Principles of Training

The general basic principles of training are SPECIFICITY, REVERSIBILITY and OVERLOAD. The principles remain the same, whether you train outdoors or indoors on your Tacx trainer.

Specificity

Training for a criterium is different than training for a classic ride or time trial. You will see that your performance will improve in the area for which you train. At this site you will find training programmes that meet this specificity.

Note: by constantly doing the same kind of training, there is a risk that you will only train a very specific effect -- one that, after a short time, is no longer an effect, since you are familiar with this stimulus! The magic word for really improving your performance is variation.

Three important aspects before making a training plan are:

• Frequency - How often will I train
• Intensity - How hard will I train (heart rate/power)
• Duration - How long will I train

Frequency

The frequency of your workouts depends on your goals you are training for. Your goal is important, but also the available time (work, school). The higher your goals are, the more often you should ride. The intensity is difficult to measure. A heart-rate monitor or power meter are the best parameters for measuring this aspect. Your heart rate reflects how hard your body must work. You should take a test to determine your heart-rate zones and power at these zones. It is preferable to choose the duration of your training in time instead of distance. Time is the same for everyone, distance is not.

Reversibility

The effect of a training stimulus does not last forever. Obviously, the training status reached (fitness) will not be maintained without regular training. Training effects gained over a long training period will disappear less quickly than those gained over a short period.

Overload

Better or different stimulus are necessary to constantly obtain higher performance levels. It is essential that a training stimulus should have the right strength. The strength of this stimulus will vary per person and per period. Much will of course depend on the starting level (untrained, trained or well trained). Today's stimulus will no longer apply tomorrow. It is therefore necessary to use different/new stimuli. A certain amount of overload is appropriate.

During training, we create a disruption in the body (heart, lungs, muscles). Training effects only appear if there are sufficient opportunities after training to recover from this disruption. The greater the disruption, the higher the 'quality' of the recovery stage will have to be. Following the recovery stage, the body will be able to offer resistance to the next disruption. A higher level of the adjustment process will be noticeable. The recovery stage is not the same for everyone. It depends on many factors. We call this process super compensation. We do not become stronger from the training itself, but from the rest that follows the training.