Microcycle

College Women’s Basketball Summer Microcycle

            Before I was able to design a microcycle for a college women’s basketball team during the summer, I needed to have an idea of what a macrocycle would entail.  Basically, the macrocycle would include the Preparatory Phase, First Transition, Competition Phase, and Second Transition.  Each of these phases would be broken down into mesocycles, which would then be broken down into microcycles.  The preparatory phase would begin in April and go through September.  The main goal during this phase is to establish a base level of strength and conditioning. The mesocycles of the Preparatory Phase would include the Hypertrophy/Endurance Phase, Basic Strength Phase, and the Strength/Power Phase.  The last mesocycle of the Preparatory Phase would be followed by the First Transition Phase.  After laying out this basic overview, I was able to design a microcycle that would take place around mid-July to August (pre-season).  This microcycle covers the first week of the Strength/Power Phase. 

Microcycle Overview

End of July/Beginning of August – Strength/Power Phase

Duration = 1 Week

Pick-Up Games twice a week – Monday/Wednesday

5 Sessions/Week

The goal of the Strength/Power Phase is to begin training near the intensity of the sport while developing the strength and power of the athlete. Training intensities are high, which means that training volume loads are lighter.  Training 5X a week during this period, around pick-up games, is typically not ideal because the amount of actual Basketball activities should be increasing.  This will be accounted for in the timing of certain lifts, intensities, and amount of volume being trained.  Below is a graph representing the training intensities for each day during the microcycle. 

Microcycle Details

Monday:

Training Intensity = Moderate

Training Volume = Moderate

Resistance Training: Total Body

Plyometrics: Lower Body (Low-Mod Intensity and Volume)

Dynamic Warm-Up

Main Lifts:

Hang Clean Progression (70% 1RM):

RDL – 3X8

Power Shrug – 3X3

High Pull – 3X3

Hang Clean – 3X3

Snatch (70% 1RM) – 4X3

Backsquat (77% 1 RM) – 4X4

Plyometrics (1:7 work to rest ratio):

            Double-Leg Tuck Jump – 30X

            Backward Skip – 30X

            Split Squat Jump – 30X

            Lateral Barrier Hop – 30X

Assistance/CORE Exercises:

Hyperextensions, MB Sit-Ups, Incline DB Press, MB Toe Touches, Chin-Ups, MB Russian Twists

Pre-hab/Re-hab:

            TKE’s, Manual Neck Front/Back

Tuesday:

Training Intensity = Moderate

Training Volume = Moderate

Conditioning Focus: Anaerobic Threshold Training

Dynamic Warm-Up

400-m < 1:50      3X     5:30 Rest Interval (RI)

200-m < :50        4X     2:30 (RI)

Static Stretches

Wednesday:

Training Intensity = High

Training Volume = Low

Resistance Training: Total Body (Lower Body Emphasis)

Agility Training: High-Intensity, Low-Volume

Dynamic Warm-Up

Main Lifts:

Box Squat – 10/8/5/5/5/5+ (Last set at 85%)

Deadlift – 3/3/3/3+

Standing Military Press 4X4

Agility Training:

Depth Jump w/ Lateral Movement – 12 Total

Double Leg Zig Zag Hop – 30 Total Hops

Single Leg Zig Zag Hop – 10/leg

Assistance/CORE Exercises:

            Lateral Lunges, Plank Series, Y-T-W’s, Glute Ham Raises, Grip, Neutral Grip Pull-Ups

Pre-hab/Re-hab:

            Ankle Work, Sidelying Glute Meds, Hurdle Duck-Unders

Thursday:

Training Intensity: Low

Training Volume: High

Conditioning Focus: Lactic Acid Threshold

Dynamic Warm-Up

800-m < 3:30

400-m Easy Jog (RI)

Repeat 3X

Static Stretching

Friday

Training Intensity: Moderate (Higher than Monday)

Training Volume: Moderate

Resistance Training: Total Body (Upper Body Emphasis)

Plyometrics: Moderate-High Intensity (Upper Body Only)

Main Lifts:

Bench Press – 10/8/5/5/5+

Clean and Split Jerk – 4X3

Push Press 4X3

Plyometrics:

MB Power Drops         :15/:45 (Work/Rest) 3X

Explosive Push-Ups     :15/:45 (3X)

Assistance/CORE Exercises:

TRX Pikes, TRX SL Squat, Spread Eagle Sit-Ups, TRX Obliques, SB Leg Curls, Band Tricep Extensions

Pre-hab/Re-hab:

            Ankle Work, Glute Med Band Walks, Manual Neck Side/Side

Band Stretch

Static Stretch

Explanation

            As a College Strength and Conditioning Coach, I will ultimately be an assistant to the Head Coach of the sport as well as all of their Assistant Coaches.  Therefore, I will have to work my training plans around their schedules and their desires for what they want included in their athlete’s strength and conditioning training.  For this assignment I was given a scenario from which I had to create a microcycle.  The scenario was as follows:

            Women’s Basketball

            Summer

            Pick-Up Games on Monday/Wednesday

            5X/Week

I chose to create a microcycle during the Strength/Power Phase of the Preparatory Period.  Basketball is a sport characterized by short periods of high intensity followed by periods of lesser intensity.  According to an article recently published in the Strength and Conditioning Journal, Preseason Preparatory Training for a Division III Women’s College Basketball Team, studies have shown that “training protocols that stimulate anaerobic glycolytic pathways and increase the body’s ability to maintain maximal efforts despite relatively high blood lactate concentrations are advised.”  It’s important to consider the specifics of the sport when creating training programs for athletes.  In regards to conditioning for basketball, it’s essential to incorporate lactic acid tolerance training, anaerobic tolerance training, and phosphate system training.  Another important aspect to consider is specific movements performed during the sport.  Playing basketball involves forward, backward, and lateral movements so it is important to include agility training as well.  Of course, with the quick changes of directions and the jumping, knee injuries are going to happen.  Especially among female basketball athletes, ACL injuries are common.  Thus, I incorporated several pre-hab exercises into the program as well as exercises to strengthen core stability, hamstrings, vastus medialis oblique stability, gluteus medius stability, and quadriceps specifically during the eccentric phase – all of which are contributing factors to ACL injuries in females athletes. 

            The most difficult part of planning for a college athletic team is not deciding which exercises to utilize, but deciding when to incorporate everything that needs to be done while minimizing fatigue and working around extra practices and pick-up games.  During the summer, pick-up games are played on Monday and Wednesday.  When developing this microcycle, I kept this in mind.  Because athletes generally are physically prepared after a weekend off and pick-up games are held on Mondays, I decided to make Monday a moderate intensity workout, followed by moderate conditioning on Tuesday.  Wednesday is a high intensity workout, which is not ideal because of the pick-up game on the same day.  However, I tried to prime the athletes with the moderate conditioning on Tuesday and follow-up the high intensity workout with a low-intensity conditioning on Thursday in order to maximize recovery and minimize fatigue.  Friday will end the week with a slightly higher moderate intensity workout followed by two days of recovery. 

Week 8 Article Summaries

Article #1
"Recovery-Adaptation: Strength/Power Sports" by Dr. Michael Stone
     Recovery is defined as regaining what was lost and adaptation is the process of long-term adjustment to a specific stimulus.  It's important to understand those terms before going into the theories that Dr. Stone addressed.  The Stimulus-Fatigue-Recovery-Adaptation theory proposes a cause and effect relationship between stimulus and the body's response in the form of fatigue, recovery, and adaptation in order for supercompensation to take place.  In contrast, the Fitness vs. Fatigue theory proposes an opposing relationship between stimulus and response.  In other words, one must maximize fitness responses to stimuli and minimize fatigue.  A general guideline to follow when designing training programs is the greater the "load" of training, the greater the demand for planned recovery.  Monitoring athlete's progress and responses to stimuli is essential in designing the most effective training program. This means that the coach must test at key phases throughout training such as before and after high volume or high intensity phases, general preparation, special preparation, and competition.  This will assist the coach in developing athlete profiles, standardizing testing and monitoring procedures, and determining an athlete's recovery needs as well as whether or not the program is producing desired results. 

Article #2
"Tapering: The Critical Interaction of the Art and Science of Coaching"
     Tapering is defined as a "special training period immediately preceding the major competition phase during which the training stimulus is reduced in a systematic non-linear fashion to achieve a peak in performance." Tapering has proven to produce an optimal biological state characterized by optimal health, quick adaptability to training stimuli, and a great recovery rate.  A taper is progressive and non-linear and the goal is to reduce the physical and psychological stress of daily training while optimizing sport performance.  The physiological effects of tapering include:
-Hematological effects - increased hemoglobin level which increases the body's ability to buffer lactic acid
-Hormonal effects - changed balance between anabolic and catabolic hormones which is believed to improve recovery and fatigue
     **Reducing any kind of stress (relationships, exams, etc.) can reduce the level of cortisol in the athlete and improve positive adaptation.  Two important issues regarding stress:  the more important the competition, the greater the stress; keep accurate and detailed information about past tapers and performances in order to be able to effectively adjust the taper.
-Neuromuscular effects - tapering induces alterations in contractile properties of individual muscle fibers.  Type IIa fibers respond greater than Type I. 
-Immune Response effects - increased white blood cell count which improves the body's capacity to resist illness
-Sleep - improved quality/perception of sleep; growth hormone is released during stages III and IV of sleep which is important in repairing muscle tissue and speed recovery. 
-Psychological effects - increased motivation, arousal, and psychological relaxation

     Critical variables in designing an optimal taper include intensity, frequency, volume, duration, and taper design such as fast decay exponential, linear, or step reduction.

Buddy Morris Presentation Summary

Buddy Morris

Head Strength and Conditioning Coach

University of Pittsburgh

     The main point that Coach Morris emphasized during his presention was that no one program is perfect and no one program will work forever.  I completely agree with this philosophy.  The field of strength and conditioning is constantly evolving with new research findings.  He also goes on to say that the best program is one that is adaptable.  Each year, new athletes come in and even old athletes are different than they were a year ago.  This means that the program will have to adapt to meet the needs of the athletes.  Every athlete is built differently, it is the responsibility of the coach to look at each athlete and adapt the program to the athlete.  Another important factor to consider is that every athlete handles stress differently.  Training is a stresser on the body that affects seven different systems that do not recover at the same time.  This must also be taken into account when designing a training program.  Everything is a guideline including all training philosophies and percentage work.  Adapt it as needed each day.  Coach Morris also pointed out that as a strength coach, one should hire those of different strengths and weaknesses from their own in order to learn from each other.  This also helps in delegation of tasks and "separation of state" as Morris put it.  When Morris speaks of "separation of state," he is speaking of dividing teams and coaches according to specifics such as position or strengths. 

     As for Coach Morris' training philosophies, he doesn't use Olympic Lifts at all.  He believes that they are too technical and demanding.  Olympic lifting is a sport within itself so rather than taking the time to teach the very technical Olympic lifts, he uses medicine balls and plyometrics to develop explosive power.  For the entire first two weeks of training, he uses only body weight and medicine ball exercises in order to observe how the athlete's bodys function and their overall awareness of their body.  He uses dynamic effort training which involves bands and chains, as well as maximal effort training.

     Another main point that Coach Morris spoke about was mental toughness.  He said that a good coach is "someone who can make you do what you don't want to do, in order to get to where you want to go."  Coaches are here to train athletes, not to make them feel comfortable.  I think Coach Morris is right on with this philosophy.  If a coach can gain the respect and trust of their athletes, the athletes will want to work harder for that coach.  He also does not allow his athletes to yawn in the weight room or bend over because that is a sign of weakness.  All athletes wear the same thing, promoting team unity.  These are very idealist philosophies, but I believe they contribute to the overall attitude of the team.

Leadership Development

The ideas I stand for are not my own.  I borrowed them from Socrates, I swiped them from Chesterfield, I stole them from Jesus.  And if you don’t like their ideas, whose ideas would you rather use? – Dale Carnegie

            As Dale Carnegie pointed out, our ideas are formed from those before us and from those around us.  Our beliefs are formed based on our own experiences and backgrounds.  Having grown up in a home where Christian ideals were expressed in the lives of my parents and instilled within me from childhood, I can attribute the foundation of my view on leadership to those experiences.  Thus, I believe that great leaders are first servants.  This is the idea that forms the foundation for my beliefs regarding leadership development. 

            Great leaders understand the difference between power and authority.  When I think about people who have been in leadership positions in my life, the ones that come to mind as having had the most influence and having gained the most respect from those around them are those leaders who understood this difference.  As James Hunter wrote in his book The Servant, power is “the ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position or your might,” whereas authority is “the skill of getting people to do your will because of your personal influence.”  He also goes on to say that “power can be bought and sold, given and taken away.”  Authority does not fall into that category.  Authority is a personal skill in which one builds influence with other people.  I’ve seen many people in leadership positions take the power approach to getting what they want from people.  This approach may work for a time, but in the long term it is much less effective.  People want to please, however power destroys relationships which in turn destroys the desire to please. 

            I know there are many people who disagree with this philosophy.  Especially in the athletic field, coaches are of the mindset that power is the way to get what they want from their athletes.  They choose to use methods of yelling, threatening, and punishing to get what they want from their athletes.  I believe there is definitely a time to exert power upon athletes, but this should not be the primary means by which the coach addresses the athletes.  If a coach wants to get the most from each athlete, I believe it’s essential to know when and how to use the power approach.

Microcycle Quiz

1. What is a microcycle?
     -A subpart of a macrocycle, usually lasting 7 days.
2. How many times does an athlete have to perform training lessons of similar objectives during a microcycle before it has a training effect?
     -2-3x
3. Repetition is essential for what 2 elements?
     -Learning a technical element.
     -Developing a biomotor ability.
4. How often should you plan to work to an athlete's limits per week?
     -2x
5. How many times should you repeat a microcycle of the same nature within a macrocycle?
     -2-3x
6. Should detailed training microcycles be planned out months in advance?
     -No, it is too difficult to foresee the dynamics of improvement.
7. What should be included in the meeting with the athlete(s) following the last training lesson of a microcycle?
     -Analyze whether the athlete achieved objectives.
     -Discuss positive and negative aspects of the athletes' training behavior and motivation.
     -Outline the changes to consider for future microcycles.
8. What is the purpose of the shock microcycle?
     -Suddenly increases training intensity beyond those previously experienced in order to break the ceiling of adaptation achieved in a previous phase, so the athlete pushes to a higher homeostasis.
9. What do regeneration microcycles prevent?
     -Removes fatigue from mind and body
     -Restores energy
10. Intensity and volume should increase, decrease, or maintain right before competition?
     -Decrease