FC Training Philosophy

Recovery

At Fitness Concepts, our philosophy is that an athlete improves from the stimulus of an individual workout and not an accumulation of stress. We try never to train the athlete beyond what his body is capable of absorbing and adapting to. Two or three key workouts per week stimulate improvement. The rest of the workouts either support the benefits of this stimulus or tear it down. Many athletes maintain a continual state of slight overtraining, which detracts from workout quality. Our weekly and monthly cycles prevent this.

Training Cycles (click for info)

Our athletes training schedules always run in cycles, usually four weeks, with a gradually increasing volume and/or intensity followed by a recovery week. Using such cycles coincides with our philosophy of improvement through the combination of stimulus and recovery. Training cycles allow an athlete to train very hard and limit the occurrence of overtraining and burnout.

Periodized-Mixed Training

Traditional periodized training has an athlete focus on different types of training such as weight training, aerobic conditioning, anaerobic threshold training, and anaerobic endurance training at different times of the year. This type of training, by its nature, excludes training that is beneficial even though it is not the primary focus of the period. On the other hand, mixed training combines all training elements in the same proportions year round. At Fitness Concepts, we utilize periodized-mixed training which includes all the elements of training required for the athlete’s most important competitions, but the emphasis rotates depending on time of year. We do not want any muscle fibers that the athlete will need to race well to ever go completely untrained.

Weight Training (click for info)

Optimal performance in endurance events demand greater muscular strength than stand-alone endurance training develops. Proper weight training allows the muscle to work more efficiently at a given endurance workload. Weight training also helps to prevent injuries and shorten recovery time after high-stress workouts. We feel that strength training is a critical supplement to most any endurance training program.

Heart-Rate Training

We have our athletes use heart rate monitors as a guideline for exercise intensity. All athletes have certain critical threshold intensities where training is more efficient (low cost to benefit ratio). By maintaining intensity within the parameters of these thresholds, the athlete maximizes overload stimulation and minimizes recovery. Most all of our athletes have a limited amount of time in which to train. Training in congruence with these thresholds also maximizes the benefit of the time spent in each workout. We use a metabolic analyzer and a VO2 Max test to determine these training zones according to each athlete’s unique physiology.

Individualization (click for info)

The more we learn, the more we respect individual differences. Each athlete has a unique makeup, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Our training techniques cater to the unique needs of each athlete. None of our athletes receive a cookie-cutter workout program.

Fiber Type Specificity

The law of specificity states that you get what you train for. We develop programs that stimulate the exact muscle fibers used in competition in the correct balance based on individual physiology, training history, and duration of key events

Technique (click for info)

In many cases, technique is as important as conditioning. We work with the athlete to develop efficient movements so that energy expended translates to effective motion. In order to maximize the benefit of each movement, our focus on technique reaches from the weight room, to practice, to competition