By Vern Gambetta Vern Gambetta
Vern Gambetta, MA, is the President of Gambetta Sports Training Systems, in Sarasota, Fla., and the former Director of Conditioning for the Chicago White Sox. He is a frequent contributor to Training & Conditioning, and can be reached through his Web site at www.gambetta.com.
Training & Conditioning, 10.5, July/August 2000, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/tc/tc1005/training.htm
Training year-round is no longer an option for athletes. Gone are the days of actually taking an off-season off and using the preseason to get in shape. Given the extended length of the competitive season in most sports and the higher caliber of competition, year-round training is a must, even for younger, developing athletes.
Year-round training offers many advantages, including more time to work on weaknesses, the opportunity to go into more depth with different physical qualities, and the ability to think year-to-year rather than just within a training season. But year-round training requires careful planning to avoid the dangers of overtraining or simply getting stuck in a rut—it does not mean doing the same thing, or even training in the same sport, for 12 months. In order to get the most out of training year-round, it is necessary to use a comprehensive approach, so that the training plan is an extension of a sound athletic career-development plan.
In this article, I will discuss the major topics to consider as you develop a year-round training program. At times, I will focus on the younger, developing athlete—that is, up to high school and early college. While this population is most likely to show large improvements with year-round training, these athletes are also the most at-risk for such things as injuries and overtraining. It is also important to note that the effects of training can be cumulative, particularly if the athlete is training year-round for several years. Therefore, the training and each individual’s progress have to be constantly evaluated and re-evaluated.
Training Windows
In his book, Children and Sports Training: How Your Future Champions Should Exercise to Be Healthy, Fit, and Happy (Stadion Publishing: Island Pond, Vermont, 1996), Jozef Drabik introduced the concept of “sensitive periods” in growth and development. Essentially, these sensitive periods are windows of opportunity for the optimum development of biomotor capacities and skill acquisition.
According to Drabik, these periods are a very important consideration when creating a year-round training plan for the younger, developing athlete. As he explains, “These sensitive periods are periods in human life when the organs and systems that determine a given ability (balance, endurance, speed, or any other ability) are undergoing intensive development. It is then that they are most receptive to a training stimulus developing that ability.”
These periods are especially important for the pre-pubescent athlete, because these windows close as quickly as they open. This underscores the importance of getting these young athletes into a good year-round training program: A well-conceived year-round training program ensures that the athlete will be training no matter when his or her window of developmental opportunity opens.
With the older, more mature athlete, these periods become optimal training times that are influenced by more than just growth and development factors—the cumulative effect of things like number of years played and number of injuries. As an athlete’s number of training years increases, you are less likely to see large jumps in his or her abilities or skills.
For the female athlete, the windows of training opportunity open earlier, because of earlier maturation. Therefore, female athletes must specialize earlier. For girls, the most important component that will open these windows of training opportunity may relate to strength training. In fact, it is my observation that the female athlete who begins a sound, well-rounded strength-training program early on—at about 10 to 12 years of age—has a distinct advantage over her peers who do not. This is evident in both a different body composition and a better training adaptation.
Training Components
and Progression
Strength is the precursor to speed and power development as well as a key to injury prevention. For this reason, for both boys and girls, strength training is a unifying thread that ties all the other year-round training components together. It is the element of training that should appear in all phases of the yearly program, but in different proportions as well as in different forms.
For the younger, developing athlete, a good year-round training program should include participation in multiple sports. The consensus is that early specialization yields early stagnation and, conversely, general, multisport participation yields long-term career development. This is a key concept to ensure well-rounded development. The athlete is training year-round, but there is a large variation in stimuli. Multisport participation also has a positive influence on coordination, giving the athlete a rich repertoire of motor skills to draw from when specialization does occur. Of course, the exceptions to this are sports like gymnastics and figure skating, where it is necessary to begin specializing at an early age.
Ideally, the younger, developing athlete—regardless of athletic potential or promise—would begin athletic participation in sports that complement each other. By complementary, I mean that he or she participates in a secondary sport that has training elements and movement patterns that will enhance the athlete’s primary sport activity. An example would be soccer as the primary sport with track sprinting or jumping as the complementary sport. Another example would be basketball as the primary sport and volleyball as the complementary sport.
For the sports to be complementary, many aspects of training for the two sports should be similar. As the athlete gets better in a particular sport, a logical progression would be to begin emphasizing that particular sport. The key is to choose a sport but not be locked into a position or an event within that sport. For example, the football player should play several positions, including both offense and defense. The next step would be to specialize in a position or an event. This should occur when the athlete has reached physical and emotional maturity.
The progression during a training year and during a career can be summarized as follows:
Basic conditioning: This is more important with the younger, developing athlete. Its importance decreases as training age increases.
Basic technical model: For the younger athlete, this is another very important component of the training year. As the athlete matures and technique is mastered, this also assumes less importance.
Specific advanced conditioning: This is based on the level of basic conditioning and allows the training to both focus on specific demands and be more rigorous. Taking weight training as an example, there is now a higher percentage of advanced plyometrics and more weights rather than medicine balls.
Advanced technical model: This is based on the basic technical model. The athlete is now able to perform more complex movements and combinations and work on advanced sport-specific technique.
The Goals
The goals of year-round training are very specific:
• In team sports, it is necessary to reconcile the needs of the individual player and the demands of the game with the needs of the team.
• Balance skill, technical, and tactical considerations with the physical demands of the game or sport.
• Train all components of athletic performance—the so-called “5S” approach—and allow for proper recovery/regeneration. (5S = skill, speed, stamina, strength, and suppleness.)
• Structure training weeks (microcycle) and training sessions for optimal results.
• The constant that drives the system is competition.
In order to accomplish these goals, one must control the ratio of training to competition. This is where the system tends to break down. Because of the length of the competitive schedule, there is seldom a defined off-season. In the community where I live, for example, baseball is a very popular youth sport. The high school season is anywhere from 25 to 32 games. The summer season can be as many as 40 games. Then there is a fall season where athletes can play an additional 25 games. This schedule is the same for an immature ninth grader or a very mature twelfth grader. When do the players train and prepare to play with such a schedule? (Baseball is not alone. Basketball, volleyball, and soccer all have extended competitive seasons regardless of the age and stage of development of the athlete.)
This is the crux of the problem: year-round competition without adequate time for year-round training. With an overemphasis on competition to the exclusion of training, development of the player is often a secondary consideration. It becomes a Darwinian process where the strong survive, although they do not always thrive. Those who are already good make it; those who could be good do not.
Thus, where possible, it is important to control the competition schedule within the year-round training schedule. There should be definite periods where the emphasis is on “training to train,” with no competition or games scheduled.
From an injury-prevention perspective, there must be planned breaks or unloading to allow for adaptation as well as maintain mental freshness. Psychological burnout is a distinct threat unless the program is structured to include breaks in the routine as well as variety in the training itself.
Vital Factors
As you develop a year-round training program, it’s critical to consider the following factors to ensure an effective program that is well-suited to a particular athlete.
Developmental Level:
• At the initiation stages, it should not even be called training; it should be play with a loose structure.
• The developing athlete should begin year-round training, but with a multisport approach.
• The emerging athlete should begin specialization in a very structured year-round program.
Biological/Chronological Development: Biological age must be considered over chronological age. There is a possibility of huge differences based on early or late maturation.
Intellectual/Cognitive Development: The athlete’s ability to process and understand information can be a big factor when he or she is participating in a sophisticated year-round program.
Emotional Development: Emotional maturity is necessary to handle the ups and downs of training and competition.
Training Age: This relates to how long an athlete has been in a formal training program. Obviously, the athlete who has been in a formal training program for several years would be expected to have an advanced understanding of training elements and of the vocabulary of training compared to an athlete who has never been in such a program.
Competitive Schedule: Is it an extended or a concentrated competitive season?
Composition of the Team: Is it a team of more mature players with advanced training age or a team of novices?
Gender: The female athlete must devote a greater proportion of her training to strength training.
“24-Hour Athlete” Concept: The time away from training has a greater impact on performance and training than the relatively small amount of daily time devoted to training. Therefore, lifestyle, work, and school situations must be carefully considered.
Recovery: Carefully plan recovery between workouts and throughout the year-round plan to allow for adaptation.
The Block System
The solution to effectively planning and implementing year-round training is to take a “block approach.” This allows you to identify specific objectives in order to address strengths and weaknesses in the individual player and the team. Each component of fitness must be included in each block. They are threaded throughout the training year based on the demands of the sport and the individual athlete’s strengths and weaknesses as well as his or her stage of development.
Blocks can be positioned in a training year as needed, or as demands dictate. Thus, once a block system has been put in place, such as a training plan that follows an individual past the regular competitive season and into a state tournament, it can be revised easily if the athlete or team does not make it past regionals.
The block system is a method of addressing the complex interaction between the development and stabilization of multiple physical capacities, without compromising skill development, while providing time for adaptation. With the developing athlete, regardless of the block, growth and development must always be a prime consideration. Finally, when implementing such a system, it is important that the transition between blocks be seamless. One block must flow into the other without apparent, abrupt changes.
Introductory Block: Short periods of time designed to introduce new training methods, skill, or tactics. The goal here is teaching, not training! This block can be as short as three days or as long as fourteen days.
Preparatory Block: There is no competition during this block. It consists primarily of general work to raise work capacity or address specific technical deficiencies. As the athlete’s training age increases, these types of blocks assume a lesser role in the whole training year. This is a training-to-train block.
Competition I: This block consists of developmental competitions. The goal during this block is adaptation type of work based on what was done in a preceding preparatory block. This is a training-to-compete block.
Competition II: This block consists of important and crucial competitions—State Cup, Regional Tournament, and National Championship. The goal during this block is application-type of work based on what was done in the Competition I block. This is a training-to-win block.
Transition: This is an active-rest block that does not allow for detraining. The goals are to regenerate, rehabilitate, and remediate (remedial work to address any fundamental deficiencies). Realistically, during the season, this type of block will probably never be more than three days in duration. Between competitive seasons, it is ideal if this could be one month in duration.
Testing and Evaluating: A key aspect of a good year-round training program is testing and evaluation. This is an ongoing process, not something that is done once or twice a year. Time and measure at every opportunity in order to ascertain progress. Remember that competition is the highest form of testing. At the developmental levels, however, if the game is the only measure of progress, there will never be enough games to show progress.
Sample Plan: 1999—2000 Training Year
The following is a sample plan for an individual athlete. Note the specific goals and how the emphasis in each phase works to accomplish those goals while taking into account the athlete’s developmental age, training age, and the phase in the training year.
Individual Player: a 17-year-old female athlete who participates in soccer at the club level and soccer and track at her high school. She has been in formal training programs for three years (training age, three), but before that, she participated in dance, gymnastics, basketball, and started strength training in a playful manner at around 11 years of age.
Goals & Objectives
• Teach the routine of training so that
conditioning is established as part of daily
preparation.
• Evaluate strengths and weaknesses relative
to soccer-specific fitness. Use assessment to
develop individual plan.
• Evaluate strengths and weaknesses relative
to soccer skill and tactics. Use assessment
to develop individual skill-development plan.
• Periodically monitor fitness to assess
progress.
• Improve sport-specific speed for soccer.
• Develop a high level of work capacity to
facilitate recovery and to ensure ability to
handle a higher volume of skill-
development work.
• Develop a high level of functional strength
with priority to:
* core strength
* leg strength
* upper-body strength
• Raise skill level and comfort with the ball.
• Raise level of tactical awareness.
Training Blocks
The blocks are planned with broad themes in mind. Each weekly cycle and individual training session is planned in great detail based on the results of the previous workouts as well as competition and test results.
Transition Phase I: June/July
Major Emphasis
Restoration—active rest
Rehabilitate any injuries
Minor Emphasis
Maintain fitness
Foundation Phase I: July/August
Major Emphasis
Establish routine of training
Testing
Aerobic capacity
Strength
Strength endurance
Skill work
Minor Emphasis
Speed
Speed endurance
Lateral speed & agility
Competition Phase I:
Fall Club—Mid August/November
Major Emphasis
Establish routine of training
in context of games
Explosive power
Speed
Lateral speed & agility
Skill
Team tactics
Minor Emphasis
Speed endurance
Strength endurance
Lactate tolerance
Basic strength
Competition Phase II:
High School Season—November/
February
Major Emphasis
Establish routine of training
in context of games
Speed
Lateral speed & agility
Skill
Team tactics
Minor Emphasis
Speed endurance
Basic strength
Transition Phase II: March
Major Emphasis
Restoration—active rest
Rehabilitation of any injuries
Minor Emphasis
Maintain fitness levels
Foundation Phase II:
Mid March/April
Major Emphasis
Establish routine of training
in context of games
Speed
Speed endurance
Lateral speed & agility
Skill work
Team tactics
Secondary sport—track
(100m and 200m and relays)
Minor Emphasis
Aerobic capacity
Strength
Strength endurance
Competition Phase II:
Club Season—May/June
Major Emphasis
Establish routine of training
in context of games
Speed
Lateral speed & agility
Skill
Team tactics
Minor Emphasis
Speed endurance
Basic strength