Training methods and planning

From the Experience of Preparing the USSR Junior National Team

P. A. Poletaev, USSR Sports Committee; M. S. Gisin; S. V. Stepanova, Cand. Sc. (Medicine), VNIIFK

English summary of Tyazhelaya Atletika. Ezhegodnik 1984 (Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1984), pp. 33–36: the text is paraphrased, not translated; data tables are given in full with English labels.

The main events of 1982 for the USSR junior weightlifting team were the World Championships in São Paulo (9–15 August) and the European Championships in Haskovo, Bulgaria (30 October – 3 November). After São Paulo, where the team won only 2 gold medals in the total against 8 for the Bulgarians, the USSR Weightlifting Federation and Sports Committee took organisational steps to improve preparation. The two and a half months before the European Championships were short, yet in Haskovo the team won 5 golds to Bulgaria's 4.

The 6-week stage after a month-long transition period proved effective: in 10 team members training results in the classic and main special-assistance lifts rose as follows (x̄ ± σ, kg):

Gains in training results over the 6-week stage, kg

At the pre-competition camps, monitoring covered training loads, ECG, body composition and special work capacity. Table 1 gives the load over the last 28 days of the competitive period.

Table 1. Load parameters of the USSR junior team in the monthly competitive cycle (x̄ ± σ)

Every 10–14 days, including the first and last weeks, body composition was assessed by Matiegka's anthropometric method (1921) and work capacity by a specific functional test (V. L. Karpman and others, 1982), before barbell work at the morning session. Cardiac cycle length (C) and heart rate (HR) came from a morning ECG just after rising. Table 2 gives the averages.

Table 2. Average morphofunctional parameters of the USSR junior team in the competitive period (x̄ ± σ)

Before the European Championships the juniors handled a heavier final month than before the World Championships: volume rose by over 10% and relative intensity by almost 3%, higher than ever recorded for this team in a competitive monthly cycle.

Notably, the heavier load came with better condition. In every athlete absolute and relative muscle mass rose and fat mass fell, the muscle-fat index improving 19.4% on average. Relative work capacity rose 22.8% (P < 0.05). Myocardial dystrophy changes seen on ECG in some athletes before the World Championships had greatly diminished or vanished, cycle length increased and heart rate fell.

Organisational measures

Larger loads with better condition point to a more rational balance of load and recovery, aided by organisational measures. Drawing on Soviet and Bulgarian experience, the team timed both load and recovery in detail. Each exercise had set minutes; rest between exercises of different technical direction (snatch and clean and jerk) in one session was up to 20 minutes; recovery between morning, afternoon and evening barbell sessions was strictly timed. Planning followed a special physical preparation programme tested on the senior team under chief coach A. S. Prilepin.

Timing helped carry out the single programme: coaches controlled individuals and team better, the group shared a focused mood for one task, and training was better organised. Before, athletes on the same plan drifted apart, some still on an exercise while others had moved on.

General physical preparation (GPP), seen as a pedagogical means of recovery after special work, got more attention. Weekly volume rose 1.5–2 times, from 6 to 9–12 hours, through daily 30-minute swimming after the afternoon session and 30 minutes of slow jogging in the morning and an hour after supper. Weekly the lifters competed in 30, 60 and 100 m runs, backward overhead shot throws and timed standing multiple jumps over hurdles. Gymnastics, acrobatics and games (volleyball, table tennis) filled GPP sessions 3–4 times a week. Contest averages in the two-week special preparatory stage were (x̄ ± σ):

Results of GPP contests, two-week special preparatory stage

Training of highly qualified lifters can thus be improved and loads increased, provided functional state improves and recovery is rationally organised.