3/19/08

The Activity Trap

Many of you have mentioned GPP – General Physical Preparation work in response to the posts on aerobic base. Yes work capacity work is GPP, but be careful. GPP has become another throw away term for mindless work that makes the athlete tired. Every exercise, every session must have a theme that is in concert with the theme of that training block and each session must have specific measurable objectives. Just throwing a bunch of unrelated exercises together and calling it GPP is as bad as slogging, it is just work. Training must have a purpose that fits in the context of the demands of the sport, the demands of the position and the needs of the individual athlete. Beware of the activity trap!

3 Comments:

At 3/19/08, 7:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great post Vern...this is a constant battle and one that has to be fought. In the high school setting i see it too often for the wrong reasons. I have heard you say it before, it has to be work for a purpose anybody and make them tired. It is funny, it is also part of our responsibility to teach this concept to our athletes..often i will hear how great this particular workout was from such and such and when i ask why,,the response is often..it was hard..he killed us... With this in mind, you mentioned you were going to breakdown crossfit...where does that program fall on this continuem...there seems to be some value to the program but is it just making people tired..or is it work with a purpose? Adam

 
At 3/19/08, 9:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vern,
Again great point. Actually, to be totally honest this sounds like the whole 'Crossfit' approach.

 
At 3/21/08, 9:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Again everything depends on the goal; if your goal is to be as fit as possible without identifiying a single goal (speed, strength, endurance, whatever)- which is the actual goal of all the fitness training going on out there aside of the competitive athletic world - it might be a good idea to just "throw together a bunch of exercises" and execute them at high intensity.

 

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