Option 4 - Improving Performance

How do athletes train for improved performance?

● Aerobic Training:
○ Continuous / uniform
■ Continuous training involves non-stop exercise for a set period of time or
distance
● E.g. rowing, cycling, running, swimming, kayaking
● Team sport athletes go for a 10km road run to build aerobic
endurance
○ This run would be a ‘steady state’ activity at 75% of max
HR
○ Fartlek training
■ Continuous exercise interspeed with ‘sprints’ of varying distances
■ Also referred to as ‘speed play’, often involves hilly terrain
● E.g. a 45 min cycle that includes 10 reps of high intensity spurts
for 30 -60 seconds
○ Long interval
■ There are two types of interval training:
● Continuous intervals, which involve low-intensity exercise between
the higher intensity repetitions
● Stop-start intervals, which have a prescribed rest period between
repetitions
■ Interval training is an excellent way to improve aerobic fitness
■ Manipulating the duration, number and intensity of repetitions, as well as
recovery periods, will provide overload.
■ A popular form of continuous interval is very effective for fat burning and
increasing aerobic power
■ This type of training increases resting metabolic rate
● E.g. include a 15-20 minutes of 30 second sprints and 60-90
seconds of jogging (after a warm up)
● E.g. example of stop-start intervals would be 10 x 150 metre
sprints with 2 minutes of recovery time between repetitions

How training methods can be measured and monitored:

- Accurately measuring V02 max involves a physical effort sufficient in duration and
intensity to fully tax the aerobic energy system.
- In general clinical and athletic testing, this usually involves a graded exercise test in
which exercise intensity is progressively increased while measuring ventilation and
oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration of the inhaled and exhaled air.
- E.g. a graded exercise test can be on a treadmill or on a cycle ergometer
- V02 max is reached when oxygen consumption remains at steady state despite an
increase in workload.
- The Cooper Test is a test of physical fitness
- The point of the test is to run as far as possible within 12 minutes.
- The test is meant to measure the condition of the person taking it and therefore it
is supposed to be run at a steady pace instead of sprints and fast running.
- The outcome is based on the distance the test person ran, their age, and gender.
- The results can be correlated with V02 max.
- E.g. of a table for the test:

- The multi-stage fitness test, also

known as the bleep test, beep test, pacer test, or 20 m shuttle run test, is used by sports
coaches and trainers to estimate an athlete’s V02 max (maximum oxygen uptake)
- The test is especially useful for players of sports like rugby, soccer, hockey, netball,
handball or tennis.
- Harvard Step test: the idea is to step up and down on a bench continuously for 5
minutes at the rate of 30 steps / minute (1 step every 2 seconds) or until the
person can no longer maintain the rate of 30 steps / minute.
- At the end of the 5 minutes, record the heart rate at 3 different times.
- The change in heart rate from time 1, time 2 and time 3 shows the person's
recovery time after the exercise.
- That is how quickly the person’s heart rate returns to its normal resting rate after
exercise.
- The step test is based on the premise that someone with a higher fitness level
will have a smaller increase in heart rate and a faster recovery time.
Your score on the harvard step test can be found using this
formula:
Score = 100 * (300 seconds / 2* (pulse 1 + pulse 2 + pulse
3)
Your score = 100* (300 / 2* ( ___ + ___ + ___ )
 Your score = ______
● Flexibility training:
■ Flexibility is the ability to move through a complete range of motion
■ When an athlete’s muscles are tight and have limited range of motion the
is an increased chance of injury
○ Static
■ Performed slowly
■ Does not require any equipment
■ The muscle is slowly taken to its end point and held for a period of time
with lengthening and relaxing periods
■ Athletes should hold each stretch for 10-30 seconds
○ Dynamic
■ Involves continuous and progressively faster isotonic muscle contractions
allowing the muscles to work in a full range of motion
■ Movements are more sport specific
○ Ballistic
■ It is a form of dynamic stretching that involves a bouncing action at the
end of a range of movement.
■ This type of stretching activates the stretch reflex
■ This type of stretching is more likely to cause injury and is not good for
beginner athletes
○ Flexibility training can be incorporated into an athlete's training program and
should aim to have three to five flexibility sessions a week
○ When designing a program consider the requirements for the sport as well as the
athlete’s tight muscle groups

What are the planning considerations for improving performance?

● Initial planning considerations:

■ To improve an athlete's performance a coach always needs to formulate
a detailed plan
■ Involves conducting a thorough needs analysis and adhering to some
basic principles
■ The needs analysis will evaluate where your current team or athlete
stands in relation to where they want to be
■ The basic principles of planning must also be considered when a coach
formulates a training plan.
■ Communication is integral to achieving success
■ Athletes need to know that their coach will listen to them
■ All athletes need ownership of the plan, and should be able to set their
individual goals with the coach
■ Coaches should know their athletes and be aware of their individual
needs
■ Coaches need to be honest, consistent, and organised
 ■ Training needs to occur in a fun environment
○ Performance and fitness needs (individual, team)
■ The first task in the planning stage is to evaluate the previous season’s
performance
■ The needs analysis will assess the requirements of the sport and the
current ability of each athlete to meet these requirements.
■ This evaluation will form the foundation for planning for the upcoming
year
■ Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that will assist in
planning for player development and team performance
■ Coach considers how to capitalize not he strengths, improve or minimise
the weaknesses, benefit from any opportunities and eradicate any threats
○ Schedule of events / competitions
■ Competition schedules for elite sports were very controlled, so athletes
knew when and where they were competing in advance.
■ The competition phase was fixed with variability only in the duration of the
preseason (preparation), and off season (transition)
■ This has now changed for many sports at the elite level, as there is no
defined off season
● E.g. members of the Australian women’s basketball team compete
in Europe (oct - may) and the USA (may - sept), effectively
participating in back - to - back competitions with minimum rest
periods
○ This is becoming more common in elite level sport, and it
makes planning for optimal performance more and more
difficult
● E.g. a lower levels of competition, such as low A-grade teams, the
length of the competition will be determined well in advance, and
the coach will decide on the duration of the preseason period.
○ Climate and season
■ Consideration must be given to the season or climate in which athletes
will be competing
■ Performing under hot and humid conditions will require different strategies
to performing under cold, wet and windy conditions
■ Consider whether the environmental conditions will be relatively
consistent for the duration of the competition and whether the athletes will
train in a similar way they will complete in
● Planning a training year (periodisation)
■ Periodisation is the process of dividing an annual plan into smaller
phases of training
■ This enables the coach to work with manageable segments of an annual
plan and helps with programming for optimal performance during the
main competition period/s during the calendar year.
 ■ This allows a coach to systematically program varied training loads and
scheduled recovery at different times of the year to optimise training
adaptations.
○ Phases of competition (pre season, in-season, and off season phases)
■ Preparatory / preseason phase:
● The preparatory phase initiates the training plan and constitutes
the period of training in which most of the physical preparation of
the athlete is realised
● 80% of the total training volume can be executed in this period
● The aim of this phase of training is to build on an athlete’s fitness
foundation while continuing to develop and perfect their skills
● Generally team sports will have a shorter preparatory phase
● The preparatory phase is sometimes further divided into 2 sub
phases: general & specific
○ General preparatory phase:
■ This pays special attention to an athlete’s
weaknesses, further building on a strong fitness
base through high-volume training
■ Skills are not neglected, with a focus on technique
and game strategy
○ Specific preparatory phase:
■ This is a transition to more specific training related
to the sport, in terms of energy systems, skill
components and patterns of play.
■ Volume is initially high and then gives way to
increased intensity during this phase of training
■ Training is again tailored to meet the individual
needs of the athletes
○ Subphases (macro and microcycles)
■ Macro cycle:
● The macro cycle is termed the training phase and is broken up
into the preparation phase, competition phase and transition
■ Mesocycle:
● Once the year is separated into macro cycles these phases can
be broken down into smaller mesocycles
● These cycles of time are designed to achieve the goals of each
macro cycle
○ For example; a 12 week long, pre season macro cycle may
be separated into two mesocycles of 6 weeks, with each
mesocycle having specific goals within the phases of basic
conditioning and specific conditioning
● The mesocycle represents a major phase of training within a
macro cycle or training phase
 ● Each mesocycle should aim to elicit significant improvement in a
particular aspect of fitness
● Often a mesocycle end with an unload week, where the volume of
training is lower so the body can fully recover
● The length of the mesocycle may vary from 3 - 8 weeks, with 4
weeks being the most common duration
■ Microcycle:
● Mesocycles can be further broken down into micro cycles for the
purpose of fine tuning the training involved.
● A microcycle is a shorter training period of about 7 - 10 days and
includes more detailed information on the intensity, frequency,
duration and sequencing of a training session
● Microcycle is the term used to refer to the weekly training plan,
and usually includes details on each individual training session.
● These breakdowns may appear complicated and time consuming,
but they provide the framework to ensure that the athlete is
continuing to develop their skill and is being motivated throughout
the season
● It is important to be aware of any issues that may arise during this
time, especially injuries or intensity is too high or too low, and
make appropriate adjustments to cater for individual or team
needs.
■ Sport specific sub phases:
● Strength
○ The preparation phase involves 4 week cycles where the
main goal is adaptation, followed by hypertrophy, maximal
strength, and then conversion to power and functional
strength.
○ Maximal strength cannot be continually improved in-
season so there will be cycles of maintenance and
maximal strength
● Endurance
○ For example; a sport like tennis - the endurance will be
developed by having cycles where the emphasis moves
from aerobic capacity and finally anaerobic power
○ In season there is a shift to maintenance and topping up
anaerobic power as the finals approach
● Speed and agility
○ Both fitness components start the preparation phase with
an emphasis on technique or general speed, and progress
to more game-specific speed and agility
● Skills
○ Skill development is also periodised throughout the season
 ○ Initially emphasis is on general skill development for the
sport, but then progresses to the specific skill development
of each athlete
○ As fitness also improves, the next cycle focuses on skills
under fatigue, then ‘skills under pressure’.
○ During the competitive season, a substantial amount of
time is spent on maintaining or fine-tuning skill
development.
● Intensity and volume
○ Volume of training decreases the intensity of training
increases

○ Peaking
■ Athletes cannot maintain peak fitness for long periods of time
■ Athletes in individual sports plan to peak for a particular race or
tournament by working hard on their skills and fitness, then following this
up with a taper.
● These athletes can build up on the foundation they have
developed in the earlier phase of training without having to be
concerned about earlier competition results.
■ This is not the case with team sport athletes
● They have to compete on a weekly basis for a number of months
● It performance is not maintained at a particular level, the team will
have a decreased chance of the making the playoffs.
● This makes it more difficult to plan for peak performance in a team
sport
○ Tapering
■ A taper period is scheduled just prior to an important event or competition
so the athlete will compete in an optimum or ‘unfatigued’ state
■ The aim of the training phases is to give the body time to recover
● From physiological psychological stress
● It also aims to replenish glycogen stores by decreasing training
without causing a detraining effect
 ■ When designing a taper for an athlete, a coach needs to consider
duration, volume, intensity, and frequency of training.
■ Research recommends decreasing the training volume by 40-60% during
a taper period
■ Best achieved by decreasing the duration and workload in a training
session rather than altering the training frequency
● Example: the only exception to this is elite athletes who train twice
a day - a coach in this case may decide to reduce the number of
sessions per week by a max of 20%
● Greater reductions in training frequency may result in a loss of
‘feel’ in competitive athletes.
■ Training intensity should be maintained, as research has indicated lower
intensities may have a detrimental effect on performance
■ Tapers of 8-14 days have been effective / successful
■ A performance improvement of 3% generally results from an effective
taper - due to the improved psychological, hormonal, and metabolic
status of athletes.
■ An athlete must maintain a high carbohydrate diet while still monitoring
caloric intake
● Example tapering:
○ If an athlete trains for less than 5 hours per week, a coach
does not need to prescribe a true taper - as 1 - 2 days of
prior to the competition will be sufficient for the athlete to
be fully recovered
○ If the athlete trains 6 - 10 hours per week, a 7 day taper
may be sufficient
○ While athletes who train for more than 10 hours per week
may need a tape of 14 - 21 days to enhance performance
○ Sport-specific subphases (fitness components, skill requirements)
● Elements to be considered when designing a training session
○ Health and safety considerations
○ Providing an overview of the session to athletes (goal specific)
○ Warm up and cool down
○ Skill instruction and practice
○ Conditioning
○ Evaluation
● Planning to avoid overtraining
○ Amount and intensity of training
○ Physiological considerations, e.g. lethargy, injury
○ Psychological considerations, e.g. loss of motivation

What ethical issues are related to improving performance?

● Use of drugs
 ○ The dangers of performance enhancing drug use, e.g. physical effects, loss of
reputation, sponsorship and income
○ For strength (human growth hormone, anabolic steroids)
○ For aerobic performance (EPO)
○ To mask other drugs (diuretics, alcohol)
○ Benefits and limitations of drug testing
● Use of technology
○ Training innovation, e.g. lactate threshold testing, biomechanical analysis
○ Equipment advances, e.g. swimsuits, golf ball