Throughout October and November we looked at periodization and planning. Periodization is a topic we come back to over and over on this site, as the long term planning is one thing all sport coaches have to do, but one also stuck in traditions. We recently put together new articles and podcasts all around the topic of periodization and planning. You can find links to all new and archived resources on the topic below.
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We often think about periodization and planning as a process of prediction. The longer I coach, the more I see we need to reframe periodization as a process of learning. The best coaches implement planning methods that allow them to learn. It took me too long to realize this distinction, but the sooner as coaches understand it, the sooner they can take their athletes to the next level.
Yesterday Vern and I put on a workshop about periodization and planning here in Zurich. Over the last decade we have seen more and more critiques of periodization come out. On the outside some of the cracks are starting to show in traditional approaches to planning. But at the same time coaches keep coming back to it. With that in mind we kicked off the day with looking at busting some myths of periodization. If know you where something has flaws, you have a better chance to address those in your own planning. Below are 5 major myths that coaches need to understand and address in order to improve their planning.
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I learned very early in my coaching and teaching career the importance of planning. For my first ten years coaching I suffered from severe “prediction addiction,” thinking that like the oracles of ancient times that I could predict the future. After some resounding failures, I learned to write the plans in pencil because seldom if ever was a plan executed as written. Nor were the competition results as predictable as I thought.
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Throughout August and September we looked at session design. A lot of literature is out about season planning and periodization, but much less time is spent dissecting the session. The session is the building block of training and if you don’t have good training sessions, you have no chance for good seasons either. This summer we have put together 1 new video lesson, 3 new podcasts and 4 new articles on the topic from 7 contributors. Find links to both our new and archived resources on session planning below.
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John Larralde has spoken at GAIN on preparing his milers to win California State high School championships. In his words: “Sometimes in the peaking process is not what you do it is what you don’t do.” Below are some thoughts on peaking and tapering, with some special considerations for how it applies to swimming.
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Every month we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. In this month’s edition we look at how elite sprinters warm up, the data on whether periodization works in the real world, tactical behaviors in middle distance running, performance intelligence, and more.
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Ask me 10 years ago about the key to successful coaching and it was all about individualization. Ask me now, and I think most coaches individualize too much. Maybe I’m just getting set in my ways, but the longer I coach the more I see individualization as simply the icing on the cake. It’s nice to have and can make all the difference, but the true substance is the program underneath it.
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The site theme in May was medicine ball training. As one of the most versatile training tools available, there is a lot you can do with a medicine ball. Throughout the month we shared some practical examples of how top coaches are using medicine ball training, as well as programming tips. Below we have links to all our new and archived content on the topic, including 5 new articles, 2 new videos, and 2 new podcasts from 8 contributors.
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Believe it or not, as an athlete I hated 95% of the medicine ball training we did. To me it seemed somehow stupid just throwing a ball 200 times around just to do it. The other 5% have been fun and I loved it. This 5% was the most challenging stuff. I loved it because it had concrete purpose. It might have been as simple heaving the ball up to the ceiling, but that wasn’t easy so it presented a challenge and a purpose. When I finally succeeded, it earned me a drink from our physio or coach and the feeling of having thrown intensely.
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