As the body adapts to training it progresses to a higher levels of fitness, this is called progression. Progression is achieved by gradual increase in intensity. If you build up the stress to quickly, you risk injury or could find the challenge to hard and give up. Most progress is made in the early stages of your training. As you get fitter, it becomes harder to continue at the same rate of progress. When this happens, you reach a plateau. To continue to improve your fitness you have to overload your circuit. When I’m doing my training I will remember that I will progress less after a few weeks of the circuit, this will help me not to lose my motivation as improving fitness becomes more challenging. Once I reach a plateau I will create an overload.
To overload you have to raise your training to a higher level than normal to create the extra demands to which your body will adapt. You can overload your circuit in three ways, using the acronym F.I.T., frequency, intensity and time. You increase the frequency by training more often a week or doing more repetitions of each exercise. To increase the intensity, for example, you can run faster or lift heavier weights. To create extra demands you can also increase the duration of your training. I will overload my circuit using these three ways. For my muscular strength exercises, I will increase the repetitions and lift heavier weights. For my stamina drills I will increase the duration and for speed and agility stations on my circuit I will increase the reps.
All improvements in fitness through exercise are reversible. The effects of your training can deteriorate after a week. This deterioration happens if exercise is reduced in intensity or completely stopped. Strength and speed is gradually lost with muscles losing their tone and size. In many cases when reversibility happens, muscle can turn into fat.
Your training must be interesting to avoid tedium. Interest must be kept up to avoid losing motivation and becoming bored. I am going to do this by working opposing muscle groups at each station and having interesting skills exercises in my circuit.
My Circuit
This diagram shows each station and the order which I will do them in. I have put my stations in this order so that high intesity exercises (strength, stamina, speed) are broken up by low intesity exercises (agility and skills). This should allow my body to recover from the high intesity exercises, so I can avoid tiredness. I have also designed my circuit so that I don’t work the same fitness factors twice in a row.
Explanation of exercises
My exercises were designed to work on one of these 4 fitness factors: explosive muscular strength, agility, speed and stamina. Some exercises worked on two of these fitness factors. All the exercises, except one, worked on these 3 muscles: gastrocnemius, hamstrings and quadraceptiles. I could tell that these muscles were being worked on because they were more tired than any other muscles in my body. My explosive muscular strength exercises were squat thrusts and step-ups. They worked on strength because I had to lift more than my body weight, as I used weights during these exercises. They worked on explosive muscular strength because the exercises required short, sharp repetitions of movement. My stamina exercises were skipping and shuttle runs. They involved working at maximum effort for a certain period of time. This helped my stamina by preparing the body for long periods of exercise. My agility exercises were the compass run and dribbling skills exercise. For these exercises I had to be fast and on my toes. My agility improved because I had to continually make short, sharp turns. My speed exercises were the sprints and the shooting skill exercise. These exercises needed short, sharp bursts of speed. This improved my speed because my sprinting technique improved and due to the fact that my body adapted to the demands of sprinting by strengthening muscles.
Circuit Training Record Card
Summary of Results
This is my summary of all the results achieved during my 5 week training period.
In my sprints station, I measured my pulse rate at 140 bpm after 8 repetitions in the first week of training. After 5 weeks of training my pulse rate was still 140 bpm after doing the exercise, however, I had completed 13 repetitions. The first time I did my compass run station I measured 170 bpm after completing 8 repetitions. At the end of my training programme I had a pulse rate of 160 bpm after 11 repetitions. In week 1 of my dribbling skills station, I calculated my pulse rate at 140 bpm after 5 repetitions. 5 weeks later, my pulse rate was 140 bpm after 11 repetitions. The first week of doing my squat thrust exercise I did 30 repetitions, this exercise gave me a pulse rate of 160 bpm. My training programme enabled me too do 40 reps with 2 extra kilograms of weight at the same pulse rate of 160 bpm. In my skipping exercise I measured my pulse rate at 170 bpm after 40 seconds of skipping in week one of my training. In my final week of training, I did 1 minute 10 seconds of skipping, giving me a pulse rate of 150 bpm. At my shooting skills station I managed 6 repetitions to give me a pulse rate of 170 bpm in week one. In week 5 I did 11 reps, for a pulse rate of 160 bpm. The first time I did the step-ups exercise I performed 30 repetitions, which gave me a pulse rate of 180 bpm. After completing my training course, I did 40 reps with 2 kg extra of weight, giving me a pulse rate of 170 bpm. In week 1 of the shuttle run station, I measured my pulse rate 190 bpm after 1 minute 30 seconds of exercise. 5 weeks later, my pulse rate was 180, for 1 minute 45 seconds. Before starting the training I also took my resting pulse rate. I did this every week before starting my circuit. My resting pulse rate, before the first week of training, was 90 bpm. Before the final week of training, my resting pulse rate had improved to 80 bpm. The pulse rate taken straight after my training, called the post pulse rate, improved from 190 to 180 bpm, by the end of the training. My recovery pulse rate, taken 2 minutes after exercise, improved from 100 to 90 bpm. This shows that 2 minutes after exercise I was nearly back to my resting pulse rate. I think these results show that my exercises have made significant improvements to my pulse rate. The pulse rate is an indication of fitness, therefore I believe that my training programme has made me a fitter person.
Notes taken during Circuit training
Week 1
Squats are a muscular endurance exercise, I will change this to squat thrusts with weights.
Very tired after shuttle runs, I will set myself a lower target for next week.
Very tired after compass run, I will set myself a lower target for next week.
I will change the order of my circuit because I was very tired after exercise 6 and this affected my last two exercises
Did an average amount of sport (see introduction) in the week before I did this circuit.
Week 2
I will change doing football skills against a wall and design a new exercise which will help improve speed, shooting abilities and ball control. I don’t think my current skills activity helps me improve any of these.
I reached my targets in all my exercises.
I could have gone on for longer in the skipping, I will set a tougher target for next week.
All other exercises were at about the right intensity.
Played 3 football matches the week before I did this circuit.
Week 3
Slight ankle injury, which affected performances in the sprints, shuttle runs, shooting skill exercise and the compass run. I didn’t reach my targets in any of these exercises.
I’m going to add more weights to my strength exercises so that I won’t have to increase the reps again. If I increase the reps to 45 than it will take a longer distance of time and become more of a stamina exercise than a strength exercise.
Did less than average amount of sport the week before the circuit because of slight injury.
Week 4
Set too tough a target in skipping and couldn’t reach it. I also did this in the shooting skills activity and compass run
Reached targets in all other exercises.
Had to rest ankle injury in the week prior to this circuit and did no exercise which affected my fitness slightly.
Week 5
Targets reached in all exercises.
Could have done more in the compass run and the sprints.
Played 3 football matches during the last week, which helped to build up fitness again after ankle injury.
Evaluation
Before and after my circuit I carried out some tests. This table shows the results of my tests.
These fitness tests show that I have improved in all the fitness factors that I set out to progress in. My test results in stamina, explosive muscular strength, agility, speed and co-ordination have all improved. My Bleep Test score has improve by half a level and in the explosive muscular strength test I jumped 10cm further than the pre-circuit test. I knocked a third of a second off my time in both the speed and agility test, after completing the circuit training. I caught a tennis ball 5 times more in my post-circuit tests than in my pre-circuit tests, this shows that I have achieved my goal of improving co-ordination. My body fat percentage and flexibility stayed the same. I think this happened because none of my training was specific to those fitness factors. In the dynamic muscular strength and balance tests I got lower scores, however, they were only lower by negligible amounts, therefore I don’t believe that my circuit dramatically affected these skills. I made slight improvements in static strength, this perhaps could have been as a result of strengthening my muscles in my explosive strength skills, although the improvement is very small. Overall I feel that I have achieved my goal of improving the fitness factors relevant to football, without affecting other fitness factor.
All the exercises in my circuit, I was capable of doing. However, I did occasionally set targets that were too high or too low for my ability. In the first week, I set targets that were too high, in the compass run and shuttle runs. Although I did achieve these targets I was extremely tired after completing them and this affected other results in my circuit. Week two was successful and all my exercises were at about the right level apart from the skipping, which was too easy target, as I didn’t feel tired after completing it. For week 3 I had an ankle injury, which hindered me in achieving the targets, I had set the week before in the sprints, shuttle runs, compass run and shooting skills. I don’t think the targets would have been too hard, had I been fully fit, unfortunately the injury I was carrying made it difficult to reach my target. In week 4 my targets were too tough in skipping a, shooting and the compass run. In week 5 I did not find any of the targets too tough but some were not challenging enough. These were the compass run and sprints. In all the instances in which the exercises did not suit my ability, I altered them successfully the next week. Apart from the instances listed above, the exercises matched my ability and this meant that I could make significant improvements in the relative fitness factors.
My circuit was well planned. I knew exactly when and where each exercise was going to be set out because I had a trial run, to test out all my stations. I also knew what equipment I needed and how to set it up after this trial run. I did, however, have to make changes to the order I did my exercises in, after the first week. This was because, from stations 3-6, I had very intensive exercises which tired me out and where less enjoyable than others. I felt that this made the circuit training less fun and made it harder to keep motivation. I moved my two skills exercises, which are less intensive and more fun, to the 3rd and 6th stations, so that I never had more than two more intensive stations in a row.
I think that I applied all the principles of training in my circuit well. My training was specific to football because the skills exercises worked on ball control shooting and dribbling which are all essential for improving football ability. However, I should have included more passing skills in my skills station because this also essential for football. Another way in which my circuit was specific to football was that all my exercises worked on the key fitness factors (agility, speed, stamina, explosive strength) needed in football.
I progressed in my training by gradually increasing the intensity every week. In some instances I increased intensity too much or sometimes too little, this did hold back my progression but I learned from these mistakes and made sure that the intensity was appropriate for my ability. As you would expect, most of my progression was made in the early stages and, as my fitness improved, I found it harder to progress. To continue to progress I had to overload my training.
I overloaded my different stations by increasing either the intensity or the length of time spent on it. I increased the time on my stamina exercises, skipping and shuttle runs, because, for stamina to improve, you have to be exercising for longer. In my agility, speed and skills I increased the intensity of my exercise by doing more repetitions. In my explosive strength exercises I increased the weight I was lifting as well as the amount of repetitions. Heavier weights create a greater resistance against the body and this increases the intensity of you exercise.
The improvements my training made were reversible. When I suffered an ankle injury, I had to rest it, this stopped me from doing any sport for a week. My pulse rates for the next week were noticeably worse. I overcome this problem by doing extra training as soon as I was fully fit.
Whilst training, it is important to avoid tedium. If you don’t, you could become bored and lose motivation . I avoided tedium by splitting up my more intensive stations with my skills stations, which I found more enjoyable.
It was important to stay motivated, throughout my training so that I could achieve my targets. One of the reasons, for which I stayed motivated, was to achieve my goal so that I could become a better footballer. I knew if I continued to work hard at my training, my performances on the football pitch would improve. In the first week, I didn’t find my circuit fun and this was affecting my motivation. For the next week I changed the circuit sop that my skills exercises, which were more fun, were spread more evenly in my circuit. I would have had higher motivation, if some of my other exercises had been more enjoyable.
During the 5 weeks I made a few changes to my circuit for varying reasons. In week one I decided to change the order of my circuit because I was too tired after exercise 6 to perform well in my last two exercises. I also decided to change the order of my stations to make the training more enjoyable. The new circuit was designed so that I would never have more than two exercises in a row that weren’t skills stations. I did this because skills exercises are more fun and less intense. When I changed the order I also ensured that exercises that worked on the same fitness factor where as far apart as possible, for example, the explosive strength exercises where at stations four and seven. I also changed two exercises. The first of these were the squats, which I changed because I thought the exercise worked more on muscular endurance than explosive muscular strength. I changed the exercise to squat thrusts with weights. The second station that I changed was the football skills against a wall. My aim for this station was to improve ball control. I felt that this exercise was not helping improve ball control greatly and I decided to design an exercise that incorporated ball control, speed and shooting abilities. I was happy with the exercises that I had changed for the rest of the circuit, although my shooting skills could have been more enjoyable.
The circuit training helped me reach all the targets I set before beginning the training. I wanted to improve the power of my kicking, the strength of my tackling, the speed of my dribbling and my ability to work at the maximum of my potential throughout the match. I achieved all these aims, as my performances on the pitch improved. I also have facts to back this up. The power in my legs, which is needed for strong kicking and tackling, has been enhanced as my explosive strength test result shows. It is clear that my aim of being able to work harder throughout the period of a football match, has been achieved, as my stamina. This is shown by my bleep test result. The ability to dribble a football at speed, has got better because my agility and speed skills have improved. As my 50m sprint and Illinois Run results show. In conclusion, I can prove that my targets have been reached because of the pre-training and post-training results show.
My training was helped by the extra training that I do at home. I play a lot of football during a week, this helps all the fitness factors that I’m working on. The importance of other training that I did was shown, when, due to injury, I did no sport for a week. The pulse rates taken after my stations were higher, indicating a lower fitness, which affected the ability at which I could work on the stations.
If I was to design a year-long fitness programme I wouldn’t use the method of circuit training because I would like to exercise continually throughout the week, rather than just once every week. You can also spend more time on fitness factor by this method. I would still aim to work on the same 4 fitness factors. However, instead of doing shuttle runs for 1 and a half minutes to improve stamina, I would run for 30 minutes. I would also improve fitness by taking part in the sport itself. This way you work on the relevant fitness factors as well as the skills required in the sport.
If I did my circuit training again I would keep most things the same, however I would definitely make some changes. I would do the circuit twice a week, to make the effects more dramatic. I would add in another skills station, so that I could improve passing. Although I wouldn’t change any of the exercises, because I think they were all quite effective, I would add heavier weights to the strength training. I would also try to make the exercises more fun, so that I would keep up interest right through the training. Overall, though I was happy with how my fitness programme went.
