For nearly a decade 3S has been the undeniable leader in providing practical solutions for both coaches and elite athletes to season planning and management of the training process for coaches and elite athletes, which are based on fundamental findings in the methodology of sports training. Our season planning and training design tools have become the benchmark by which other training programs are measured. But we have not been content to rest on our laurels. With an uncompromising commitment to excellence 3S is pleased to announce the introduction of another unique feature … the Test Set Planner – Progression Evaluation Tool that has no analogy in the sports training industry.
Although coaches need to know a lot about their athletes, probably nothing is more important than knowing exactly how effective their training really is. But the problem is, a coach really can’t find out how good his training plan has been until the end of the season. And by then it’s rather pointless, since his athlete has already been “trained”.
Imagine now for a moment being able to evaluate the progress of a swimmer (or any other athlete) using the results of his ordinary daily training sets… and without him even knowing he’s being tested!
With this knowledge a coach can be absolutely dead certain whether or not an athlete is on track. Regular yet harmless test results will guide coaches through their seasons and offer the direction of remedial work that may be necessary to stay on desired path to success.
Until now the only way to know how well an athlete was progressing was by administering maximum effort tests (with testing of some physiological markers when possible). Unfortunately, testing this way can lead to major problems.
- Since maximum effort tests require maximum mobilization of both physical and psychological abilities, these tests are only of value when they are appropriate to the phase of the season. If applied too early or too often during the season, they can easily disrupt the natural ability to adapt to the ever-increasing training loads coaches place on their athletes, which may lead to stagnation in performance or even over training.
- Maximum effort tests may negatively impact an athlete’s psychological condition by creating unnecessary stress and worry over performance before that needs to be addressed. Tests are valuable for a coach, but the testing protocols should not upset the regular training process or wreak havoc in the minds of his swimmers.
- Testing physiological markers requires specific knowledge and equipment. And testing them can be costly to administer, as well as difficult to interpret.
- It is not possible to make mid-course corrections to your season plan with traditional progression tests, since they typically are administered at the end of a training phase. Although they can give you some important performance data, there really isn’t that much you can do to correct the results of previous training work, at least in the short-term.
To rescue coaches from this dilemma, Super Sport Systems’ scientists have created a revolutionary new testing method that uses the results of regular standard daily training sets and converts them into calculated maximum effort result on a selected distance. With these tools you can use any training set as a test set, use it as often as you want, and use it without your athletes even knowing they’re being tested. The results of these tests will provide you with a lot of useful information that is critical for managing your program and athletes’ progress. With these results you will stay in full control of your training process, and know EXACTLY how your athletes are reacting to the specific training work you’ve selected for them.
The Test Set Planner is easy to use and manage. However, for more advanced users we have also added the ability to control and analyze behavior of additional parameters like stroke rate, and even lactate concentration. In fact we can manage practically any parameter you want to control.
It is safe to say that with the new 3S Progress Evaluation tools managing your training process and finding the optimum path for ultimate performance has never been easier. The addition of our new Test Set Planner also heralds the beginning of a new generation of 3S services that includes a very robust progression analytic bloc to make suggestions regarding the direction and quality of your training process – a dream tool for a coach or even an organization of any rank.
As usual, we are open to your questions and suggestions. To test the new feature simply subscribe for a free trial (swimming and rowing only at this time).