Are Russian training programs set well in advance and then closely followed? This is a common question asked by both coaches and athletes. However, the exact details of the Russian plans have considerable flexibility. This is due to the constant evaluation of the athlete’s progress with control tests. In this way, they see if the athlete is making normal progress or if he is lagging behind. Reasons for the athlete being too far ahead or behind are then looked for in their diaries to see what and how much the athlete has been doing. Adjustments are then made to either speed up or slow down the training.
For example, in their testing, the Russians use many methods to evaluate technique. (In contrast, technique analysis is rarely done in the U.S. When it is done, it is usually visual and the corrections are mainly of gross movements.) In Russia, as in some European countries, technique comprises up to one-half of the training in sports such as track and field and other individual and dual sports. In essence, if you have correct technique and develop your physical qualities as they relate to your technique to the optimal level, you will be an outstanding athlete.
If an athlete has outstanding technique but poor development of his physical abilities, he or she can still be good. The same holds true for an athlete with outstanding development of his physical qualities but with poor technique. But when both are worked on and fine tuned, the results are even more impressive. Because of this, the Russians keep close watch over the development of the physical qualities. Very often they practice “coupled development”, i.e., as you develop strength or speed-strength, you must also work on technique at the same time.
In the U.S. it is usually the “gifted” or best-trained athlete who makes the team. Since they are already “good”, most American coaches do not want to make any changes in technique. They believe that you should not “fix it if it isn’t broken”. Because of this, they rarely do any technique work and rely mainly on doing the actual sport and, in some cases, on physical conditioning. If this philosophy of training were ever changed so that it somewhat paralleled what the Russians do, most U.S. athletes would be much better than they are. This has been substantiated in the training we and others who use some of the Russian methods have done with athletes. The improvement is truly amazing.
See Secrets of Soviet Sports Fitness and Training for more details. Articles dealing with this topic can also be found in back issues of the Soviet Sports Review and Fitness and Sports Review International.