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14:4; 97-101,1999

Periodisation - Theory and Methodology of Training by Tudor 0. Bompa

Tudor 0. Bompa is recognised worldwide as one of the foremost experts on training theory and methodology. He first developed the concept of "periodisation of strength" in Romania in 1963, as he helped the Eastern Bloc countries rise to dominance in the ath­letic world. Since then, Bompa has used his system to train numerous Olympic and world championship medalists and elite athletes. A füll professor at York University in Toronto, Bompa has authored several important books on physical conditioning, including his best-known book Theory and Methodology of Training - The Key to Athletic Performance, whieh, under this title, went through three editions.

Periodisation - Theory and Methodology of Training is actually the fourth edition of Theory and Methodology of Training - The Key to Athletic Performance, but as it has been considerably modified and expanded it is really a new book which is a must even for the possessors of the previous editions.

Periodisation - Theory and Methodology of Training endeavours to assist coaches in handling the wealth of physiological, bio­chemical. psychological, and social informa­tion emitted by the training process and in evaluating and using this information to chart their athletes' future progress.

The book is divided into three parts -Training Theory, Periodisation Training, and Training Methods.

Part I includes five chapters.

In CHAPTER 1, "The Basis for Training", Bompa states that the scope of training is to in­

crease the athletes' working capacity, skill effectiveness, and psychological qualities to improve their competition Performance.

Readers are made aware that training rep­resents a long-term endeavour, which means that athletes are not developed overnight and that a coach cannot create mirades by cutting corners through overlooking scien­tific and methodical theories. It is a funda­mental fact that as athletes train, they adapt or adjust to it. The better the anatomical, physiological, and psychological adaptation is, the higher the probability of improving athletic Performance.

The leading concept of training is the su­percompensation cycle whose dynamics de­pend on planned training intensities. Bompa emphasises that good planning must consid­er supercompensation because its applica­tion in training ensures the restoration of energy and, most importantly. helps athletes avoid critical levels of fatigue that can result in the undesirable State of overtraining.

To conduet an effective training pro­gramme, coaches must understand energy Systems, the energy fuel used by each Sys­tem, and how much time athletes need to restore energy fuels used in training and compet i t ion. A good understanding of restoration time for an energy system is the foundation for calculating rest intervals be­tween training activities during a workout, between workouts, and after a competition.

In CHAPTER 2, "Principles of Training", coaches learn that they must guide the structure and compilation of a training pro­gramme by specific regulations. Irrespective of the sport a child seleets, he or she should not experience only a narrow, sport-specific training. but should be exposed to a holistic, multilateral, multisport programme. Such a foundation will not only result in consistent Performance, but will also be a prescription

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for injury prevention. As the athlete matures in age and experience, training must become more speeialised and individualised. It must be dominated by specific drills and activities that lead to a faster rate of Performance im­provement.

Key to Performance improvements and planning is the load progression, or how the coach or instructor increases the training load. Irrespective of the loading pattern coaches use, they should never underesti-mate the essential role of the regeneration and recovery week. This cycle is critical for removing f a ­tigue. replenish-ing the energy stores, and pro­viding psycho­logical relax­ation for a new increase.

CHAPTER 3,

"Preparation for Training", shows that, irrespective of the sport, training entails physical, techni­cal, tactical, psy­chological and theoretical com­ponents. There are important r e l a t i o n s h i ps among these five factors, es­pecially physical, technical and tactical training. Most t ra in ing programmes. especially for team sports, em­phasise technical and tactical training, ne­glecting physical training. However, aecord­ing to Bompa, physical training should be the foundation of every training programme because fatigue direetly relates to physical conditioning.

The weaker an athlete's physical training, the faster he or she will fatigue. When the athlete fatigues, technical and tactical skills deteriorate. A high level of fatigue also af­

fects tactical judgment during the game. This means more mistakes, and as a result, poorer Performance. Technique must be trained to perfection because the higher an athlete's level of technique, the less energy he or she requires to perform it.

For all sports, especially those in which en­durance is an important component, techni­cal proficiency increases the athlete's physi­cal efficiency. For equal Performance, a good technician experiences a lower level of fa­tigue. Coaches are advised to design tactical training and create a game plan well before

competitions and games so the athlete has time to practice.

In CHAPTER 4, "Vari-ables of Tra in­ing". Bompa ex­plains tha t the eff ic iency of a physical activity results from its durat ion. dis­tance, and repeti­t ions (volume); load and velocity ( intensity); and the frequency of P e r f o r m a n c e (density). When planning the dy­namics of train­ing, coaches must consider these aspects, referred to as the var i ­ables of training. Ihey should mod­

el all these variables aecording to the func­tional and psychological characteristics of a competition.

Throughout the training phases preceding a competition. they must define which com­ponent to emphasise to achieve the planned Performance objeetive. As a rule, intensity should be emphasised for speed and power sports, and volume for endurance sports. For sports requiring intrlcate skills, training complexity is primary.

REVIEW: Periodisation - Theory and Methodology of Training

CHAPTER 5, "Rest and Recovery", deals with the necessity of maintaining a good equilib­rium between training, social life and recov­ery. Bompa points out that most coaches ne­gleet recovery methods and techniques. However, the faster athletes can recover fol­lowing training or competition, the more work they can do. Everyone involved in training should therefore change their men­tality regarding the importance of rest and recovery. Many methods can be used to re­cover from the fatigue of training and com­petition. The better coaches understand and use these techniques, the better they control fatigue and prevent overtraining. To prevent overtraining, coaches must pay maximum at tent ion to supercompensation, the restoration time of energy fuels used in their sport and methods of monitoring training.

Part II o f the book also contains five chapters.

In CHAPTER 6. "Workout Planning". the reader is informed that planning is not a novelty, but has existed since the ancient Olympic Games. Training effectiveness de­pends on planning, from a workout to a long-term plan. A well-structured plan can help the coach reach all his goals. Although the warm-up is often neglected or superfi­cially done it is an important part of the workout. Equally important for training ef­fectiveness is to always set goals for the workout, and constantly teil the athletes whether they achieved these objeetives. The feedback given by the coach is essential for training motivation, especially if they turn everything into a positive experience.

In CHAPTER 7, "Training Cycles", Bompa sim­plifies traditional planning by concentrating on five types (with some Variation) of micro-and macroeycles: developmental, shock, re­generat ion, competit ion and tapering. Aecording to Bompa, along with the annual plan, the microcycle is the most important training plan. The technique used to alter­nate intensities during a microcycle is based on the time necessary to restore the fuel that supplied energy during training. The better the coach alternates intensities per

week, the easier it is for his athletes to cope with fatigue and avoid overtraining.

Equally important is alternating develop­mental, shock and regeneration microeycles. Coaches are warned not to abuse the shock microeycles: the result is high levels of fa­tigue. For the sake of training efficiency, de­velopmental and shock cycles should con­stantly be repeated. When it comes to plan­ning training cycles coaches can use what they have learned about energy Systems, es­pecially about supercompensation, and care­fully manipulate them to increase the de­sired training effeet.

CHAPTER 8, "Annual Training Program", makes clear that the annual plan is the tool that guides athletic training over a year. The fundamental concept for good annual plan­ning is periodisation, especially structuring the phases of biomotor abilities. The periodi­sation of strength, speed, and endurance represents the manipulation of different training phases with specific goals, organised in a specific sequence, with the ultimate scope of creating sport-specific adaptation. When adaptation is complete, the athlete Is physiologically equipped to produce better Performances.

Agood understanding of periodisation will help coaches produce better annual plans, using Charts to schedule training activities. The competition schedule should be used to guide one's training phases. Also, the peri­odisation of nutrit ion and psychological training must be integrated into one's chart.

The main statement of CHAPTER 9, "Long­Term Planning and Talent Identification", is that long-term planning is a characteristic and requirement of modern training. A well-organised long-term training programme greatly increases training efficiency for fu­ture competitions. In addition, it encourages a rational use of training means and meth­ods and facilitates a concrete specific assess­ment of the athlete's progress. Bompa holds that all coaches should allocate time in their training activity to identify the most talent­ed children. They should deeide the most ap­propriate tests for identifying anthropomet-

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ric or physical qualities. The outcome of this work will quickly translate into better train­ing for the most talented individuals.

CHAPTER 10, "Peaking for Competitions", emphasises that a coach or instructor has to plan a peaking strategy so his or her athletes reach their best Performance in time for competitions. Taking into consideration the individual characteristics of each athlete, the training conditions, the athlete's motivation, and other factors that influence peaking, the coach or instructor must design a focused Programme that leads to ultimate Perfor­mance when it matters most. Aecording to Bompa, the ability to peak for a competition represents nothing more than a strategy the eoach designs, manipulating training to reach physical and psychological supercompensa­tion before an important meet. When these two elements of supercompensation oecur, then peak Performance is a normal outcome.

The following sequencing is regarded as essential for an athlete's ability to peak for competitions:

1) You train to compete. 2) You regenerate and recover before start­

ing to train again. 3) You train for the next competition. 4) You manipulate training to supercompen-

sate and reach a peak Performance during the next competition.

Part lll o f the book includes the following chapters:

CHAPTER 11 deals with "Strength and Power Development". Here, Bompa holds that of all the biomotor abilities. strength and power are the most critical for many sports. All team sports and speed-power dominant sports rely on solid strength and power de­velopment. Aecording to Bompa, many of the drastic improvements of athletic Perfor­mance since the 1960s can be traced to the impaet strength training has had on several sports. Bompa assumes that there is still a great deal of improvement athlete's can make by incorporating more strength train­ing into their athletic programmes.

"Endurance Training" is the topic of CHAPTER 12. Most sports require a certain de­gree of endurance, which is proportional to the duration of a competition. In Bompa's opinion the importance of endurance and the way it is developed are grossly neglected In many sports. especially team sports. Furthermore, athletes perform endurance training by jogging, which is far removed from the specific requirement of the sport.

As stated by Bompa, the best method to improve specific endurance for any sport is to consider the ergogenesis of the sport or the proportions between the anaerobic and aerobic components. Before ergogenesis training, which is most specific for the pre-and competitive phases, a coach should em­phasise a phase of aerobic endurance. Often, especially for sports in which endurance is the dominant ability, aerobic training has a compensation role, faci l i tat ing recovery while performing a low-intensity activity.

CHAPTER 13, "Speed, Flexibi l i ty, and Coordination Training", readers learn that in addition to the important biomotor abilities of strength and endurance, many athletic skills and Performances rely on qualities such as speed, f lexibi l i ty . and coordinat ion. Coaches should not view speed only as lin­ear, straightforward velocity. but also as the ability to quickly change directions and per­form fast turns. For team sports, quick changes of direction are as important as lin­ear velocity. Starting from the fact that ath­letes have to have strong legs to be able to perform all these elements of speed. Bompa points out the importance of being strong to be fast.

Strength training must therefore be an important part of any training programme for sports that require speed to be devel­oped. Although flexibility is superficially de­veloped in most sports, ankle and hip flexi­bility should be the focus of all athletes. Regardless of the fact that coordination is to a very high degree a hereditary gift, it can be greatly improved if one Starts its develop­ment from childhood. Bompa recommends that athletes are exposed to all kinds of ac­tivities and skills. especially by using balls of

REVIEW: Periodisation - Theory and Methodology of Training

any type, because even in the area of coordi­nation training persistent work always pays off.

Although at Just over 400 pages this is a large book, it is presented in a very readable format, with each section being divided into subjeet headings and sub-headings and making copious use of precisely and clearly designed tabies and diagrams. Each chapter eoncludes with a very handy summary of the major coneepts covered. The appendix in­cludes some blank Charts for coaches to plot their own training programmes.

In addition to a comprehensive glossary, the book also contains an index and a refer­ence section including over 400 internation­

al sources on the subjeet of training theory and methodology.

To sum it up, Periodisation - Theory and Methodology of Training is an excellent and up-to-date guide for coaches looking for a sound understanding of what is involved in modern training. It can be thoroughly rec­ommended. •

Tudor 0. Bompa Periodisation - Theory and Methodology of Training. Fourth Edition,

Champaign (IL). 1999. 412 p.,

ISBN 0-88011-851-2. €27.00

Reviewed by Jürgen Schiffer

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