The main aim of the annual plan in training planning process is to set up the general training phases for the year to ensure the best performance of the specified competitions. The use of the annual plans takes us back to the ancient Olympic games, where athletes used special training for the upcoming competitions. Although they were far from those plans that are used nowadays they still presented preparatory period and a regeneration/rest period after the games.
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Customarily, training cycles refer to short-term plans such as micro-, meso, and macrocycles. In training, a microcycle is probably the most important and a functional tool of planning because its structure and content determine the quality of the training. (more…)

Periodization is an organized approach to training that involves progressive cycling of various aspects of a training program during a specific period. (more…)

The most important and fundamental principle of block periodization is the concentration of the training workloads. The rationale which mediates it, is the long-established fact that only highly-concentrated training workloads can produce sufficient stimuli for any remarkable gains of the appropriate motor and/or technical abilities in high-level athletes (Issurin 2010). (more…)