Coaches Guide to General Physical Preparedness (GPP)

​By: Regan Quaal

​WHAT IS GENERAL PHYSICAL PREPAREDNESS?
            There are many terms in the fitness/strength & conditioning industry that are overused to the point where people can no longer actually define them.  GPP or general physical preparedness is an example of one those terms, that is often spoken about, but hard to define. 
            In its simplest form GPP training is any training that isn’t specific to what is required in your sport or occupation.   Even though GPP training is not specific itself, the idea behind it is that improving your general physical qualities will transfer over to improving your sport specific performance by making you a more robust individual. 
            Robustness is developed by minimizing your weaknesses in your general physical skill set and by widening your scope of physical capabilities to answer any performance related problems you may encounter.
 
GPP: WIDENING THE BASE
            As we have all heard many times, a pyramid can only be as tall as its base is wide.  Essentially, this means having a wide base is very important if you want to reach peak performance.  GPP is the base of the pyramid, so spending a dedicated period of time establishing this is essential for long term success and development.  In order for this to happen certain components of training must be included in the program to lay a solid foundation.
            The major components that should be focused on are motor pattern learning, work capacity, and movement variability.  Obviously, there is a long list of other things one may choose to focus on as well, but these three components cannot be overlooked because of the pivotal role they play in athletic development, as I will discuss later on.

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