Lesson 3 · Types of training and training methods
Anaerobic training: intervals, HIIT, SIT, plyometrics and resistance
Six seconds of maximal effort, then two minutes standing still. Repeated twelve times, that looks to an outsider like an athlete barely training. It is one of the most precisely targeted sessions in sport, and the two minutes of standing still are as carefully chosen as the six seconds of work.
Two athletes both do “sprint intervals” for twenty minutes. One runs 30-second efforts with 30 seconds of jogging between. The other runs 6-second efforts with 3 minutes of walking between.
Write down what you think each session is actually training, and why the recovery length might matter more than the work length.
- Describe the two anaerobic energy pathways and the effort durations each one dominates.
- Distinguish anaerobic interval training, HIIT and SIT by work duration, intensity and work-to-rest ratio.
- Explain how plyometric training uses the stretch-shortening cycle to develop power.
- Describe resistance training variables and how they are set for strength, power or hypertrophy.
- Assess the relevance of each method to a named sport, and justify the choice against that sport's demands.
- Anaerobic — energy supplied without oxygen, at a high rate but for a short time.
- ATP-PC system — the phosphocreatine pathway, dominant for roughly the first 10 seconds of maximal effort, and largely restored by 3 minutes of rest.
- Anaerobic glycolysis — breakdown of glucose without oxygen, dominant from about 10 seconds to around 2 minutes, producing hydrogen ions and lactate.
- Work-to-rest ratio — the length of the effort compared with the length of the recovery, written as a ratio such as 1:5.
- HIIT — High Intensity Interval Training, repeated near-maximal efforts of roughly 30 seconds to 4 minutes with incomplete recovery.
- SIT — Sprint Interval Training, repeated all-out efforts of roughly 6 to 30 seconds with long, near-complete recovery.
- Plyometrics — jump and bound training that exploits a rapid stretch immediately before a contraction.
- Stretch-shortening cycle — an eccentric lengthening followed immediately by a concentric shortening, which produces more force than the concentric action alone.
- Repetition maximum — the heaviest load that can be lifted for a stated number of repetitions, written as 1RM, 6RM and so on.
Anaerobic training is not simply “hard training”. It is training designed so that a particular energy pathway is the one under stress. Which pathway that is depends almost entirely on how long the effort lasts and how long the recovery is.
| Effort | Dominant pathway | Limiting factor | Recovery needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to about 10 s, maximal | ATP-PC | Stored phosphocreatine runs out | Long, 2 to 5 minutes, so stores refill and the next effort is also maximal |
| About 10 s to 2 min, near maximal | Anaerobic glycolysis | Rising hydrogen ion concentration interferes with contraction | Deliberately incomplete, so the athlete starts the next effort already disturbed |
| Beyond about 2 min | Aerobic, increasingly | Oxygen delivery and use | Covered in Lesson 4 |
That table explains the apparent contradiction in card 01. Short efforts with long recovery keep every repetition maximal, which trains speed and power. Longer efforts with short recovery force the athlete to work while still disturbed, which trains tolerance of that disturbance. Both are anaerobic; they are not interchangeable.
In anaerobic training the recovery is not the gap between the training. The recovery is part of the prescription, and changing it changes which system you are training.
Quick check: A coach prescribes 8 × 6-second maximal sprints with 3 minutes of walking between each. The long recovery is chosen mainly so that:
Students lose marks here by treating these three as synonyms. They share a structure, work then recover, and differ in every variable that matters.
| Anaerobic interval | HIIT | SIT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work duration | Roughly 10 s to 90 s | Roughly 30 s to 4 min | Roughly 6 s to 30 s |
| Intensity | Near maximal | High but sustainable for the interval, often near maximal heart rate | All-out, maximal from the first stride |
| Work to rest | About 1:3 to 1:5 | About 1:1 to 1:2, deliberately incomplete | About 1:8 or longer, near complete |
| Repetitions | Many, in sets | 4 to 8 typically | 4 to 8 typically |
| Chiefly trains | Glycolytic capacity and tolerance of disturbance | Both anaerobic capacity and aerobic power, because incomplete recovery keeps oxygen demand high | Peak power and the ATP-PC system, plus surprisingly large aerobic gains |
| Fits | 400 m and 800 m running, 100 m swim, rowing | Football, hockey, netball, basketball, middle-distance | Rugby, sprint events, cricket fielding, any repeated-sprint sport |
The work-to-rest ratio is the single most diagnostic number. If you are told the ratio, you can usually name the method and the system it targets without being told anything else.
HIIT keeps you uncomfortable on purpose, because the incomplete recovery is what drives the adaptation. SIT keeps you fresh on purpose, because a repetition that is not maximal is not the session that was prescribed.
Odd one out. Three of these are features of Sprint Interval Training. Which one is not?
Plyometric training is bounding, hopping, depth jumps and throws. Its mechanism is the stretch-shortening cycle: a muscle that is rapidly lengthened under load and then immediately shortened produces more force than the shortening action alone.
Two things contribute. Elastic energy is briefly stored in the tendon during the lengthening phase and returned during the shortening phase. And the rapid stretch triggers a reflex increase in muscle activation. Both depend on the same condition: the change from lengthening to shortening must be fast. The pause between landing and take-off is called the amortisation phase, and a long one dissipates the stored energy as heat, which is why a slow, heavy landing is not a plyometric.
That single fact governs the prescription. Plyometrics are prescribed by ground contacts rather than by repetitions and sets, with full recovery between sets, early in a session while the athlete is fresh, and on a surface with some give. Quality collapses long before the athlete feels exhausted, and a fatigued plyometric session is both ineffective and a genuine injury risk.
Prerequisites before prescribing plyometrics
A base of resistance training and the ability to control a landing come first. Volume is progressed gradually and measured in ground contacts. Growing athletes, athletes returning from lower-limb injury, and beginners all start with low-intensity variants such as skipping, low hops and landing practice, well before depth jumps.
Plyometric training is the deliberate training of the transition, not of the jump. If the amortisation phase is slow, the athlete is doing jumping, not plyometrics, and the adaptation being sought is not being trained.
Fill the gaps. Plyometric training exploits the stretch-shortening cycle, in which a rapid eccentric lengthening is followed immediately by a concentric shortening. The brief transition between the two is called the phase, and it must be kept or the stored elastic energy is lost.
Resistance training is any training in which muscles work against an external load. The exercise chosen matters far less than the loading variables, and the same back squat can be a strength session, a hypertrophy session or a power session depending only on how it is prescribed.
| Goal | Load | Repetitions | Sets | Rest between sets | Intent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximal strength | 85 per cent of 1RM and above | 1 to 5 | 3 to 6 | 3 to 5 min | Move a heavy load, quality over quantity |
| Hypertrophy | 65 to 85 per cent of 1RM | 6 to 12 | 3 to 6 | 60 to 90 s | Accumulate mechanical work and metabolic stress |
| Power | 30 to 60 per cent of 1RM, or a light explosive load | 3 to 6 | 3 to 5 | 2 to 5 min | Move a moderate load as fast as possible |
| Muscular endurance | Below 65 per cent of 1RM | 15 and above | 2 to 3 | Under 60 s | Resist fatigue in repeated contractions |
Note the rest column. It is the same principle as the intervals: long rest protects the quality of each effort and is therefore right for strength and power, while short rest accumulates fatigue and is therefore right for hypertrophy and endurance.
Equipment is a separate decision from loading, and the syllabus names the range: free weights, fixed weights on machines, body weight and elastics. Free weights demand stabilisation and transfer well to sport; fixed weights isolate a movement safely and suit beginners and rehabilitation; body weight needs no facility and scales through leverage; elastics load a movement most where the joint is strongest, which suits rehabilitation and change-of-direction work.
Do not describe a resistance session by naming exercises. Describe it by load, repetitions, sets and rest, because those four numbers, not the exercise, determine whether the athlete gets stronger, bigger or faster.
Two truths and a lie. One of these statements about anaerobic training methods is false. Find it.
The verb in this dot point is assess. Listing methods earns very little. Assessing means matching a method to a sport's demands and saying what it costs as well as what it gives.
A workable three-step routine. First, describe the sport's demand profile: how long is a decisive effort, how often is it repeated, how much recovery is there between efforts, and what limits performance at the end of a contest. Second, choose the method whose work and rest structure matches that profile. Third, name the trade-off, because every method costs something.
| Sport and demand | Best-matched method | Why | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rugby league winger: repeated 5 to 15 s sprints, long gaps | SIT plus resistance training | Repeated maximal efforts with near-complete recovery mirror the game | High neuromuscular cost; poor scheduling near a match leaves the athlete flat |
| 800 m runner: one sustained near-maximal effort | Anaerobic interval training | Trains tolerance of the disturbance that decides the last 200 m | Very unpleasant, high fatigue, must be limited in frequency |
| Netball goal attack: short repeated efforts with jumps, small court | Plyometrics plus SIT | Decisive actions are jumps and changes of direction, both power qualities | Landing volume adds knee and ankle load, so ground contacts must be counted |
| Field hockey midfielder: repeated high-intensity running with incomplete recovery | HIIT | Incomplete recovery reproduces the actual pattern of play | Trains the middle ground well and top-end speed poorly |
| Weightlifter or thrower: single maximal effort | Resistance training at high load, low repetitions | The competitive act is a single maximal contraction | Little transfer to endurance qualities; needs long recovery between sessions |
Activities · match the method to the demand
For each session, name the method, the dominant energy pathway, and the sport it would best suit. Use the work-to-rest ratio as your first clue.
6 × 4 minutes at a pace the athlete can only just hold, with 2 minutes of jogging between each.
10 × 10-second maximal cycle sprints, 90 seconds of easy pedalling between each.
5 × 60-second runs at close to maximum, with 4 minutes of walking between each.
4 sets of 8 hurdle hops, performed first in the session, with 3 minutes between sets and coaching cues about spending as little time on the ground as possible.
Match each method to the quality it chiefly develops.
- Sprint Interval Training
- Anaerobic interval training
- Plyometric training
- Resistance training at 85 per cent of 1RM
- Peak power and the ATP-PC system, with recovery long enough to keep every effort maximal
- Glycolytic capacity and tolerance of the disturbance that builds during a near-maximal minute
- Rate of force development through a fast stretch-shortening cycle
- Maximal force in a single contraction
A 17-year-old basketball guard has good aerobic scores, a below-average vertical jump, and reports being beaten off the first step in the second half. Pre-season, four training days available, no matches this week.
Prescribe the anaerobic content for the week. For each session give the method, the work and rest structure, and one sentence of justification against this athlete's profile. Then state which day you would not place the plyometric work on, and why.
Lock it in. In one sentence, explain why shortening the recovery in a Sprint Interval Training session changes which energy system is being trained.
Assess the relevance of anaerobic training methods for athletes in a variety of sports.
Assess requires a judgement of value against criteria. Describing each anaerobic method is not an assessment of its relevance.
Plan: criteria, the case for, the case against, a verdict that commits, then a qualification.
Anaerobic methods will be assessed against three criteria: how closely the energy system and movement pattern they train match the demands of the sport, the size of the adaptation they produce, and the injury and recovery cost they impose.
For sports dominated by short, maximal efforts these methods are strongly relevant. Anaerobic interval training and sprint interval training develop the ATP-PC and lactic acid systems and raise tolerance to accumulated metabolic by-products, which directly determines repeated-sprint ability in football codes, hockey and netball. Plyometric training develops the stretch-shortening cycle, improving rate of force development for jumping and change of direction. Resistance training increases maximal strength and muscle cross-sectional area, which underpins power in throwing, sprinting and contact sports. High intensity interval training additionally improves aerobic capacity in far less time than continuous work, so it suits athletes whose training time is constrained.
Relevance falls sharply outside that profile. For endurance athletes whose events are almost entirely aerobic, anaerobic work has a supporting role only, and excessive volume displaces the aerobic base their performance depends on. The methods also impose high neuromuscular and connective-tissue load, so plyometric and maximal resistance work carry real injury risk in athletes without an existing strength base, and in young athletes whose skeletal maturity is incomplete. Recovery cost is high, so the number of sessions that can be absorbed each week is limited, which constrains how much of the program they can occupy.
On balance the relevance of anaerobic methods is high but strictly conditional on the sport's energy system profile and the athlete's training age. They are the primary method for power and repeated-sprint sports, a supporting method for endurance sports, and inappropriate as a starting point for an untrained or skeletally immature athlete regardless of sport — so relevance is determined by the athlete as much as by the event.
The qualification is that these methods are almost never used alone: their contribution depends on an aerobic base sufficient to recover between efforts, so their assessed relevance is as a component of a program rather than as a standalone approach.
Anaerobic training methods will be assessed against how closely the energy system and movement pattern they train match the sport's demands, the size of the adaptation they produce, and the injury and recovery cost they impose. For sports dominated by short maximal efforts they are strongly relevant: anaerobic interval and sprint interval training develop the ATP-PC and lactic acid systems and raise tolerance to accumulated metabolic by-products, determining repeated-sprint ability in football codes, hockey and netball; plyometric training develops the stretch-shortening cycle and improves rate of force development for jumping and change of direction; resistance training increases maximal strength and muscle cross-sectional area, underpinning power in throwing, sprinting and contact sports; and high intensity interval training improves aerobic capacity in far less time than continuous work, suiting athletes with constrained training time. Relevance falls sharply outside that profile. For endurance athletes whose events are almost entirely aerobic these methods have a supporting role only, and excessive volume displaces the aerobic base performance depends on. They impose high neuromuscular and connective-tissue load, so plyometric and maximal resistance work carry real injury risk in athletes without an existing strength base and in those whose skeletal maturity is incomplete, and their recovery cost limits how many sessions can be absorbed weekly. On balance their relevance is high but strictly conditional on the sport's energy system profile and the athlete's training age — primary for power and repeated-sprint sports, supporting for endurance sports, and inappropriate as a starting point for an untrained or skeletally immature athlete regardless of sport. They are also almost never used alone, since recovery between efforts depends on an adequate aerobic base, so their relevance is as a component of a program rather than as a standalone approach.
Explain how sprint interval training and plyometric training produce different performance adaptations.
Explain asks for the mechanism behind each adaptation, and the stem asks for the difference — so the two must be set against each other, not described in turn.
Plan: name the principle, explain each mechanism, then state what makes them different.
Adaptation is specific to the stimulus applied. These two methods load different systems — one metabolic, one neuromuscular — so they produce different adaptations even though both involve brief maximal efforts.
Sprint interval training applies repeated all-out efforts of about 6 to 30 seconds with long, near-complete recovery, so the ATP-PC and anaerobic glycolytic systems are stressed and metabolic by-products accumulate. The adaptations are therefore metabolic: increased glycolytic enzyme activity, greater muscle buffering capacity, and improved tolerance of the acidic environment produced by intense work — which means the athlete can sustain repeated high-intensity efforts before performance declines.
Plyometric training applies a rapid eccentric loading immediately followed by a concentric contraction, so the stimulus is neuromuscular rather than metabolic. The adaptations are improved efficiency of the stretch-shortening cycle, greater motor unit recruitment and firing rate, and increased tendon stiffness — which means more force is produced in less time, raising jump height, acceleration and change-of-direction speed.
The difference is therefore in what limits performance in each case: sprint interval training raises the athlete's capacity to keep repeating an effort, while plyometric training raises the quality of a single effort. An athlete needing to jump higher will not improve from sprint intervals, and an athlete fading in the last quarter will not improve from plyometrics alone.
Adaptation is specific to the stimulus applied, and these two methods load different systems — one metabolic, one neuromuscular — so they produce different adaptations even though both involve brief maximal efforts. Sprint interval training applies repeated all-out efforts of about 6 to 30 seconds with long, near-complete recovery, stressing the ATP-PC and anaerobic glycolytic systems and accumulating metabolic by-products, so its adaptations are metabolic: increased glycolytic enzyme activity, greater muscle buffering capacity and improved tolerance of the acidic environment produced by intense work, which allows the athlete to sustain repeated high-intensity efforts before performance declines. Plyometric training applies rapid eccentric loading immediately followed by a concentric contraction, so its stimulus is neuromuscular, and its adaptations are improved efficiency of the stretch-shortening cycle, greater motor unit recruitment and firing rate, and increased tendon stiffness, which means more force is produced in less time and raises jump height, acceleration and change-of-direction speed. The difference lies in what each removes as a limit on performance: sprint interval training raises the capacity to keep repeating an effort, while plyometric training raises the quality of a single effort. An athlete needing to jump higher will therefore not improve from sprint intervals, and an athlete fading in the final quarter will not improve from plyometrics alone.
Return to card 01. The 30-seconds-on, 30-seconds-off session is HIIT, and the incomplete recovery is the point of it. The 6-seconds-on, 3-minutes-off session is SIT, and the long recovery is equally the point of it. Did you say the recovery mattered more than the work? Write down what you would now say to a training partner who insists that shortening the rest always makes a session better.
Multiple choice · 5 questions
MC 1. The ATP-PC energy system is the dominant supplier of energy during:
- A. a 42 km marathon
- B. the first 10 seconds of a maximal effort
- C. a 90-second near-maximal swim
- D. an hour of continuous cycling
MC 2. Which prescription is Sprint Interval Training rather than High Intensity Interval Training?
- A. 6 × 3 minutes at near-maximal heart rate with 3 minutes of jogging
- B. 4 × 4 minutes at a hard pace with 2 minutes of active recovery
- C. 8 × 15-second all-out sprints with 2 minutes of walking between
- D. 30 minutes of continuous running at a conversational pace
MC 3. The amortisation phase of the stretch-shortening cycle must be kept short because:
- A. a long phase increases the athlete's aerobic capacity
- B. a short phase reduces the load on the muscle to zero
- C. a short phase prevents any reflex muscle activation
- D. a long phase allows the stored elastic energy to be lost as heat
MC 4. A coach wants to develop maximal strength in a shot putter. The most appropriate resistance prescription is:
- A. 5 sets of 3 repetitions at 90 per cent of 1RM with 4 minutes of rest
- B. 3 sets of 20 repetitions at 50 per cent of 1RM with 30 seconds of rest
- C. 4 sets of 10 repetitions at 70 per cent of 1RM with 60 seconds of rest
- D. 2 sets of 15 repetitions using elastics with no rest between sets
MC 5. A field hockey coach chooses HIIT over SIT for the squad's midfielders. The strongest justification is that:
- A. HIIT sessions are shorter and therefore more time-efficient
- B. SIT is unsafe for team-sport athletes
- C. the incomplete recovery in HIIT reproduces the repeated high-intensity running with limited recovery that the position demands
- D. HIIT develops maximal strength, which midfielders need most
Short answer · exam style
SA 1. Understand Band 4 Distinguish between Sprint Interval Training and High Intensity Interval Training, referring to work duration, intensity and work-to-rest ratio. (4 marks)
SA 2. Apply Band 5 A coach adds plyometric training to a volleyball squad's pre-season. Explain how plyometric training develops power, and outline two precautions the coach should take when prescribing it. (5 marks)
SA 3. Evaluate Band 6 Assess the relevance of anaerobic training methods for two sports with different demand profiles. In each case justify your choice of method and identify one limitation of that choice. (6 marks)
📖 Comprehensive answers (click to reveal)
Multiple choice: 1 → B. 2 → C. 3 → D. 4 → A. 5 → C.
Activity 1, indicative answers: 1 → HIIT. Work-to-rest is about 2:1 with deliberately incomplete recovery, so the effort is near-maximal but sustained; both anaerobic glycolysis and the aerobic system are heavily taxed. Suits football, hockey, netball or middle-distance running. 2 → SIT. Work-to-rest is about 1:9 and the efforts are all-out and very short, so the ATP-PC system dominates and the long recovery keeps each sprint maximal. Suits rugby, track sprinting or any repeated-sprint sport. 3 → Anaerobic interval training. Sixty-second near-maximal efforts sit squarely in the glycolytic band, and the 1:4 ratio allows partial but not full recovery. Suits 400 m and 800 m running or a 100 m swim. 4 → Plyometric training. The clue is not the ratio but the placement first in the session, the low ground-contact volume, the full recovery between sets, and the cue about ground contact time, which names the amortisation phase. Suits volleyball, basketball or the jumps.
Activity 2, indicative answers: The profile names two limiters, lower-body power, shown by the vertical jump, and repeated-sprint ability late in a game, shown by being beaten off the first step in the second half. Aerobic capacity is already good, so it is maintained rather than developed. A defensible week: Day 1, plyometrics early in the session, roughly 80 to 100 ground contacts, full recovery between sets, targeting rate of force development for the jump. Day 2, SIT, for example 10 × 6-second maximal sprints with 90 seconds to 2 minutes of recovery, targeting first-step acceleration with recovery long enough to keep every effort maximal. Day 3, resistance training for lower-body strength and power, for example squats and jump squats, because a jump is limited by force as well as by rate. Day 4, a short repeated-sprint block with slightly reduced recovery to develop the ability to repeat efforts late in a game. Plyometrics should not be placed on the day after the heaviest lower-body session or immediately before a match, because plyometric quality collapses under fatigue, which makes the session both ineffective and a genuine injury risk.
SA 1 (4 marks): One mark per correctly distinguished variable, with a fourth for a clear statement of the consequence [4]. Work duration: SIT uses efforts of roughly 6 to 30 seconds, HIIT of roughly 30 seconds to 4 minutes [1]. Intensity: SIT is all-out from the first stride, HIIT is high but sustainable across the interval [1]. Work-to-rest: SIT is long, about 1:8 and near complete, HIIT is short, about 1:1 to 1:2 and deliberately incomplete [1]. Consequence: the long SIT recovery keeps every effort maximal so it develops peak power and the ATP-PC system, while the incomplete HIIT recovery is itself the training stimulus and develops anaerobic capacity together with aerobic power [1].
SA 2 (5 marks): Mechanism [3]: plyometrics use the stretch-shortening cycle, in which a rapid eccentric lengthening is immediately followed by a concentric shortening [1]; elastic energy is briefly stored in the tendon during lengthening and returned during shortening, and the rapid stretch also triggers a reflex increase in muscle activation [1]; both depend on a short amortisation phase, so the training develops rate of force development rather than maximal force [1]. Precautions, two of [2]: prescribe and progress by ground contacts rather than by repetitions, keeping volume low; place the work early in the session while the athlete is fresh, because quality collapses before exhaustion is felt; require a base of resistance training and controlled landing technique first; allow full recovery between sets; use a surface with some give; and take particular care with growing athletes or those returning from lower-limb injury.
SA 3 (6 marks): Three marks per sport, and the marks are for the reasoning rather than for the method named. For each sport: a demand profile stating effort duration, repetition frequency and recovery available [1]; a matched method with the match made explicit against that profile [1]; and a genuine limitation or trade-off [1]. For example, an 800 m runner faces one sustained near-maximal effort, so anaerobic interval training is well matched because it trains tolerance of the disturbance that decides the final 200 m; the limitation is that such sessions carry very high fatigue and cannot be repeated often within a week. A rugby league winger faces repeated 5 to 15 second sprints separated by long gaps, so SIT is well matched because near-complete recovery keeps every repetition maximal; the limitation is a high neuromuscular cost that leaves the athlete flat if scheduled close to a match. Two well-chosen sports with different profiles are required, so two endurance sports would cap the response.
This lesson is the first of three on the types of training. Lesson 4 takes the same dot point into the aerobic methods, and Lesson 5 finishes it with flexibility, strength, and skill and tactical development.
Before you move on, test yourself on the one thing that carries across all three: given a work duration and a recovery length, can you name the method and the system it trains? If you can do that, the rest of the dot point is application.
Mark lesson as complete
Tick when you've finished the practice and review.