Program Justification

Program Design

The design for the overall off-season program was created on the basis of multiple factors. Firstly, I designed this workout to strengthen my athlete’s weaknesses. These weaknesses and areas for improvement are described in the “Needs Analysis” tab. My athlete primarily needs improvements in agility, as well as core stability. I implemented many explosive training days in Phase II and III, and a majority of the exercises I selected will work his core indirectly.

My workouts fall into one of four categories. Each workout focuses on either upper body push movements, upper body pull movements, any leg movements, or explosive movements. This will help minimize injuries related to muscle imbalances, as well as maximize my athlete’s full potential. My exercise order usually consists of a primary heavy lift at the beginning, and then lighter weights in super-sets or combo-sets. The primary lift is strictly based on large muscles. Lifting heavy at the beginning of the workout allows my athlete to push himself very hard, and lift heavy weight when he is fresh. The heavy weight will build strength for my athlete. After the primary heavy lift, we will exercise muscle synergists in a combo-set, super-set, or circuit training style to train muscle endurance rather than strength (Balsamo, S. et al., 2012). This is all important for a successful tennis athlete.

Since my athlete is competing at the professional level, he has the time to completely dedicate himself to improving. I chose to break up his physical training to accommodate speed and flexibility training in the mornings, and strength training in the afternoon. Usually he will have two days rest from strength training a week, and he will not have speed training every day. He will, however, be working on flexibility every day. Flexibility is critically important for injury prevention and performance maximization (Heyward, 2010).

Training Volume and Rest

                  Training volume and intensity are to be inversely related. I chose to start my athlete with lower intensities (based on percentage of 1 Repetition Max, and Multiple Repetition Max), and higher volume. As the off-season progressed, I increased intensity and decreased volume. Ideally, my athlete will continue to get stronger during each week of the eight week program, and he will be at his peak strength for his final test day on the last day of the off-season training.

                  Furthermore, I included critical rest periods. These rest periods occur within specific days during the offseason, and specific weeks during my athlete’s competition phase. Rest stimulates both physical and mental recovery. During heavy strength and speed training in the offseason, my athlete will never focus on the same muscle group twice in a week. Some strength training among muscle groups may overlap, but I will never target specific groups more than once. Also, he will have days completely off of strength training. This will enable muscle recovery for growth and repair. During test days (maximal exertion days), my athlete will rest for 5 minutes between each set, allowing recovery after the intense exercise (Baechle, Earle, 2000).

                  During the offseason, I accounted for rest time between sets. The rest time is always higher during the primary lifts, and shorter during the combo-sets and circuit training. I recommend that my athlete have a higher rest interval (RI) when lifting high 1RM% to ensure enough recovery to continue lifting heavy loads (Ferinatti, PT., Catinheiras Neto, AG., 2011).

In one year, my athlete will only have three weeks of absolutely no strength training. One week will come immediately after his final tournament, and two weeks will come in the middle of his season. Between my athlete’s Competitive Phase II and III, I give him rest from strength training (described in “Annual Periodized Training Program). Again, this will stimulate physical repair. However, rest in the middle of his season will also prevent overtraining and burnout (Vetter, RE., Symonds, ML., 2010). My athlete will be able to mentally rest and recover, and prepare himself for the final and toughest stretch of his competition phase (Statsenko, EA., Charykova, IA., 2010).

Periodization and Peaking

                  During my overall annual schedule for my athlete, I have two main periodization strategies. One is the complete year, and covers all phases of his professional training and competition. The second periodized program is strictly the offseason. Both periods are broken into stages and smaller phases with specific goals to increase the likelihood of ideal performance peaking (Nunes, JA., et al.).

                  During the offseason, my only focus is to help my athlete reach his maximum potential in speed, agility, strength, flexibility, and balance. My offseason is broken down into four phases, with each phase increasing in physical demand and intensity up until the final test week. The offseason is very short compared to my athlete’s competitive season, so we will use the time to work very hard and efficiently to increase my athlete’s physical attributes.

                  When analysing the year as a whole, I split my athlete’s competitive season into three phases. I also added a fourth phase – the offseason. The three competitive phases will have different goals, and we aim to be peaking for the third and final competitive phase. The third competitive phase will contain the most important professional tennis tournaments of the year. The smaller competition phases will enable my athlete to focus on specific things, instead of taking a general mind-set to the entire 9 month competitive season.