Hello everyone, this article is going to address the first
phase of periodization which is called “Basic Strength”. We will start with an
athlete who does not know anything about trampoline or conditioning. I will be
leading you through the appropriate steps to properly condition this athlete
until the senior level where they will then need to maintain all phases equally
due to the hectic competition schedule that we discussed in the Intro.
The “Basic Strength” phase is the most important phase because
if it is not done correctly then the upcoming phases will not be successful or
cause injury. If we look again at the chart from the last article this phase is
the phase that requires the largest volume and intensity compared to the rest
of the phases. This phase is needed to get the athlete use to conditioning and
training. If we have an athlete who has never done any sports before then we
have to start very small and work our way up progressively. As long as the
principal of progressive overload is followed carefully any intensity and
duration can be achieved in a workout, eventually.
The “Basic Strength” phase will usually begin in September if
this new athlete is planning on trying Provincial level 1 in the winter season.
This phase will last a few months to even maybe a year. This duration depends
on the style of coaching, the attitude of the athlete and the training
parameters. We will start with an athlete who has no sporting experience because
if we start with a worst case scenario than any other athlete will seem easier
to deal with.
The basic strength phase will start with an aerobic
conditioning base. This could be anything that is steady state long duration
exercise. Generally running is the best and easiest way to train this aspect.
Depending on this athlete’s baseline fitness the coach may have to start with
jumping jacks and progressively increase the number until running can be
achieved. Most athlete’s can run and will not be a problem. The key is not how
much the athlete can do but how much the
athlete can improve. Many strategies can be implemented here. Some of my
favorite ones are:
A)
Positive re-enforcement : “ Jimmy if you can
show 5 laps around the gym I’ll let you pick the next exercise out of a list” ETC
B)
Negative re-enforcement: “ show me five laps or
you get an extra set added to the program”
C)
Time constraints: “ you have three minutes to
finish your laps or you get to start all over again
D)
Chasing: “ If I catch you then you have to
restart”
E)
Race: “first one to finish all their laps
without cheating gets a free pass on the next exercise” – this one cannot be
done too often because obviously the conditioning is then going to not be as
effective.
F)
Progressive demand: “ Every week I am going to
add two laps” , “ every week you are expected to run 5 laps quicker” ( timer)
G)
Run in different environments: “ ok lets run
outside today guys and gals” , Let’s jog around the block” ETC.
The most important point is that
the coach has to keep changing up the program. Running around every day the
same exact way and duration will not work past a week or two. The athlete will
get bored, slow down and reduce improvements. Keep it fun, lively and
entertaining as much as possible.
The reason the aerobic capacity needs
to be the first aspect trained is because it is the base of all exercise and every
energy pathway stems from it. Every form of exercise begins with aerobic and
switches to a more direct pathway after a few seconds. A sprinter for example
is using aerobic means to fuel the first second or two of the race and the ATP-CP system kicks in after to give him that boost till the end. The aerobic system also is in charge of the
recovery of the athlete in between training turns and competition. Lactate
clearance is improved with an increase in the aerobic system. If you want your athlete
to be able to train like a beast then his lactate threshold and lactate removal
systems need to be in check. More on lactate threshold later.
So after the aerobic conditioning
is done the next part of the “Basic Strength” conditioning plan is activating
the muscles. For an athlete who has never done conditioning before the muscles
are not going to be very active and in some cases the athlete will not even
know how to “flex” a muscle on cue. The strength aspect is simple. Either slow
repetitions of low intensity or a large number of repetitions with moderate
intensity. Unless you are working with high level athletes in a sports lab it
will be difficult to determine what exactly is low intensity adn moderate
intensity. To determine this you need to have a base line measurement of the
athlete which many coaches do not have. You can go to the extent to have your athlete
tested for their current max strengths and aerobic/anaerobic capacities,
however many coaches do not have time for this or the equipment to accurately measure
these aspects. Start of easy, too easy is not the end of the world, and monitor
the child with a number scale. The traditional one is called the “Rate of Perceived
Exertion” (RPE). It is a scale of 1-20, 20 being the hardest exercise and 1
being very very very light. I usually use a scale of 1-10 just to simplify. In
this phase you want the athlete to be at about 6-7. You want the body to be
stressed but if it is too great then the body will get very sore and the
athlete will feel very crappy for the next few days. For most coaches who need
to keep the athlete happy most of the time starting them off by running them
into the dirt usually is not a great idea. If this was Russia then they athlete
would have no choice and the situation would be a little different.
This phase needs to focus on ALL
MUSCLE GROUPS, not just the ones applicable to a trampolinist. The body works
as a whole and if some parts are better developed then compensations arise
which affects performance and causes injury. Compound exercises are recommended
rather than one joint exercises such as bicep curls. Isometric holds are also recommended
in this phase as it helps to activate the muscle. Muscles need to be strong in concentric
contraction (shortening of muscle), eccentric contraction ( controlled
lengthening of the muscle) and isometric contraction ( holding of a specific
position). Everyone knows concentric contraction as it is the most common.
Eccentric contraction tends to be neglected unrightfully so. Eccentric
contraction helps to strengthen muscles and acts as a builder for concentric
contractions that are not able to be performed yet due to a lack of strength. If
your athlete is unable to do chin ups and you cannot spot them all the time due
to time constraints have them try simply holding their chin above the bar or
tell them to jump up and count to 20 before they are fully relaxed at the
bottom. This form of training is not as common and therefore causes “Delayed
Onset of Muscle Soreness” (DOMS) at a quicker rate. If you were to run up the
CN Tower you would recover better than if you ran down.
The athlete should be doing
exercises with full range of motion (ROM) during this phase. Usually this is
the case in all phases but there are some exercises that require short
movements that I will discuss in later articles. If the full ROM is not being
achieved the body is already learning to compensate and puts priority in
certain areas. The goal of “Basic Strength” is to basically strengthen the
entire body and get it prepared for the upcoming year.
Overall body tightness needs to
be addressed in this phase as well because that is going to eb a reoccurring theme
in their trampoline career. Anyone who has been around the sport can tell when
an athlete is lose in the air and it simply looks sloppy, not to mention the athlete
is at a greater risk of losing control and potentially injuring themselves upon
landings. Have the athlete focus on squeezing every muscle as hard as they can
for an interval. Simple exercises include handstands against the wall while the
coach tries to separate the legs, bend the back or bend the arms. During the
first few weeks of the exercise the coach will have to be vigilant on the pokes
and prods so the athlete remembers. After a while the athlete will remember on
his own accord and it will become second nature.
The first 6 months to a year of
conditioning is the most important due to the fact it will plant the seeds for
the rest of their conditioning habits. The coach has to be very strict at this
time because the athlete’s will rebel and try to cheat usually. Coaches cannot
allow this and have to be watching like a hawk every second of their
conditioning. I start off by yelling, motivating, pressuring athlete’s to
condition hard. Then I test them and pick one athlete every training session to
watch. I know what the program is and I will watch closely, unnoticed by the
athlete. The first time I let it go and line all my athletes up at the end of
training where I note what I saw. I give them a warning, explain the importance
of conditioning, ask them if they understand and then let them go home. I keep
watching the ones that seem to be lazy athletes and if I see them cheat at all,
even by one rep they start that entire exercise over again from set 1. Very
quickly the athlete’s learn to not the chance that I am watching them and do
the exercises properly.
It is important
to remember to change up the program every few weeks to keep the body guessing
and to keep the athlete interested. All the research says that every week the
athlete should have a relaxation day where the muscle actually has time to grow
and develop. For a provincial athlete normally this is not an issue due to the
fact the athlete will not be training 6 times a week and be in danger of over
training. Most Provincial athletes start out at a few times a week and work
their way up to about 4 usually before going national. For your younger
starting athletes do not waste a day of their conditioning with a deload
training.
The athlete’s need to have fun as well so try having a
weekly conditioning competition. Once a week try having the athletes compete
against each other for the longest handstand holds or the most v-snaps in a row, ETC. It is an easy way to force the
athletes to condition harder when there is no competition. I do not think it
would be a great idea to do this every day because less conditioning is done
per athlete because a lot of them are sitting around waiting for their turn to
try their best. It is a good bench mark for the coach and a motivation tool for
the athlete.
What about stretching?
Stretching is easily one of the most important aspects of any
conditioning program. Without
stretching, the body will tighten up and the needed range of motions will not
be able to be achieved on the trampoline. Not to mention the fact that
tightness of the muscles can lead to cramping and tearing of the muscles. What
is the best way to stretch though? Everyone you ask will say something
different. Text books say that 20-30 seconds is the minimum amount of time
needed to deactivate the Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) and the muscle spindles.
These are the sensors that detect muscle tension. Once pushed into a pike an
athlete’s sensors will tell the brain to tighten up the muscle to prevent a
tear. Once the position is held the brain realizes that it is ok and slowly
releases the muscles and allows for an increase in ROM. I find holding for a minute is much better and
usually make the athletes do straddle, pike and all three splits for one minute
each two times. I come around and push the athlete’s down to ensure they are
not wasting time by just sitting there acting like they are stretching. I stretch all the major muscle groups and
force the athlete’s to increase their flexibility rather than maintain in. If
the athlete’s are to flexible then power in the muscles decreases and the coach
has to be careful of this. However this is not an excuse for the athlete to not
have full splits and a flat pancake and pike. Simply said, other countries jump
higher than we do but have better flexibility as well so obviously you can be
both. The decrease in power only comes at very flexible states such as rhythmic
gymnasts and contortionists. If the athlete holds splits for an hour before
bouncing then they will feel weaker and won’t be able to jump as high. If
general flexibility is good enough to do splits at any time then the athlete
will not feel weak and their flexibility will not hinder performance. Coaches
need to remember that before trampoline specific training stretching needs to
be minimal and short duration. Do not twist the athlete into a pretzel because
they will feel “wabbly”. It is more important to have them warm up, get their
heart rate up, go through the major muscle groups in a dynamic fashion. This
means to move slowly into and out of the position rather than a static hold. Static
holds will relax the muscle and make it harder to contract because you are
confusing the GTO and the spindles in the muscle. Dynamic stretching simply tells
the muscle “get ready, time for exercise” .Static stretching is to be done
after the training before the athletes leave. Do not do Ballistic stretching
with the athletes because it confuses the GTO and muscle spindle as well due to
the quick bouncing effect.
So let’s look at what a sample program may look like for the
first week of an athlete’s conditioning program.
|
Exercise
|
reps
|
sets
|
Intensity (RPE)
|
explaination
|
|
5 Laps around gym
|
1
|
1
|
6-7
|
Aerobic capacity
|
|
Froggy jumps ( jumps from a deep squat ( butt on ground) to a full
leg extension jump for distance with arms above head)
|
20
|
3
|
6-7
|
This is a full body exercise and is the full ROM of what a prebounce
will look like if done correctly- no load on the body yet except body weight
|
|
Front support
|
30 seconds
|
2
|
6-7
|
Core stabilization
|
|
Reverse Support
|
30 seconds
|
2
|
6-7
|
Core stabilization
|
|
Side Support
|
30 seconds
|
4 ( switch sides)
|
6-7
|
Core stabilization
|
|
Calf raises
|
30 ( two legs)
|
2
|
6-7
|
Plantar flexion in the bed
|
|
Tricep dips
|
10-15
|
2
|
6-7
|
Arms have to be able to straighten and full ROM must be implemented here
as it also acts as a stretch
|
|
Chair Sits
|
30 seconds
|
2
|
6-7
|
Strengthen legs and core- make athletes hold a sponge above head to
strengthen shoulders for take off
|
This program will roughly take 25 minutes to finish including rests. Most of
the training is done on the trampoline so for a beginner half an hour of
conditioning should be sufficient. After this the stretching can begin and as I
recommended stretch all the major muscle groups such as:
Abs
Back
Hamstrings
Quads
Calf
Toe point
Shoulders
Chest
Triceps
Lats
Each should be held for 30 seconds twice which means that
the athlete is only stretching for 8 minutes. An hour and a half of trampoline
training along with roughly 30 minutes of stretching and conditioning. This equals
out to about a 2 hour program. I would recommend a starting athlete train this
program twice a week for the first half a year or so. The coach needs to
remember to change up this program regularly here is a list of exercises that
would be acceptable for the “Basic Strength” phase.
Chip up holds
or negatives
Handstand against
wall
Lunges
Push ups
Sit ups
Rocker holds
Mermaid holds
Back arch
holds (coach holds feet down as back is lifted by athlete)
Crunch holds (same
as above but for stomach)
Run ups onto
a block
Push up run
ups
Wheel barrow
runs
Inch worms
across the floor
Suicides
Single leg
hops
Two feet hops
across floor
Jump on a
matt
leg lifts or holds
handing rows off a low bar with feet on a block
All of these exercises can be done at a slow pace or at a
isometric pace where no movement is necessary, within the gym. These exercises can be changed of course for
the athlete but this is up to the coach’s imagination. Make the exercises
interesting and creative. Have the athletes do partner conditioning where they
are forced to cooperate together. You are not only building an athlete, you are
building a team. Next article will discuss the next phase of the periodization,
the “hypertrophy” phase.
Thanks J
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