In a previous post, the development of alactic power was discussed. In most athletic contests, athletes need to not only be explosive and powerful, but they also need to sustain that power over the course on an entire contest. In order to develop this quality, appropriate programming to develop capacity of the alactic system will enable an athlete to compete with speed and power repeatedly for the duration of a contest; Verkhoshansky & Verkhoshansky (2011) defines power and capacity in this manner:
Capacity- the total quantity of producing energy
Power- the quantity of energy produced in the time unit
Improving the capacity (or conditioning) of the alactic system requires that short duration efforts greater than 95% intensity (<8 seconds) are repeated in multiple bouts. An important component of this type of training is to keep an individual below their anaerobic threshold; the athlete should not begin to utilize the lactic system due to the intensity zone utilized being too slow for speed development (Francis, 2008). Keeping the athlete below anaerobic threshold with efforts greater than 95% with appropriate rest intervals means the speed and power of the effort will be maintained for the duration of the session.
This type of conditioning can be performed with both jumps and sprints. The key is to have a high intensity effort as described previously, with a rest interval of 10-60 seconds (Morris & Williams, 2013; Verkhoshansky & Verkhoshansky, 2011). Many times coaches implement more lactic-based conditioning in an effort to help with maintaining an athlete’s speed for a contest. The inherent problem with this is that the speed of the effort in this type of training begins to drop as efforts are repeated; an athlete actually ends up training to maintain a slower speed. Sports such as football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, field hockey, some combat disciplines, and lacrosse are sports that primarily utilize both the aerobic and alactic systems to fuel their efforts, and should not be incorporating large volumes of lactic-based conditioning into their off-season or in-season protocols. In a future post some examples of alactic capacity training will be outlined.
References & Recommended Readings
Verkhoshansky, Y., Verkhoshansky, N. 2011. Special Strength Training Manual for Coaches. Verkhoshansky SSTM. Rome, Italy.
Francis, C. 2008. The Structure of Training for Speed. CharlieFrancis.com
Morris, B, Williams, R. 2013. American Football Physical Preparation: How to Optimally Prepare for Your Best Season Ever. Ebook available at elitefts.com.
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