Training planning
Training planning is a methodological, scientific procedure to help athletes achieve high levels of training and performance. It is probably the most important tool that a coach has during a process of conducting a well-organized training program. A coach is aonly as efficient as his/her organization and planning. A good training plan takes a coach at least to the halfway of the athletic goal.
However, in much cases athletes and coaces are not satisfied with their results in major competitions due to several problems that occured during the initial training plan. If an athlete is less experienced, the designing of the training plan is almost a coach´s task. However, experienced athletes help coaches much more compared to less experienced athletes.
As the trainings of elite athletes become more and more detailed, structured and depending on several minor and major factors, the use of training plan gives you a structured direction and guidance that you need to do. It also helps coaches and athletes to deal with different factors that appear to interfere the plan. Do not think that training plan is something that can not be followed, because a good training plan is combained with science to structure training plan and induce changes in the adaptation in athlete. To increase the adaptivity of athletes the good training plan uses periodization of trainings and workouts. A coach must have a high level knowledge and practical experience to be effective and take the athlete to his/her performance maximum. A good training plan also includes several evaluations of athletic performance or testing to have feedback about the state of an athlete and make changes in plan if necessary. Yes, one of the rules of training plans is that the initial plan always changes and it has to be flexive to accustom for the current situation that athlete has.
Training planning can be divided into two major parts:
- Long term planning
Long term planning is important requirement in training process and it relys on the parameters and content of the trainings that are included in smaller blocks of training cycles (microcycles, mesocycles, macrocycles …). Long term planning gives landmarks what are the expected performance gains or expected results in the major competitions of the athlete in the future.
2. Planning of smaller training blocks or phases.
Continued…..
Reference: Bompa T. Periodization. Theory and methodology of training. Human Kinetics, Chicago, IL. 1999.
