Training volume

Training volume is also a quantitative measure of a training. Training volume can be an answer to the question „How much training?“.  Training volume may be tracked by following ways:

• The time or duration of the training. This method is probably the most widely used considering the annual training planning.
• Distance covered or weight lifted per unit of time
• The overall repetition of the exercise (ie. in cyclic activities or short burst, high intensive activities ) or technical element that the athlete performs.

The gradual increase in training volume is one of the most important factor of the overall performance of an athlete. If there will be no increases in overall training volume, the athletes can not physiologically adapt further. Usually international level athletes train more than 800 hours per year, while at junior level training volumes might reach 300-500 hours (see Table). Increases in training volumes should not be too high at too young age, otherwise the athlete might suffer overtraining, or the body might accustom with high volumes too early and in the future, when athlete advances there is no room for an additional increase in training volume, since volumes are very high already.

Table 1. An example of the increases in training volumes if athlete advances.