Periodisation and Monitoring Training by Mel Siff
Here is a further snippet of Russian information on monitoring the
effectiveness of training, coming from as far back as 1973 (Petrovsky).
These are his four indicators:
1. Percentage improvement in planned results relative to initial results
2. Precision of achieving planned results at the time needed
3. The number of training sessions needed for achieving the planned results
(the fewer the workouts, the greater the effectiveness of the training)
4. The duration for which the results are maintained at the planned level.
In addition, it is vital to distinguish in the graphs of performance
variation the differences between:
- Loss of sporting form
- Undulations in trainability.
In this respect, it is important to note that the various components of
sporting form are not lost (or maximised) simultaneously. The Russian
proponents of various periodisation or training organisation schemes often
point out that passive rest usually leads to a more rapid loss of sporting
form and that various regimes of active and passive restoration form an
integral part of the entire training scheme.
Just in case the sports massage terrorists exclaim that this is exactly what
they have been advocating for years, let them also note that the Russians
emphasize that repeated application of the same restoration means in
precisely the same way produces stagnation and loss of form just like the
regular use of the same training regime.
Sometimes they stress the critical role by avoiding restoration of certain
parts of the body or the whole body over certain phases so as to provoke
more rapid or more enduring adaptation (e.g. study Dr Zatsiorsky’s fine text
‘Science and Practice of Strength Training’ on the modes of adaptation. The
different acute and delayed effects of specific training loads are discussed
in my “Supertraining” book. Thus, it is not unusual for some ‘periodisation’
schemes to be based on a background of deliberately maintained fatigue at
certain stages of advanced training.
This additional information may now enable users to dissect or understand
some of the strengths and limitations of existing models more easily – but
remember that this is till the tip of the whole confusing iceberg of exercise
programming and organisation.
———-
Mel Siff
