Abstract

The science of training will, more than ever before, be called upon to contribute to the optimisation of training methods in high-performance sport. Further improvements in achievement may be reached less by increasing the scope of training than by raising the quality of training. The quality of the top class athletes’ training process can probably most efficiently be improved by following the principles of “specificity” and “individuality”. It is well known from literature of training science that both, sport specific skills as well as sport specific physical abilities, can only be improved efficiently by using highly specific means of training. For the realisation of a training procedure which is highly oriented towards competition in a specific type of sport on the one hand and towards the individual needs on the other, the following conditions must be necessarily be given: (1) Knowledge of the specific parameters
relevant to performance in the specific sport or discipline, (2) Tests which fully cover the sport-specific parameters, and which allow for the classification of test results in order to be able to determine individual, current performance levels and to examine individual performance progress, (3) Training methods and exercises, which fulfil
the standard criteria for the specific means of training. (Vorwort)