Coaching experts JIM KITTYand LIAM HENNESSYon how it is vital to plan for recovery in training programmes in order to progress

WHEN SETTING out on a long journey, especially to a new destination, the driver will always check the map, seek advice on the best route and perhaps rely on a GPS guide. Along the way however, regular stops will be made to refuel and to take a break.

The driver most often reviews progress at this stage and then gets back on the road refreshed and the car is topped up. This is very much like what good and successful coaching is all about.

There is a planning stage which means getting to know where the coach is in terms of his players, fitness status, the goals they have and the means they have of getting to their destination. This planning stage is critical and most coaches are good and competent at planning work.

However, the next stage when a break is needed, when the players or athletes need to refresh, to take a break from the journey, when a break is also needed by the coach – this is often where most coaches fall down.

This is so because the break or “recovery” was not actually planned from the word go. The biggest mistake made in training teams and in coaching athletes from our experience is: not planning recovery into the programme from the outset.

A study of athletes attending the 1996 Olympics revealed approximately 13 per cent of them felt they did not perform due to over-work or over-training? Recovery or regular breaks were not used effectively in their training programmes. In these cases “More is not always better”.

One simple way of ensuring regular breaks occur is to actually plan “Unload” weeks. Unloading within a cycle (say every fourth week) is an excellent and easy way of ensuring players and athletes benefit from the previous three weeks work. They benefit through a reduction in fatigue and the avoidance of the likelihood of overdoing it and the opportunity to take a break.

During an unload week training and practice volume typically is reduced. So imagine your team trains twice a week as a team and twice a week individually (say in the gym) with a competition or game at the week end. Reducing practice to once a week and the gym session to one unit will reduce training and practice volume by 50 per cent. This is a well tried and trusted and beneficial way of ensuring continued progression in fitness and performance.

Also varying the intensity in training is another and very important principle to use if players are to recover from one training session to another and from week to week. It is not a good idea to constantly train hard, hard, hard. Research has shown using variation in intensity in training from session to session will result in better gains in fitness and performance.

Varying the intensity of training, and practice, as well as varying the type of training and practice will not only result in better fitness benefits but also better psychological benefits as the player or athlete is less likely to become bored.

So along the coaching and training journey obey the principles of planning, recovery, variety and reviewing progress. Doing so will ensure the player’s energy reserves are well stocked and ready to last the journey.

These notes are contributed by Dr Liam Hennessy and Jim Kilty of Setanta College, the Institute of Strength and Conditioning Studies. (www.setantacollege.com)