Recovery: At
Fitness Concepts, our philosophy is that an athlete improves from the
stimulus of an individual workout and not an accumulation of stress. We try
never to train the athlete beyond what his body is capable of absorbing and
adapting to. Two or three key workouts per week stimulate improvement. The
rest of the workouts either support the benefits of this stimulus or tear it
down. Many athletes maintain a continual state of slight overtraining, which
detracts from workout quality. Our weekly and monthly cycles prevent this.
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Training Cycles:
Our athletes training schedules always run in cycles, usually four weeks,
with a gradually increasing volume and/or intensity followed by a recovery
week. Using such cycles coincides with our philosophy of improvement through
the combination of stimulus and recovery. Training cycles allow an athlete
to train very hard and limit the occurrence of overtraining and burnout.
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Periodized-Mixed Training: Traditional
periodized training has an athlete focus on different types of training such
as weight training, aerobic conditioning, anaerobic threshold training, and
anaerobic endurance training at different times of the year. This type of
training, by its nature, excludes training that is beneficial even though it
is not the primary focus of the period. On the other hand, mixed training
combines all training elements in the same proportions year round. At
Fitness Concepts, we utilize periodized-mixed training which includes all
the elements of training required for the athlete’s most important
competitions, but the emphasis rotates depending on time of year. We do not
want any muscle fibers that the athlete will need to race well to ever go
completely untrained.
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Weight Training:
Optimal performance in endurance events demand greater muscular strength
than stand-alone endurance training develops. Proper weight training allows
the muscle to work more efficiently at a given endurance workload. Weight
training also helps to prevent injuries and shorten recovery time after
high-stress workouts. We feel that strength training is a critical
supplement to most any endurance training program.
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Heart-Rate
Training: We have our athletes use heart rate monitors as a
guideline for exercise intensity. All athletes have certain critical
threshold intensities where training is more efficient (low cost to benefit
ratio). By maintaining intensity within the parameters of these thresholds,
the athlete maximizes overload stimulation and minimizes recovery. Most all
of our athletes have a limited amount of time in which to train. Training in
congruence with these thresholds also maximizes the benefit of the time
spent in each workout. We use a metabolic analyzer and a
VO2 Max test to
determine these training zones according to each athlete’s unique
physiology.
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Individualization: The more we learn,
the more we respect individual differences. Each athlete has a unique
makeup, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Our training techniques cater
to the unique needs of each athlete. None of our athletes receive a
cookie-cutter workout program.
Fiber-Type
Specificity: The law of specificity states that you get what you
train for. We develop programs that stimulate the exact muscle fibers used
in competition in the correct balance based on individual physiology,
training history, and duration of key events.
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Technique:
In many cases, technique is as important as conditioning. We work with the
athlete to develop efficient movements so that energy expended translates to
effective motion. In order to maximize the benefit of each movement, our
focus on technique reaches from the weight room, to practice, to competition |
