Factors for training personalization
Before making decisions about how to structure the training it is necessary to know the factors for training personalization.
In this series of articles we deal with some of the most important concepts of strength training, collecting notes from the recently published book Strength, Speed ​​and Physical and Sports Performance written by renowned researchers Juan José González Badillo and Juan Ribas Serna.
SUMMARY
- The factors for the personalization of the training are the strength needs of the sport for which it is trained and the physical condition of the subject.
- The minimum necessary components to program a training would be the number of cycles of the season, the exercises to train, determine the intensities of the training and estimate the volumes.
These factors are mainly two:
- The fitness demands of the sport in relation to strength. This implies that previously a study must be made of the characteristics of the sport in general and especially of the importance that strength can have in improving the results and its relationship with the other capacities that contribute to the improvement of specific performance. .
- Evaluate the physical condition of the subject. To program training it is not enough to know the strength needs in a specific sport. There is no single solution to the same requirement. Given the same objective, the training can be different depending on the characteristics and training status of the subject to whom the training is to be applied. Therefore, only after knowing the demands and needs of the subject, will you be in a position to design a program in a rational way.
The demands of the specific sport and the physical condition of the subject are the main factors for training personalization.
It could be said that there are no “trainings” but “trainable subjects”. The training in itself does not make sense if it is not for its application to specific, individual and different subjects who pursue the same objective: to improve their performance in a sport or their physical condition. The need to individualize training is implicit here. Once these two premises are known, the training will be organized respecting both the demands of the sport and the needs of each subject.
Although this information is the base of any decision, to define and quantify the specific training variables it is necessary to have the answer to a series of questions that determine the characteristics of the stimuli to be programmed. These questions are the following:
- How many complete cycles of strength training will be performed in the season and to what extent each?
- What are the exercises to use?
- What are the training intensities to use?
- What is the volume to reach?
Minimum steps to follow before starting a programming:
- Determine the total number of training cycles in the season. To determine the total number of cycles, the number and temporal location of important competitions should be taken as a reference, but fundamentally adaptation times must be respected, which are what determine the length of the training cycles for strength improvement. .
- Select the exercises to use. The selection of exercises depends on the characteristics of the sports, but the composition of the basic list of exercises is common to all, and should include some specific strength exercises, three or four non-specific but useful exercises, among which are generally You will find complex exercises and exercises to improve leg strength, and a few complementary exercises, of a more localized nature.
- Determine the maximum training intensities, understood as an expression of the programmed effort. This can be done in three ways:
- Through the percentages of 1RM, which must be understood as the expression of the real programmed effort. That they conform to the actual programmed effort could only be achieved by controlling the speed of the first repetition in the series.
- Through the number of repetitions per series and its character of effort (CE).
- And especially and preferably because of the speed with which the absolute load can be moved. In this sense, the CE will be defined in the most precise way by the speed of the first repetition and by the loss of speed in the series.
The expression of the real effort programmed by 1RM could only be achieved by controlling the speed of the first repetition in the series.
- Estimate the volume. Disregarding and assuming that the number of repetitions, as an indicator of volume, should not be programmed, and that, therefore, what we should take into account and program is the loss of speed in the series, To have an approximate estimate of the evolution of the volume, the frequency of training per week and the number of exercises per training can be taken as a reference..
Factors for personalization of training Factors for personalization of training Factors for personalization of training
