Set Designer

[callout2]How to Find  “The Best” training Set or Exercise ? [/callout2]

Internet coaching boom created one interesting phenomena:  coaches, in self-promotional spirit, started to offer and publish “killer” training sets while  athletes and casual sports participants started to flash with sets and exercises they found and executed.  Usually, the tougher the set, the better it valued…

Ironically, this trend has very little to do with true training value such sets can offer to you.   Let us view it this way:  training exercise (set) represents some inherited stress level (by distance and intensity we cover in endurance sports).   Ideally, you want to apply the stress level which will cause the optimum or maximum adaptation changes in response to such stress.  That is where the problem starts:  physiological reaction (or adaptation to physical exercise stress) is determined by number of factors where  your present preparedness level,  stage of instant (daily) recovery and previous training pattern (or phase of your preparation if you are using  professionally prepared  plan)  are among the most important ones.  On top of that there are several energy production systems which supply energy necessary to produce training work and support performance.   These systems are interdependent and loading of each system should be coordinated with others on a daily, weekly and seasonal levels.   Now, if we take any set offered to us by, let us say Olympic coach, and apply it in our daily routine – what changes to we expect to happen and how this changes are coordinated with all the previous work and current condition we acquired to that point?

Verdict:  each training exercise has to be properly measured, pointed and executed to create maximum positive changes you may expect given yours and yours only present condition and future goals…

[callout2]How Many Types of Sets Exists ? [/callout2]

You will be surprised… Sports scientists are distinguishing only four types of training modalities when it comes to endurance or “functional” training. They are:

• “Distance” or continuous effort
• Interval (sometimes referred to as a “fartleck)
• Repetitive – variation of Interval exercises but aiming different abilities
• Maximum effort

That is it!  So, any effort you can think of can me classified under one of above mentioned categories.  There are of course sets which combine different effort types.  However, if you want to be effective and not to waste time on unnecessary work – these exercise types are the best to produce desired changes in your body.