How much should we eat?
A balanced, health diet for an active person should be made up of:
60-70 per cent carbohydrate
20-30 per cent fat
12-15 per cent protein
Plus an adequate supply of vitamins and minerals from whole some diets.
My average diet
Breakfast: milk .800kj
cereal.1624kj
Hot Chocolate 695kj
Lunch: Drink 160kj
Pasta + Sauce 1527kj
Dinner: vegetable 100kj
Soft drink 160kj
Red meat 1330kj
Fruit 350kj
Ice cream 720kj
Total .7466kj
Organization
Appropriate clothing should be worn for the best results. This may include a pair of shorts, T-shirt, socks. But almost certainly you must select the appropriate foot ware. This can be a pair of trainers suited to running which give plenty of support to the ankles and a good bridge between sole and floor. It is important to keep your clothing in good condition. In cold conditions it is advisable to cover all muscle groups. This improves muscle efficiency.
Jewellery should not be worn during exercise because of the risks undertaken. This might involve catching a piece of Jewellery on the equipment further resulting in a serious injury.
Hair should also be in the appropriate tied position if long, to minimize the risk of it becoming a hazard to yourself and others.
You should follow a good warm up procedure to avoid injury during training and a detailed cool down, to return your heart rate to normal. This should include a variety of stretches for all muscle.
Courses
- Circuit training – lower and upper body strength, and stamina
1. Push Ups 2. Squats
3. Star jumps 4. Alternate squats
5. Sit ups 6. Bench press
Circuit Training 2
This circuit would be specific to agility. Each part would improve my agility in my body. In effect, this would improve my game play around the court and I will find it easier to get around.
Fartlek Training
Serving Exercise
On this service exercise I must, firstly serve into Hoop 1, making sure my serve is low, after doing this a few times, I serve into Hoop 2, making sure my serve is high and I do this a few times. This exercise would help greatly with my serves.
Endurance and Overhead clearance practice
On this exercise I must have a partner. The red doughnuts symbolize cones. We start off with a rally, the I make an overhead shot and as soon as I do I run around the cone and come back to make another overhead shot and run around the cone again, by which this time my partner would have started to run as well around his cone. This exercise increases my ability to make overhead shots and also increases my endurance.
Drop shot
If I want to make a good drop shot I rally with my opponent making overhead shots, sending him/her to the back of the court and then I bluff an overhead shot and I drop shot him/her.
To do this you must do the motion of an overhead shot, but before you hit the shuttle cock you must do this action softly (see diagram above). I shall do this with a partner and this will increase my accuracy skills.
Also, to further increase my accuracy shots, I shall make shots to certain cones on the court with or without my partner. This will increase my accuracy yet again.
Warm Up
It is important to warm up as it would decrease the chances of injury. The warm ups below will be part of my warm up before my circuit and Fartlek training. Before warming up I will jog for about 5 mins whilst I side step with high knees and bum flicks.
Stretches
- Groin / Hip adductor stretch:
After finishing my lower body stretch, I jog for a couple of minutes, once again, doing side steps etc. I then do my upper body stretch.
Cool down
For a cool down I will jog for 5-10 minutes. I shall then stretch my muscles again for another 5-10 minutes, after this I will do side steps, high knees and bum flicks. This cool down is important as it reduces sore muscles after training or a match.
Week 1 & 2
The levels of training in week 1 and 2 will be not worked hard as it would get my body used to the timetable and would allow me to build up strength and endurance as it would slowly increase these rather than overload myself with too much of a high level.
For strength training in this week I will be doing the circuit training 1 with elements of fitness as shown on page 7 and 8. I will do as much as possible until I feel that I can no longer go on without pushing myself to an excessive point.
My practice match would be with my friend and we would probably play more than one match. This allows me to test my skills, accuracy and fitness levels from the beginning of my program to the end of my program. It also allows me to see if I have improved between weeks.
Agility training will consist of circuit training 2. At that moment in time, I will judge whether I can do all of these courses.
Football at school means that I will be playing football only at lunchtimes with my friends. This does improve my fitness levels.
I will not be doing endurance training these weeks as I will already be working my body enough through other training sessions which would also consist of endurance training.
P.E at school would consist of either weights and/or badminton. This would help with my program.
Football at school will also be with the school team, occasionally having matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays. They would consist of agility and endurance which would help me with my program.
Accuracy training will be at my local leisure centre where there is a sports hall with badminton courts after school for an hour. I will practice there with my partner for an hour after school.
I will be going to the gym for an hour either, doing circuit training when it is on Wednesdays, and rowing and or running machine on Saturdays. I will be only on the rowing machine on Saturdays as it would be too much for my body to take in only the first week.
Weeks 3 & 4
My endurance training will either be in the park, tracks or the gym. My Fartlek training will be either in the park or the tracks. I can do my endurance training in the gym on the running machine. I will run for as long as I can take.
For my strength training, I will be doing circuit training 1, but for a little bit longer than in weeks 1 and 2, this will allow my body to increase in work than in the other weeks because otherwise I will not be improving my strength.
My practice match with my friend will last a bit longer and I will be working at a harder rate. This also allows me to get used to playing fast and accurate for a long time during matches. Also I can see how much I have improved through week 1 and 2.
Agility will be the same as specified in weeks 1 and 2, but this time working faster and longer such as a minute and a half for each station.
Accuracy will be the same, but for longer so that I can get more practice in accuracy and gain high levels of this skill.
Football, once again, will also be with the school and with the friends, with matches on occasions.
I will also be training at the gym for longer on the rowing machine and will be taking part in the circuit training. This will increase my stamina and strength even more.
Weeks 5 & 6
During these weeks I will be doing more endurance training, still increasing my endurance levels.
For my strength training, I will be doing circuit training 1, but for a little bit longer than in weeks 4 and 5, this will allow my body to increase in work than in the other weeks because otherwise I will not be improving my levels of strength.
My practice match with my friend will last a bit longer and I will be working at a harder rate. This also allows me to get used to playing fast and accurate for a long time during matches. Also I can see how much I have improved through the other weeks.
Agility will be the same as specified in weeks 1 and 2, but this time working faster and longer such as two minutes for each station.
Accuracy will be the same, but for longer so that I can get more practice in accuracy and gain high levels of this skill.
Football, once again, will also be with the school and with the friends, with matches on occasions.
I will also be training at the gym for longer on the rowing machine and will be taking part in the circuit training. This will increase my stamina and strength even more.
Analysis
Week 1
Sunday
Strength Training
The circuit training lasted about 10 minutes in all. I did one minute per station and had about thirty seconds rest. I did not manage to do the punching bag station because near the end I felt that my arms were too tired to do it, so I missed it out. I did not manage to complete the bench press or the triceps dips as I became too tired. I was quite exhausted after this exercise and feel that I should not do any longer in this circuit training next time. I recovered within a couple of minutes and felt fine; however my arms were aching a bit.
Practice match
As class Badminton matches, my partner and I played best of three games, 15 points per game. I felt that I was lacking quite a bit of accuracy. My smashes were ineffective as my opponent was able to get to them. My serves were very poor as I gave away many points due them. My backhands were good and helped me with my game. I became fairly tired half way through the match. My partner beat me in a narrow match – 2 games to 1. I feel that I could have won and that my worst part of my game was my serves.
Agility Training
Due to my injury; Osgood Schlatters, I was only able to do about a couple of these stations in circuit training 2. I did the first and second a few times each and could not go on. However, I did start well, but decreasing in time as my knees hurt. In the second section I did not get very quick times as my knees were starting to really hurt. I did not complete the circuit training as I did not want to injure myself any more than I already was.
Monday
The hour of football at my school was spent messing around; however it did involve a lot of running. This would have helped with my endurance.
Accuracy training
The match, the day before, helped me realize what I needed to spend more time on. These were my serves. So I spent approximately 15 minutes practicing serves. I did not get many in the hoops, but I did get a couple. I feel that this did help a lot with the accuracy of my serves.
Tuesday
Agility training
I spent my time doing the other stations I did not complete on Sunday. This is because it would vary the muscles used in the movements involved in these different stations. My times were fairly fast and my knee injury did not effect my times, as I did not feel it yet. However, just as I did my last one on the station 4, my knee did begin to complain so I stopped.
Wednesday
Strength training
The circuit training lasted, once again, about 10 minutes in all. I did one minute per station and had about thirty seconds rest. I did not manage to do the punching bag station as I thought that I would need to progress and not let my body take in too much work and effort, otherwise I can not progress. I did not manage to complete the bench press or the triceps dips as I became too tired. I was quite exhausted again after this exercise and feel that I should only increase the amount of time spent at each station a little bit in a fortnight. I recovered within a couple of minutes and felt fine; however my arms were aching.
Thursday
Accuracy training
This day, I spent my time working on my overhead clearances. This would allow me to put my opponent to the back of the court in matches. This would improve my game play and makes it easier to beat my opponent more effectively. I did fairly well, but I noticed that I was missing a bit of power behind my shots.
Friday
Accuracy training
I spent equal amounts of time on my serves and overhead clearances. These are my greatest flaws in badminton. 7 minutes at each meant that I can improve on both, at the same levels of accuracy.
Strength training
I spent this time at only four stations because I was doing three exercise courses, and so I did not want to tire myself too much. I did the full 1 minute at each station. I did each one well and to full effect.
Agility training
I did not do this because of my injury. I spent my time doing the accuracy and strength training which meant that my knee injury could not take any more, or it would hurt even more the next course I’d take.
Saturday
Strength training
Once again I did full minutes for each station except the bench press and triceps dips as it was too tiring. The punch bag was not included as it would allow me to progress in the future.
Gym – Rowing machine
I did fairly well on the rowing machine. 1500 meters in 10 minutes. My injury did not hurt at all during this process. I also had time to do a bit of running which would improve my endurance levels. However, I did not record my pulse rate because I forgot to do so. I ran 1.3km in 10 mins at quite a fast rate of running. I was quite exhausted after this run and do not plan to run further than that in that much amount of time.
Week 2
Sunday
Agility training
On this day my injury was particularly hurting. Because of this I did not do my agility training, except, all I did was rest and give a rest to my injury for the match ahead.
Practice match
This match went well considering I was injured. I managed to beat my partner in a narrow match. The first game was my best performance of the day. Most of my serves were precise and very effective and so were my clearances. Once again, my smashes were not up at the high level as my serves. However, during the second and third games, I became more and more tired, meaning my shots were a lot less powerful. He almost won the second game, if it were not for my speed around the court. The worst part of my performance would have to be the drop-shot and smashes. I shall improve on these later on in the program.
Accuracy training
I wanted to further improve my overhead clearances and serves so I spent seven minutes on each one. This session went well and, in comparison with the serving and clearances done before, I have got a lot more in the hoops and my clearances have gone further.
Monday
Strength training
I did 1 minute for each one, except triceps dips and the punch bag because my arms were still sore from the day before. I also only did approximately 30 seconds doing the bench press, also due to sore arms. I feel I should not push myself too much like this because now I am more prone to injury.
Tuesday
Accuracy training
I spent this time on a very important aspect of badminton-my serves. To really do well in matches, serves must be at a high level and so I really wanted to excel on this. Through this course I can see that I am slowly improving in my serves.
Wednesday
Agility training
To further rest my knee I did not do agility training as it is the worst course in my program for my knee. So instead, I just rested.
Thursday
Accuracy training
I did ten minutes of serving practice which will be useful for my matches against my partner in the future. This was done well and many landed in the hoops. However, I was having trouble landing the shuttles in the hoops close to the net.
Friday
Accuracy training
On this day I spent my time doing clearances as I had spent so much time practicing my serves. This was done well and the rally went on for a while. This was also an endurance booster for me so I can last longer in matches.
Agility
Once again, I needed to rest my knee and nor push it too far, so all I could do was clearance practice.
Saturday
Strength training
As usual, I spent 1 minute on all of the stations except the bench press and the triceps dip. This was because I am not strong enough to do this type of strength enhancer for so long. So, for this I shall improve later on. I felt that this session went well and that I improved my strength and muscle endurance.
Gym – Rowing machine
The rowing machine strengthens my legs meaning more power behind my shots and longer lasting muscle endurance. I did not do as well as the week before, getting 100m less, and 0.4km less on the running machine. However, my injury was preventing me from running quickly, but I can not feel it enough on the rowing machine to slow me down.
Week 3
Sunday
Strength training
In comparison with last week, I have greatly improved because of my full 1 minute session on the bench press in which I was not able to complete in the pass. This shows that I am slowly progressing and improving in strength stamina and power in the arms and shoulders.
Practice match
This day was my worst performance yet. It felt like I had no control of where I hit the shuttlecock. My partner’s serves were almost too good and my clearances were not good enough as it went short from the back of the court, allowing him to smash it. Although I came close to winning a couple of games, my injury did permit me from running around the court at high speeds with high agility levels. I would need to improve on agility and clearances.
Monday
Accuracy
I spent equal amount of time on both clearances and serves. It went well and my clearances improved a bit during this course.
Tuesday
Strength training
I have yet improved more than on Sunday as I have done longer on the triceps dip. This shows I am still improving in strength and so I am considering in bringing in the punching bag in future courses.
Wednesday
Gym circuit training
This is like my circuit training, but some more stations as my local gym has better equipment than I do. I did fairly well in this, going for as long as possible at each station. This improved my strength greatly as I could last longer on certain stations than before.
Thursday
Endurance training-Fartlek
This is the first session on my endurance. This is because all my other courses involve a lot of endurance, so I will add endurance to progress from that level of fitness. My pulse rate before running was 72bmp. I ran 3 laps and my pulse rate was 121bmp. I recovered to my normal rate after 3 minutes. I have recorded these so that I can compare if my endurance has improved over a period of time
Friday
Accuracy training
I spent ten minutes on the accuracy of my serving. I felt that I was doing very well as I got many serves in the targeted areas. Because of this I feel that I am excelling in my serving.
Agility training
I felt that have left agility for long enough due to my injury so, I tried it again, but this time just once at each station just so that I do not push my knee too far. I was fairly quick around the stations, but I would still need to improve on my agility if I want to be effectively quick around the badminton court.
Saturday
Strength training
I managed to do the full one minute at each station. This shows that I am still progressing in strength and so I may add the punch bag in the next session.
Gym – Rowing machine
I was disappointed with my score seeing as I had got further in the first week of rowing. I put it down to lack of muscle endurance. However, my respiratory endurance was very good as I ran further than the second week, but less than the first week. This shows that my body was getting used to the amount of work I was doing so, I decreased in endurance levels until I started to get used to it and so I began to increase in fitness levels. If I carry on at the same rate, but just a little bit harder then I will progress.
Week 4
Sunday
Agility training
This time I still only did one lap at each station. Overall, I did improve in time at each station except one. Due to previous results I can see that I am improving in my agility.
Practice match
This match was very close. My serving accuracy was very good and so were my clearances. My worst parts were my drop shots and yet again my smashes were not as effective enough to have won the game. If I could improve on these parts then I have a very good chance of beating my partner.
Accuracy training
I spent my time doing serving, clearance and drop shot practice. I could not practice my smashes as I needed a partner and he was not present at that time. I managed to improve on all these skills especially my drop shots. This would greatly help when playing matches of a higher level.
Monday
Strength training
I put in another station of punching bag. This would further increase the strength in my arms and shoulder, helping me to improve in many aspects of playing badminton, such as smash shots and clearances. I managed to do the full 1 minute effectively at each station. However, I shall not be adding any more stations as I am still progressing.
Tuesday
Agility training
I needed to further improve my agility so I did two laps at each station. Some of my times were not as good as Monday, but I did improve on two stations. This shows that I am slowly progressing and improving in my agility which is very important in badminton.
Wednesday
Gym – Circuit training
I did fairly well at this, going for as long as possible at each station which was around a minute to a minute and a half. This improved my strength greatly as I could last longer on certain stations than before and with the right equipment it further allowed me to train on some muscles I can not use on my own circuit training course.
Thursday
Endurance training
I could see from the match on Sunday that I needed to improve on my endurance yet even more. My pulse rate went fairly high whilst I was running on the treadmill at my local gym (because the weather was not nice). Also my recovery rate was no different to that the last time I did endurance training. This means that my body is getting used to the course and should improve later on.
Friday
Accuracy training
I spent this time wisely and improving greatly on my accuracy shots which included drop shots and powerful shots to certain places on the court, also smash shots. I did improve a bit on smashes, getting the hang of it near the end, also my accuracy shots were improving as too my drop shots. This shows that I am improving in my skills. I spent twenty minutes on this because I would have usually spent fifteen minutes on two skills, so, in order to not reverse my levels of fitness and skills.
Saturday
Strength training
I needed to improve yet even more so I spent longer at each station. I managed to complete some stations, but not others. This shows that there is still room for improvement.
Gym – Rowing machine
I improved all round (running and rowing machine) from the first week, however I have not improved enough on the rowing machine, but it shows that I am slowly improving and that my body is getting used to it.
Week 5
Sunday
Strength training
I did not do this session because I forgot about it.
Practice match
I managed to win this match, but only just. However my key points were my drop shots. I am slowly understanding on how to do it and now I can see that it is very effective in a match. My worst points were my smashes as I kept hitting it into the net. I will practice more on it to improve yet again.
Monday
Accuracy training
I spent my time on all skills. I seem to be slowly improving my accuracy shots and my serves are getting very effective and dangerous for the opponent.
Tuesday
Practice match
My partner and I were too busy to do a match on this day so I spent the rest of the day resting.
Wednesday
Circuit training
I did not go to the gym as I went out with a couple of friends. This means that I am either reversing my levels of strength, as I have not done strength training for a while, or they are not reversing as the time for it to reverse has to be longer.
Thursday
Endurance training – Fartlek
My pulse rate was lower and so was my recovery time. I did this in my local gym. This shows that I am finally improving in endurance levels.
Friday
Accuracy training
I did serving practice and accuracy shots. I am increasing the difficulty in my serving practices, whereas I am keeping my accuracy shots easy until I find it unchallenging, and so then I will increase the difficulty. This means that I am increasing in serving skills.
Strength training
I only spent one minute at each station because I was already doing a lot of courses that evening. I completed each station which means that I am increasing in muscle endurance and strength.
Agility training
Again, I only did one lap of each station because of the amount of exercise I was doing that evening. However, considering I was quite tired, I managed to beat each time which shows the increasing level of agility and endurance.
Saturday
Gym – Rowing machine
I am increasing slowly in the length in which I row in ten minutes. Also I am running further. The increase in strength and endurance is the cause of this.
Week 6
Sunday
Agility training
I did two laps each although I should have done more. This is because my knee was playing up again. My timings were average and nothing really improved. This was due to my injury.
Practice match
My accuracy training really helped me win this match. I played really well beating my partner in straight games. My best skills were my accuracy shots where I made my partner run in all direction on the court; this tired him and so gave me the advantage. My serves were excellent as too my clearances due to the strength in which I adapted through my circuit training.
Accuracy training
I did all my skill courses as I wanted to further improve them. This also allowed me to further progress them.
Monday
Endurance training – Fartlek
My heart rate was yet lower than before just after I finished the course. My recovery rate was also lower showing that I have and still am improving in fitness.
Tuesday
Strength training
I managed to spend longer than before at each station which yet again shows that I am still improving.
Wednesday
Gym – Circuit training
I felt particularly tired before this and did not manage too well at each station. I may have pushed myself too hard during this week.
Friday
Accuracy training
I did a little bit on this day just doing smash shots with my partner. This is my only real weakness in badminton now so I need to improve on it.
Saturday
Gym – Rowing machine
I did very well with getting over 2000 meters in ten minutes and very far running in 10 minutes. This is excellent in terms of my endurance levels.
Evaluation
At the start of my program I tried to limit my amount of work. His was because I did not want to overload my body with a lot of work otherwise I would not progress. In the first week I did mainly strength training as I thought my shots weren’t powerful enough. Through the week my muscles began to get used to the course and so they slowly started to build up strength and muscle endurance. Then through the next week I kept the sessions the same, not adding any other stations, which allowed to progress upon the stations I already had. This was good as it allowed to me get my strength levels to the level of the circuit training. I also did this through week 3 as I was not really improving; this was also a good idea because I didn’t want to overload my body. Through week 4 I began to increase in strength and muscle endurance, so the week after I added on another station to keep increasing my strength. This worked well and when I was able to complete all these stations, I increased the time for each one which also a good thing to do as I do not want to reverse my strength by doing the same level of work. I increased my strength yet even more by going to the gym and using the circuit training course. This was a good idea at first, but I feel that it may have been a bit strenuous on me at first, but then I got used to it and used the equipment to full effect. This was a very good idea to use this in my program as I did improve in strength and my shots were a lot more powerful.
My injury (Osgood Schlatters) caused me to do less agility training than I would have liked. Agility is an important aspect of playing badminton well and I felt that my agility was not that good. However, I managed to do a bit of it, very slowly increasing agility through the first week. The week after I could not do it as I did not want to permanently injure my knee and resting it was the best option. I decided to keep the agility training to one lap each station as it allowed me to increase in agility whilst my knee injury did not get worse. My times were rather slow in the third week due to my injury and so I did well in deciding to do only a little bit. When my injury started getting better again, I decided to do two laps for each station in which I feel was not a good idea as my knee did begin to get sore again, but I carried on as I needed to gain a higher level in agility. I kept increasing the amount I did throughout the program which allowed me to improve without injuring myself. I would make these sessions longer if I did not have any injuries in future programs.
My first match of this program showed me what I needed to improve on and so helped me figure out what accuracy training needed to be done. Each match I played helped me with what was needed to be improved which was good otherwise I would not know what course of accuracy I would have needed to do. I would include this in future programs.
Accuracy training was done to the wrong amount of time. I should have done longer in the beginning and even longer later on in the program, except I just kept the same amount of time, only increasing it slightly for each skill. What I should have done was that I should have kept the time for one skill for longer than fifteen minutes and increase each one every fortnight. This would allow me to do more of this skill for longer, making me learn on how to do it better. However, the consistency of changing skill practices meant that I could improve each skill equally and meant that I did not lose interest. If I were to do things differently, I would make the sessions longer.
Using the gym for their equipment was a good idea as it allowed me to vary the muscles used in my circuit training. Using the rowing machine meant that I could build up strength in my legs making me last longer on the court and my shots became a lot more powerful too. The running machine allowed me to improve my endurance, and at first it was making me, but then I began to improve. This is progression and so it worked well for me. If I were to make another training program I would have included this in the beginning instead of my circuit training as I would include that near the end. This means I would increase my strength in a different way near the end of the program, increasing the level of strength a bit less dramatic rise in the level of work.
My endurance levels were fairly low at the beginning of the program and so I improved it through all of my courses. Agility, strength and accuracy training increased it so I only included endurance (Fartlek) training after. This was an excellent idea because otherwise I would have done too much work and my body may not have coped with the amount of work. This worked well for me and I did eventually begin to increase in endurance. If I was to make another training program, I would have included a tiny bit of endurance training in the begging, slowly increasing it later on.
Overall, my training program was a great success as I did beat my partner by quite a lot. This shows that my program made me progress in strength, endurance and accuracy. However, I was not able to improve greatly on my agility as I was injured, but according to the scores against my opponent, I felt that I have still increased slightly. Tedium was greatly used in this program as I kept changing accuracy courses and I went to the gym. This kept me interested in my program. My constant exercise meant that I did not reverse my fitness and so I did perform well in doing most of the sessions. I did not overload my body with too much work especially at the beginning which allowed me to improve throughout the program. This was performed very well as I stopped whenever I could not do any more.
My program was kept closely related to the principles of fitness and this did make it very successful in making me a lot better and fitter in badminton.