Prioritizing Your Training

You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.  So you need to get your priorities straight in training.

  

Physical performance is based on the unique expression of five fundamental physical qualities, or abilities.  They are often referred to as the Biomotor Abilities, and they are:

o Speed-how quickly you can fire your muscles to move

o Strength-your ability to produce task appropriate forces

o Skill-your coordination, postures, technique, form, and efficiency

o Stamina-endurance, fitness, that sort of thing

o Suppleness-it stands for flexibility and mobility.  (I guess that’s the closest we can get and still start with “S”.)

When you and your coach decide on training, it is these five abilities that you need to prioritize. You might ask yourself these questions:

What does the task demand?  

If it is a highly technical skill, like pole vault, you might spend most of your time practicing the event.  Indeed, many of the most successful high school vaulters relied on this model – vault a lot and don’t do much else.  On the other hand, if it’s an event like distance running, you might prioritize stamina and speed.  Indeed, many great runners got by on a lot of running, and not much else.

The demands of some tasks are so specific and straightforward that the answer should be obvious.  Sprinting, for example, requires a prioritization of speed above all else.  If the task is a measure of Speed, it better be your first priority!  (For you throwers thinking that for you it should be all about strength, pause for a moment and ask yourself “do they measure who can throw the heaviest implement, or a relatively light implement the furthest?”  Release velocity is the biggest factor affecting distance, by the way).

What is the next step in your development?  

I had the opportunity to work with an absolutely beautiful vaulter who had refined his skills with many hours of rehearsal.  Since his Skill ability was already strong, we prioritized Speed and Strength instead as a way to provide greater energy input into his vault. 

What do you respond well to? 

As a hurdler I had excellent Skill, good Stamina, fair Speed, and poor Strength. I broke down under the presence of heavy strength training, so I emphasized Speed and my favorite Skill components instead.  It allowed me to stay healthy, enjoy what I was doing, and improve my times.

Once you have your priorities straight, be objective in your evaluation of your training.  Does your actual training reflect your priorities?  Are you a sprinter doing interval workouts 4 out of 5 days?! Are you a thrower seeking the burn in the weight room?!  If so, it might be time for a course correction.

-Eric Dudley