Say someone trains 3 times a week for 3 months and then stops. It then takes around 3 months for them to be back at their starting level.
So train regularly (at least 1 session per week)
Principle 3: variation
This training principle is about deliberately varying
- training goals (motor, cognitive, social etc.)
- training content (general development exercises, specialised exercises, competition exercises)
- training methods (HIT, continuous method, competition method)
- training equipment (bike, cross-trainer, rowing machine etc.)
So train different components of your fitness!
Principle 4: periodisation and cyclisation (only relevant for competitive sports)
Since athletic form – looked at over a whole year – can't stay at peak level the entire time, it also has to be deliberately put through periodic variation across that timespan.
Periodisation refers to structuring the competitive year in cycles, distinguishing between three periods.
Preparation period
Goal: developing general performance prerequisites and high overall resilience.
The idea is to develop the individual conditioning abilities not all at once, but building on each other over time in terms of both timing and method. During the preparation period, training is done with a higher training volume.
Competition period
Goal: developing complex competitive performance through taking part in competitions.
During the competition period, the athlete again has to distinguish between important and less important competitions. During this period, the aim is to maintain performance capacity in the conditioning area.
Transition period
Goal: during the transition period, training volume and intensity are reduced. This leads to a planned loss of form.
Micro, meso and macrocycle
To plan training even more precisely, it has proven useful in practice to divide it into the organisational units of micro-, meso- and macrocycles. In the training plans of most sports, the microcycle represents one calendar week. Mesocycles are used for medium-term planning, as they usually span periods of 4–12 weeks. The macrocycle is used for long-term planning and spans a period of 3–12 months.
