Principles of training (part 3)

Specificity principle

This principle refers to the fact that physiological adaptations will occur only in the tissues and organs stressed during the training process. At least four aspects of specificity must be considered when planning a training program for swimmers:

1. the activity that the swimmer is training for,
2. the stroke the swimmer will use in competition,
3. the competition speed, and
4. the portions of the metabolic system that need to be stressed.

It is clear that swimmers must do most of their training in the water. It is also recommended that they swim a large percentage of their training mileage in their main stroke or strokes because that is the only way they can be certain that they are training the muscle fibers they will use in races. A final important point about specific training concerns the various phases of the metabolic system. Endurance training and sprint training emphasize different aspects of those systems. So, athletes must swim both endurance and sprint repeats in their primary stroke or strokes to target all phases of the metabolic system for optimum improvements.

Individuality principle

Many factors cause individual athletes to respond differently to the same training stimulus. Two important factors are (1) the athlete's state of conditioning when the training begins and (2) his genetic makeup.

It is well known that athletes will improve quite rapidly if they have taken a long layoff and are out of condition when training begins. All aspects of performance - power, endurance, speed, and so on - will improve dramatically regardless of whether the training emphasizes speed  or endurance. The rate of improvement will slow considerably after the first several weeks.

Heredity plays a major role in the determining the extent to which training can improve the physiological functions of athletes. Other parameters that affect the responses to training are age and gender.

Reversibility principle

Just as proper training results in adaptations that improve performance, lack of training leads to a reversal of those adaptations and causes performance to decline. Significant reductions will take place within 1 to 2 weeks after training ends. The rate of loss will be slower if the intensity or frequency of training is only reduced, but only if the reduction is not great. 

The principle of reversibility illustrates the need for training year-round with infrequent breaks of short duration. Serious athletes should never take breaks from training longer than 1 to 2 weeks, and they should take breaks of that length no more than two or three times each year.

That was the last post of the 'Principles of training' series.