Perceived in 2006 by UKA
Performance Director Dave Collins, these five topics should be built into every
training programme to achieve success. By this I understand it to mean applying
them in every cycle, although most of the five rings should be performed each
week.
Once your programme cycle is
outlined it is worth looking back at it to see if all of the five rings have
been covered, and if not, you can always insert them.
TECHNICAL AND TACTICAL
SKILLS.
Technical is fairly obvious,
but tactical? Do you wait until your athlete is about to compete before giving
tactical advice or do you talk it over beforehand? Do you ever talk tactics
during a coaching session?
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
Another obvious one, being
more prevalent during the winter, which shows up with many early season pb’s.
Strength training should be tapered into the track season and topped up during
the competition period at least once per month
MOVEMENT SKILLS
Yes we all know about the
benefits of maintaining mobility and increasing the range of movement of the
limbs/joints in order to become more efficient at our sport. But do you try any
new ones? Do you include variety? Do you use them in the cool-down as well as
the warm up?
LIFESTYLE SKILLS
You should know something
about your athletes lifestyle so that you can advise if it effecting their
performance. This includes what they eat, when they go to bed, get up, stay out
late, play another sport- and to what degree? A subtle show of interest goes a
long way to an understanding between athlete and coach.
PSYCHO-BEHAVIOURAL SKILLS
Not likely to be part of the
weekly programme, but it helps to understand the stress that athletes are
undergoing from school, exams, home life and parental pressure to achieve. On
the day they under-perform, try to analyse the reason for it Do not dismiss
under performance, but try to find an encouraging good point before discussing
how improvements can be made in the future. Goal setting should be an early
season pre-requisite of every athlete to give them a purpose to their
competitive and training objectives, then follow it up during the year.
A blank training programme
worksheet could look something like this:
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DATE |
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Technical and tactical |
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Speed |
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Speed/ Endurance |
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Strength and conditioning |
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Movement skills
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Lifestyle skills
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Psycho-behaviour
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