· By increasing the Time you spend on the exercise.
For example start by exercising for 30 minutes and as time goes on increase the time to 45 minutes.
Progression
The body takes time to adapt to the increased demands on it. So you should build up your exercise level gradually. But once it reaches a certain level when it can comfortably deal with the level of exercise, it will not improve anymore. The exercises must be made progressively harder to ensure that the body continues to improve.
Equipment
· 20 Cones
· 3 Hoops
· 10 footballs
· 1 measuring implimant
The Circuit
The order that I will do the exercises in are:
Warm up >> Stretches >> The Circuit >> Warm Down
Warm up & Stretching – The warm up is very important, as the exercises you will be doing are very demanding and if we do not warm up correctly we could very easily pull a muscle or seriously injure ourselves.
Start by lightly jogging for approximately 10 mins. Then move on to some stretching. For example, rotating hips and arms. Then stretch all the major muscles used for football. For example groins, quadriceps etc… Each stretch should be held for approximately 8 – 10 seconds.
Diagram Key
Your movements
Ball movements
Cones
Hoops
Station One
On this station you have to start at the line, sprint to the first cone, sprint back to the line, sprint to the second cone, sprint back to the line, sprint to the third cone, back to the line, sprint to the second cone and back then to the first cone and back to complete the exercise. This will improve your speed and agility.
Station Two
This station is a sit up exercise. Perform as many as you can in one minute. These will improve muscular endurance in the abdominal muscles; this comes in handy when a throw-in needs to be thrown over a long distance. This is called explosive strength because it is a movement that needs a sudden burst of energy to perform correctly.
Station Three
This exercise concentrates on a player’s chipping ability and accuracy. The hoops should be placed 5m apart. Place a ball behind the line and chip it so it bounces in the first hoop, chip another ball so it bounces in the second hoop. Repeat this for a time of one minute and record ho many you successfully got into the hoops.
Station Four
This is a shooting exercise. Place two cones 5m apart, then line up five balls 10m away from the cones and one cone 2m behind each ball. Strike the first ball, turn around and sprint to the cone and strike the next ball, turn around and sprint to the cone again etc. this will improve muscular strength and accuracy.
Station Five
This is a station that I have assigned one minute for a brief rest to let my body recover from the last four exercises.
Station Six
Here I will do burpees jumps, these are squat thrusts and star jumps all in one quick motion. Do as many of these as you can in one minute and record the total. This will improve your agility, muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings.
Station Seven
Place six cones 1m apart then dribble a ball in and out of them and sprint back to the start, repeat this for 1 minute. This will improve ball skills, speed and agility. Record how many complete runs are done.
Station Eight
This exercise is passing. Place 2 cones 5m away from a wall and pass the ball with both feet against the wall. This exercise will improve the ability to pass the ball accurately and ball control.
Once the circuit is finished I will warm down. The warm down will consist of gentle jogging and stretching.
The muscles that were stretched in the warm up should also be stretched in the warm down. The stretches should be held longer then they were in the warm up to prevent stiffness and soreness.
The table below displays results for one of my sessions of this circuit.
Below is a results table set over the five sessions.
*On target/Scored
Evaluation
In general my circuit program was successful, it tested each area of fitness that I wanted it to.
Station 1, shuttle runs, this station was very successful by the end of the six week period I had improved my speed as I did more runs in one minute. It also improved my agility and the endurance of my quadriceps and hamstrings.
Station 2, sit-up exercise, this station was very tiring, after each time I performed this exercise I could feel my abdominal muscles becoming stronger. I improved throughout the six weeks, I improved the strength and endurance of my abdominal muscles.
Station 3, chipping balls into hoops, I found this exercise very difficult my accuracy and chipping ability improved drastically.
Station 4, shooting, this station tested my shooting and accuracy ability. This was one of the easier stations as shooting isn’t very strenuous, although I did improve in the six-week period.
Station 6, burpees, this I found was the most difficult as it was very tiring and I had already done 4 other stations. This did improve my agility, muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings.
Station 7, dribbling, this was a fairly easy exercise I have improved on my speed and ball control, I noticed this in week five when I wasn’t as tired as I was the weeks before.
Station 8, passing, I feel that I have got better accuracy on my passing with my right foot over the five session period. I have realised this because the ball seems to always come directly back to my foot without me moving as a I was having to do at the beginning of the program.
I found the circuit to be very intense and tiring, but very effective as my circuit tested all the areas I wanted it to. I was very tired after completing each session of the program. My muscles were aching which shows that the exercise has worked well. If I were to perform the circuit again I would start by having a recovery time between each station, I feel this would help because I would be able to increase the intensity of the circuit.
Although I had improved during the five-session period I had only improved slightly, so if I were repeating this program I would make it last more sessions so improvements could be seen more easily. Once the circuit becomes too easy I would make it harder by increasing one of the factors of overload that I discussed earlier. If the circuit is not made harder the body will stop improving. The body must keep exercising to prevent reversibility (this happens at a rate of 3/1, so if you train for 3 years and stop for one year you will have accomplished NOTHING).
