Framework for Understanding the

Training Process Leading to Elite

Performance
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Exercise Science Honours

Part 1
 Outcomes
- Describe the components of athletic performance

- Describe an athletic development pathway and stages

- Explain the components of training; athletic and sport

- Explain training cycles, timeframes and key strategies

- Describe the concept of overtraining; explain it’s

monitoring, errors leading to it, strategies to avoid it
 Olympic Motto:
“Stronger, Higher, Faster”
 Sophisticated coaching
 Year round training of high performance
athletes in “amateur” sports
 Better equipment
 Incentives for motivated athletes to push the
boundaries of intensity and volume of
training
 Advanced knowledge of training
methodology
What are the components of performance and
training that should be addressed when
developing short- and long-term training
plans with the aim of achieving elite
performance?

Long-term goal of an athletic career:

sport mastery defined as consistent,
successful, senior international competitive
performance
 Components of Performance
 Training:
 Physical, technical, intellectual and psychological
preparation of an athlete through physical and mental
preparation
 Repetition of exercises designed to induce automation
in the execution of a new skill
 Develop structural and metabolic functions that lead to
increased physical performance
 Goal: increase ability to sustain the highest power
output or speed of movement for a given distance of
time
 Effect of positive and negative stress
 Overload, recovery, supercompensation and adaptation
 Stop and Think:

- Currently, what different components can you

think of that should be considered for inclusion
in a successful athletic development
programme?

- Create a list, 5min

Factors Associated with Sport
Performance Other Factors:

1. Competition environmental
conditions
2. Material and technical
constraints
3. Coordination
4. Skill
5. Constitution of the mind
and body
Genetic endowment:

1. Anthropometric
characteristics
2. Inherited cardiovascular
traits
3. Muscle-fibre-type
proportions
4. Capacity to improve with
training
Genetics and Athletic Performance
 Genetic traits account for up to half of the variation in
performance between individuals
 Other 50% due to training
 Magnitude of the response to training may also be under
genetic control
 i.e. “framework” of the body and the “plasticity” of the
response to environmental factors (i.e. training)
 Genes have a large effect on muscle composition, height,
length of the trunk, arms and legs
 However, functional factors such as the activity of the
enzymes in energy metabolism and cardiovascular endurance
can be modified by different types and amounts of physical
training
 Association between I or D Allele and
Performance
 An allele is the expression of a gene in several forms usually arising
through mutation
 Humans carry 2 versions of the ACE allele and different
combinations of the 2 alleles results in 3 variants: II, ID, and DD
 Healthy males the frequency of these variants is : 0.24, 0.50 and 0.26
 I allele skew in an individual is associated with endurance
performance
 Shown in research on elite distance runners and rowers
 Increasing I allele frequency with distance run in Olympic standard
runners (0.35, 0.53, 0.62 for < 200 m, 400-3000m, and > 5000 m
respectively
 BUT Increased frequency of the D allele among sprint runners
(<200m) and swimmers (< 1 min)
Genotype Influenced by Environment

 Whether an individual will be champion

associated with:

1. The actual state of a number of complex

phenotypes before training

2. Proper training, rest and nutrition

3. Ability of the phenotypes to adapt to

training, rest and nutrition
Other Performance Factors
 Trainability of the athlete

 Neuromuscular efficiency

 Biomechanics

 Recovery potential

 Psychological factors e.g. Ability to tolerate pain and

fatigue
Types of Athletes
 Wooden horse – low fitness/low speed

 Bolter – low fitness/high speed

 Workhorse – high fitness/low speed

 Thoroughbred – high fitness/high speed

Long-Term Training Strategy
 10 – 15 years of an athlete’s competitive life
 Divided by the degree of an athlete’s advancing ability.
Phases include:
 Basic training of fundamentals
 In-depth specialisation and progress towards
maximum personal performance power and capacity
 Reaching an international level of competition
Once an athlete reaches the fringe of international performance, a further
6-8 years of competitive experience may be needed to achieve consistent
world-class stature
Long-Term Training Strategy
 Dr Istvan Balyi (1998): Long-term Plan Stages
 FUNdamental
 Train to train
 Train to compete
 Train to win

 Inclusion of a comprehensive monitoring and testing system

examining a broad spectrum of current and potential performance
characteristics and psychological traits

 Training age is NB
Stages
 Stage 1: Sport fundamentals and general
athletic ability, multi-activity physical
preparation
 Stage 2: Specialisation
 Initially achieving the highest performance on the
basis of versatility involved through various sports
or activities
 Later rather than early (associated with drop-out)
specialisation
Variables and Components of Training
 Intensity, Duration, Frequency and Volume of Training
 Training intensity is the major parameter influencing the
effects of training on the cardiorespiratory system
 High-intensity training can improve VO2max and the
percentage of VO2max that one can sustain
 No more than 20% of the total training time/load should
be performed at intensities greater than the anaerobic
threshold
 A large volume of high-intensity training is poorly
tolerated
Training Frequency, Duration and Volume

 5 – 14 training sessions/week depending on the sport,

performance level of an athlete and the purpose of
training at specific points in a training cycle

 Volume = the total quantity of training performed per

week, month or year and is the combination of duration
and frequency

 International level: endurance-based sports (e.g. Cross-

country skiing): 800 – 1000 hours of training per year
 Training Load
 Combination of intensity, duration and frequency
 Optimal conditions: training organised by alternating
periods of increased training load with recovery
 Training loads: classified as the loads of a single session or
microcyle of 3-5 days
 Excessive load (results in overtraining)

 Trainable load (results in training effect)

 Maintenance load (sufficient to avoid detraining effect)

 Recovery load: favours recovery process

 Useless load: below appropriate intensity

The Components of Training

 + psychology, flexibility, body composition, and nutrition

TASK : COMPARISON BETWEEN ELITE VS
JUNIOR/BEGINNER ATHLETE; EXAMPLES FROM AND
ELEMENTS OF THE FITNESS COMPONENTS BELOW
(pick any two)
What are the differences observed?
Tests, expectations, volume, support, etc?

AEROBIC, ANAEROBIC, HYPERTROPHY , STRENGTH,

FLEXIBILITY, BALANCE, AGILITY, SPEED