I have recently been reading the book ‘Periodization Training for Sport’ by Tudor Bompa, which I borrowed from a friend. In Bompa’s periodization model, the major phases of strength training are: Anatomical Adaptation, Hypertrophy, Max Strength, Conversion and then Maintenance.
The main goals of the Anatomical Adaptation (AA) phase are to increase tendon and ligament strength, correct muscular imbalances and to increase work capacity. The AA phase typically consists of circuit training with relatively light weights and high reps, done 2-4 times per week. The phase generally lasts around 6-8 weeks for novices and 3-4 weeks for advanced athletes.
I am interested to hear everyone’s opinion on including an AA phase at the start of a training year. Do any of you do this? Do you feel that including an AA phase helps to reduce the likelihood of injuries occurring later in the year?
I don’t really understand what the AA phase achieves that can’t be done with a hypertrophy phase. Is circuit training with light weights superior to hypertrophy training at building tendon and ligament strength?
I normally put my football players through a similar phase after there season for about 3-4 weeks which include tons of body weight, and db movements along with circuit type training.
You will find it here under the name GPP, or general prep phase - have a look around under that heading - and you will have a good understanding.
Cf even has a DVd on on the gpp, which explains it all very well if you want to take it further and or don’t understand or get confused with the way its written down on the site.
I only watched the part on strength training once, so I will watch it again tonight.
I was under the impression that in Charlie’s system one of the main goals of the weights during GPP is hypertrophy (if needed), in order to increase the effectiveness of the following max strength phase.
The way Bombpa describes the AA phase makes it sound as though during this phase hypertrophy is not one of the goals, even for weak athletes. Also the weights he lists seem too light for any significant hypertrophy to occur.