We have had some good discussion over at Strengthcoach.com regarding energy system development training. Dave Tenney, athletic development coach for the Seattle Sounders soccer club, as done a great job of offering some of his ideas and I have tried to add a few of my own as well.
One of the things I observed at the NSCA National Conference this year was the attention to detail the European strength coaches had with regard to a balanced approach to developing fitness in their athletes. However, as I noted in the review linked to above, the American coaches tend to be much more concerned with the “strength/power” development and leave little room for energy system training, save for 10-15min of interval work.
When we try and discuss some of this stuff, it seems that many coaches are afraid of “cardio”. I will admit right up front, I have been guilty of this in the past as I placed more emphasis on strength and less emphasis on a well-balanced energy system development program – opting for the ever popular intense interval training, operating under the notion that this is all someone needs to develop their fitness.
Before I go on, I want to make sure that people understand that I am not advocating just going out and jogging for 60min. What I am more talking about is finding ways to improve your work capacity that get you away from the demanding work of interval training, which in the long run can have a negative impact on the body as it is a much greater stress than a less intensive method. This work can be used (a) in the offseason to develop fitness and prepare you for the more intense training to come as the season approaches or (b) as a recovery day from heavy/intense training when the body needs a break from so much tearing down. Some examples of how you can perform energy system development work:
- Circuit Training
- Medicine Ball Circuits
- Tempo Runs with active rest in between reps
- Sled dragging
- Oxidative Work
The common recommendation has been that during this work you want to keep your heart rate between 120-140 bpm and work for 30-60min (this can be continuous or with rest intervals in between sets and series).
One of the ways to apply this is in the offseason, as I mentioned above, following some low volume of strength or power work, which would be trained at more of a retention load. This can be on days in between the strength or power sessions or this can be the focus of the training session as it follows the low volume of strength or power work. As training progresses on, the strength/power work would start to move into more of a primary focus, while the energy system work above will begin to adopt a more sport specific work:rest ratio. The work capactiy stuff can still be used at this point, again as noted above, as a recovery workout, in between hard training sessions or at the end of a strength/power workout to maintain those qualities.
What are we afraid of?
People are always talking about how worried they are that strength/power athletes will start to convert fibers to having more slow-twitch/oxidative properties, leading to decreased strength and power.
Are we that afraid that people will just turn into a bundle of type I muscle fibers?
What sort of decease in power output would people expect to see by short 2-4 week blocks of this when strength and power are still trained at retention loads? I am in no way advocating doing this for the next 12 weeks and doing this exclusively. The same rules of periodization apply. After all, the goal of periodization is to introduce a new/novel stimulus to the body in an effort to continue progress. If all we do is train for maximum strength year round or do intense interval training year round, eventually we burn out, the body starts to break down, and our progress stalls, at best, and at worst we sustain an injury.
A good program should develop all energy systems to some extent as they are all important and valuable to the abilities of the athlete. Obviously some qualities (strength/power) will be more important than others (aerobic) but all athletes need to develop the other qualities as well and all need a fundamental work capacity. Are we not currently seeing a big push for endurance athletes to lift weights and do some strength training? *Gasp* Wont they get strong and lose their endurance abilities?!? Even strength/power athletes need some sort of aerobic abilities (albeit less than a marathoner) in order to recover between training sessions and recover adequately between sets.
Wrapping up
I really don’t see what all the fuss is about. A well thought out program should focus on a variety of athletic qualities as strength and power are not the only ones. Cardiovascular work is more than just jogging on a treadmill or riding the stationary bike. It can reflect movements in the sport. It can reflect rest intervals in the sport. It can be performed with a variety of implements – body weight, resistance training, medicine balls, etc. You are only limited by your own creativity as far as how/when to put this stuff into your program and the manner in which you perform it.