Time – Each gym session will last one hour. Playing five a side football will last two hours. Playing gaelic football will last two hours and doing sit ups and stretches will take varying amounts of time.
Type – Doing exercise in the gym will raise my pulse rate into the target zone and keep it there for about 30 minutes. The warm up phase will last 10 minutes and the cool down phase will last 10 to 15 minutes with the rest of the time being allowed for changeover between activities. The two sessions of football will have time that is allocated for a warm up and a warm down, with the rest of the time being used to keep my pulse rate in the target zone.
The SPORT Principle
S – Specificity
P – Progression
O – Overload
R – Reversibility
T – Tedium
Specificity – I will be working specifically to improve my stamina level. I will also conduct exercises which will benefit my stamina, but will also be directly linked to my specific sport, which is football.
Progression – In each session of exercise, I will start off slowly and gradually increase the rate I am working at.
Overload – I will train hard enough so that my stamina level will increase. Each session will last for a suitable amount of time and I will also train regularly.
Reversibility – This means that any changes that occur as a result of training will reverse if I stop training. To prevent the changes that occur reversing, I will continue to train at a suitable level to maintain and even increase my stamina level in the future.
Tedium – I will prevent myself becoming bored through varying different aspects of my exercise plan. I will also do exercise that will benefit my stamina, but will also be directly linked to my specific sport, which is football. This will make the exercise more enjoyable and more specific to my sport.
Aerobic or Anaerobic Exercise
To improve my stamina I will carry out aerobic exercise. This means that I am doing exercise with oxygen. This is because the exercise is not too fast and is steady, and the heart can supply all the oxygen the muscles need. This will help me to improve my stamina more than anaerobic exercise would. This is because I am not doing my exercise at high speed in which case I would use anaerobic exercise. This is because anaerobic exercise is doing short, fast bursts of speed, which I am not doing.
Doing aerobic exercise means that I will not produce lactic acid in my muscles. Lactic acid occurs when a person carries out anaerobic respiration and a lack of oxygen can lead to stiffness and cramp.
Aerobic training will help my circulatory and respiratory systems.
Circulation System
Doing aerobic training will make my body produce more red blood cells. This will mean I can transport more oxygen around my body. My arteries will get bigger and stretchier which will mean my blood pressure falls. More capillaries will form in my muscles so oxygen is delivered more efficiently. The walls of my heart will get thicker and the heart in general will get bigger (as it is a muscle and as muscles are developed they get bigger.) This will mean that I will have a bigger stroke volume, and so my heart can beat more slowly, yet still pump the same amount of blood. After exercising, my heart rate will fall to its resting level more quickly.
Respiratory System
My diaphragm and intercostal muscles will get stronger, meaning that my chest cavity will become larger. With a larger chest cavity I will be able to breathe more air in, so my vital capacity increases. More capillaries will grow around the alveoli so more carbon dioxide can be swapped at any time. Because gas exchange will be quicker, I will be able to keep up vigorous exercise for longer, meaning that my stamina will increase.
Circulatory System
Cardiovascular fitness is the ability to exercise the body for long periods of time. It requires a strong heart and clear blood vessels to supply the muscles with plenty of oxygen via the blood.
I am looking to improve my stamina. As a result of this, my cardiovascular fitness will also be increased, as my heart will become stronger and be able to pump more blood out of the heart.
Through increasing my cardiovascular fitness, my stroke volume will also be increased. Stroke volume is the amount of blood pumped by the heart per beat. As my heart becomes stronger, it will be able to pump more blood out of the heart per beat.
As a result of my stroke volume increasing, my cardiac output will also increase. This is because the cardiac output is measured by multiplying the stroke volume and the heart rate.
Breathing
How much we breathe
When we are resting, we breathe about 21 times per minute and take in about half a litre of air with each breath. When we exercise, we breathe more often and take in more air each time, as more oxygen is required to give muscles energy. When we undertake vigorous exercise, we may breathe more deeply or pant, but there should be no wheezing or bubbling sounds.
Regular exercise increases our lung capacity and enables us to take in more oxygen with each breath.
This will mean that my stamina will increase as a result of training.
Tidal Volume – The amount of air inspired and expired with each normal breath at rest or during exercise.
Vital Capacity – The largest amount of air that can be made to pass into and out of the lungs by the most forceful inspiration and expiration.
As a result of doing exercise, my tidal volume and vital capacity will be increased.
What Training Method will I use?
The answer to this question is continuous training.
Continuous training means working for a prolonged period of time at a steady stress level, but below maximum effort. Continuous training involves exercising at a constant rate doing activities like running or cycling. It usually means exercising at 60-90% of VO2 Max for an hour or more.
Advantages
- Needs only a small amount of easy-to-use equipment.
- Good for aerobic fitness and using up body fat.
Disadvantages
- Can be boring.
- Doesn’t improve sprinting, so may not be ideal for football.
Overload is achieved in continuous training by increasing the duration, distance, speed or frequency of training. Over the six weeks I will increase the frequency of my training to four times a week. I will change the speed of the treadmill whilst I am running. I will also increase the length of time I swim after each gym session as the week’s progress.
Circuit Training
Circuit training uses loads of different exercises. Each circuit has eight stations in it. At each station I will do a specific exercise for a set amount of time before moving to the next station. I will have a short rest between stations.
Advantages
- Less boring because the exercises are all different.
- Easily adaptable, can be done indoors and outdoors.
- It can include weight training and aerobic exercise, so improves more areas than one.
Disadvantages
- Can be awkward to set it up.
Overload is achieved by doing more repetitions at each station, by completing the circuit more quickly, resting less between stations, or by repeating the circuit.
I will conduct a football circuit as an additional exercise activity from week four onwards as my stamina will have improved by then, and I will be able to cope with the extra activity.