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Published online: 6 January 2018
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract Recent reviews have attempted to refute the efficacy of applying Selye's general adaptation syndrome (GAS) as a conceptual framework for the training process. Furthermore, the criticisms involved are regularly used as the basis for arguments against the periodization of training. However, these perspectives fail to consider the entirety of Selye's work, the evolution of his model, and the broad applications he proposed. While it is reasonable to critically evaluate any paradigm, critics of the GAS have yet to dismantle the link between stress and adaptation. Disturbance to the state of an organism is the driving force for biological adaptation, which is the central thesis of the GAS model and the primary basis for its application to the athlete's training process. Despite its imprecisions, the GAS has proven to be an instructive framework for understanding the mechanistic process of providing a training stimulus to induce specific adaptations that result in functional enhancements. Pioneers of modern periodization have used the GAS as a framework for the management of stress and fatigue to direct adaptation during sports training. Updates to the periodization concept have retained its founding constructs while explicitly calling for scientifically based, evidence-driven practice suited to the individual. Thus, the purpose of this review is to provide greater clarity on how the GAS serves as an appropriate mechanistic model to conceptualize the periodization of training.
1Introduction
The concept of periodization has received substantial attention in recent years, with much of this focus centering on presenting periodization as being irrelevant to the modern athlete [1-3]. However, the term 'periodization' is not owned by sport and instead lies within the greater realm of scholarly activity as a term used to describe specific periods of time, such as in the arts, history, and architecture [4]. Similarly, within competitive sport planning, periodization conceptually allows coaches to fragment a continuum of time into definable and manageable components for enhanced organization and pattern recognition within the training process. Periodization of training has expanded beyond its Ancient Greek origins [5] to encompass appropriate time periods, implementation of specific training stimuli, and recovery tactics largely aimed at the modern competitive sport structure. Although, mechanistically, periodization as a...