Source: Langrenn.com Translated by Anders Haugen
Norway’s junior team coach Jon Arne Schjetne uses the same principles as Svein Tore Samdal (Norway’s women’s coach) when he sets up the training for the best junior skiers.
The two coaches have very similar training philosophies since they both studied together in Trondheim, Norway.
-I have faith in training in periods, it allows one to focus on different things at different times. I want to avoid training the same way all the time, says Schjetne.
Schjetne wants to make it known though that there are still large differences between what his junior skiers and the women skiers are doing.
-What we do is far from what Samdal does. What they are doing is much more extreme, says the junior coach.
Schjetne wants to have a focus around the principles of training specific areas and having a variation in training.
-Variation is the key word, he says.
The junior team is the first taste that many of the future elite skiers get with the national team system. Most of the athletes have coaches at home, so Schjetne is a cooperative coach.
-Many of the athletes have local coaches so we cooperate with both them and the athletes, says the coach.
Schjetne sets up a recommendation for a year’s training plan which is them discussed with the local coaches and the athletes. In the plan which the athletes receive, Shjetne has divided the time before the season starts into 12 blocks:
– 2 blocks with max-strength together with speed
– 3-4 blocks with capacity training
– The rest of the blocks being for volume
The volume blocks stretch over a period of 3 weeks with a focus on volume only. Within these weeks there is a variation of training types.
The capacity blocks last for a week with 4 intervals, a raised max-strength workout and a few easy distance workouts.
