I agree with the pyramid in terms of the fact that humans can't tolerate 100% effort/intensity for very long in any sport or activity. Nobody would tell you to do a bunch of 50s at 100% effort in a workout, that's just a recipe for injury/burnout. What surprises me is the suggestion that nonspecific activity should makeup the base of your pyramid. This, afterall, violates the Specificity Principle well known to anybody who has studied exercise physiology. You want to cause your body to adapt to the specific things you need your body to do in sport. That's why distance swimmers are poor sprinters and sprint swimmers are poor distance swimmers. I would think the base of a sprinter's training would be shorter distances at 75% sprint effort with sufficient recovery to avoid turning it into a distance or mid-distance workout. Anything higher speed/intensity would be for even shorter distance/duration (higher on up the pyramid). Nonspecific activity should be a side-bar. Stretching (as long as it's appropriate) should fall under sport-specific low intensity training. Weight-lifting can be problematic as well if you adapt more to lifting and not to swimming. Those bulky muscles can increase your drag if you're not careful where you're bulking up. Of course, sport coaching is not a science and I fully expect any follow-up comment here to ask me: "who are you and why should I believe you over him?" To that I would reply: "How do you know if Michael Phelps was so great in spite of Bob Bowman, and not because of Bob Bowman?" Ask why? Not who?
This guy is clearly a rising star in coaching, have to wonder how long it’ll take for someone to offer him a head coaching position
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Lot's of this u see in Bondarchuck book "transfer of training in sports"
HOW WE COULD WORK ON BREATHING CAPACITY AND BREATHING PROCESS FOR BACKSTOKERS
I agree with the pyramid in terms of the fact that humans can't tolerate 100% effort/intensity for very long in any sport or activity. Nobody would tell you to do a bunch of 50s at 100% effort in a workout, that's just a recipe for injury/burnout. What surprises me is the suggestion that nonspecific activity should makeup the base of your pyramid. This, afterall, violates the Specificity Principle well known to anybody who has studied exercise physiology. You want to cause your body to adapt to the specific things you need your body to do in sport. That's why distance swimmers are poor sprinters and sprint swimmers are poor distance swimmers. I would think the base of a sprinter's training would be shorter distances at 75% sprint effort with sufficient recovery to avoid turning it into a distance or mid-distance workout. Anything higher speed/intensity would be for even shorter distance/duration (higher on up the pyramid). Nonspecific activity should be a side-bar. Stretching (as long as it's appropriate) should fall under sport-specific low intensity training. Weight-lifting can be problematic as well if you adapt more to lifting and not to swimming. Those bulky muscles can increase your drag if you're not careful where you're bulking up. Of course, sport coaching is not a science and I fully expect any follow-up comment here to ask me: "who are you and why should I believe you over him?" To that I would reply: "How do you know if Michael Phelps was so great in spite of Bob Bowman, and not because of Bob Bowman?" Ask why? Not who?