The importance of training monitoring

Edited by: Francesco Currò

In a last article I expressed the need to explicitly monitor the training in order to really customize it and make it more effective: the training must be "built" on the athlete. The athlete does not have to adapt to it: he cannot do it, unless it is a genetic talent or he uses large amounts of drugs!

How many times, we from the modest genetics, have we been disappointed (that is we have not had results) in adopting the mythical tables of training of Arnold? In this regard, I am reminded of a curious episode that happened some time ago, when immediately after Dorian Yates' victory at Mr Olympia, in a gym that I know, the instructor began to assign training cards (practically all!) Equal to those used (those published in magazines ...) by Yates. Despite good intentions, I don't seem to have seen another Dorian Yates in those parts ....

Ok, let's move on to the constructive part of the article.

It is easy to theorize, but practical applications are those that make the concepts and their importance better understood. What follows is a real case (related to an athlete I prepare) that, among other things, will highlight how the perfect tables on paper, often in practice do not turn out to be such: I am reminded of a recently published book, where pre-printed tables are presented to follow rigidly (the author has publicly advised against altering something!) for at least a couple of years ...

But back to the subject: when the athlete in question asked me for advice, I submitted him - among many other things - to joint analysis and a series of tests to try to frame the percentage of white and red fibers in the various muscle areas.

The tests showed an almost classical distribution of the percentage of white and red fibers; the "quasi" is due to the fact that a high percentage of white fibers in the triceps and a significant percentage of red fibers in the deltoids were found (but almost normal).

Focusing on its features, I suggested the following setting of training frequencies:

Entering these data, with the addition of training together Pectorals and Triceps, in the software - from the patented algorithm - developed by me, resulted in a mesocycle configured as follows:

Associated the appropriate tables (which I do not carry over so as not to dwell too much) on training related to each individual muscular section, the "theoretically" impeccable scheme was ready!

On paper, this scheme had to work great, but as we will see now, problems have been encountered and, to make it truly optimal, timely changes have been necessary.

But let's go by order.

It is my habit, after the delivery of the training program, not to abandon the students to their own destiny, but to seek a continuous exchange of information: this is one of the main cornerstones of "training monitoring". just so you can make your training more productive!

From the exchange of information, I immediately noticed a considerable operational inconsistency in the scheme I had set up: the training of the quadriceps, based on heavy squats, could not be positioned after the training of the pectorals!

The reason for this was that during the squat, the pectorals are kept in a stretch position while the balance is stabilized: a real isometric contraction lasting almost a minute! This stretching - induced the day after the pectoral muscles had worked hard and therefore had not yet recovered - caused the athlete a noticeable sensation of annoyance (sometimes real pain) that prevented him from performing the exercise properly.

The solutions could only be the following:

1. replace the squat with the press;
2. reverse the order of training with respect to the quadriceps and pectoral muscles (together with the triceps, since you had to train them on the same day).

I opted for the second solution, since I didn't want to give up the anabolic effect of the squat, and that the inversion of the muscle sections previously mentioned did not alter the general configuration of the mesocycle.

It's all OK? Not at all!

Based on the indications provided to me by my student, the training on Saturday of the ridges, based on heavy rowers with barbell, proved to be impractical! Why? Simple (but why didn't I think of it before?): The training on Thursday related to the hamstrings, meant that the hamstrings themselves were not yet ready to intervene properly as stabilizing muscles in the exercise of a rower with a barbell.

Possible solutions:

1. replace the oarsman with a barbell with another exercise that does not require a hamstring and a low back for stabilization;
2. reverse the training order for the Femorals and the Dorsalis.

Here, too, I chose the second solution, since the inversion of the previously mentioned muscle sections did not alter the general configuration of the mesocycle and did not cause further inconsistencies.

Ultimately, therefore, thanks to an athlete-preaparator concrete interaction (first phase of monitoring the results), the initial setting of the mesocycle has thus evolved into a new scheme, certainly more functional and more suitable (as the progress of the 'athlete) to the achievement of the set results:

In conclusion, the objective of the article was to provide a practical example on how, thanks to the constant monitoring of training, it is possible (and, in my opinion, a duty) to actively and in real time intervene on the work program to constantly improve it.

Would it have made sense to have the initial theoretically flawless, but operationally impractical scheme run throughout the mesocycle (or for some years, as some would say ...)? To you, kind readers, the arduous (but, in my opinion, obvious) answer ...

Francesco Currò Francesco Currò, teacher of ASI / CONI, teacher of the Accademia del Fitness, athletic trainer and personal trainer, is the author of the new book " Full Body ", of the e-book " The Training " and of the book on "Multiple Frequency Systems" . For more information you can write to the email address, visit the websites //web.infinito.it/utenti/x/x_shadow/ or //digilander.libero.it/francescocurro/ or call the following number: 349 / 23.333.23.