November 2017 Hangout: Adaptation and planning for complexity

For the November 2017 Hangout, we discussed planning strategies that take into account the complexity of adaptation with guests Mike Tuchscherer and Bryce Lewis from the world of powerlifting. Topics included:

• The downfalls of fixed plans and why we need to expect things won’t go as planned.
• The tendency of flexible approaches to focus on restricting the athlete.
• Under plan and over deliver.
• Understanding an athlete’s time to adapt and examples from the Bondarchuk method.
• Dan Pfaff’s 3-day rollover approach.
• Variations in adaptation time with the same athlete.
• Variations in adaptation time between sports and potentials reasons for that.
• Creating milestones/markers in planning to give you indications of how the plan is progressing. And how that gives athletes confidence.
• The potential downside of over monitoring athlete and changing too much.
• When to react to reduced performances.
• How framing questions to athletes can impact their response.
• Using Rated Perceived Exertion (RPE) in training, and its potential benefits and weaknesses.
• Flexible planning in the world of physiotherapy.