Supercompensation and Recovery (Key Concepts Book 3)

This book was written by Coach Charlie Francis in 2008 to highlight the key training concepts of SUPERCOMPENSATION and RECOVERY and showcase how the body actually imparts a “training gain" from an athlete’s hard work. The fundamental concepts of SuperCompensation and Recovery are routinely misunderstood in planning the training for sport. Understanding and then applying the methods of Coach Francis will positively influence your short and long term results. Speed and power events demand physical and mental freshness to acquire, and thus repeat, technical proficiency. Leveraging the body’s innate needs to recover after hard work, and timing the next training to move the body’s “normal" baseline of performance up, is art meeting science at its best. Popular training plans fail to link training and recovery methods as one (or “as integral"). Many advertisements promote hard work as the only variable for success however this concise account of the training cycle will change your current thoughts about how to get the best possible results at the time you need it most. Reading SuperCompensation and Recovery explains that great results are not accidental.

Coach Francis defines SuperCompensation and Recovery in the following except from the book: “There is a four-part cycle when it comes to training. Work, recovery, supercompensation and involution. Work, of course, refers to the training that is performed. The recovery is the body's ability to return to its normal levels of circulation. This normal level is called "homeostasis". Recovery is the body's fight to regain homeostasis...However, in the process of the cycle, with work uninterrupted by any other factors (of a reasonable nature), the body compensates so hard after training that it passes the line of homeostasis. This is called supercompensation. Shortly thereafter, the body will realize that it has overcompensated and passed homeostasis, and will begin the involution phase of the cycle, returning to the baseline of homeostasis…The goal of the training cycle is to schedule the next workout when the body has reached the peak of supercompensation, but not yet begun the involution phase that brings the body back to the original homeostasis baseline. If the next workout is performed at this supercompensation peak, the peak becomes the new baseline of homeostasis, and the area between the old baseline and the new baseline is training gain."

Similar to other books written by Coach Charlie Francis, SuperCompensation and Recovery was written in relation to his training of track athletes. Later in life he successfully utilized his training concepts with professional Hockey, Football, Tennis, Soccer and Basketball athletes.

This book is very specific to the idea of SuperCompensation and Recovery. To best understand how coach Francis achieved his successes, you will benefit from reading the other books in the Charlie Francis “Key Concepts" series, “The Structure of Training for Speed" and “Training for Power and Strength in Speed" plus the soon to be released “High Intensity Training: Expanding the Limits of Performance" and “Electronic Stimulation in the Training Model". Further information can also be found in the bestselling books, Charlie Francis Training System as well as Speed Trap. Many of the Key Concepts are highlighted in our bestselling video called “GPP" as well as the real time footage shown in all the South Africa Series material.