The Secrets of Elite Sport Part 1: Revealed — The Importance of Training Loads

Training loads are not a new concept in the sporting world with elite athletes and teams seeing the importance of monitoring these for years. The real value is seen in the ability to track an individual’s or group’s performances. This information assists in customising future programming, with coaches and athletes gaining greater knowledge regarding training tolerance’s.

At this stage most of you may be thinking, what do training loads have to do with functional movement exercises? “Coaches program the classes — members attend the classes, complete their assigned workouts and then leave.” However, there is so much more to this form of training than meets the eye.

High-intensity, high performance workouts require the monitoring of training loads to provide understanding into fatigue levels of members on any given day. Furthermore, it assists in determining how members’ are physically reacting to workouts and if they are capable of being pushed further.

Monitoring, also, can reduce the risk of developing non-functioning overreaching, illness and/or injury. It provides insights into when members could potentially sustain an injury and allows box owners to be proactive in their prevention methods. This is win win for members and box owners as injuries cause members to miss valuable training days, often resulting in a decrease in revenue.

In the world of elite sports, like Rugby and Soccer, monitoring training loads is commonplace and an accepted part of high-intensity training. Functional fitness athletes train to this same professional level, however they have never had the means of tracking and monitoring their data. In any form of training, especially the elite type, increasing training loads must be done at the right time, a single most important factor that improves performance.

Increasing training loads at the right time will lead to training adaptations that assist in performance improvements.

At the end of the day members attend classes not just to push themselves but also to see improvement. FitBox provides the mean required for this type of performance analysis. Box owners and coaches can now take a more active role and ensure their members are adapting to increasing loads.

The second and final component in this series will focus on wellness tracking. What it actually is, the benefits of tracking it and how monitoring training load along with wellness can provide a bigger picture of your athletes, one you would have yet to of seen.

Naomi Wallis

Product Manager

Naomi has a passion for health, fitness and sports science, with an aim to bring awareness to the everyday individual.

Working as a sports scientist for some of the country’s top National Rugby League teams, Naomi, understands the dedication it takes to be at the top of any sport. This experience, along with her previous role as a Personal Trainer, has allowed her to work towards the development of the FitBox product to ensure it suits the needs of the fitness market.