Increasing your performance in the sport of your choice seems to be very hard for people to grasp and do effectively.

I’ve seen many athletes under-train, overtrain, not being able to translate their muscle gains into their sport and eventually making their performance worse than it was. This isn’t only the fault of the athletes but also of their trainers. So this article is for aspiring athletes and coaches that need some things to be clarified.

I will be analysing basic concepts of training athletes while also busting certain myths surrounding increasing athletic performance.

1. Periodisation

   The first thing you need to do, is to create a time-oriented template which will have the goal of increasing your performance to the maximum up until a certain date. Once you have your template ready, all you need to do is fill in the exercise routine you will be following.

   There are many ways in which you can create your template. Either by splitting it into blocks that last 3-6 weeks which focus on specific elements of your performance, Following a linear type of method where your routine will be straightforward or splitting the elements you focus on within your weekly routine. There are many ways in which you can create your template , but first you need to take a few things into account.

2. Deloading

   You will need to add in some days or weeks where you will reduce your training volume by a lot. These days or weeks should either occur when you are getting close to the end of your training cycle in order to keep your body rested and focusing only on your performance or on days or weeks where you feel sluggish and fatigued. These weeks or days are of utmost importance as they may be the reason why your performance will be optimised or suboptimal.

3. Focus

   You need to be specific about your goals. Find out your weaknesses and strengths. For example, if you are a basketball athlete you may have a great vertical jump but lack in your sprinting ability, that would mean you may want to focus on sprinting for 6 weeks and focus on your vertical jumps for 3 weeks. Be strategic in your approach and solely focus on bringing results to your performance. You might even want to just put on some muscle

4. Training Volume

   A very important part of your training cycle is to actually become a stronger athlete. Strength training is very taxing and creates great stress on your body although it is necessary. Strength training should be in your training routine at the highest of volumes a little before the middle of your training cycle. In the beginning of your training cycle you should start with an introductory micro cycle where you will be steadily increasing the volume of your hypertrophy (8-15 reps) training to get accustomed to weightlifting while also dipping your toes into strength training(2-5 reps) at low volumes. Once you reach the middle of your training cycle your strength should be at the maximum it could be at depending on your overall fitness experience at the time. Afterwards, as you are getting closer to the end of your training cycle your training should become more and more specific towards your performance goals. This would mean increasing the training volume of your sport-specific exercises and reducing the strength training volume gradually in order to maintain your strength gains. This would be where you start training your athletics more and more (sprints, vertical jumps, lateral motions etc.) and as you get closer and closer towards the end you will only be focusing on those. For example, if you are a sprinter and have reached the end of your cycle, your training days should only be sprinting at a low volume to reduce fatigue and be ready for your event.

5. Exercise concepts for performance

   There are a lot of different ways to introduce sport-specific exercises to your routine. Some examples are:

   • Plyometrics

   Explosive exercises using mostly your bodyweight at low rep ranges to increase velocity such as: Shock Jumps, Lateral Jumps, Short bursts etc.

   • Ballistic

   This type of training includes throwing objects with high speed. This is very sport-specific. Tennis, Javelin, Basketball etc.

   • Weightlifting

   Many coaches include a lot of Olympic Wieghtlifting movements which have shown to increase overall explosiveness in athletes: (Clean and Jerk, Snatch)