Wave Loading your Training

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by stumblingfeet, Aug 3, 2007.

  1. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

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    There's a training method known as wave loading, or undulating progression, which has been used in many physical training systems which I think could be very effectively used in badminton training.

    What is it?

    In its most general sense, wave loading means alternating between two training methods which support each other. Together, the overall training effect is better than if you went with either method separately.

    Let's look at how this concept is used in strength training. A person who wants to lift a given weight for reps might start with an extra heavy weight for low reps, then go to the specified weight. What happens is that after the heavy weight, the lighter weight feels much lighter and is easier to lift. So, at the end of the day, the lifter would be able to do more work with the same amount of mental effort.

    Now, that's how it works within one exercise, but this can actually be applied to your training at all time scales. Just look up "undulating periodization" if you're interested.

    Application to Badminton

    Okay, so how can we apply this training principle to badminton?

    Let's consider a simple drive drill: 2 people, on opposite sides of the net, driving back and forth on a half court.

    What you can do is start with drives farther from the net. With this variation, you have more time to execute the stroke, but you have to hit it more powerfully. You might do this for a couple minutes, then switch to drives from closer in to the net.

    With this second variation, you have to be quicker with your stroke, and hand speed is more important than power. However, your power is already "fired up" from the first drill, which means that your speed will be much greater than it would have been without that first drill. After a couple minutes, go back to the first drill, then back to the second, etc. until you're done.


    Keep in mind that there are many different ways to apply this principle. For example, you might alternate two drills that work the same strokes and footwork patterns, but one is a closed drill while the other is an open drill. The closed drill will emphasize precision of placement while the open drill will emphasize change of direction.

    There are many ways to implement this. Hopefully we can brainstorm together to find some of the combinations that are the most complementary and work best.
     
  2. Iwan

    Iwan Regular Member

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    Practicing with squash racket and then with badminton racket. Using weights to practice footwork and then taking it off, or practicing on sand first and then going to court. It has been implemented in many ways, you just have to go find out :D
     
  3. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

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    Those can work, but in those cases, the additional weight or the instability of the surface result in modified technique being used. As a result, the effect of each exercise reinforcing good technique is reduced.
     
  4. Iwan

    Iwan Regular Member

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    However, if we are to measure the gains vs the loss, I'm sure we will find that the gain is a sure winner. Many Indonesians train that way. I'm sure the Chinese too.
     
  5. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

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    I didn't say it doesn't work, but the problem is that when the exercises are too different, which I believe they might be with the method of simply adding extra weight or resistance, you might not get the same cumulative gain in training effectiveness.

    You still get the individual effects of each training exercise, but do the exercises work together to train you faster?
     
  6. Kiwiplayer

    Kiwiplayer Regular Member

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    For footwork, I find alternating between slow, controlled shadow drills where the idea is to make as little foot noise as possible, with fast one-step drills work quite well. At least, I think it works quite well, just going from personal experience.

    Wayne Young
     

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