{"id":329,"date":"2009-11-16T04:27:38","date_gmt":"2009-11-16T04:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/?p=329"},"modified":"2019-01-19T23:27:45","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T23:27:45","slug":"the-training-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/the-training-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"The Training Theme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Theme is defined as a unifying or dominating idea; a motif.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While many remember this term from English\/literature class in grade school, it actually plays an important role in the overall training process.<\/p>\n

There are two themes to consider when designing a program:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The theme of the training cycle<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. The theme of the training day<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Training Cycle Theme<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The theme of the training cycle is basically telling us what we are attempting to achieve in a given period of time \u2013 4-weeks, 8-weeks, 12-weeks, etc \u2013 however long your mesocycle is.\u00a0 Several mesocycles typically make up a full program, with an emphasis on being fully prepared and ready to compete at the end of the program.<\/p>\n

    Typically, this would take on names like:<\/p>\n

    – Work capacity or anatomical adaptation
    \n– Endurance
    \n– Strength or max strength
    \n– Power
    \n– Peaking
    \n– Offseason
    \n– Restoration<\/p>\n

    Obviously the type of quality you want to express in a mesocycle will be dependant on your goals and what you need to achieve.<\/p>\n

    As I have talked about before, you wouldn\u2019t want to focus one quality (IE strength) at the expense of not even trying to maintain another (IE power or work capacity). This is where understanding the theme of the training cycle becomes important. Planning your training out, you want to consider what the dominant quality is going to be in each phase of training and then how much volume of the other qualities you are going to perform in an attempt to maintain those qualities and not let them just go down the drain. Obviously, the dominant quality will be trained with great volume than the secondary qualities, but they should still be in there somewhere. A way to ensure that things are staying on track is to establish a theme for the day.<\/p>\n

    Theme for the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Much like a theme for the training cycle, a theme for the day tells us what the goal\/objective is for that day.\u00a0 The same typeof themes listed above could be applied to each training day to help us decide what we want to accomplish.\u00a0 When combining this with the\u00a0theme of the training cycle, we can then get an idea of how to plan the mesocycle, as a greater amount of training days will be devoted to the\u00a0primary quality, while a lesser amount of training days\/volume will be devoted to the\u00a0secondary quality.<\/p>\n

    An Example<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Training with a strength emphasis:<\/em><\/p>\n

    Monday<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Lower body strength work
    \nTuesday<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Tempo Runs\/med ball circuits
    \nWednesday<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Upper body strength work\/moderate conditioning
    \nThursday<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 plyos and speed\/acceleration training
    \nFriday<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 restorative training
    \nSaturday<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Sprinting workout\/Full body workout (low volume power training\/strength work)
    \nSunday<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Off<\/p>\n

    In this example, strength training is performed three days a week \u2013 Day 1 is a lower body emphasis, Day 2 an upper body emphasis and on Day 6 we do a full body lifting session.\u00a0 The secondary qualities are power and work capacity.\u00a0 Power is trained using med ball throws, a low volume of plyos and sprinting and some low volume power work before lifting on Saturday (this could be med balls, plyos, olympic lift variations, etc), while the work capacity is trained on Tuesday with tempo runs, Wednesday with some moderate conditioning, and Friday.\u00a0 Friday is restorative training, which can be anything from active rest to easy body weight circuits that emphasize any limitations the athlete may have and are done with an emphasis below 70% effort so as not to be to taxing on the nervous system and conflict with the Saturday\u2019s training or delay recovery from Thursdays power training.<\/p>\n

    This example is just one week.\u00a0 Typically, I would write out the theme for the day for all of the weeks in the given cycle and then plan from there.\u00a0 I\u2019ll use the following\u00a0abbreviations of terms in the example below:<\/p>\n

    S = Strength
    \nP = Power (this can be sprinting, olympic lifts, med balls, speed agility quickness, plyos, etc)
    \nW = Work capacity
    \nR = Restorative<\/p>\n

    If two qualities are written on the same day, in means that the first quality is the main focus and the second quality is at a low volume and can be dropped if need be depending on how the athlete is performing that day.<\/p>\n

    Note: If power training is a secondary quality on a strength day, that does not mean that it is trained after the strength training.\u00a0 Train your power exercises or sprinting prior to your actual lifting, so that fatigue from lifting does not break down form and\u00a0decrease overall power.\u00a0 The volume should be low for power training prior to lifting anyway.\u00a0 Another option would be to perform one workout in the morning and another later in the day.<\/em><\/p>\n

    The themes for each day in week 1 posted above are:<\/p>\n

    Week 1
    \nMon<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S
    \nTues<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 W
    \nWed<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S\/W
    \nThurs<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 P
    \nFri<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 R\/Light work capacity
    \nSat<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S\/P
    \nSun<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Off<\/p>\n

    I would then carry out this type of concept for the next 3-weeks (assuming this is a 4-week cycle of training) and have a strength workout at least ever 2-3 days, with the secondary qualities fitting in between:<\/p>\n

    Week 2<\/strong>
    \nMon<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S\/W
    \nTues<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 P
    \nWed<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 R\/Light Work capacity
    \nThurs<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S
    \nFri<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S
    \nSat<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 P
    \nSun<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Off<\/p>\n

    Week 3<\/strong>
    \nMon<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S
    \nTues<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 W
    \nWed<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S\/P
    \nThurs<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 R
    \nFri<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S
    \nSat<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 P
    \nSun<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Off<\/p>\n

    Week 4 \u2013 Unloading Week (lower volume on everything and back off intensity)<\/strong>
    \nMon<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S
    \nTues<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 W
    \nWed<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S
    \nThurs<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 P
    \nFri<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 R
    \nSat<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 S
    \nSun<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Off<\/p>\n

    That is just the general theme of everything.\u00a0 From there you would have to plan out the workouts and the\u00a0intensity and\u00a0volume\u00a0and decide on where to take the program \u2013 this would be different for each individual, as some individuals have better recovery and work capacity than others.\u00a0 Cookie cutter programs yield undesirable results.<\/p>\n

    In addition, you need to remember that a template is just a guide.\u00a0 It is not etched in stone.\u00a0 If an athlete walks in and is not ready to train or under-recovered from previous training, then you would need to make sure you have a lighter workout to fall back on or just allow the individual to take a rest day and come back the next day ready to work.\u00a0 You should also evaluate your training program to make sure that the athlete is able to tolerate the volume\/intensity of training you have prescribed for them.<\/p>\n

    As you can see, the above template rotates around the three strength workouts of the week, to ensure that other qualities are trained in the desired training period.\u00a0 One could have a set template that is followed each week and change the variables as needed for the individual.\u00a0 There are many ways you can put together the program and this is just one possible example for one phase of training.<\/p>\n

    No matter how you slice it, establish a theme for the training cycle and a theme for each day.\u00a0 The theme should reflect your needs and your goals.\u00a0 Work towards your goals, attain your goals, and destroy the competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Theme is defined as a unifying or dominating idea; a motif. While many remember this term from English\/literature class in grade school, it actually plays an important role in the overall training process. There are two themes to consider when designing a program: The theme of the training cycle The theme of the training day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-strength-and-conditioning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}