Understanding the relationship between Training Process, Physiological Stress and Training Outcome

Strength and Conditioning Programming: Understanding the relationship between training process, physiological stress and Training outcome.

As strength and conditioning coaches we program for performance. So it’s important to have a process in place which underlies the methodology of our programs. So the question is, what variables dictate our programming and how do we decide on a testing battery?

Training process, physiological stress and training outcome are the makeup for a training program. The training process is essentially the external load placed on the athlete. It encompasses the conditions of the session including volume, intensity, duration and type of session (Wallace, Slattery & Coutts, 2013).  It is the external load imposed by the coach that will be the main determining factor of the internal load (Wallace, Slattery & Coutts, 2013). Due to the conditions of the training process stress will be imposed on the individual to create a physiological response; this is considered the internal load. When gauging the internal load the coach looks at aspects such as the exercising heart rate, the athlete’s rate of perceived exertion and hormonal fluctuations (Wallace, Slattery & Coutts, 2013). In order to then assess the effectiveness of the program training outcomes are assessed. This is commonly quantified with objective measures such as physiological and performance testing. These outcome tests essentially measure the effects of the internal and external training load imposed (Wallace, Slattery & Coutts, 2013).

When developing a training program it is important that the training outcomes are considered. Performance testing is developed around the physiological, tactical, psychological and psychosocial requirements of the sport (Unnithan et al., 2012). An initial testing battery will allow the coach to develop the external load of the training program based on the current physiological status of the athlete. It can allow the quantification of the effectiveness of the training process and physiological stressors.  Testing batteries allow for individualised programming by identifying the athletes strength and weaknesses (Barker and Armstrong, 2011). Furthermore, the testing battery should emulate the physiological requirements of the sport so in identifying the athlete’s weaknesses allows for a greater sports specific training process.

By Lisa Campbell – START Training

Accredited Exercise Physiologist, Accredited Sports Scientist, Strength and Conditioning Coach.

References:

Barker, A. R. & Armstrong, N. (2011). Exercise testing elite young athletes. Medicine Sport Science, 56, 106-125.

Wallace, L. K., Slattery, K. M., & Coutts, A. J. (2013). A comparison of methods for quantifying training load: relationships between modelled and actual training responses. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 114(1), 11-20.

Unnithan, V., White, J., Georgeiou, A., Iga, J., & Drust, B. (2012). Talent identification in youth soccer. Journal of Sports Sciences, 30(15), 1719–1726.