Window of opportunity: development from junior to senior swimmers: some physiological principles!

MJ Truijens Friday September 7th 2018 Vrije Universiteit

2002 Master Degree Human Movement Sciences • Focus: physiology and biomechanics

2012 PhD Human Movement Sciences • Focus: altitude physiology and performance Trainer/Coach

2005-2006 head coach TZA 2006-2012 head coach NZA 2006-2016 national team coach 2012-2016 head coach Amsterdam (RTC/NTC) , , , , , , , , Tessa Brouwer, , Elise Bouwens, Robin Neumann, Tessa Vermeulen, Joost Reiijns, , , , , 2017-… head coach NTC København (Danmark) , Rikke Moller Pedersen, Emilie Beckman, Viktor Bromer, , Signe Bro Together they won over 70 international medailles at European, World and . Kayak: Robin Koenders

2009-2012: Finalist at World and European Championships

Handbike: Monique van der Vorst 2007-2010 Bejing 2008: road competition, Bejing 2008: time trial. European and World champion triathlon 2009, World Championships 2009: road competition, World Championships 2009: time trial, World Championships 2007: road competition What are we talking about?

P e e v  n i p m A Win or loose? The differences:

Nr 1 vs Nr 1 vs Nr 2 ‘slowest’ finalist

100 vs men* 0.59% 3.08%

100 vs women* 0.67% 3,53%

*All Olympic Games after the 2nd World War Trends in the development of international elite swimming:

• The differences between athletes are getting smaller

• The margins of performance improvement are getting smaller Secrets of success!

• Luck

• Genetics

• Preparation Athlete centered – coach driven - team supported

Process driven, result oriented Physiology and the individual

Genetics • male/female • initial condition • training response

Trainingsstatus • law of diminishing returns • training is always multi-disciplinairy and integrative

This causes -> • larger inter-individual variation in response to training, • training optimalisation = personalised learning. Adaptations to training:

Training goals: • Generate more power • Deliver power more efficiently • Physiology, biomechanica • Maintain power longer

Adaptation stimuli: • Protein synthesis (HIF-1, IGF) Task (distance/time - stroke):

tactics pacing

Recruitement of motor units Motor neurons Muscle fibres

strength and velocity

energy/fatigue Psychology is everywhere

Competition

Training

Train the brain Athlete Development: ?? – ?? yrs: find your passion ?? – ?? yrs: Technique

?? - ?? yrs: Physiology

?? - ?? yrs: Specialisation

?? - ?? yrs: Competition Scouting ??

• Learn to swim programs • Club • Swim school ?? – ??: find your passion • Fun is the key word: create a child-centered, playful environment since we learn by playing • present a multi sports experience, based on the development of general motor skills • Work with exercises using their own body weight • Physiology is not realy relevant yet – most likely all training is a stimulus • From 3-6 times a week ?? – ?? yrs: Technique In the water: • Think long and small focusing on minimal resistance • Play with minimum strokes and maximum speed • Play with accelerations and decelerations

On drylands: • Learn to jump, learn to roll • Learn to control the limbs from the core • additional training to further develop conditioning could still be done on drylands ?? - ?? yrs: Physiology Learn to train In the water: • Focus on holding #strokes and pace • Push the limit • Play with aerobic intensities, thresholds etc. • Find the limits and push them • Play with hypoxic training variations (breath holding (active and passive)) • Play with stroke rythms

On drylands: • Start strength training • body weight: coordination and control • Weights: technique first Periodisation of training adaptations • Training effectively:

• Fine tuning the training impulses in time: • Frequentie, Intensitty, Time (duration of training impulse), Type

• Optimize training impulse with regards to training goals (specificity principle (SAID)) • Performance oriented (specific), progressive overload, individual

• What’s the best combination of FITT to achive the training goals? • Concurrent training (interference principle): Training for two different training adaptations can result into conflicting adaptation stimuli and therewith limited (incomplete) adaptation • eg. Strength training vs endurance training

• Variation is important!

• Remember: “if you don’t use it, you lose it – quickly”. (reversability principle)

• Remember: Training TOO much and TOO hard might be the biggest mistake of trainers and athletes Think outside of the box

• specialisation • coaches • programs ?? - ?? yrs: Specialisation Train to compete (and win) • Training is highly sports-specific in this phase • Find out in which event you want to specialize • Further optimize physical and technical capacities • Further develop tactical and mental capacities • Further optimize pre-race routines e.g. nutrition, warm up, taper etc • Focus on recovery/regeneration ?? - ?? yrs: Competition Compete to excel • Keep challenging the areas to improve and be creative. • Avoid frustration projects • Perfect the execution of the race plan • Optimize performance reliability • Deal with pressure (expectations) Coaching task: How to sell the message?

• Intrinsic motivation • Training plan • Daily training • Self responsibility and accountability • 12*50 @ 1’00 6 all out, 6 easy • 4000m aerobic set in 60 minutes: determine your own fractions and rest • Design your own warm up to get ready • Less is more: quality versus volume; meet the standard set by the coach and the number of repetitions drop • Positive thinking and feedback • Open and willing • Unexpected assignments • Ask for the extra repetition (you can do better) • Find out what really drives them forward and use it to your advantage • eg. team dependency, recognition