Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By: Carla Rauseo
I had an athlete come in to me this week, complaining about his shoulder. Upon investigation, I learned that this young athlete of 17 years of age, was training seven times a week!
Seven times a week means that this athlete had no days off from training to allow his body to heal from microtrauma and to recover. As I continued to inquire, I became very annoyed at a few things:
1. That in this day and age, we have athletes who are training seven times a week.
2. That the reason why this athlete had to train this much was because he was selected to represent both his club as well as his country in his sport and that neither team seem to be aware of what program the other was doing.
3. That the coaches of these teams show blatant disregard for the welfare of their athletes, displayed by the mere fact that seven-day training weeks were allowed to happen.
4. That the parents of junior athletes continue to expose their children’s bodies to this sort of abuse!
Surely, by now, all coaches are aware of the existence of a periodised program. For information sake, I am referring to a training system that has been in existence for more than 50 years and has been proven to improve training outcomes evident in athlete performance and results.
Without delving too deeply into the intricacies of the concept, a periodised program is meant to structure an athlete’s training regime so that his/her muscles are constantly being challenged in dynamic ways. By so doing, the muscles get little opportunity to fully adapt to a routine/regime, which is good because, adaptation translates into muscle efficiency which leads to a plateau in performance and results.
Avoiding this means manipulating the exercise variables. Variables such as exercise motion, body positioning, stabilisation, repetition tempo, intensity, volume, duration, frequency, recovery/breaks in between sets, and others of the such.
The training phases are broken up into macro and mesocycles. The macrocycle refers to the long-term goals that are months apart. Within that are the mesocycles which are the subcomponents of the macrocycle and are meant to focus on specific training needs while being sure not to neglect complimentary components. It’s all about balance. For instance, although an athlete might be working towards improving his/her strength, it should never be to the detriment of something else such as endurance.
Every coach should be aware of the principles of periodisation so that his/her athletes peak at the right time and avoid burn out and/or injury. Every sport program should have a strength training program as part of their training structure.
It seems to me that in Trinidad, we all know all this and are well aware of the benefits but are either too lazy or too comfortable with mediocrity to implement them. Some say we have become numb to the disappointment of losing. Will it take the next generation to see sports programs elevated beyond the patchy product it currently is?
You have to admire the professionalism that went into dealing with the issues that surrounded the NFL lockout. Players came together to stand for something they believed in, regardless of the risks that lay in the uncertainties. Granted, the NFL environment in the USA is astronomically different to anything we will ever see in Trinidad, the bottom line is that Americans love football and they know they love football. Letting the sport die could never be an option so that, although there would have been several unsure moments surrounding this strong stance they were taking, especially in the early stages of discussions amongst the players and the NFLPA, football is America and America is football.
Letting the sport die was just not an option. So, the players stood together for what they believed in, the owners argued their points, legal protocols were followed and after about five months of negotiations and discussions, middle-ground was struck.
I wonder… if athletes and/or parents of athletes were to really unite and insist on training standards, where they know it can be afforded, would those in authority accept their challenge or would they just allow the sport to die. Sadly, in many cases, I fear that it would be the latter to happen.
So, I challenge the senior athletes and even the parents of junior athletes who are part of poorly structured training programs that subject their children to the potential for overuse, injury, and physical abuse to some extent, to insist on better for themselves or their children. Put the selfish interests aside and instead focus on the bigger picture of realising the very attainable goal of outfitting athletes with what they need to safely get the most out of the hundreds of training hours that are invested.
The reality is, without the proper structure in place, their full potential is hardly likely to be realised.