Principles of Training

The Principles of Training: SOAR

Training principles can be defined by the acronym “SOAR,” which stands for Specificity, Overload, Adaptation, and Recovery.

Specificity: Training must be specific to the sport or activity.
Overload: Muscles strengthen when they operate beyond their normal range of movement.
Adaptation: The body and brain adapt to the training undertaken, which occurs during periods of recovery.
Recovery: This is a period of rest, primarily after training, during which muscle fibers repair. Recovery is often the most overlooked element of training!

Each training session should focus on improving at least one component of fitness: endurance, speed, strength, flexibility, or coordination. Each component requires specific exercises tailored to the sport or discipline. The common elements that dictate improvement in a component of fitness are known as the FIT factors (Frequency, Intensity, Time).

Frequency: The number of times to perform the exercise (repetitions).
Intensity: The effort or pace of the exercise.
Time: The duration of the exercise.

Understanding Training Intensity: Speed and Endurance Running

When training for speed or endurance running, determining the optimal intensity level for each session can be challenging. Coaches often recommend specific training paces based on race distances (e.g., 1k, 3k, 5k, 10k). However, many endurance runners may not be familiar with mid-distance race paces, and vice versa for mid-distance athletes.

The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale

An alternative pacing guide is the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), developed by Swedish scientist Gunnar Borg in the early 1980s. Borg introduced this scale to help athletes gauge the intensity of their activity, allowing them to adjust their exercise intensity to reach their desired range. Factors considered for perceived exertion include effort, strain, discomfort, and fatigue experienced during training.

RPE relies on an honest personal appraisal of one’s feeling of exertion, making it a subjective assessment that incorporates information from the brain and body: heart rate, breathing rate, perspiration, muscles, joints, etc. Only the athlete truly knows how hard they are working. This personal feeling of effort and exertion is crucial and should not be compared to others.

Borg’s Original RPE Scale

Borg’s original scale ranged from 6 to 20, as shown below:

6: No exertion at all
7: Extremely light
8-9: Very light
10-11: Light
12-13: Somewhat hard
14-15: Hard (heavy)
16-17: Very hard
18-19: Extremely hard
20: Maximum exertion

This scale helps athletes to self-regulate their training intensity, ensuring they are working within their optimal effort range. By using the RPE scale, runners can better understand and control their training intensity, leading to more effective and personalized training sessions.

An easier version has been introduced and is now widely used by many coaches.

The Borg 10 Point Scale

RPE	Description	What you’d think	Breathing	Talking	% max HR
0	Doing nothing	Resting	Relaxed	Normal	<60
1	Very easy	Really easy	Normal	Normal	<60
2	Easy	Easy	Normal	Normal	<60
3	Moderate	Moderate	Comfortable	Easy	60
4	Quite hard	Sort of hard	Noticeable	Ok if necessary	70
5	Hard	Feeling this	Deep – steady	Conversation stops	75
6	Really hard	Hurting	Deep – rapid	Maximum few words	80
7	REALLY HARD	REALLY HURTS	DEEP RAPID	Utter 1 syllable	85
8	Very strong	Coach is killing us!	Very deep, very rapid	Incoherent	90
9	Near maximum	Can we stop!	Very deep, very rapid	No	95
10	Absolute maximum	OMG!	Breathlessness	Impossible	100

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Principles of Training

The Principles of Training: SOAR

Understanding Training Intensity: Speed and Endurance Running

The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale

Borg’s Original RPE Scale