Interval Training
Fixed patterns of slow and fast exercises are used in interval training. It means alternating between strenuous exercise and rest. The rest time give us time to recover from each period of exercise. Each repetition of a pattern is called a ‘rep’ and you have to finish a ‘set’ before a rest.
Weight training
Weight training improves muscle strength and tone. There are three types of weight training: Isometric training in this type of training, the muscles contract but there is no movement. Isotonic training in this type of training, Muscles contract and shorten producing movement. Kinetic training in this type of training, muscles contract and shorten at a constant speed.
I will try to include all the principles of training that may help me during my training programme.
The first one is the FITT principle.
F- Frequency of activity- how often we should exercise. For example if you just want to stay healthy you should exercise for at least twenty minutes twice a week. After each hard training session I should give my body at least 24 hours rest before I exercise again.
I- Intensity of activity- how hard I should exercise?
T- Time of activity- how long I am going to exercise. Aerobic training sessions tend to last for 20 minutes or longer where as strength training sessions are generally shorter and less sustained.
T- Type of activity- what exercise I should use.
This means that I will have to decide how often every week I will have to train and how often I will train on each of the two areas stamina and speed. I will also have to make sure that I am training at the right intensity it will be important to make modifications to my plan while I am doing it if I feel that I am not being pushed hard
enough.
I will also have to decide how long each training session should last, the best way to do this will probably be to start off with shorter sessions and as the programme goes on increase the length of time for each session. The main thing I will need to decide is the type of activity I do and make sure that it is relevant and improve my fitness in the way I want.
Specificity
My training programme is for football and it is based over a six-week period. The exercises are specifically suited to what is needed to play football. The training program is specified for me as a midfielder, so there are no goalkeeping skills involved in this circuit.
My training programme is aimed to improve only muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance a six-week period. But all of these are needed for an outfield football player:
Muscular endurance
Muscular strength
Speed,
Agility
Cardiovascular fitness (endurance)
Ball skills
For Example:
Muscular Endurance is needed in football to keep the muscles contracting for the full length of the match without them becoming tired or weak.
Muscular Strength is the force your muscles exert when they contract. This is an important part of football as it is a contact sport and it is also very physical, players need to be able to guard the ball and hold other players off when they are challenging for the ball. Also muscular strength is useful when taking a throw-in, good muscular strength in the abdominal muscles is required to throw the ball higher and further to reach a player that is a long distance away from the touch-line.
Every individual needs a separate training programme- we’re all different and we all do different things.
- Train the right parts of the body- there is no point making a weightlifter run 10 miles a day-it wont improve his weightlifting.
- Train to the right level-if you are unfit don’t start off with a long run.
Overload
To improve the fitness of a part of the body, you need to overload it. That means you need to make it work harder than usual. Over time, it adapts to meet the increased demand by getting fitter.
You can overload your body in three ways: By increasing the frequency of the exercise. In other words how often you do the exercise. For example start by exercising twice a week, then move up to three or four times a week. By increasing the intensity of the exercise. In other words how hard you work. For example run faster or lift heavier weights or by increasing the time you spend on the exercise. If you are very unfit you might start off jogging just for 5 minutes a session, and work your way up week by week to 30 minutes a session.
Progression
Your 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. To prevent this from happening the exercises must be made progressively harder to ensure that the body continues to improve.
Reversibility
Your fitness level changes all the time and it will go down if you stop training. It takes much longer to gain fitness than to lose fitness. Therefore it is essential that exercise be carried out regularly to keep your fitness level up to scratch. I have made sure of this in my training programme by doing it on a regular basis. Obviously, this is what I am aiming to avoid.
To keep me determined and motivated throughout the training programme, I will need to make sure that the training sessions I organise for myself are ones that I find fun. Getting bored will make me not perform to the best of my abilities, and I probably will not improve as much as I should. This training programme will then have gone to waste.
My training programme will cover a period of six weeks. My training programme takes into account all of the training methods. The training programme should be done four days a week. Another two days in the week I will be playing badminton and cricket, and the final day of the week will be a rest. However, this does not mean that on the rest day I will forget about the programme. I will still be keeping a rather strict diet, which will help me, train. For each one-hour training session, a warm up and cool down must also be taken into account. The session will change for every day of the week. The reasons for doing the different sessions are because to reduce tedium during the training programme.
Warm up
Before every activity there should be at least a five-minute warm up. This is essential because the warm up would increase the blood flow to the muscles, stretch the muscles and concentrate the mind on the training.
Warm down
As I also mention above, before every activity there should be at least a five-minute warm down. This is essential because the warm down helps replace the oxygen debt in your muscles and also gets rid of the extra blood in your veins. My warm down is a slow 400m jog followed by a full stretch to get rid of lactic acid and prevent injury.
Diet
The diet of a footballer is going to be very important, not only in the obvious reasons, i.e. weight. It will be important the athlete is getting the right amounts of each food substance. If this does not happen it will affect the way the footballer can train and the way he feels both mentally and physically.
Another important part of the athletes diet is the avoidance of other substances. These include alcohol and smoking as well as drugs.
Below is a weekly diet for myself, which I will attempt to follow. The standard mealtimes have been outlined on the table only, because I feel I eat quite well during normal mealtimes, however I tend to eat far to many snack in between. Therefore this table is only really there to make sure I eat at the right times only. I did not want to keep a strenuous fiet simply because I felt it would decrese my morale and therefore would not train to my potential.
While traning, high energy drinks and snack such as jaffa cakes may be consumed in moderation.
In the diet however, I will still need to make sure as many nutrients as possible are consumed.
NUTRIENTS:
Carbohydrates – They make up bout 55% of our daily diet. They provide us with energy so they are very important to our bodies. Examples of good carbohydrates are – Bread, Pasta, Potatoes and Rice.
Proteins – They make up about 15 % of the bodies daily diet. They help the body grow and repair itself, if you are trying to build muscle you need a lot of protein in your diet. They are found in foods such as Soya, Meat, Fish, Eggs and Milk.
Fats – They make up about 30% of our daily diet. They are the biggest source of energy although they are very hard to burn off, so obviously not ideal for an athlete. They provide energy and keep us warm. They are found in things like olive oil and margarine as well as saturated fatty acid found in meat and animal products.
Vitamins – These make up a small amount and are not as valuable to our body as the previous three, however, they are needed to help our bones, teeth and skin grow. They are also needed for many of the body’s chemical reactions.
Vitamin A…This is handy for growth and night vision and found in eggs, vegetables and liver.
Vitamin C… This is good for your skin and gums- you get scurvy without it. Can be found in fruit and veg. Especially citrus fruits e.g. Lemons and Oranges.
Vitamin D… This is good for strong bones and prevents you getting Rickets. Can be found in milk, fish, liver and eggs but mainly made by the skin in sunshine.
Minerals – They are needed for healthy bones and teeth. Help build other tissues and are needed for many chemical reactions in the body.
Calcium… This is needed for bones and teeth but also muscle contraction. Can be found in milk, green veg, cheese and sum fish.
Iron… Good source of haemoglobin in red blood cells (you get anaemia without it) There’s lots in liver, beans and green veg.
Note: With a properly balanced diet you don’t need vitamin supplements and I will not be using them.
Vitamin C cannot be stored in the body so I will need to eat it on a regular basis.
FACTS
- An average 16 yr old needs 11, 000 kilojoules (kj) per day!
- There are 1.4 kilojoules (kj) per gram of apple
- There is 4.2 kj per one kCal
Below is a table showing the energy values in food.
SUBSTANCES
There are some things that are not going to do the athlete any good at all. However alcohol in moderation and at the correct times may not cause too much change to their performance, and in terms of overall morale and attitude, it may be good for the athlete. I however do not drink.
Alcohol – This is not recommended 72 hours before a game. Reaction times are lost, however, with a small drink, morale may be boosted.
Smoking – This is not going to do any good at all to any athlete, it affects the lungs and can cause long-term effects such as cancer and other diseases.
Drugs – This is also a very bad idea, the only drugs that are going to enhance your game are the banned ones and the other type are mainly illegal so there is very little point in taking any drugs. I will not be taking any of the two socially acceptable drugs mentioned above. I do not drink any coffee, but other drinks such as coke will be drunk in strict moderation.
After every week the following tests will be carried out. Also after every week, I will need to see how I found the week. If I found the week extremely difficult, I will need to alter it to make it slightly easier. Making the work extremely difficult will not get the best result. It needs to be pitched right. Therefore depending on how I find each week I will alter each training session accordingly.
I will also be looking to see how I could have enhanced the training sessions. For instance by changing the whole format of the session or by simply swapping a session with another day. The table is not set in stone, and therefore, I can change the format or anything on that table depending on how I found it.
