Principles of
Strength & Power Training
Multilateral Development vs
Specialization
• Overall development of athletes involves a
balance between multilateral development
and specialization
– Early development should involve the overall
physical development of athlete
• Little specialization
• Get involved with all kinds of physical activities
– Specialized training should take place later in
development program
• Sport skills are practiced for specific sport
Model for Long Term Training
Maturation
High -College athletes &
Performance beyond
Junior Athletes
Specialized -High school, early
Training
college years
Multilateral Childhood
Development -Through early teen
years
Principle of Progressive Overload
• Periodization involves systematic and logical
implementation of overload
– Overload is an application of a STIMULUS that causes an
organism to adapt
• Overload procedures:
– Intensity
• Increase load, repetition speed
– Volume
• Sets x reps
• Recommended volume increase of no more than 5% at a time to
reduce risk of overtraining
– Recovery interval length
Overload: Intensity/Loading
Rep max training
By definition, RM load involves training to
“failure”.
• 10RM= most weight that can be lifted for 10 reps
• 5RM= most weight that can be lifted for 5 reps
Rep max training may be used to determine
training intensity
Some data show that rep max training may not
be necessary to stimulate hypertrophy or
increased strength
Overload: Intensity/Loading
• Stone suggests that regularly training to
failure may be detrimental to recovery
abilities [(1996) Strength Cond J 18(3):44-51]
– [also, see Fry et al. (1994) Med Sci Sport Exerc, 26(9):1165-1173]
• Always training to failure decreases training
variation since each training session is
trained maximally
Training to Failure- Strength
• Training to failure is not necessary
to activate higher threshold motor
units
– 15 weeks of training
– RF trained to failure at either
10 RM or 6 RM
– NRF trained at 80% of 10 RM
or 6 RM (for 10 & 6 reps)
– 2 x per week
• Strength gains were shown
to be similar between RF
group and NRF.
[Izquierdo et al. (2006) J Appl Physiol
100(5):1647-1656]
Training to Failure-Power
• NRF group also saw
greater increases in
muscular power (lower
body) than RF group
[Izquierdo et al. (2006) J Appl Physiol
100(5):1647-1656]
Is training to failure necessary to
produce overload?
Peterson et al. (2005) J. Strength Cond Res 19(4):950-958.
Training to failure vs not training to failure
using effect size (meta analysis)
What is overload determined by?
Training effect for strength and power is
determined by training volume (sets x reps x
load) and training intensity (average %1RM)
Standard Load
•Training with same set x rep x load all the time
•Results in improvement in early part of training
program only
• Without variation in training, plateau and decrease
In performance is inevitable
Decrease in
Improvement performance
Strength
Plateau
Preparatory Phase Competitive Phase
Linear Loading
2 ways to overload
1. Increase load
2. Increase volume
Load
to exhaustion
Preparatory Phase
Linear loading eventually leads to overtraining
(physiological and psychological maladaptations)
Step Loading
• Uses progressive overload and
recovery to assist stimulation of
training adaptations
• This approach requires a training
load increase followed by an
unloading phase to allow
adaptations (supercompensation)
to take place.
Principle of Specificity
• S.A.I.D. Principle
– Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands
• All training adaptations are specific to the
stimulus applied.
• Training should become more specific as
the competition season approaches
• The more specific the training, the greater
the transfer to the activity
Principle of Training Specificity
Bioenergetic Specificity Movement Specificity
• Emphasize the specific • Emphasize movement
primary energy systems characteristics of sport activity
(ESD) utilized during the to enhance transfer of training
sporting event to competition
• Bioenergetic specificity • Characteristics of movement
should be a goal in all modes to consider
of training – Movement pattern
– Especially during the sport – Force production needs
specific preparation phase
• Type of contraction
– Increases transferability of
training to competition – Rate of force production
• General prep phase produces requirements
the “foundation” for specific – Power output profile for
training to follow sport performance
Principle of Variation
• Alteration in training variables is necessary
over time to reduce training boredom and
staleness
– The nervous system adapts fast and
must change the stimulus to see
continued progression
• By varying the amount of loading in
training the athlete can force adaptation by
the body and allow for recuperation.
Account for Individual Differences
• Biological Age
– Younger athletes: more resistant to fatigue, so
can tolerate somewhat high volume
– Males: Testosterone levels (puberty) are big
indicators of readiness
– Older athletes: sensitive to volume and intensity
of training, have more injuries, social stress
because of outside responsibilities
• Training Age & History
– Relates to base of training (have they gone
through multilateral development)
– More likely to handle higher volumes of training
Untrained =little training exp. Trained = recreationally trained Athletes = chronic training
Untrained individuals Trained individuals
Mean training intensity~60% 1RM Mean training intensity~80% 1RM
4 sets/ muscle group/ workout
4 sets/ muscle group/ workout
2 day/wk per muscle group
3 day/wk per muscle group
•Almost any reasonable training Athletes
program will cause adaptations Mean training intensity ~85% 1RM
•Need less training variation to 8 sets/muscle group/workout
stimulate adaptation 2 day/wk per muscle group
•need more variation to stimulate a
training effect
Peterson et al. (2005) J. Strength Cond Res
19(4):950-958.
•Periodization works well