Professional Diploma in Athlete Recovery & Regeneration Programme
Athlete recovery is a crucial aspect of modern football and sports in general, as the demands of the sport can result in physical and psychological stress leading to fatigue, underperformance, injury, and burnout. To tackle this issue, Longford College and Pillars of Performance provide a Professional Diploma in Athlete Recovery & Regeneration. There are no fixed start dates – you simple start when you want and finish when you want.
This online program consists of six pre-recorded and one live session that explore athlete fatigue, its measurement, recovery strategies, and the importance of nutrition and sleep in the recovery process. The program is aimed at coaches and trainers working in team and individual sports and is suitable for sports science graduates to experienced coaches looking to deepen their knowledge in this specialized area.
ADRIAN LAMB – COURSE LEADER
An Experienced Physical Performance Coach with Proven Track Record in Elite Athlete Training
With 23 years of experience as a Physical Performance Coach, Adrian have trained elite athletes across the globe, including in the UK, the USA, and China, with a focus on professional football. Throughout my career, I have worked with a range of teams, from national teams to English Premier League and Major League Soccer clubs, as well as the English Championship and League 1.
My expertise lies in enhancing performance in world-class sporting environments, including in areas such as strength and conditioning, physical outputs, recovery, nutrition, individualized fitness programming, injury prevention, and youth football. I have a proven track record in these areas, and I am dedicated to helping athletes reach their full potential and excel in their chosen sport.
Athlete Recovery & Regeneration
THE DIPLOMA COURSE
The fixture congestion legacy following the FIFA 2022 Word Cup© has brought the issue of athlete recovery back into sharp focus. The relentless demands of modern football result in players being exposed to large amounts of physical and psychological stress which, if not addressed and managed correctly, can result in them becoming excessively fatigued. Incomplete recovery can result in underperformance and injury, therefore effective recovery strategies are required to alleviate fatigue, regain performance levels, promote adaptation and reduce the risk of injury or burnout.
WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT
Longford College and Pillars of Performance are delighted to be offering an online programme in Athlete Recovery & Regeneration, starting in MARCH 2023. Based on the integration of research into evidence based professional practice, and drawing on the expertise of applied practitioners with over 20 years experience in Premier League and international football, the programme will examine the ways that athletes can maintain peak performance levels and how recovery and regeneration is delivered within an elite sport environment.
HOW IS IT DELIVERED?
This program consists of six pre-recorded one hour sessions, which participants can access online at their convenience, and one session delivered live online. The programme will begin by exploring athlete fatigue, including the different categories and origins of fatigue, the timeframes involved with fatigue and restoration, and the implications of fatigue on the decline in athlete performance. Following this, the programme will explore the ways in which fatigue is measured and examine the assessment tools used to establish the fatigue: recovery status of the athlete. The programme will then look at the various strategies and systems that can be used to facilitate recovery in an athlete, and to explore how these recovery interventions can be applied as part of a strategic performance development plan. Finally, the programme will examine two of the most important components of the overall recovery programme – nutrition and sleep.
WHO ARE SUITABLE?
The Professional Diploma in Athlete Recovery & Regeneration is aimed at coaches and trainers working both in team sports and with individual athletes, and who have a fundamental understanding of sports science. The programme welcomes practitioners from all levels of sport and will benefit a range of candidates – from sports science graduates seeking to expand their applied knowledge base, to experienced coaches looking to deepen their understanding in this specialized area of performance. The course is particulary useful for PE teachers.
WHAT IS COST?
The cost is kept as low as possible. The entire fee (including a physical diploma and the opportunity to attend a graduation cermeony is just €395.
Athlete Recovery & Regeneration – Programme Overview
The demands of both training and competition result in athletes being exposed to large amounts of physical and psychological stress which, if not addressed and managed correctly, can result in them becoming excessively fatigued. Incomplete recovery can result in underperformance and injury, therefore effective recovery strategies are required to alleviate fatigue, regain performance levels, promote adaptation and reduce the risk of injury or burnout.
Longford College and Pillars of Performance are delighted to be offering an online programme in Athlete Recovery & Regeneration. Based on the integration of research into evidence based professional practice, and drawing on the expertise of applied practitioners with over 20 years experience in Premier League and international football, the programme will examine the ways that athletes can maintain peak performance levels and how recovery and regeneration is delivered within an elite sport environment.
This programme consists of six pre-recorded one hour sessions, which participants can access online at their convenience, and one session delivered live online. The programme will begin by exploring athlete fatigue, including the different categories and origins of fatigue, the timeframes involved with fatigue and restoration, and the implications of fatigue on the decline in athlete performance. Following this, the programme will explore the ways in which fatigue is measured and examine the assessment tools used to establish the fatigue:recovery status of the athlete. The programme will then look at the various strategies and systems that can be used to facilitate recovery in an athlete, and to explore how these recovery interventions can be applied as part of a strategic performance development plan. Finally, the programme will examine two of the most important components of the overall recovery programme – nutrition and sleep.
The Professional Diploma in Athlete Recovery & Regeneration is aimed at coaches and trainers working both in team sports and with individual athletes, and who have a fundamental understanding of sports science. The programme welcomes practitioners from all levels of sport and will benefit a range of candidates – from sports science graduates seeking to expand their applied knowledge base, to experienced coaches looking to deepen their understanding in this specialized area of performance.
Week 1 – An Introduction To Athlete Recovery & Regeneration
Modern day sport has seen an increase in performance expectations, competition frequency and physical demands. Athletes are being required to perform at higher standards more often, and this can easily lead to an imbalance between fatigue and recovery. In many sports, the opportunities for athlete recovery is often limited due to high training demands, congested fixture schedules, and the associated increased travel requirements which go along with them. During this lecture, we will introduce and explore the role that recovery plays in high performance sport.
Week 2 – Athlete Fatigue & Performance
Fatigue is multifaceted and can come from many different sources, including physical, neural, metabolic, psychological and emotional. For recovery strategies to be effective, it’s important that we know precisely what it is that the athlete is recovering from. During this lecture, we will examine factors which are associated with athlete fatigue, including the different categories & origins of fatigue, fatigue mechanisms, the timeframes involved with fatigue & restoration, and the implications of fatigue on the decline in athlete performance.
Week 3 – Monitoring Fatigue & Benchmarking Recovery
One of the central pillars of an effective recovery strategy is to have a comprehensive monitoring system in place, which is designed to assess an athletes level of fatigue and to ensure an appropriate balance between stress and recovery. If we can establish the recovery status of the athlete, we can then plan our subsequent training programme for that athlete with a higher degree of accuracy. During this session we will look at some of the tools and systems that we can use to benchmark recovery in an athlete, and explore how we can apply a multivariate monitoring system to ensure that we maintain the balance between training, competition and recovery.
Week 4 – Applied Methods of Recovery & Regeneration
Athlete recovery incorporates a diverse range of strategies and systems, with several recovery and regeneration methods available to the athlete. Practitioners must select those which are the most appropriate, based on the nature of the applied training stimulus, the types of fatigue that the athlete is experiencing, the fatigue-recovery status of the athlete, and the capacity of the athlete to tolerate the stresses associated with training and competition. During this session we will look at some of the tools, strategies and systems that we can use to facilitate recovery in an athlete, and explore how we can apply these recovery interventions as part of a strategic performance development plan.
Week 5 – Nutritional Strategies for Athlete Recovery & Regeneration
Appropriate nutrition is needed to replenish depleted energy stores, to repair damaged muscle tissue, to mitigate the inflammatory response and to promote a positive hormonal and neurotransmitter profile. Different nutritional strategies can be used to support different mechanisms of recovery – the focus of ‘training’ nutrition is to promote adaptations, whereas the focus of ‘competition’ nutrition is to optimise performance. During this session we will discuss the role played by nutrition in the recovery and regeneration process, and explore the various ways in which practitioners can apply nutritional strategies in order to facilitate athlete recovery.
Week 6 – Sleep for Athlete Recovery & Regeneration
Every mechanism of recovery is supported by the athlete having a sufficient amount of high quality sleep, with even partial sleep deprivation resulting in significant negative effects on recovery and performance. During this session, we will be examining the key principles which contribute to improved sleep with the aim of maximising athlete recovery, including circadian rhythm, chronotypes, sleep architecture, sleep hygiene, and nutrition.
Week 7 – Revision with live Q &A
An oportunity for students to enagage with professionals from the English Premier League and learn through Q&A from elite practitioners.
Learning Outcomes
Following this programme, candidates will have had the opportunity to:
• Understand the mechanisms of athlete fatigue & the role that it plays in the physical development process
• Identify the different categories of athlete fatigue
• Understand the stress-training continuum & its role in the fatigue-recovery process
• Understand the role of fatigue-recovery assessment in the training process
• Identify specific evaluation methods according to the multifactorial nature of fatigue
• Understand the factors which underpin the recovery & regeneration process
• Identify specific methods of recovery & regeneration
• Appreciate the role played by nutrition in the recovery & regeneration process
• Understand the mechanisms of recovery nutrition & identify the role played by nutritional supplements
• Appreciate the role played by sleep in the recovery & regeneration process
• Understand the structure of sleep, sleep architecture, & identify the factors which contribute to sleep hygiene
