I have been assigned the task of creating and undergoing a 6 week personnel exercise programme - Circuit trianing
Introduction:
I have been assigned the task of creating and undergoing a 6 week personnel exercise programme. A personnel exercise programme or PEP is routine of training sessions and workouts that are specifically designed to help build on a specific aspect of personnel fitness. The aspect can be anything such as football skills, power, strength, speed, stamina, swimming (stroke enhancement etc.).
In this personnel exercise programme I will be creating a workout routine based on a time period of 6 weeks. Throughout this 6 week period I will perform the tasks that I have set myself and then evaluate the sessions. The workout routine will be based upon an aspect of personnel training that I have chosen to work and improve on.
I have not chosen a direct aspect of personnel fitness to work and improve on in the PEP; instead I have decided to base my workout routine for the 6 week period on circuit training. Circuit training is a method of training where many aspects of personnel fitness can be worked on and improved with constant practice. Circuit training usually has 8 - 15 stations. A station is an area/aspect of the training programme that covers an aspect of personnel fitness such as speed, endurance, aerobic and anaerobic fitness, muscular strength, power etc.
I have chosen circuit training because it covers a wide range of areas of personnel fitness, and will therefore make my PEP more meaningful as it will not only help me improve one area of personnel fitness but multiple areas. It is also good because it can be focused on certain sport such as basketball where skills such as jumping, throwing, sprinting etc. can be practiced, worked on and improved.
Before the personnel exercise programme can be made, I must carefully go through the main principles of training to help me plan a good programme that will be manageable and that will produce good results.
There are two main sets of training principles, one is S.P.O.R.T. and the other is F.I.T.T. All the letters in both words/sets represent one training principle of which I will describe below:
S.P.O.R.T.: Specificity is making sure you know exactly what you are going to do individually and what your activity is going to be.
Progression is to build up the amount of training done as the time period progresses.
e.g. If 5m is run in the first week, then 10m can be run in second week, 15m in the third etc.
Overload is making sure that one does not push themselves too far by exerting too much pressure on them during training. If difficulty is met then the training sessions must be changed in order to meet the trainee's capabilities.
Reversibility is when the body weakens due to time off from training therefore the trainee has to first get back to their cardiovascular level before they can get back to where they left off (before the break). This is because the body looses muscle faster than it gains at a ratio of about 3:1.
Tedium is making sure that any of the training sessions are not too long as this can be an overload. Also it is for making sure that any of the sessions are not boring as this can put the trainee off resulting in a less effort put it therefore a bad result.
F.I.T.T.: Frequency is for how often you do the exercise (be it an individual set or the whole session)
Intensity is the difficulty of the exercise: it could be the amount of weight, or the speed the trainee moves.
Time is the duration of the exercise: for general improvement of fitness, this should be at least 20 minutes a day.
Type is for what kind of exercise is performed during the workout. This can vary depending on what you want to do to keep the workout interesting, and to work different muscles.
There is also another important principle of training that does not come under S.P.O.R.T. or F.I.T.T. This is training threshold. Training threshold ...
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Intensity is the difficulty of the exercise: it could be the amount of weight, or the speed the trainee moves.
Time is the duration of the exercise: for general improvement of fitness, this should be at least 20 minutes a day.
Type is for what kind of exercise is performed during the workout. This can vary depending on what you want to do to keep the workout interesting, and to work different muscles.
There is also another important principle of training that does not come under S.P.O.R.T. or F.I.T.T. This is training threshold. Training threshold is a percentage of your maximum heart rate during cardiovascular training. This percentage heart rate should be the level that the heart works for in order to strengthen the heart. To find out what one's training threshold is, age is subtracted from 220 to provide the figure of maximum heart rate (for the person in concern). Then the training threshold should be around 75% of the person's maximum heart rate. E.g. the training threshold for a 20 year old man would be:
220 - 20 = 200 > 200 x 0.75 = 150 beats per minute
Aims:
From this personnel exercise programme I hope to improve my game of cricket. I am going to create specific workout sessions to improve many aspects of personnel fitness and of cricket that will then enable me to play better cricket in the future. My main aims for this PEP are:
* Survive and complete the tasks I set myself.
* Improve my game of cricket.
* Improve personnel fitness.
* To keep healthy.
By reaching these above 4 aims I would have successfully completed my PEP with a good and positive result. Therefore my fitness and skill when playing cricket would have improved.
Programme Outline:
As mentioned in the introduction, before I can plan my workout routine for the 6 weeks, I will have to specify the training principles: S.P.O.R.T. and F.I.T.T. These training principles will help me plan out a precise workout routine that will help me achieve my aims and by producing a productive workout routine. I have chosen to base my circuit training on cricket therefore I will be concentrating on working on and improving:
Aerobic fitness, agility, body strength, eye and ball skills, speed, footwork and muscular endurance.
S.P.O.R.T.:
Specificity:
My circuit training will be base don the sport of cricket therefore I will have 7 stations in the workout routine
for the following aspects:
. Aerobic fitness - Being able to maintain a heart of 65 - 75% of maximum and still be able to hold light conversation at the same time. This should be done everyday for about 15 - 30 minutes and should result in good level of sweat produced. Aerobic fitness can be gained by running (not flat out) and cycling.
2. Agility - the ability to change direction quickly and control movements of the whole body. This is very important as it is needed to be able to change direction when running between wickets or fielding. This can be improved by stretching and flexing muscles, and with a series of specific drills.
3. Body Strength - This is very important for cricket. Upper body strength is needed by everyone.
Batsmen need lots of upper body strength to help them play big shots. Bowlers need upper body strength to help them bowl fast deliveries. Fielders need upper body strength to help them throw the ball fast and far. This would need to be gained by working out in a gym.
4. Eye and Ball Skills - These are very important as a bowler in cricket needs to have very high ball skills to place the ball in the correct place. A batsman on the other hand needs very good eye skills to see how the ball is delivered, where it pitches to decide how to play the shot. Fielder's also need high eyes skills to be able to take successful catches and ball skills to be able to throw the ball accurately. This can be improved by practicing to throw balls at small targets, catching fast throws, playing shots at fast deliveries etc.
5. Speed - This is essential in cricket as is needed by batsmen when running between wickets, bowlers when bowling and fielders when fielding. Speed can be gained by practicing running short distances flat out in order to gain muscle to make legs more powerful to gain higher speeds when running flat out.
6. Footwork - This is needed mainly by fielders and bowlers. Bowlers need to ensure they not overstep the crease and give away a no ball, and fielders must be able to run fast and change directions quickly and still stay stable and on their feet. This can be improved with a set of specific drills.
7. Muscular endurance - This is being able to play the game for a long period of time without getting muscle stiffness, tiredness or weakness. This can be improved on by constant flexing of muscles and stretching during a game and via a series of drills in training.
Progression: I will plan out a workout involving one of the seven aspects listed above. I will then move onto the next aspect the next day and so on covering all 7 aspects within a week. The next week I will do the same, however I will change the workouts slightly making them a little harder and more pressurizing week by week. The body will take time to adapt to the changes therefore the changes made will have to be gradual. If the changes are too much (e.g. One week I run 100m the next I run 1000m) then my body will not be able to progress and the new task will be a burden. However, changes will have to be made otherwise the body will get suited to a task and complete it easily and will therefore not progress further. This is plateauing and can be prevented from continuous gradual changes in the workouts.
Overload: In order to successfully gain fitness and improve the aspects listed above, I will need to overload the body by making it work harder than usual. However I will not overload it too much as this can be dangerous as this can lead to injuries.
Reversibility: I will plan a workout for every day of each of the 6 weeks so as to not let my body weaken and get tired to easily due to time off from regular training.
Tedium: I will plan out workouts that are not too long so as to overload the body with too much exercise that can lead to injuries. Also even if injuries are not sustained, the length of each training session should be of a suitable length so as not to be tedious and/or boring. This is because tiredness and boredom can lead to less effort being put into the training session therefore getting a bad result. Therefore a time length for an average training session would be around 20 minutes.
F.I.T.T.:
Frequency: A training session will be taking everyday of length of about 20 minutes making 140 minuets
(2 hours 20 minutes) a week and 840 minutes (14 hours) for the whole 6 week period.
Intensity: I will plan out the workout sessions to be challenging for myself and will progress the difficulty level as the weeks progress (each week the task will get more pressurizing and difficult). However I will build up the exercises gradually as to not overload myself with too much to do as this can be tedious and dangerous.
Time: Each workout training session will be about 20 minutes long depending on the exercise being carried out.
Type: There will be seven different types of training sessions which will be carried out over a week, therefore one session a day covering all 7 in a week. The next week will have the same workouts but with more intensity and so on for the next week etc.
I have also worked out the training threshold for myself. I will need to use this when performing aerobic fitness exercises. The training threshold is the optimum heart beat value and should be used for aerobic fitness where the trainee would still be able to hold light conversation and produce a good level of sweat. The training threshold for me would be:
220 - 15 = 205 > 205 x 0.75 = 153 beats per minute
Below are the training sessions for each week for each of the seven aspects of personnel fitness for the sport of cricket that I will be concentrating on for my PEP:
AEROBIC FITNESS
WEEK 1
I will start off by running (using training threshold) 250m. I will then take a 30 second rest and run the 250m distance again.
WEEK 2
I will start off by running (using training threshold) 250m. I will then take a 30 second rest and then repeat the run 3 times (4 times in total).
WEEK 3
I will start off by running (using training threshold) 500m. I will then repeat this run but with a 45 second rest in between the two runs.
WEEK 4
I will start off by running (using training threshold) 500m. I will then take a 45 second rest and then repeat the run 3 times (4 times in total).
WEEK 5
I will cycle (using training threshold) 1km with a minute rest half way through at 500m.
WEEK 6
I will cycle (using training threshold) 1.5km with a minute rest at 500m and 1km.
AGILITY
WEEK 1
I will flex some of my muscles such as: Hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors, groin and then do a 50m sprint (flat out), take a 30 second break and then flex the same muscles again.
WEEK 2
I will flex some of my muscles such as: Hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors, groin, heel, calf, and then do a 75m sprint (flat out), take a 30 second break and then flex the same muscles again.
WEEK 3
I will flex some of my muscles such as: Pectoralis, posterior deltoids, scapular muscles, and then do a 50m sprint (flat out), take a 30 second break and then flex the same muscles again.
WEEK 4
I will flex some of my muscles such as: Pectoralis, posterior deltoids, scapular muscles, and then do a 50m sprint (flat out), take a 30 second break and then flex the same muscles again.
WEEK 5
WEEK 6
Evaluation:
Week 1:
The task set this week was simple. It was not too hard and pressurising and I successfully completed it everyday of the week. The task got easier throughout the week as my muscles got adapted to the training more and more. The task was not as easy as I thought it would be at first, however as I progressed through the week it became less taxing. The run was harder the second time round as my legs were more tired (not a lot) than they were before the first run.
The 100m run is a good length. It is not a hard length to run and is not too short a length to run for the purposes of this exercise programme. The walk back after the first run was good as it provided a short rest period before the second race. If the rest period would have not been available then I would be running 200m flat out which would have been harder than 100m. This is because the longer distances, the longer the time spent running anaerobically therefore more build up of lactic acid in the muscles used.
Next week will be the same; however the number of repeats will be 4 instead of 1. That will be more of a challenge as I feel that lactic acid may build up in my muscles.
Week 2:
The task for this week was similar to the task set for the previous week. It involved running 100m again but this time 5 times instead of the 2 times done last week. After last week the 100m did not look to taxing. However after doing it 4 times, the 5 time the run is very taxing and hard. After 4 runs the 30 second slow walk back is not enough time to get rid of any lactic acid in the muscles that has built up from the anaerobic sprinting. This build up of lactic acid meant that the 4th and 5th runs were painful and tiring.
The task was not easy however as the week progressed my body got more used to the challenge and it became a little easier.
I feel that the workout was good because it was pressuring, but not too much as it was completed successfully. I would not change it as it tested my speed to see how long it lasted aswell as my stamina.
Week 3:
The task this week was much harder than the tasks for the previous two weeks. This is because the distance was increased from 100m to 150m. I found that running 150m flat out was very hard and I ended up slowing down considerably towards the end of the run which meant that I was not running flat out for a part of the race. This is because lactic acid was building up in my muscles which was painful and therefore stopped my muscles from working as efficiently as they were at the beginning of the run. This is why I then for the second day of the week and onwards I practiced on running a high speed that I could maintain (more or less) for the whole run. I turned the workout aim into finding the highest speed I can maintain for the 150m run.
I enjoyed this as it was a different challenge to what I had been doing for the past two weeks as it did not involve me running flat out for 100m.
Week 4:
The task for this week was again similar to that of the previous week but this time with the exception of running down and up hill with rest periods in-between each run. Running down a hill was easy and it made me run faster due to the pull of gravity. The rest period was good aswell as it let me fully recover from the previous run and get ready for the next run. The 100m run uphill was harder than the run downhill as I running away in the opposite direction to the pull of gravity.