Mesocycles: Accumulation, Processing, and Embodiment
The nature and orientation of these mesocycles reflect their names. Thus, Accumulation mesocycles aim to increase the athlete’s motor potential and create a pool of basic qualities. It is, in other words, the entire preparatory mesocycle in miniature.
- In Processing mesocycles, this potential becomes specialized preparation. Based on developed force, it increases force resistance. Based on aerobic energy supply development, it improves mixed (aerobic and anaerobic) energy supply and increases speed and special endurance.
- Finally, Embodiment mesocycles create preconditions for competition, where accumulated and processed motor potentials crystallize. Of course, the crystallization differs from the beginning to the end of the annual cycle, a fact that considers the actual period of competitions.
For example, Issurin and Kaverin (1986) note that for paddlers, the training program in the preparatory period requires practice for general resistance to work, strength and endurance qualities in long-distance paddling, and the full range of technical skills and habits, including special preparation and setup for specific competitions.
Combination in Mesocycles and Microcycles (Platonov)
- Modern training of qualified athletes in the most intense periods is characterized by the sum of the charges of each microcycle and fatigue that progresses from one microcycle to another. This helps limit the potential mobilization of functional systems of the body and places high demands on the athlete’s psyche.
- However, the effect is achieved only if several microcycles (each deepening the fatigue caused by the previous ones) are followed by a rest microcycle to retrieve the athlete’s functional possibilities and ensure effective development of adaptation processes. Ignoring these principles will inevitably result in over-fatigue and physical/nervous strain (Platonov, 1980; Ramm, Bebo, 1986).
- A working regime where the burden of one microcycle joins the action of the previous one is acceptable only during the training of elite and well-prepared athletes in the stage of maximum use of their individual potential or during the maintenance of their achievements. This scheme is contraindicated in training young athletes in the early stages of multi-year preparation.
- Here, you must switch to different load microcycles. The next microcycle with a large or significant load is carried out under conditions of complete recovery of the athlete’s functional possibilities (Platonov, 1992; Berger, 1994).
- The combination and the total load within the mesocycles and microcycles depend largely on the stage of long-term preparation. Mesocycles identical in orientation and applied in the early stages of long-term preparation, unlike the phase of maximum use of individual possibilities, are characterized not only by a lower total workload, different orientation, and content, but also by a lower load within each microcycle and a smoother working system.
- Experience in recent years demonstrates the need to match, as closely as possible, periods of heavy load with periods of relative recovery. Keep in mind the duration of these periods and the magnitude of the charge of each. The larger the shock microcycle’s burden, the lower the recovery should be. The longer the periods of intense work, the more time must be given to recovery.
- When a mesocycle contains two or three microcycles with a particularly intense program, a one-week microcycle may not be sufficient for full recovery and the effective development of adaptation processes in the athlete’s body. The number of these microcycles can be two or even three if it is direct preparation for competitions. Thus, the length of the mesocycles can be 5-6 weeks (Platonov, 1992).