Skill training for athletes: time for some overload

During the training intervention, half the subjects were assigned to the low-difficulty group, and the other half were assigned to the high-difficulty group training on both low- difficulty and high-difficulty wobble boards respectively. No training was performed using the medium-difficult board. The subjects performed five training sessions over a 3-week period, with each training session consisting of 25 repetitions of 20 seconds. The repetitions were spaced out to ensure sufficient rest. The initial testing was repeated after the training period.

What they discovered

Once the stats were run, the results were clear. The high-difficulty group improved performance across all three levels of difficulty (see RHS column of figure 2). They improved performance on the high-difficulty board (where some of their training had been performed) and they also improved performance on the medium- and low-difficulty boards. In contrast, while the low-difficulty group improved their performance while using the low-difficulty board, there was no improvement in performance on the medium- and high-difficulty boards (LHS column of figure 2).

Figure 2: Results from low- vs. high-difficulty balance training

Root mean square (RMS) score on vertical axis = deviation from level balance (lower scores = better balance). Participants who trained at high-difficulty levels improved their scores at all three difficulty levels whereas those who trained at low-difficulty improved only at low difficult challenges and not at medium or high difficulties.

In short, it appears that training at higher difficulty levels allows for performance transfer down the difficulty scale, where performance is also improved in related, but easier tasks. By contrast, the opposite does not appear to be true; the low-difficulty participants were unable to improve performance on even the medium-difficulty wobble board. Since the same basic skill was used in at all three levels of wobble boards, we can conclude that for performance is to improve at higher levels of difficulty, these skills need to be overloaded when training.

Practical implications

The results from this new research are clear. Learning a more difficult version of one task improves performance during an easier version of the same task. However, training with the easier version does not necessarily lead to improved performance in the more difficult version of the same task. Therefore, overloading skills by performing more difficult versions of the same activity is a powerful way to facilitate improvements in skills movement.

I work in swimming, so let’s consider an example from this sport. Swimmers need to be able to create as much propulsion as possible with their arms to go as fast as possible. It requires skill to apply force more than it does strength to create force. We can overload this skill by having swimmers close their hands to encourage use of the whole arm as a paddle, swim against resistance to increase the challenge of moving forward, or both. The goal is to help swimmers improve their ability to create propulsion by overloading this skill.

In all sports, the principle remains the same. It’s a matter of identifying which skills are required for competitive success, determining which skills individual athletes need to improve, and then finding a way to patiently and progressively overload those skills. In many cases, good coaches are already doing so whether they know it or not. By understanding the underlying principle, it’s possible to take those interventions and make them even more effective.

If you’re specifically interested in improving balance qualities, the research is also clear.  Ensure that the tasks you carry out to develop balance are challenging - ideally more challenging than what would be expected during whatever competition or activity that you’re training for. As you make progress, ensure that the task difficulty continues to move forward. In the study above, the shape of the ground contact was made progressively more unstable. While that is potentially an avenue for continued increases in difficulty, other options such as adding limb movements can further challenge balance and stability. Just remember the concept: identify what you want to be able to do and then find a way to create a training environment that is more difficult than normal!

Reference

1. Eur J Sport Sci. 2026 Feb 3;26(3):e70130. doi:10.1002/ejsc.70130