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Achieving Readiness: Training Periodisation for Tactical Populations
- ExultX
- Nov 5, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 23
Topics Covered
1. Exploring sports periodisation: context and principles
2. Periodisation principles for success in tactical populations
Summary
This article addresses a fundamental question: "How should we periodise the training of Tactical Populations?" In our previous articles, "Defining Tactical Populations and Tactical Athletes" and "Training Principles and Load Management in Tactical Populations", we argued that these populations should be prepared using principles similar to traditional athletes. However, using tools designed for different contexts poses challenges. This publication introduces traditional and block training periodisation models tailored to tactical populations. Periodisation can be complex due to many factors in tactical context. But these adaptable models prioritise fatigue management and categorise personnel into deployment and non-deployment groups. The article concludes by inviting contributions to a provided Excel template designed for assisting in tactical populations periodisation.
1. Exploring sports periodisation: context and principles
The theory of periodisation has been enriched by many sports scientists. The first proposals of periodisation models were developed in the classical Greek era (1). Since then, various models have been proposed, including those by Matveyev, Bompa, Naglak, Arosiev and Kalinin, Verkhoshansky, Bondarchuk, Issurin and Kaverin, Seirul·lo, Vitor Frade, and other sports scientists. All of these models encompass biomotor abilities and the annual plan. They serve as a critical framework for optimising physiological adaptations, enhancing sports performance, and preventing athletes injuries (1–4).
To introduce the tactical populations periodisation, we will briefly talk about the traditional periodisation and the ATR periodisation models.
The traditional periodisation model is based on a structured hierarchy of training units that repeat in cycles. It has many levels. On the top level is the Olympic quadrennial cycle, followed by macrocycles, usually lasting a year but could be shorter. Below that, we have mesocycles, which are of medium size, like months, and microcycles, which are smaller, like weeks. At the foundation of this hierarchy are the individual workouts and exercises, serving as the fundamental elements of the training system (3,4).
The yearly training schedule (macrocycles) is typically organised into three primary periods: the preparatory, the competitive, and the transition. The length of these periods depends on the annual plan. The annual plan could have one competition period (monocycle), two (bi-cycle), three (try-cycle), our more (multi-peak) (2).
The preparatory period establishes the physiological foundation for performance. In the competitive period, performance capacity reaches its peak. Following this, a transition period is crucial to ease fatigue accumulated during the competitive season and aid the athlete's recovery from physical and psychological competition-related stress. These periods are usually subdivided, as we can see in the Table 1 (2).
The traditional theory of periodisation suggests the simultaneous development of general and specific biomotor abilities. This argument is based on the idea that biomotor ability development is both sequential and integrated, with one ability positively influencing others (2).
As depicted in Figure 1, the traditional periodisation model is primarily characterised by the alternating emphasis on volume and intensity between the preparatory and competitive periods. It's worth noting that in non-monocycle annual plans, the preparatory period tends to progressively shorten (2).
In the late 20th century, some sports scientists and coaches criticised the use of traditional periodisation. They argued it does not meet the demands of contemporary sports reality, which suffered a significant increase in the number of competition moments. Nevertheless, they also noted that the simultaneous development of several biomotor and skill abilities creates restrictions in the athlete's development. Other argument included the excessively long periods of general and specific preparation for high-level athletes (3). These reasons lead to innovations and experimentation of new models of periodisation. One of them was training blocks periodisation.
Training block periodisation entails the use of highly concentrated and specialised training workloads organised into distinct units, known as training blocks or mesocycle-blocks, because of their typical length (2-6 weeks). These blocks are designed to serve specific training abilities and skills, in contrast to the conventional practice of simultaneously developing multiple abilities. Instead, they emphasise sequential development (3). One common approach consists of three mesocycle-blocks:
Accumulation: This block focuses on enhancing fundamental skills, including overall aerobic endurance, muscular strength, and general movement techniques (3).
Transformation: Concentrated on developing specific skills, encompassing a mix of aerobic and anaerobic endurance, specialised muscle endurance, and technique tailored to the specific event (3).
Realisation: Structured as a pre-competition training stage, with the primary focus on practicing competition-specific routines, achieving peak performance, and ensuring recovery in preparation for the upcoming competition (3).
The modification of the training design results in a reduction of approximately 10-15% in the annual training volume. Normally, the focus of this periodisation is on the block-mesocycles rather than the periods. However, for logical reasons, periods are often used to assist in planning the year (3). We can see the resume of this model in Table 2.
In Figure 2, it is evident that the accumulation block progressively decreases throughout the annual plan, while the realisation block gradually increases. The duration of each training block is influenced by training residuals. However, the length of these stages can vary. For example, they may be shorter as you approach the peak of the season or longer to address specific requirements. When extending training stages, it's essential to implement special measures to preserve the long-term training effects (3).
One crucial concept in block periodisation is training residuals. This term pertains to the retention of changes in physical condition and the level of motor/technical skills achieved after a specific training program within a defined time frame. It is closely associated with detraining, previously understood as the decrease in overall fitness when training is discontinued. In reality, detraining in high-performance sports primarily affects specific abilities that are not adequately maintained through training (3). Table 3 summarises the physiological residual training effects.
2. Periodisation principles for success in tactical populations
Having reviewed the earlier explanations, we are now ready to explore the periodisation of tactical athletes. Several factors that can complicate this process include:
Misunderstanding of workload in tactical context.
Taxonomy differences between sports and tactical contexts.
Lack of competitions in operational settings.
Not all tactical populations have deployments.
Chain of command prioritises passing physical assessments over improving functional performance.
Strong adherence to traditional practices within tactical organisations.
These points represent only a subset of the most common issues, but we could list many others. However, as observed in the sports context several decades ago, these situations lead to non-periodised training, resulting in the absence of effective management of training stimuli, training monotony, and workloads. These circumstances do not enable long-term performance improvement, injury prevention, or performance optimisation (5).
Still, there are already some proposals that adapt sports periodisation in the tactical context and allow it to become more user-friendly. Let's talk about them.
While scheduling major competitions is crucial in periodisation, it doesn't matter for tactical populations. They do not have competitions, as their primary focus is not competition but rather duty performance. This means they may not have a dedicated competition period. However, with deployment, we can effectively address this issue by aligning the competition period with the deployment period. Nevertheless, a taxonomy problem persists. Referring to a deployment period as a competition period is often confusing and not well-received. For units that are deployed, we can adapt the traditional periodisation to the tactical context. Here, we will have three periods: the pre-deployment period, deployment period, and post-deployment period. It's crucial to remember that periodisation for tactical populations needs to be flexible, especially during the deployment period, when it must be highly adaptable (5).
When creating an operational plan, the primary focus should be on defining training or performance objectives. These objectives should be planned based on the tactical athlete's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the operational constraints they will encounter. It's important to have a well-rounded training approach that includes both physical conditioning and tactical-technical skills. Moreover, it's crucial to incorporate tactical and technical training into the overall plan and consider them in workload management. When in deployment, it's mandatory to consider the density of tactical engagements, as these can be extremely physically and mentally demanding. If density is high, additional recovery measures may be necessary (4).
In Table 4, we present a traditional model of periodisation adapted to tactical populations.
But not all tactical populations have deployments. So how can we periodise and get them fit for duty?
It's important to firstly identify the most demanding periods of the year. For instance, summer is normally the most demanding time for firefighters. Law enforcement officers may find seasonal events with substantial crowds to be demanding. Emergency responder personnel also face increased demand for their services during extremely hot or cold weather conditions. Nevertheless, it's crucial to acknowledge that tactical events can occur at any time. But at least, we know that these specific periods are more demanding than usual. This means that during a normal year, there could have several periods with an increased occurrence of tactical events. In terms of sports science periodisation, tactical athletes may need to prepare for a year with multiple occurrences. As we saw earlier, we can apply traditional periodisation for a multi-peak year, but we can also utilise block-mesocycle periodisation (4).
When considering non-deployment units, we can periodise using three key periods: Preparatory Period, Operational Period, and Transition Period, as we can observe in Table 5. Concerning of traditional periodisation, in non-deployment personnel instead of using initial deployment and deployment phases, we should use pre-operational and operational phases, respectively. The logic is the same as Table 4 in what refers to volume, intensity, and workload. The biggest differences are the methods could be field and gym during all the macrocycle and we should have special attention about fatigue management.
By using block training periodisation, we can apply the ATR designation for block-mesocycles: Accumulation, Transmutation, Realisation, as we can observe in Table 6. Here, normally, doesn't exist any taxonomy issues (5).
When working with non-deployment personnel, it's crucial to consider that they need to be always ready for assignments regardless of the training period. So, we need to be careful in managing fatigue, especially delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) (5). Or this we strongly recommend the monitoring of the session's workload and the application, at least in the strength sessions, the concept of reps in reserve (RIR) (7). To prevent high indices of DOMS, should emphasise sets with 1 or 2 repetitions of RIR. Training to complete failure should be used sparingly and is typically reserved for the final set of a particular exercise (6).
Finally, it's important to consider tactical athletes in training courses. Some courses have extended durations, during which both periodisation approaches can be applied. Typically, candidates undergo physical assessments at the end of the course. The assessments can range from general tests to activities like foot marches, obstacle courses, or many others, depending on the course specificity. In this context, we refer to this stage as the assessment phase.
At this post, we don't intend to advocate for any specific periodisation model. We understand that each of them can be applied in various contexts. However, it's crucial to emphasise the significance of managing the training load in tactical populations to prevent injuries and ensure the necessary readiness and long-term performance.
We are certain that there is much more to discuss regarding periodisation for tactical populations, and we plan to address these topics in future publications. For now, we hope you have found this publication enjoyable. Additionally, we have provided an Excel template to assist you with the periodisation of your tactical athletes. If you believe you can contribute to the enhancement of this template, we invite you to share your ideas and insights.
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Love the template.