As a coach or fitness enthusiast understanding how to plan effective training sessions are key if you wish to remain injury free and reach your full potential.  

Principles of Training

To get the greatest gains from your training use the SPORTI acronym below. 

SPECIFICITY

PROGRESSION

OVERLOAD

REVERSIBILITY/ RECOVERY

TEDIUM

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES



SPECIFICITY

The principle of specificity simply means that training should be specific to the needs of the sport or activity that you are participating in. For Instance, for a boxer to become proficient in the ring he/she must box in the ring. Although many other training methods will support conditioning for boxing nothing beats time in the ring to develop their movement, awareness and technical ability. Bruce Lee famously stated, ‘bags don’t hit back’. Spending time on the bags is excellent conditioning but should be combined with real situations.


Progression

A fine art to training is being able to progress your training in order to continually develop. An unconditioned athlete will progress massively in the first 6 weeks of any program however, after this they may plateau. It is important training progresses the individual enough to make gains.


Overload 

Overload is stretching your energy systems beyond their normal functions. Training to failure allows the system to be stretched which will allow for adaptions to occur.  Think of the classic body builder overloads their system so much it breaks down and grows back strong. In the Royal Marines a common ethos for us was, ‘train hard, fight easy.’ Work hard in training and the battle will be easy.
However, there are times when you may need to reduce the overload.

These include:

Signs of overtraining or burnout. This can lead to a decrease in motivation.

In order to peak for an event such as an Olympic athlete preparing for their next major tournament. 

Reversibility and Recovery 

A period of inactivity, injury or illness can mean individuals lose their gains far more rapidly than the building of them. For example, a player has 6 weeks off due to injury they will find their cardiovascular system less efficient. A rapid reduction in fitness levels can be avoided by consistent training programs. 

In order to grow, we must recover.


If you don’t allow for recovery time you can find yourself injured  mentally and physically. Recovery does not have to mean sitting on the couch not moving. In fact, many full time athletes do low intensity exercise do support a faster recovery. Mobility work, yoga, golf all increase blood flow thus speeding the recovery process. My key advise here is to learn to listen to your body. How does it feel? How do you feel mentally? Are you motivated or lacking Umph?
This will be a key skill to your long term success and longevity as an athlete. 

Tedium

This is the principle of variation. I’m sure we have all experienced boredom in our training before. ‘Variety is the spice of life’. 

If you are a coach you have a duty to adapt training, look at the engagement of your players and know when to mix things up and have some fun. Teams having fun, will play and work harder.
If your an athlete change your training every now and again to add some spice to your life!

Individual Differences

We all have different desires, goals and capabilities. Therefore, training programmes should be individually tailored to meet their needs.