Dr. Mitch Broser
Effective training is a careful balancing act over the long haul. A balance of training and recovering, to maximize performance and avoid overtraining or undertraining. We have to remember that each workout is weighted differently, and the point of “balance” is always changing. How do you train hard without overtraining? How do you recover without detraining? There is no perfect recipe, but here are some commonly-accepted methods that have been proven to work.
The High-Low Model
The High-Low model was first introduced by world-renowned Canadian sprint coach Charlie Francis, most famously known for coaching Ben Johnson to an Olympic Gold medal in men’s 100 in 1998 (while steroid use ran rampant in the sport, Ben tested positive and surrendered his medal). This model is relatable to Polarized training: Training at high and low intensities. This training consisted of a high amount of low-intensity training and low amount of high-intensity training.
In the book “The Charlie Francis Training System” (191), he proposes two types of fatigue occur from training: Central Nervous System (CNS) Fatigue and Muscular Fatigue. CNS Fatigue is reached when the byproducts of high intensity exercise build up to the point where the CNS impulses necessary to voluntarily contract muscle fibers are handicapped. Total muscular fatigue is typified by the inability to contract the muscle, even if externally stimulated. Appropriate training creates chemical changes which advance the capacity to do both CNS work and muscular endurance work under conditions of correct technique, before fatigue is reached.
It takes 2-5 times longer to recover fully after maximum intensity white fiber (fast-twitch muscle fiber) dominant work than from moderate to low intensity red fiber dominant work. CNS overtraining is caused by high intensity work occurring (I) too frequently, (II) in too high a volume in a single training session or (III) by the attempt to introduce high intensity work too rapidly into the program when residual fatigue still resists. CNS overtraining can have detrimental effects on training effectiveness and performance.
CNS work and power work are synonymous. Any time the athlete is focusing on maximum speed and explosion or explosiveness, the CNS is being taxed. Low intensity training methods cause significantly less stress on CNS. Based on this model, a training session with a high CNS demand should be done while fresh and requires significant time to recover. However, low CNS demand training sessions do not require you to be as fresh and require significantly less time to recover.
Another way to categorize training is by freshness requirements and fatigue qualities. Some types of training require you to be very fresh to perform them properly, whereas others can be completed when you are fatigued. As well, some types of training will cause high levels of fatigue, whereas others cause modest or little fatigue. For example:
- High freshness / high fatigue – These are typically high-intensity sessions, such as max strength training or speed endurance (threshold training).
- High freshness / low fatigue – These sessions require high levels of concentration or high velocity but may be low in volume, such as agility training.
- Low freshness / high fatigue – These don’t require much intensity, but may be high volume, such as hypertrophy training or long slow distance (LSD) run.
- Low freshness / low fatigue – These sessions can be performed productively when tired and won’t create huge amounts of fatigue, such as recovery sessions and technical practice.
Instead of only considering how taxing (fatiguing) a type of training session is, we should also consider how “fresh” one should be to get the most out of a particular training session. It is a balance of these 4 general types of training sessions to make sure you are maximizing the benefits from each training session, while avoiding overtraining or undertraining. Keeping these four categories in mind, you can plan your workouts more effectively to make sure you are sufficiently recovered going into the training session and recover adequately for the next training session.
Pareto’s Principle
Vilfredo Pareto was a 19th century Italian economist, best known for the 80/20 rule that was named after him. This rule has been applied to many fields – in business, this rule suggests that 20% of a company’s customers will account for 80% of its income. In the context of strength and conditioning, 20% of the training we perform will create 80% of the improvement in performance or fitness capability. This means that 20% of the training program should elicit a high amount of fatigue, because high-demand training sessions create a large fitness adaptation response. While this 20% of the program will account for 80% of your improvement, these types of sessions require a significant amount of recovery time and hence should only be done sparingly (think about Francis’s high-low training model and the freshness/fatigue model).
We must also understand that in strength and conditioning, it is not always 80/20. For some, 70/30, or maybe 90/10. There are many things to consider when determining the best ratio for you. Dr. Dan Cleather (Author of “The Little Black Book of Training Wisdom: How to train to improve at any sport”) proposes two corollaries to Pareto’s principle:
- “Make sure you perform the hot (high-intensity) sessions, and that they are completed with the most optimal quality.”
- “Don’t do things that affect your ability to perform the hot sessions with optimal quality.”
In Conclusion
When developing a training program, we need to first take a bird’s eye view of the training program. What is the goal of the program? Increase 100m sprint performance? Increase bench press 1 rep max? Increase basketball performance? Improve ballet performance? Lose body fat? Not every program needs those high-intensity training sessions – for some, training more often is more important and hence should start with lower-intensity training (for example, weight loss programs or building an aerobic base). Others need those high-intensity training sessions to elicit the physiological adaptation they need to excel in their sport or activity. Everyone has their own unique training balancing act, but keeping these training models and principles in mind will help balance your training for superior results.