Evaluation of Exercise Programme

Shooting

Accuracy and striking the ball

Dorsal lifts

Consistent strength over long periods of time.

Chipping the ball

Good accuracy and skills when in motion.

Star jumps

Constant and consistent strength, dynamic strength.

Sprint starts

Speed over 5 metres, explosive strength.

Section 2:

Evaluation of performing the programme

From my session evaluations it is very clear that I made several amendments to my circuit before performing them to make sure that they were specific to my sport. Firstly when planning my exercise programme I decided to perform squat thrusts on Station2, however I changed this to performing press-ups because they are essential for building strength for 50-50 situations which are frequent in Football. Also for Station 4 I planned to practise shooting, but as this wasn't possible I decided to practise chipping the ball, for Station 5 during planning I decided to perform dorsal lifts, but I changed these to dips, because they are simpler and more appropriate. For station 6 I performed pass sprints instead of previously planned chipping the ball at this station. Finally for Station 7 I changed my planned exercise of star jumps into leg extensions because good muscular leg strength is vital in Football. I made all these amendments to make sure my circuit was appropriate and specific.

I also performed and overloaded my exercises in the following way using the theory of sport....

Specificity: - My programme was specific to Football in the following ways. In football players need a good level of endurance, as they are running on and off for at least 90minutes. This puts a lot of pressure on the cardiovascular system and so it is important for this system to be tip-top and so my programme in my opinion tested this system and enhanced it. During my programme I changed exercises to make them specific as I have previously mentioned, making sure that the exercises were beneficial to football. It is very important for training to be specific and I have tried to be specific in both my exercises and my warm up and cool down. My training programme was tailored to the sport of football as I included sit ups and dips for enhancing stamina and strength and also included appropriate skill based exercises such as pass sprints and chipping the ball. My programme also included many exercises which tried to enhance my weaknesses such as shuttle runs for an increase in speed and explosive strength.

Progression: - I gradually increased the intensity of each exercise, building up, my training gradually and progressively to avoid injuries and strains. This gave my body more time to adjust to the demands I was placing on it.

Overload: - You can overload in three ways. By increasing the frequency, by increasing the intensity or by increasing the amount of time you spend doing the exercise. During my programme I overloaded by increasing the intensity of the exercises, but for some exercises e.g. pass sprints and chipping the ball (Skills), I increased the amount of time spent performing the exercise.

Reversibility: - If my sessions weren't progressive, which they were and I didn't overload then there would have been a great chance of reversibility and tedium could have set in. Reversibility is when our bodies have adapted to more stress by becoming fitter and then lose gained aerobic fitness. My muscles could have quickly lost their ability to use oxygen, if mine or any one else's muscles weren't used they could atrophy in weeks. I did not let my work get reversed. The biggest deterioration occurs in aerobic efficiency, I won't lose aerobic fitness by decreasing training.

Tedium: - By my fourth session I could have been getting quite bored and de-motivated with my circuit and tedium could have set in. However I combated this by changing my circuit slightly and setting myself realistic and challenging targets, .e.g. improving on my bleep test score.

I managed my circuit well by making sure I knew that my plan was for each individual session and that if I found things too challenging or too simple then I could simply changes things accordingly and record my changes

If my motivation levels were low I would also change things to motivate myself again. However my motivation levels stayed relatively high throughout so I changed very little as seen on my evaluation sheets.

Section 3

Evaluation of monitoring the programme

Improving fitness was one of my overall aims of my exercise programme. In order for anyone to improve general fitness we must raise our heart rate above 60% of our maximum for aerobic training and 85% of maximum for anaerobic training. Because of what I have previously said I had to change my programme in a few ways in order to improve general fitness and to prevent exercise being too easy and therefore my pulse rate not rising by a significant level. In the exercises I performed, were my pulse rate did not rise significantly I put this down to me not performing enough reps and therefore increased the amount next time. I came to the decision that it must be a lack of reps because my exercises were specific to my sport of Football. I only had to increase rep levels significantly a few times as seen in my second evaluation sheet were I had to increase the amount of Shuttle runs and dips I performed because they were far too easy and did not raise my pulse rate enough, however after increasing the amount of dips from session two to session three I overloaded too much and was unable to complete the target I set myself.

You will also see from my evaluation tables how my performance improved as I got fitter. For example in my first session my pulse rate after performing 3 x 20 reps of press-ups I felt worn out and only just completed them, however in my fourth session I completed 5 x 30 reps with much more ease, showing an improvement in fitness. This is also the case with my pass sprints were I found 1min at full whack tiring and my pulse rate was at 143bpm, however in session 4 I completed 2 minutes of pass sprints with minimal ease and my bpm was only at 130, this also shows an improvement.

You can also see from my evaluation tables that I have made some comment to how I felt after each exercise.

Here is a graph showing my heart rate for the exercises performed in my final session

Section 4

Final Evaluation of Programme

When I repeated the bleep test I obtained a score of 8.9.Compared with 8.8. This shows an increase in general fitness. In my opinion there are two main reasons behind this. They are that I had a slightly longer night's sleep the second time round than the first and the main reason is the success of my training programme.

PTO.....................................

Area of fitness

Exercise

Strength in quads

30 leg extensions in first session with 35kgs

50 leg extensions in last session with 35kgs

Core strength

3 x 20 press up reps in first session

5 x 20 press up reps in last session

3 x 30 sit ups in first session

5 x 30 reps in last session

20 dips in first session

3 x 20 dips in last session

Aerobic Fitness

60 shuttle runs in first session

70 shuttle runs in last session

30 sprint starts in first session

60 sprint starts in last session

Skills

min chipping in first session

2mins chipping in last session

min pass sprints in first session

2mins pass sprints in last session

As you can see from the table above, I made quite a lot of progression and my fitness improved quite a bit.

During my fitness programme I didn't get bored, I think I achieved this by making my programme specific and by setting myself goals and sometimes varying my circuit. When tedium started to creep in I simply changed the order of the exercises I performed. I found rotation was very effective. My proudest moment throughout the programme was beating my previous score, even if it was by a very small margin, the circuit did its job and for that I am proud. The part I most enjoyed about my circuit was the dips, because I haven't done them much before and found them a bit of a challenge. My least favourite part of my circuit was the press ups because I am poor at them, although I feel that my programme has improved me slightly in this area. From now on I will cycle a lot more and I'm thinking of taking up basketball to maintain my fitness levels and hopefully even improve on them. Although other factors must be considered when deciding on the main reason for an improvement must be considered, I am adamant that my fitness programme was the biggest and most decisive factor in my improvedfitness.