What and When as well as How Hard (Part 1)

Athletes ask me what should I do to get ready.  Most of these athletes are training for power sports and that is a world I enjoy working in today.  Simply put, power athletes are football, baseball, basketball players to name a few.  They play for a short period of time.  For example an average NFL play lasts 5.05 seconds.  Think about a batter facing a pitcher, and putting a bat on a 90+ mile an hour fastball is quick to say the least.  Last a basketball player drives hard to the basket and quickly elevates for a layup. These are all power moves in sport.  Explosive movements with a short rest between plays, that's power!

So how does an athlete training for this type of season.  A season that occurs for one part of the year.  Lets look at a five period cycle. The term most commonly used to describe this concept is "periodization."

The concept of periodization is used to peak and athlete at the correct time and avoid overtraining.  We'll start at the end of the prior season.  Most likely and athlete is a little tired and has some minor pains that needs a some time to heal.  Lets call this time the "active rest period." If the athlete is a college football player it will coincide with finals and winter break and may last six weeks.  During this time the athlete may do some light weight lifting, swimming, play some basketball or other activity that is enjoyable to the athlete.  Mostly its recreational unplanned/organized movement that gives the athlete a mental and physical break after a tough season.

The next phase is the hypertrophy/prep phase where and athlete will begin to prepare for the season by increasing the size of the muscle fibers.  This period will last 6-8 weeks and and is used to prepare the athlete for more strenuous training that will follow.  In addition an athlete will include 20-30 minutes of conditioning.  Many groups use this time as team development using small teams and Olympic games concept.

We'll post part 2 soon.