If you are serious about results you need to know about the Principle of Progressive increase of Load in Training.

Training activities performed by participants in combat sports can be challenging to evaluate in terms of training load.  I am referring to scrimmage and specific training drills that make up a sport's daily practice schedule. There are four components that make up these activities to consider when evaluating the load;

• heart rate (HR)
• the impact the activity has on the body
• duration of the activity
• rest

For example, 5 X 1 minute rounds of full out scrimmage at a 1:1 work rest ratio, in my experience taxes the body more than a one 5 minutes period of continuous wrestling.

Planning for gradual increases in load followed by adequate rest, is essential for improvements to take place. In fact, a lot of your team's improvement will depend on how well you plan rest period, evaluate and monitor training loads during practice.

In Prof. Rajko Petrov's Book Freestyle and Greco-Roman Wrestling (FILA, 1986), Petrov had a chart and formula for the evaluation of The Load For Wrestling. Not being much for formulas I skip to the chart and quickly created my own chart.

I was reading Petrov's book looking for a system that would let me put a number to a practice to measure it's training load. This information would allow me to track and adjust the loads of training when required.

How It Works

To come up with the training load number for a wrestling practice I adapted the point system in Petrov's book with a few modifications.

The more points the higher the training load. Points were assigned to each activity. The points were based on the athlete's heart rate immediatly following the activity (matching activity type with heart rate is done periodically thoughout the season).

My way of thinking is the tougher the activity, the higher the heart rate and higher the point value. I had a scale of 1 to 8, eight being the highest and 1 the lowest. Below is how I matched the point value with HR.

• 8 pts = HR 192 beats per minute
• 7 pts = HR 180 - 191
• 6 pts = HR 168 - 179
• 5 pts = HR 156 - 167
• 4 pts = HR 144 - 155
• 3 pts = HR 132 - 143
• 2 pts = HR 120 - 131
• 1 pt  = HR 108 - 119

Now you need to figure out which activities to match each point value with. When calculating load you multiply the number of minutes of the activity by the number assigned to the activity. I often assigned the rest period a 1 and short scrimmage periods an 8.

Use the early season practices to fine tune your point chart. Simply, run a drill or scrimmage and have the wrestlers check their HR immediately following. Ask wrestlers to call out their number, record them to figure out what number to assign to which activity. It doesn't take long before you have a good idea of the activities that raise the HR.

Note: when taking HR, go for 10 seconds and multiply by 6 to get HR per minute, it is not as accurate as when you take a full minute, but it will keep your practice moving forward.

Once you start evaluating practices you can start comparing sessions with each other. Asking team members for feedback isn't a bad idea either. If things are going well, you will notice a  HIGH intensity practice at the start of the season might become a MEDIUM Intensity practice by the end of the season. These are things a coach needs to be mindful of.

If you have a similar system, or you think my system will never work let us know. Discussion is always a good thing.