Coach Dave Jordaan’s philosophy is that “I am always skeptical of pre-planning ‘fixed in stone’ training programs. Any fitness program that suggests that you will achieve ‘The Best That You Can Be’ by following a pre-planned training program to the letter without any adjustment during the execution of the plan is not worth the paper it is written on”.
Individualization has been shown to be a critical concept in planning optimal athlete training programs. I consider every athlete that I coach as a unique individual with different physiological characteristics, tolerances to environmental and training loads, rates of recovery from training stimuli, lifestyle and social pressures, psychological traits and training and competition goals.
I tailor CyberCycleCoach programs to meet the needs for each individual athlete taking into consideration age and maturity, degree of previous training and experience and current
level of skill so that I can help them to achieve challenging but realistic individual performance goals. My goal as your coach is not simply to get you to do the training but also to analyze feedback and data in order to understand how you are responding and adapting to the training and then modifying the program to meet your individual response to the training.
Scientists can prove that generic programs are successful but a theory must stand up in the field. Even if a tried and tested training theory has produced consistent field results it does not make those exercise physiologists any more expert than a pedantic coach and conscientious athlete who put theories into action. It is my day to day adjustments of training plans, supported by scientist’s theories that define the evolution of your fitness, not vice-versa although I will admit that one cannot exist without the other.
The development of your fitness program originates from a combination of science, experiential training sessions, academic articles, professional coaching peer reviews and other expert consultants. Success, as measured in peak event racing results, is only possible when an athlete understands and believes in the theory of training program manipulation.’
Secrets to Success…
The philosophy behind my ‘Secrets to Success’ program is that I have structured my programs using scientifically proven moderate to intense training methods backed by sensible nutritional prescription.
My programs identify endurance, strength and speed limit frontiers. These are frontiers that many athletes will never experience. Should you choose to invest your athletic training efforts in my coaching program you will discover that I sometimes test but hardly ever exceed your boundaries during training. What I do attempt to achieve is broaden your athletic vision so that you can see what “the best that you can be” is.
Scientists, coaches and professional cyclists agree that a ‘progressive overload structured training program’ will accomplish the greatest athletic adaptation. My programs are designed around that principle. Over 12 months I design detailed day to day training for you. I then expect you to work through each Mesocycle from the beginning to the end. Each completed cycle of work supports the next piece of the puzzle and any piece missing from the puzzle will usually contribute to failure of the whole. It takes at least one year to get results from this program. By the same token each year is structured to support the previous year’s growth. Before you commit to my program please consider that maximum benefit will typically take up to 3-years. If you apply for my program my expectation is a 3 year commitment from both parties. It is also important to understand that the protocol in my program is designed around ‘over-reaching’ athletes in EVERY Mesocycle. That concept is unusual for some athletes. Consider whether you have the type of personality that is willing to work the end of a Mesocycle with heavy legs and unresponsive heart rates before pulling back from the abyss (over-training). Are you then prepared to rest and recover as instructed and then do it all over again? This requires drive, determination and mental toughness found in only a small percentage of the population.
The 1st year of my program is sometimes referred to as ‘Easy’ (compared to other coaching programs) as it is filled with technical work to retrain old habits and re-balance the body to the sport of cycling. This includes very repetitive drills that I insist, even for professionals, must be completed with commitment, determination and discipline to achieve the adaptation required to advance in my program. After the 1st year training intensity increases BUT I avoid ‘Agony’ and ‘Stress’ training. There is no scientific evidence to support the need for supreme effort in training but there is a great deal of evidence that supports the notion that moderate to hard stress is most beneficial to adaptation. Training sessions progress from ‘Warm up’ to ‘Feel Good’ to ‘Feel Great’ to ‘Discomfort’ to ‘Hurting’ to ‘Suffering’ to ‘Agony’. When ‘Agony’ is reached, nothing magical happens. There is NO physiological benefit, beyond what you have already achieved, at the ‘Hurting’ to ‘Suffering’ level. My focus as a coach is not only for the advancement of my athletes but also for their safety. Every second an athlete is at ‘Agony’ the risk of injury and ‘over training’ is raised exponentially and, at the least, it will negatively affect the Mesocycle and, at the worst, it will lead to injury. I train my athletes to recognize and then pull back from ‘Agony’ training by abandoning workouts when leg speed has decreased noticeably and/or technique has changed and/or they are unable to hold good form.
I also teach my athletes to recognize that life stress can interfere with training progress. Dealing with stress is a learned skill. If an athlete cannot concentrate fully on a workout session due to life stress there will be no training benefit from that session and there will most often be a ‘double-bad’ effect (the stress of abandoning the workout adding to the original stress that caused the abandonment of the workout)! These are both tough disciplines to learn especially for athletes with a strong (aggressive) work/training ethic. The majority of successes on my program are from my most dedicated athletes BUT the majority of the failures in my program are also from the same group i.e. failures are not necessarily failed athletes but rather athletes who are unable or unwilling to identify and learn how to manage ‘Agony’ and/or ‘Stress’ training. On my programs there may be times when you are unsure whether to continue or stop – doubt will be good enough reason to discontinue.
In summary: My ‘Secrets to Success’ program keeps my athletes within their individual endurance, strength and speed limits, infrequently stretches them (just a little at a time), thus avoiding breakdowns and achieving consistent training results. Training under the care of an experienced and objective coach whose emotions are not linked to workouts helps to avoid breakdowns.
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