David Pyne PhD - Australian Institute of Sport

Basics of Periodisation and Conditioning

Periodisation of training:The process of periodisation is defined as division of the annual training plan into smaller and more manageable parts to ensure correct peaking for the main competition of the year. Periodisation of training was popularised in the 1960’s and 1970’s as coaching become more comprehensive and systematic. Authors such as Bompa and Matveyev popularised the use of periodised training in both team and individual sports. The annual plan is divided sequentially into the mesocycle (long term cycle), macrocycle (multi- week training cycle), microcycle (weekly training cycle) and the daily training sessions. The combination of different training cycles within the annual plan will depend on the specific goals of the competition cycle.

The Mesocycle (Major Preparation): The mesocycle in the context of swimming & triathlon refers to the preparation for a major competition. For age group swimmers, this usually is the summer season leading into district, state or national age group championships. For senior swimmers, the mesocycle refers to the summer preparation for the national championships (selection trials in March) or the winter preparation for the major international meet of the year (usually August/September). On this basis, senior swimmers generally have two mesocycles per year. Figure 3 shows a typical mesocycle plan for a senior group of swimmers preparing for World Cup (Short Course) meets in January and February as part of the overall plan leading to the Australian Championships (Long Course) in March. The evolution of modern training methodology has lead to the development of terminology such as basic endurance, general endurance, specific endurance, preparatory, quality, taper, competitive and transition phases. These phases form the basis of the annual training plan. Despite their widespread use there is no common terminology for all these different phases of training.

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Periodization

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