- Fartlek training,
- Interval training,
- Circuit training,
Fartlek training involves varying the speed and intensity at which you walk or run and over which terrain you train. A Fartlek session usually lasts for at least 30 minutes. Fartlek training is used to improve aerobic and anaerobic fitness and to enable you to enjoy moving quickly. This type of training is suitable for anyone looking to improve their fitness. This would also be suitable for me in order to improve my speed and general fitness.
Interval training consists of using alternate periods of very hard exercise and rest. The rest periods are essential for recovery and they enable you to train for longer. During interval training you can vary different aspects to suit what you’re training for. You can vary the time or distance of each exercise, the amount of intensity you put in to each exercise, the type of activity you take part in during each rest period and the number of exercise and rest periods you train for in each exercise. The aim of interval training is to improve your aerobic and anaerobic fitness. This is a suitable training method as it would help me improve my speed.
Circuit training is a training method which involves performing a series of exercises in a specific order (a circuit). A circuit is usually made up of 6-10 exercises which take place at stations. At each station a specific time is given to complete each exercise and the trainer must complete as many repetitions as possible in that time. After each exercise and circuit a rest period is used unless an advanced trainer is training, in which case there is no rest time. As fitness improves, the circuit can be made more difficult by increasing the number of stations, increasing the time spent at each station, increasing the number of complete circuits and by decreasing the rest periods. Circuit training can be easily adapted to suit the trainer just by changing the stations. It can be designed to improve aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness or both. It is suitable for all sports and can almost be designed to improve any aspect of fitness including speed.
There are a number of training methods that I could follow that would enable me to improve my power. These methods are:
- Weight training
- Circuit training
- Plyometric training
Weight training can be used to improve muscular strength, muscular endurance and muscular power. In order to improve power I would need to use weights that work on improving muscular power. Muscular power is improved by at least three sets of 10-15 repetitions. This should be done at speed and by using weights 60-80% of your 1 repetition maximum. Your 1 repetition maximum (1RM) is the heaviest weight you can lift once, for example if your 1RM was 100kg for a certain exercise and you were training for muscular power then you would lift 60-80kg 10-15 times and repeat at least three times. Weight training is suitable for any sportsman and is easily designed to work on a particular part of the body.
Circuit training once again is suitable for any aspect of fitness and is also suitable for improving power as well as speed. Both aspects of fitness could be improved in one session simply by adding appropriate exercises to each station and by including heavier weights in the circuit.
Plyometric training involves a series of explosive movements like bounds, hops onto and off of boxes, leaps, skips, press ups with claps and throwing and catching a medicine ball all of which are designed to improve muscular power. When doing plyometric training it puts great stress on joints so it is vital for beginners to warm up first. The aim of plyometric training is to improve muscle power by training the muscles to contract strongly. No extra weight is needed because the training involves using your own body weight in movements similar to those found in specific sports. It is suitable for all game players and in particular helps to improve the height you can jump which is good for me in order to win headers during football matches.
To become better at playing centre back I will need to concentrate especially on improving my weaknesses. The weaknesses I find I have are cardiovascular endurance, passing with my left foot and heading.
These are some training methods that would help to improve my cardiovascular endurance:
- Continuous training
- Fartlek training
- Circuit training
Continuous training consists of working for sustained periods of time which uses all major muscle groups of the body. Continuous training requires working at the same pace for about 30 minutes – 2 hours. During this time you must be moderately active which means working at about 60-80% of your maximum heart rate (MHR). Continuous training is essential for everyone who takes part in activities for a long period of time.
Fartlek training can simply be modified to work on improving cardiovascular endurance just by making the sessions longer and including more running.
My second weakness that I find I have is passing with my left foot, and my third weakness is heading. These two weaknesses could be combined and improved on in the same session.
Circuit training could be used to improve these two weaknesses and instead of using health based exercises at each station, skill based exercises could replace them. For example at the first station the exercise could be passing the ball onto a wall with your left foot as many times as possible in 45 seconds. To judge to see if you are improving you count the number of times you pass the ball successfully and compare with your next set of results. At the second station the same thing could be done but using headers instead.
Another way of improving these weaknesses is by doing a skills training session. For this it is best to involve other players so they can help you improve. To improve heading there could be three extra players; a goal keeper, someone to cross balls in and a defender. First a player would cross the ball in and I would be trying to win the header and header at goal, the job of the defender is to win the ball and the goal keeper’s job is obviously to save it. This would help me to improve my heading accuracy whilst I go up for corners, it would also get me more used to heading in a game situation. Once about 15-20 balls have been delivered I would then swap with the crosser and then cross balls in with my left foot in order to improve it. I could keep swapping the two positions 4 or 5 times until I show an improvement.
When designing training programme is important to think about fitness training principles:
Frequency- How often we train:
- At least three times a week.
- Enough time to recover.
- The sessions should be spread out over the week.
Intensity-How hard we train:
- We need to work hard enough in order for our body systems to adapt.
- The starting intensity must be appropriate to match our current fitness.
Time-How long we train:
- We need to work for longer in order to improve our aerobic fitness.
- Each session should last at least 20 minutes to achieve the best results.
Type-What kind of training we do:
- We should analyse our sort to know the fitness and skills we need.
- The training programme should include different types of activity to develop these skills and fitness.
Six week training programme
Before the six week training programme tests should be carried out before and after to show the improvements. These are the sort of tests:
This is the six week training programme designed to improve my strengths but in particular my weaknesses.
In my training programme I have considered the FITT principles. I will train 4-5 times each week working on fitness for the first five weeks apart from one session in each week which will be focused on developing skills. In the last week I will focus on putting what I have developed in the ‘skills circuit training’ in to a game situation. I have decided on only doing plyometric training once every two weeks as I haven’t done it before and it can be quite stressful on your joints. I plan to spend at least half an hour on each session working at a moderate to high intensity. I have made sure that the training I am doing will help to improve my strengths, weaknesses and general fitness.
Before each training session I will warm up thoroughly and undergo a flexibility training session to ensure I don’t get any injuries and to help me improve my flexibility. Flexibility training involves using a series of exercises to improve and extend the range of movement at a joint by stretching and moving the tendons and ligaments just beyond the point of resistance. A flexibility training session should last about 20 minutes, in this time there are a number of different types of stretching that can take place:
- Static stretching
- Active stretching
- Passive stretching
- PNF stretching
In my training programme I have decided to use continuous training to help me improve my cardio vascular endurance. I plan to run at a moderate intensity (60-80%) and do this for 30 minutes; I will increase the length of minutes after the first two weeks and then every week after that.
I am using skills circuit training as a way of developing my skills in particular heading and my left foot. I will train for about 40 minutes and cover 4-5 circuits in this time. I will work for 2 minutes and I shouldn’t need to rest between stations as the stations aren’t very strenuous.
I have decided to do plyometric training as it should help to improve my power in particular my jumping. In this session I will carry out exercises like bounds, hops, jumps on and off of boxes, leaps and skips. There are other exercises that could be done in this session but I am mainly concentrating on improving my leg power in order to be able to jump higher so I can win headers easier.
Each week I will carry out an interval training session to help develop my speed. I will run for short distances but run at a high intensity for around 150metres with 2-3 minutes rest in between; as I become better I will not rest for quite as long.
I am going to do a fitness training session once a week to improve my general fitness, strength and speed. In a session I will work for 1 hour and complete 3 circuits in this time. I will not rest in between stations as I shouldn’t need to because the circuit will be designed to work on different muscle groups at each station. I will rest for 1 minute in between circuits but the rest period will shorten as my fitness improves.
This is a diagram of what a circuit training session will look like and what exercises will take place in it:
1. Shuttle runs
2. Sit-ups
3. Press ups
4. Squat thrusts
5. Pull ups
6. Star jumps
7. Tricep dips
8. Leg raises
9. Stomach crunchies
10. Squats
It is designed to target different muscle groups after each other so the exercises can be done to get the best results, otherwise if the same muscle groups were targeted one after the other then the muscles would lack energy and the exercises wouldn’t be done to the best of my ability.
This is a table to record the results of the same tests that were carried out at the beginning of the six weeks at the end to show the improvements if any.
There are some physical, social and psychological factors that can affect performance during the training programme in a positive or negative way. Some physical factors that can have a negative or positive affect on performance are:
- Diet- what somatotyping you are can affect performance in a negative and positive way. You are supposed to eat a balanced diet which consists of seven essential components:
- Carbohydrates
- Fats
- Proteins
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Fibre
- Water
There are three main food types; these are fat, protein and carbohydrate. It is recommended that 50-60% of you diet should be made up from carbohydrates, 25-30% fat and 10-15% protein. If a balanced diet isn’t followed throughout the training programme then it is possible that I could feel sick and therefore not participate in the training session as a result.
- Sleep can affect your performance because if you don’t get enough you will fatigue quicker during the training sessions and therefore not complete successfully whereas if you get a lot of sleep you won’t.
Some social factors that can affect performance are:
- Friends- if you get support and encouragement from your friends it will positively affect performance because you will not only be trying to do well for yourself but for them as well.
- Access to facilities- if you have access to the best facilities then it might make you want to train harder because you have access to such good facilities.
A psychological factor that might affect performance is if you have lack of motivation because if you do then you’re not really going to be bothered to do the sessions because there is nothing making you want to do them.
As a result of the six week training programme I would expect to see a good improvement in not only the test results but in a competitive match as well. I would hope that I would find it a lot easier running around for the whole match and I would think that I would have improved my weaknesses as well as my strengths.
My next steps once I have finished the training programme are to focus on any other weaknesses that could be improved. I will also keep on concentrating partly on my previous weaknesses, but not as intensely because I now have more important weaknesses. These weaknesses are speed endurance and coordination. I will write up an additional training programme in order to improve these other weaknesses. However due to the six week training programme I will not yet be good enough at my previous weaknesses in order to call them my strengths, therefore I will need to carry on working on them but not as often. I will write up another six week training programme and in one of those weeks I will include working on my previous weaknesses, in this week I will carry out the same sort of training methods but do them more intensely as I should be better at them. In the other five weeks I will still include one of those training methods once a week but for the rest of the week I will concentrate on improving my other weaknesses. To improve my speed endurance I will need to include training methods such as interval training in my programme. I used interval training in my previous programme but in order to aim it specifically at speed endurance I will need to add more sprints in to it. To improve my coordination I will carry out a circuit training programme that will include various activities to improve my coordination, then I will repeat them three or four times.
