- The difference between flying 33m and 66-100m times,
This will give me an idea of whether or not I need to increase my sprinting endurance.
For strength I will test:
- 1rm leg press,
- 1rm leg curl,
- 1rm leg extension,
- 1rm bicep curl,
- 1rm tricep extension,
- 1rm bench press,
This will asses the overall strength of each muscle group and ensures that it is the technicality of the events that I need to work on rather than my strength being the limiting factor in speed or distance of the events.
For muscle balance I will test:
- Hamstring balance,
- Quadriceps balance,
- Bicep balance,
- One arm military press,
- Single leg press,
These tests will asses the balance of the right and left, muscles in my body. From this I can asses the limiting muscle and improve tat to give me the best balance possible. This is important as it guarantees the maximum speed of muscle relaxation and contraction.
For flexibility I will test:
- Ankle (rom)
- Elbow and wrist (rom)
- Groin (rom),
- Shoulders (rom),
- Hips (rom),
- Sit and reach for hamstrings,
These tests will ensure that the range of movement in all my joints is at a practical maximum to allow maximum movement. I would need to ensure good movement to allow maximum stride length in events such as the 100m without loosing speed due to an inefficient distance covered to muscle contraction ratio. Also I need flexibility in my shoulders to allow maximum rom for events such as the Javelin.
For the explosive power and quickness tests, I will test:
- Standing triple jump,
- Quick hands,
- Quick feet,
From these I will know whether or not my genetic potential is the limiting factor for my speed or strength is. This will be one of the first test I will do and if I have no genetic potential the there will be no point in me working on my speed as it will have a limiting factor that I cannot improve through training.
For the body composition, I will test my skinfold measures in millimeters for:
- Biceps,
- Triceps,
- Supscapula,
- Suprailiac,
- The total of all of these,
From this I can asses whether it is my weight being a limiting factor in my speed, endurance and flight ability in jumping, and if it is I can change my diet to either gain or lose weight to keep me healthy and fit for training.
For Endurance I will test:
From this information I can decide whether I need to improve my aerobic endurance or keep it at a constant throughout my training. This will be my entire assessment for the 1500m side of the decathlon as I can only work on the technicalities of the event on the track or in competition.
From all of the data collected I can decide from my weak areas what types of training I should do to improve my events for the summer. The types of training I have available to me are:
- Strength and power training,
- Ballistics training,
- Plyometrics training,
- Sport loading,
- Sprinting form and speed endurance training,
- Overspeed training,
- Fartlek training,
These are all headings for several different methods of training and from this I will use the methods that are the most effective for me.
Now that I have assed all the areas of my fitness I will now create a personal training program with reference to the weak areas of my assessment. My assessment program shows that I have the genetic potential needed to be a good sprinter, thrower and jumper, but that my weakness lies mainly in my strength. I do have other weaknesses that need to be corrected in the technicality of the events but these can only be done when I have a track available to me. Therefore I have not included these in my training schedule but I have noted the weaknesses to be developed at other stages of my training.
The first main weakness I have is the strength in my legs and this needs to be improved dramatically. For optimum sprinting speed I need to enhance the 1rm of my squat to 2.5 times my body weight. This is an improvement of 55kg on my 1rm at the moment. If I improve my quadriceps I will have to build up the antagonist muscle group, the hamstrings to balance my muscles. My second weakness is the strength of some areas of my upper body, namely my deltoids and triceps. These only need very basic exercises to improve the strength, but, as with the quadriceps I will need to build up the antagonist muscle for the tricep, the bicep. These are both long term objectives and will be incorporated as part of my every day training program for the next six weeks.
For my legs the exercises that I could use are:
- Squats,
- Olympic lifts such as the clean and jerk,
- Leg extensions,
- Hamstring curls
With this I will test the 1rm of my squat every 2 weeks to ensure there is an improvement, and if not I will up the reps, sets, or weight.
For my upper body the exercises I will use will be:
- Lateral raises,
- Boxing,
- Tricep curls,
- Bicep curls,
- Tricep dips,
- Press ups (wide arm),
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Even though these are part of my long term program I will not test my 1rm as it is unimportant as a known 1rm. All that is needed is a test to ensure that I have improved my strength after 3 weeks, 5 weeks, and the final 6th week.
The second weakness that I have come across is the flexibility and range of movement of my joints. This weakness goes hand in hand with my strength problem. As I build my muscles, my muscles will shorten and decrease my range of movement. Therefore I will need to incorporate stretching exercises into my training program. There is also a weakness in the rom of my hip joint. This is a major factor as this needs to be good for the 110m hurdles that I will compete in, in the summer months.
For my overall flexibility I will stretch my:
- Quadriceps,
- Hamstrings,
- Pectoralis major,
- Deltoids,
- Triceps,
This if done correctly twice a week on top of my warm up and cool down should increase my rom and overall flexibility. This is a short term aim and will be tested each week for progress. This will only be put into my program for the first two weeks to increase my hip flexibility and this will be cut down and only used on the strengthened muscles to stop shortening.
The third weakness I have assed is my acceleration from still to full pace. This has many methods that can be used to improve it and from these I have chosen two, hill sprints and specific plyometric exercises. As there are two types of training I can do to improve this I have decided to spilt my training time of two weeks in to two, 3 week periods. I will use hill running for the first 3 weeks and then after an assessment unless an excellent improvement has occurred I will move onto 3 weeks of specific plyometric drills.
The last weakness is my Vo2 max. This I will improve by Fartlek training. This will consist of a 1.6 mile run split into time sections of one minute. These one minute time sections will be done at low and high and low speeds with a trail off towards the end win a medium intensity as my last high intensity minute section.
