DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY II

Two things may happen to athletes. Either the increase or the decrease of
their performance. There is a third phenomenon when they maintain the
level of their performance. It is proven by now that this is the surest sign
of the soon coming performance decrease. We, all those who are dealing
with athletes, are interested in the fact that they improve their
performance. To do so, we have to apply new stimulus. It has two types:
qualitative and quantitative.

1. New stimulus (physical stress)

1.1.: Qualitative new stimulus

We call a new stimulus qualitative when we begin to improve a kind of quality
with big emphasis that we did not do before. It is because there are different
stages of humans considering their sensitive body qualities. These have serious
biological backgrounds. The best is, when we improve the most sensitive
qualities with big emphasis in certain ages. It is because in this case we may
expect higher improvement doing the same amount of work, and we may avoid
those harmful effects that may occur. For better understanding, look at Table 1.
It summarizes the age and gender differences and the sensitive periods for
athletes.

Table 1.

We are just mentioning the most important things that have influences on Table
1.

- We have to improve all kinds of qualities in every age, we are speaking

just about where to put big emphasis, because we have good biological
background. For example: we may improve strength before puberty, just
not with big emphasis (as the “-“mark shows in the table 1. ). The
strengthening gymnastic exercises are suitable for this purpose.
- We are speaking about biological ages instead of calendar ages.
- During puberty the sexual hormones are becoming active. The most
important for us: testosterone in the case of boys, and estrogen in the
case of girls.
 - Their most important effects from the sport activities’ point of view are:
testosterone increases protein retention, estrogen increases the fat
retention positively at the breast and the hip.
- The neuromuscular system finishes 95% of its maturation process by the
beginning of the puberty age.
- Boys tend to lose from their flexibility level during the puberty age.
- The enzymes of glycolysis are hardly active before puberty, so the
improvement of the anaerobic capacity is restricted.

In practice: before puberty we have to put the emphasis on the skill (sport
specific technique), speed, flexibility and on the aerobic endurance (never forget
the three main principles of all sports: progression, specificity, overloading).
During puberty we have to put the emphasis on the strength (rather strength
endurance from training methodological point of view), plus on the aerobic and
anaerobic endurance as well. When working with adults, we put emphasis on
the strength (all forms) and anaerobic endurance.

1.2.: Quantitative new stimulus

There are different qualities that are involved (necessary) in certain sports. In
Table 1. we see where we have to put the big emphasis in different ages. But,
this means on the other side, that we have just a few occasions when we are
facing this situation. In the majority of the cases we improve a kind of quality
dominantly what we did before. There are a lot of tests in every sport considering
lots of kinds of necessary qualities when we could arrive to the decision whether
a certain quality can be improved or not anymore. Frequently the answer is: yes.
In this case we should apply the so called quantitative new stimulus. In this case
we have to change one or more elements of the loading (volume, intensity,
resting time and others). One thing is very important to understand: there is a
stimulus threshold we have to apply. There are no two equal athletes (except the
twins, perhaps), who have the same stimulus threshold. It will bring another
problem when tapering. Everybody should understand, that when applying the
new stimulus the body will have two answers. One is general that means the
reactions of the body are the same independently from the characteristics of the
new stimulus (even when reduce the loading!) described by John Selye (1956),
and a specific which is well-described in the training methodological books
(depending on what we improve, like strength, endurance and others).

2. The phases of general adaptation

The homeostasis is the regulation of the body, to maintain a stable, relatively
constant condition. The physical activity, especially the sport training is a stress
for the human body. The stimulus is an effect from outside; the general name of
the stimuli is stressor, the situation is a stress situation from the aspect of the
body. Selye (1956) defines stress as how the body reacts to a stressor, real or

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imagined stimulus that causes stress (Figure 1.). Alarm is the first stage, which
is divided into two phases: the shock phase and the antishock phase.

Figure 1.

Shock phase: During this phase, the body can tolerate changes such as
hypovolemia, hyponatremia, hypochloremia, hypoglycemia — the collective noun
is the stressor effect. The resistance of the body drops temporarily below the
normal range and a level of shock appears (e.g. circulatory shock).

Antishock phase: When the stressor is identified or realized by the organism, the
body starts to respond, this is the state of alarm. During this stage, the
sympathetic nervous system is activated and adrenaline starts to be produced,
hence the fight-or-flight response appears which is a physiological reaction to a
perceived harmful event. The result can be increased muscular tonus, blood
pressure due to peripheral constriction of the veins and arteries and also
increased glucose level in the blood.

Resistance is the second stage and increased secretion of glucocorticoids is in the

focus of the body, the systemic response will be more intensive — it has lipolytic,
catabolic and antianabolic effects: increased glucose, fat and protein levels in the
blood. If the stressor goes on, the coping against it will be more and more
important. The body begins to adapt to the demands of the stress, but the
organism cannot keep this fight arbitrarily, so its resources will be depleted by
degrees.

The third stage can be either exhaustion or recovery:

Recovery stage follows when the compensation mechanisms have successfully

overtaken the effect of the stressor or when the factors which caused the stress
have been eliminated. Afterwards will be the restoration of homeostasis and the
regeneration of the cells.

Exhaustion is also possible in the third stage as a response. By this time, the
human body's resources have been exhausted and the organism is unable to
maintain normal functions anymore. Sweating, raised heart rate will appear.
Long-term damage may be the result (ischemia which leads to cell necrosis) if it
is too long in time, the body's immune system becomes exhausted, resulting in
decompensation. The result can be serious illnesses, such as depression,
diabetes, or even cardiovascular problems, together with mental problems.
“Many diseases are a result of disturbance of homeostasis, a condition known as
homeostatic imbalance. As it ages, every organism will lose efficiency in its
control systems. The inefficiencies gradually result in an unstable internal
environment that increases the risk for illness. In addition, homeostatic
imbalance is also responsible for the physical changes associated with aging.
Even more serious than illness and other characteristics of aging is death. Heart

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failure has been seen where nominal negative feedback mechanisms become
overwhelmed and destructive positive feedback mechanisms then take over”
(Marieb & Hoehn, 2007). As you can see, the homeostasis is a really important
state of the human body, fortunately the training doesn’t hurt the athletes’ state
seriously, but the coaches should know the signals of the homeostatic imbalance.

The procedure of training has particular effects on the athletes; the most
important is the tiredness. To improve sport performance sportsmen should work
hard. Hard training breaks the athletes down and makes them weaker, the rest
makes them stronger. Physiological improvement (e.g. super compensation,
more blood vessels) occurs during the rest period following a hard training
workout. The adaptation depends on the maximal load of the cardiovascular and
muscular systems and improves the efficiency of the heart, increases the number
of the capillaries in the muscles, and also increases the glycogen stores (muscles
and liver) and the mitochondrial enzyme systems within the cells of the muscles.
During recovery phase these systems build up greater levels to compensate for
the stress that the athletes have applied. The result will be a higher level of
performance. And this is what we always want.

3. Tiredness in physical activity

The level of tiredness depends on the level of workload.

The tiredness in sport has three phases (Figure 2.):

1. Basic capacity of work (without any tiredness): the level of the workload is
not too high, the athletes can perform effortlessly. The energy sources
cover the needs of the body.
2. Compensated phase: symptoms of tiredness start to appear, the level of
performance is decreasing. In this phase the athletes can compensate with
strong motivation to perform well. The energy sources start to run down,
the excreta is accumulating in the body.
3. Decompensated phase: massive effect of tiredness, the level of
performance starts to fall steeply down. In this phase the motivation is not
enough to compensate, the athletes need to have rest time to recover.

Figure 2. The phases of tiredness during a training

The training procedure can extend the basic capacity and the compensated
phase, see above.
The fatigue has four different types, emotional, cognitive and physical lassitude
and tiredness in the sense perception.

Sufficient rest is elementary in a training program when the athletes can achieve
regeneration. Performance will decline if the training is excessive and the
athletes have inadequate or not enough rest. The definition of overtraining is the

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state when the athlete has been repeatedly stressed during trainings to the point
when rest is not enough long to allow the recovery procedures of the body. The
overtraining syndrome is the collection of physical, emotional and behavioral
symptoms due to overtraining (the athlete train more than necessary and
adequate) that has persisted for weeks to months. Coaches and athletes also
know it as burnout. This is different from the day after day changes in
performance and post-training tiredness that is common in well-conditioned
athletes. Overtraining is a cumulative exhaustion that persists even after the
recovery phase.

The fatigue has two forms of the syndrome. The sympathetic form is more
common in short workout sports and the parasympathetic form is more common
in endurance sports. In the parasympathetic form there may occur a lower heart
rate for a given workload. In this case the training with a heart rate monitor may
notice that the athletes cannot sustain the workout at their usual level. Fatigue
takes over and prematurely terminates the workout. Regulation of glucose can
alter and the athlete can experience symptoms of hypoglycemia during the
training. In the sympathetic form, the resting heart rate is elevated. The only
treatment for the overtraining syndrome is rest. The longer period of overtraining
has supervened, the more rest is required. Hence, early detection of the
symptoms is crucial. If the overtraining has occurred 3-4 weeks the coach should
interrupt the training for 3-5 days for sufficient rest. It is elementary that all
factors that lead to the overtraining symptoms are identified and corrected
accordingly. Otherwise, the overtraining syndrome is likely to regenerate (Table
2.).

Table 2. The symptoms of overtraining

Prevention is the key, because in sport everything is health-related. Well-

balanced and gradual increases in training workload are crucial. During the high
workload phase, the athlete should alternate between high intensity interval
work and low intensity endurance work. A training log is one of the best methods
to check the athletes’ progress. Keeping track of distance and intensity, the
athlete can record the morning heart rate, weight, general health, the feelings
about the workout and the levels of muscular soreness and fatigue. The issues
can be scored on a 10 point scale. Significant change in any parameter may
indicate overtraining. Avoiding monotonous training and maintaining adequate
nutrition are also crucial for prevention.

It is better to be a little bit undertrained than over trained. The adequate rest is
an elementary part of any athlete's training. The reduced training (same
intensity, lower volume) for up to 21 days will not decrease the sport
performance. A well-planned training program should allow flexibility as well.
Early indicators of overtraining should be discovered and the schedule should be
adjusted. Smart training is the only way to be successful in sport, while keeping
good health.

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4. Periodization
Periodization is simply time management, it organizes the trainings, the recovery
and the performance in sport. The training attributes like volume, intensity and
frequency are disposed by the periodization, although sport is a very specific
area from that aspect. The speciality of sport is, that the workload the athletes
perform today results in a better (or worse) performance in the future. It is also
a framework of the training processes like skill development, strength training or
tactical drills to achieve the required level of the athletes’ qualities. In the
periodization the coaches should split the training components into periods,
weeks, days or sessions. It is situation-specific, based on priorities and the time
available. Periodization also integrates sport science and sport medicine via
sport-specific technical and tactical activities. It is very important to know, that
the periodization is far from being a fixed process, it is a highly flexible tool
depending on a lot of circumstances. As the executors of the plans, the coaches
should monitor the processes, and evaluation is necessary.

As Matveyev (1983) described, periodization is the breakdown of the seasonal

training plan into smaller periods of training cycles. The four different types of
the plans are long-term, short-term, quadrennial and annual.

In the youth program the coaches should use the long-term plan, the best one is
the Long Term Athletes Development (LTAD, created by Balyi, 2003), which
shares the individual growth and maturing to stages (see Training methods and
LTAD). It is typically a 10 to 12 year path that optimizes physical, technical,
tactical and mental preparation. (Table 3.)

In certain sports the quadrennial plan is also in use, this refers to the 4-year
Olympic or Paralympic cycle for elite athletes.

The most common plan in sport is the annual plan, which contains training
program for a year only; it is based upon identified periods of preparation,
competition, and the transition into the next calendar plan.

The smaller sets of time in each plan are: periods (macrocycles), phases,
mesocycles and microcycles.

• Period (macrocycle): covers normally a term of two-six months. Each

period is dominated by one training goal - to get stronger; to build
stamina; to get faster; to achieve peak performance or to recover from
fatigue. These periods are not only dedicated to one training mode in
practice. The design of a macrocycle should closely follow the long-term
training plan. Emphasis, according to this, should be placed on the
planned changes to the athletes and the development of the planned
physical capacities in the given duration. In the youth program the long-
term plan must take priority if there is a problem with the competition
demands. Verhoshansky’s practical experience shows that elite athletes
have sufficient adaptive capacity between 18 and 22 weeks. After this

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 period it is necessary to change the contents of the training and plan to
restoration.

• Mesocycle: covers a phase of training with duration of 2–6 weeks,

depending on the speciality of sports. The training program emphasizes
the same type of adaptations, for example, during the endurance phase;
the coach might develop a mesocycle that is specifically designed to
enhance the muscular endurance (the ability to pedal relatively big gears
at a moderate cadence). This mesocycle might consist of 3 weeks of
strength training and big gear spinning, and one week of recovery. In the
preparatory phase, a mesocycle consists of 4–6 microcycles, although
during the competitive phase it is shorter, usually 2–3 microcycles
depending on the competition’s schedule of the given sport. The goal is to
make sure that the body of the athlete peaks on the priority competitions
by improving each skill. The two very common durations of mesocycles are
training blocks of 21 and 28 days.

• Microcycle: covers typically 7-10 days. Each microcycle plan is based on

where it is in the mesocycle. A microcycle can be defined as a number of
training sessions, built upon a given combination of program variables,
which results in progression with alternating workload (strength vs.
stamina or tactic vs. technique). The minimum length of a microcycle
should correspond to the number of 4-16 training sessions; the body of
the athlete adapts to the training program. When the trainings of the
microcycles are no longer effective, the coach should change the training
program. A 3-1 mesocycle, which has four microcycles (3+1), is mostly
four weeks long. The training load is determined by microcycles, this
shows how it is spread out in a week. Most of the time the pattern is a
heavy-day, followed by a light-day. Designing microcycles is not easy -
with the volume and the intensity of training - when the energy systems of
the athletes are trained. Defined heavy and light workload depends on the
fatigue level incurred and also on the recovery opportunities available.

An annual plan has training, competition and recovery periods one, two or
more times during 52 weeks, depending on the speciality of a chosen
sport.
The training units build up training sessions, training sessions make up
microcycles, microcycles build up mesocycles, mesocycles make up
phases, phases build up periods (macrocycles) and periods make up the
annual plan.
This plan strives to prepare the sportsmen so they reach their best during
the most important competitions. The five phases of the three periods in
an annual training plan are the following (Balyi, 2013):

Practical advice: to adjust to a new stimulus a mesocycle is necessary. To give

a new quality to an athlete needs a macrocycle. Microcycle has importance in the
rhythm of the workload.

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Preparation periods (Table 4.)
• General preparatory phase (GPP): characterized by high level of
training volume and low level of training intensity, emphasizing general
individual or team fitness, technical and tactical practice. The importance
of this phase is to build up the foundation of the athletes’ performance. It
is the time to acquire the basis of physical skills (strength, speed, power,
endurance, agility, flexibility) and also the technical and tactical areas are
developed. 70-80% of the time is spent on developing aerobic endurance.
Emphasis is on high volume and it lasts usually 6 months in individual
sports, and 2-3 months in team sports.

• Specific preparatory phase (SPP): characterized by low volume and

higher intensity of training, enhancing general individual or team-specific
and event-specific training. Sport-specific fitness training means that 70-
80% of activities or drills are sport-specific, preparing the athletes’ body
and mind to another workload.

• Precompetitive phase (PCP): characterized by high intensity and low

volume of individual or team-specific practice, emphasizing performance-
specific training and modeling taper and peak procedures. The volume
starts to diminish by 20-30% by the end of the phase.

Competition period
• Competitive phase (CP): characterized by competition-specific training,
tapering and peaking for competition, tournaments, maintaining the
fitness and competition level. Conditioning must be maintained, although
90% of training is sport-specific. The technical, tactical and psychological
training increases and the intensity reaches the level of the competition.
The volume of the training decreases. It can last 2-9 months, depending
on the sports. The weekly training should reach maximum intensity 2-4
times per week; the stress levels should be varied. A hard training day is
usually followed by an easy day. Competitions should (ideally) be built in
order of importance and difficulty. The Tapering phase (TP) should
precede the final competition by 1-2 weeks; the volume and intensity are
reduced in this case. There should not be more than two intense training
sessions within the week. In the second week the strength program should
be stopped.

Transition period
• Transition phase (TP): characterized by rest and regeneration, the
athletes can take part passively or actively in another sport. Usually lasts
3-4 weeks, the 1st week is evaluation, but the athletes should continue to
exercise at a low intensity.

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The traditional approach has really visible benefits for the preparation of low-
and mid-level athletes. The complex administration of workloads directed at
many abilities makes the training more diversified, attractive and lively. The
improvement of relatively lower athletic abilities doesn’t require highly
concentrated training workloads, because medium-level concentration still
provides sufficient stimulation. The block periodization plan is typical for high-
performance athletes who need high concentrations of appropriate exercises in
order to progress. Its benefits are the following compared to the traditional
model (Issurin):
• the total volume of training exercise can be remarkably reduced, hence
reducing the possibility of overtraining as well;
• the multi-peak training design allows and facilitates successful
participation in many competitions over the whole season;
• the monitoring can be more efficient because of the substantial reduction
in the number of athletic abilities to be evaluated within each mesocycle;
• the diet and restoration program can be appropriately modified according
to the predominant type of training;
• a multi-stage annual plan creates more favorable conditions for peaking in
time for the main competitions of the season.

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