Sports training: what it is, principles and types

Sports training is carried out and planned by a professional in the field of physical education for his student according to the goal idealized by the athlete. That goal can be a competition or simply the desire to increase physical performance.

The professional must prepare the training based on the principles of sports training that must be followed to achieve the benefits that this type of activity offers.

What is sports training?

In other words, it is a set of physical exercises of long duration and with more intense complexity, with the objective of challenging and improving the development of the practitioner.

However, it is not enough for the athlete to create a workout with more intense and longer exercises alone, it is necessary that these activities are interconnected and are performed progressively according to the principles of the modality.

Basically, the physical education professional must develop an individual plan respecting the athlete’s needs and physiological capacity.

Some instructors perform group training, however, it is important to emphasize individual care with each athlete, after all, each body responds differently to stimuli.

What are the principles of sports training?

As mentioned at the beginning of the text, this modality follows a line of principles that must be considered by the professional when the training is planned. Check out some of them below.

1. Adaptation

It’s about taking the athlete’s body and organism to find balance in each challenge and environment where the exercise will be performed.

2. Continuity

Basically, continuity is the clarification that, in order to enjoy gains from training, the athlete must perform the exercises during a certain period, without failures or significant breaks.

3. Specificity

The professional must create a technical sheet explaining each exercise in a systematic way, giving the necessary coordinates regarding the execution and the energetic aspects spent and acquired with the activity.

4. Biological individuality

Understanding that each athlete has an individual genetic load and that activities need to be performed according to individual characteristics is also an important principle in the sports training process.

5. Interdependence of volume or intensity

This principle is based on applying volume versus exercise intensity or vice versa, using both factors intelligently and effectively.

6. Reversibility

It is nothing more than understanding that the body can return to the same pre-training condition if the individual does not continue the training and lifestyle established with the physical education professional.

7. Overload

The issue of respecting the necessary rest time is also fundamental, remembering that this period must be proportional to the intensity of the exercise.

8. Trainability

Controlling the amount of training is also a key part of the sports training process, understanding that excessive practice and lack of overload can lead to injuries that make it difficult to gain results.