Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk is one of the revolutionary minds in the field of periodization. As both a academic and a world-class coach, his methods have produced world and Olympic champions by allowing individualization to be built into a system. Unfortunately his writings are not always easy to decipher, but on July 1st I am launching a new online course that will help remedy that. Check out EveltrakSport.com on July 1st for the finished product.
A great Canadian Poet once said about one of his more famous and successful pieces of work: “that put me in the middle of the road, travelling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch…. It was a rougher ride but I met more interesting people there.” I think that pretty much sums up Dylan’s path to his Olympic bronze medal.
Last week I began to analyze and compare different periodization methods by looking at the pros and cons of both Matveyev’s traditional periodization and Verkhoshansky’s block periodization. To finish this discussion I take a look at two more modern approaches: complex periodization and Bondarchuk’s periodization.
I am asked all of the time by young coaches what it takes to become a highperformance coach. My first piece of advice? Find a quality mentor. The second? Take control of your own coaching education. I recommend using curriculum-based schools or systems for staple knowledge and fundamentals, but when it comes to understanding high performance training systems or methodologies, research it out on your own and speak to experienced coaches . . . you may be surprised at what you find.
