Preservation Article

by Jim O’Malley

Prolonged Preservation of Sporting Form and It’s Connection

to the Periodization of Sport Training.

(from Managing the Training of Weightlifters by Nikolai

Laputin, pp.20-25.)

As has already been noted, the process of development of

sporting form represents an alternation of three phases.

These phases are alternated again and again over the

course of many years of training, but, as is correct, to a

higher degree. Let’s look at the characteristics of these

three phases in detail.

The development of sporting form phase consists of

two sequential phases : formation of the prerequisites of

sporting form and its direct formation. The beginning

stages of sporting form are characterized by the most

significant changes in the organism as expressed by the

rise in the general level of its functional capabilities as

well as in the renewed and renovated stock of motor

coordination. Here the foundation of future sporting

form is laid down, the quality of which determines the

level of the athlete’s achievements in a given cycle of

sports perfection.

In the second stage ----- direct formation of sporting

form, the changes acquire a more specific character as

though concretized. The rise in special trainability, the

development of special motor qualities specific to

weightlifting, further perfecting of sport technique and

tactics are the basic directions of adaptational changes.

The separate components which make up the

preparedness for high sport achievements combine in an

integral, clearly harmonious system ------- sporting form.

The phase of relative stabilization or preservation of

sporting form is characterized by an optimal

preparedness for sport achievement (relative to the given

degree of sport perfection) and lasts from 2 to 4 months.

There are unavoidable fluctuations in trainability in the

sporting form period. They can be caused by

premeditated undulating changes in the training load and

many other reasons (illness, injury etc.). These small

fluctuations are distinguished from the true loss of

sporting form. The phase of brief loss of sporting form is

distinguished by a slump in trainability, extinction of

connections uniting the individual elements of sporting

form and the transference of the organism to a different

level of functioning. The character of the athlete’s

activities change. There is reason to believe that the

various components of sporting form are not lost

simultaneously. All the coordination connections became

extinct earlier. The basic motor skills and the elevated

level of the athlete’s functional capabilities are preserved

for a longer period of time. The degree of diminished

trainability during the loss of sporting form depends

upon the length of this period and the character of the

training. An athlete is able to preserve trainability at a

higher level than that at which the first phase in the

development of sporting form began if he utilizes the

means of active rest. Passive rest leads to an unwarranted

loss of sporting form. Considerable time is expended

subsequently compensating for such a loss.

The loss of sporting form is not in the life functions of

the organism. With a rational, organized training

regimen it occurs as part of the usual life activities.

Some positive reconstruction, provoked by the preceding

training loads, occurs within the organism in this period.

Among athletes the question often arises as to why

sporting form, which is the athletes optimal state, is not

preserved constantly ? Is it a mistake to ask this when

sportsmen take considerable time and energy acquiring

sporting form, and then lose it ?

This question can be answered so. Sporting form

acquired through this or that degree of sport training is an

optimal state for a given stage of training. But, that

which is optimal at one degree of sport mastery is not at

another, higher degree. For example, an athlete executed

the norm for class 1 ; but to execute the norm for

candidate for master of sport requires a higher optimal

state and mastery of a new stage of trainability, necessary

to execute the new norm. Therefore, trying to preserve

the acquired sporting form "forever" is tantamount to

always striving to remain in the same place. In order to

move forward, one needs to secure further development

of physical qualities, posses new, more perfected habits

and skills and raise all aspects of sport preparation. And

thus, the old sporting form as a relative stable system of

certain components will be lost. The new sporting form

arises from the foundation of the old "constructed

material" but, in itself, includes new acquisitions

supporting a new higher level of the athletes

development. Thus, the brief loss of sporting form is a

condition of its further development.

As is known, sport training is inseparably linked with the

expenditure of the organism’s working potential and

fatigue. Fatigue is not only an unavoidable consequence

of training but an obligatory condition for raising sport

work-capacity. Everyone knows that one of a

weightlifters fundamental physical qualities --- strength

--- is achieved through fatigue. The growth of an athletes

general work capacity is achieved through fatigue.

However, this statement is only true when training

loads and rest are alternated correctly. The athlete

significantly increases the intensity of the load and up to

a certain point preserves its volume as he acquires

sporting form.

When the sportsman is in sporting form and

systematically enters competition, the intensity of the

load is not decreased. As a result of the strains of training

and competition fatigue accumulates and a protective

reaction arises against the overstraining of the

accommodative mechanisms. If, under these conditions,

one attempts to improve sporting form, then one can

become overtrained. Therefore, a transitional period is

included in the training process where the sportsman is

assigned active rest. This period coincides with the brief

loss of sporting form.

Yet, other circumstances need to be considered. The

organism’s various functions are in intricate dynamic

equilibrium with each other and with the external

environment. Maintaining this equilibrium during the

sporting form period, when the sportsman is mobilizing

his capabilities to the limit, is a very difficult task and it

can be beyond one’s strength if this is demanded

constantly.

Various (provoked by training) biological

reconstructions within the organism do not occur

simultaneously. The long term use of training loads does

not exclude functional disturbance of the organism’s

different systems. For example, cases are known where

susceptible athletes who were in sporting form catch a

cold. This leads us to believe that sporting form is not a

criterion of health. Of course, this is not to say that

sporting form predisposes one to illness. A lack of

correspondence between high work capacity and

insufficient resistance to disease is possible in periods

other than sporting form. They can intensify in this

period, by attempts, by means of intense training, to hold

sporting form for an excessively long time. For the most

part, it is well known that athletes posses robust health

and a greater resistance to unfavorable influences than

non-athletes.

Thus, we can state that although sporting form is an

optimal state, this state is not constant. The path to the

achievement of a new, higher level of sporting form,

inevitably proceeds through the loss of the old. The

length of time necessary for the acquisition and

preservation of sporting form depends on the type of

sport, the competition calendar, method and regimen of

training, state of the sportsman’s organism, daily

regimen, diet, and the means of restoration. Sporting

form can be preserved for a period of 3-5 months only if

one strictly observes the fundamental principles of

training during this period. According to L.P.

Matveyev’s data the length of the phase of sporting form

development depends upon what sort of cyclical

principles the construction of the training is based on

(yearly or semi-yearly).

An example of the length of the development of sporting

form phase for the yearly cycle is : creation for the

prerequisites for the acquisition of sporting form ---- 5-7

months; relative stabilization of sporting form ---- 3-5

months; the loss of sporting form ---- up to 1.5 months.

The corresponding figures for the semi-yearly cycle are 4

months, 1.5-2.5 months, and 3-4 weeks. The semi-yearly

cycle is most often used for weightlifters. However,

qualified sportsman enter into sporting form 3-4 times a

year, frequently fall and winter. This does not exclude

the possibility of achieving high results in the spring and

summer. Some Soviet weightlifters, for example, A.

Voronin, D. Rigert, and V. Alexeev successfully held

sporting form over several months in succession and

established world records in each competition.

Consequently, such regularities can be seen in

weightlifting : the periods of acquisition and stabilization

of sporting form are shortened somewhat (2-3 months)

but repeated several times in the semi-year cycle.

As for the question of achievement of sporting form, one

is guided by the competition calendar. One plans athletes

preparation taking these dates into consideration. In

addition to the most important competitions of the year

(USSR, World, and European Championships)

weightlifters take part in lower scale competitions. The

competition calendar is conditioned by the length of this

or that competition period, so the length of sporting form

preservation can vary from 1-2 to 6-7 weeks.

Concluding remarks :

In my opinion, this excerpt form Laputin’s text presents a

compelling argument against the so called (unfortunately

I think) "Bulgarian" method of training. A more

appropriate term would be training by brute force

methods. However you wish to classify it, this training

involves lifting submax to maximum weights in the

classical exercises (90%+) in virtually every single

training session. And more often than not, pulls well in

excess of 125% of the maximum lifts and limit squats are

added as well. These assistance movements frequently

bear no resemblance at all to what the athlete can

actually snatch or clean & jerk.

These methods have been the hallmark of training lifters

in the USA for the last 30 years and (amazingly enough)

are still enthusiastically advocated today by many

coaches. The implementation of such a training

philosophy yields a pattern that can be clearly observed

in the long term results of countless numbers of US

lifters over the last 30 years.

Initially, the lifter usually makes above average progress.

This turns out to be misleading. Most lifters then plateau

both sooner and at a lower level than would otherwise

have occurred. The struggle to constantly maintain

sporting from often leads to injury and/or illness that

then forces the lifter to back down some in his efforts.

The process then repeats itself over and over again. And

finally, results then begin to regress both sooner and

faster than one would expect under optimal conditions.

To those of you familiar with the mathematical technique

used to solve two dimensional linear programming

problems, there is an analogy here. Once you have found

the "feasible set" of solutions you begin to (one by one)

plug them into the objective function to find the optimal

solution. This is known as the "brute force" method. It is

inefficient because it is much more time consuming. If

you simply plot the objective function first, the optimal

solution will immediately present itself to you.

Training by brute force methods is worse than inefficient

because you will never even reach an optimal solution

(i.e. a total the maximizes your own athletic potential).

I will close with a comment from Pavel Pervushin who in

June 1973 became the first 110kg lifter (i.e. nonsuperheavy)

to total 400kg in the biathlon. He won the

European Champioship in Madrid, Spain by a whopping

37.5kg over the second place finisher. He then became

World Champion in September 1973 and then sadly, his

career was ended by a severe hand injury.

He was interviewed in the July 1973 issue of Strength &

Health magazine. He was asked about what most

contributed to his great success in the sport. This was his

answer. "The reason is simple – I developed a sensible

approach to training. It used to be thus : there was no

trainer (he might have gone somewhere or been taken

ill), and in his absence I would literally swarm around

heavy weights. At that time I thought that was the only

way possible to get results. It turned out to be the other

way around : I put on the brakes so to speak ……. The

main thing is regular training and a most strict regimen."

That is some good advice from a world class weightlifter.