Supercompensation and Individual Training

Progress in fitness and endurance comes from appropriate training stiumuls.

One of the principles of training and progressive load is the concept of super compensation. It’s a relatively simple concept in that we start at a certain level of fitness or performance. When we add a specific training stimulus, our fitness/performance goes down in response to the fatigue from training. With rest and recovery, our body absorbs the training and we are able to increase our performance.

Supercompesation. Source: WikiCommons

The challenge is that if we do too little training we will not make the desired progress, and if we train too much we will see negative consequences. Progressive training load is about balancing the stress and rest cycle. In principle this is easy, but for each individual it is different. We are all individuals who have individual backgrounds, stressors, and goals. That is what shapes individual training. And why “over the counter” plans will never be as effective as individualized training and coaching. Not to mention the power of connection that develops between an athlete and their coach over time.

A crudely drawn example of what we want training to look like is in green. The black line represents a lack of appropriate training stimulus, while the red shows too much training stimulus.

MVB Coaching is run by Coach Martin Benes a lifelong endurance sports enthusiast. He coaches running, cross-country skiing, and is a personal trainer working with endurance sport athletes. Based in Truckee, CA he works with clients globally.