· Muscular Strength – the force your muscles exert when they contract. This is an important part of football as it is a contact sport and it is also very physical, goalkeepers need to be able to protect themselves and make sure they can’t get hurt by any of the other players when they are challenging for the ball. Also muscular strength is useful when throwing the ball out to a member of your team, good muscular strength in the abdominal muscles is required to throw the ball higher and further to reach a player that is a long distance away from the penalty area.
· Speed – the ability to perform a movement in a short period of time. This is essential in football, for example to be able to get to a through ball before the attacker does ands also for closing people down when through on goal.
· Agility – the ability to change direction quickly and control movements of the whole body. This is needed to be able to change direction quickly when the ball is switched from one side of the pitch to the other.
· Flexibility – the ability to stretch your body fully to catch a cross, make a full length dive, or to intercept a through ball.
· Cardiovascular Endurance – the ability of the heart, lungs and circulation to deliver oxygen and remove waste during exercise. This is essential for the player to keep a constant work rate throughout the match. This is hard to perform in a circuit, so it would be better to improve this by running long distances or cycling.
· Goalkeeping Skills – these range from being able to catch the ball without fumbling it, to being able to move quickly across your goals. Also I will be working on having quick feet as a keeper as this is essential for things such as moving into position quickly. There are two parts of my circuit that will concentrate on goalkeeping skills. Obviously there are some skills that I will not be able to include in my circuit like diving and taking goal kicks.
I feel that my level of fitness is fairly good. I do a lot of sports in my spare time and a lot of exercise to try and stay fit. However I have a couple of injuries that keep re-occuring, namely me knees. I will have to be aware of this when decided what order to do my stations in, as I do not want to work to hard on my legs or it could affect my knees and this could force me to stop doing the circuit. My general fitness is good as I walk for at least 20 mins on the way back from school. This means that I am walking with a days worth of school work in my bag.
I have completed various tests to assess my fitness. I have completed two multistage fitness tests and have also had my resting heart rate calculated. In the multi-stage fitness tests I got two results. In the first test I got ‘Level 11.1’ but on the second I only got ‘Level 9.9’. My second test was lower as I had injured my knees a couple of days earlier and hadn’t fully recovered from the injury. My resting heart rate was calculated at ’78 beats per minute’. The average for my age group is ’84 beats per minute’. This shows that I am just under the average pulse rate, which means that my fitness level is fairly good.
My Circuit
My circuit will go in this order:
Warm Up – Circuit – Warm Down/Cool Down
Warm up– The warm up is essential in any training session because
· It prepares the body for the activity to come. It increases the blood flow through the muscles helping them to contract quickly. The nervous system is also stimulated which makes you more alert and aware, getting you psychologically prepared.
· It reduces the possibility of injury, most commonly muscle injury. The increased blood flow increases the temperature in the muscle and this makes it more responsive and able to contract and relax. Muscle fibres and tendons are more likely to be damaged if you fail to warm up properly.
You should aim to warm up the appropriate major muscle groups that are going to be used in the activity that you are participating in.
These are the types of things that a warm up should include.
1) A Pulse Raiser
This should be a continuous moving activity, like jogging, that continues long enough to increase the heart rate and body temperature so that the blood flow to the muscle will be increased. You must be careful not to overdo this stage. So don’t do anything to strenuous, like sprinting, as you may cause yourself an injury.
2) Static Stretching
This involves stretching your muscles while keeping that part of the body still. All muscles that are going to be used in the activity you are about to participate in should be thoroughly stretched. When doing these static stretches you should hold them for 10 seconds.
3) Ballistic Stretching
This involves stretching your muscles whilst moving that part of the body. This helps the muscles get used to being stretched whilst moving. An example of this would be rotating the shoulders. When doing ballistic stretching you should repeat the movement about 5 times on each stretch.
My Warm Up
I will start by doing a pulse raiser for about 10 mins. This will consist of some jogging, backwards running, side-stepping, ½ sprints etc.
I will then move on to my static stretching. I will make sure to stretch out the major muscle groups that I will be using. The muscles that I will need to stretch are:
1. Gastrocnemius
Put your right leg one step ahead of your left. Make sure both of your feet are facing forward. Then bend your right knee, keeping your left leg straight and both feet flat on the floor. Keep your back straight and put your weight onto your right leg. You should feel your left gastrocnemius stretch. Hold this for 10 seconds and swap legs.
2. Quadriceps
Stand up. Bend your left leg so that your heel is touching your bum. Grab hold of your ankle not your foot. Try and keep your knees together and your body straight. Lift your ankle higher until you feel your quadriceps stretch. Hold this for 10 seconds and then swap legs.
3. Hamstrings
Put your left leg one step ahead of your right. Make sure your feet are both pointing forward. Then bend your right leg keeping your left leg straight. Keep your waist high and put your weight onto your right leg. Then lift up your left toes so that you can feel your hamstring stretch. Hold this for 10 seconds and then swap legs.
4. Triceps
Put your left arm across your body and keep it straight. Then lift your right arm so that it locks your left one. Gently push your left ram up with the inside of your right arm. You should feel your triceps stretch. Hold this for 10 seconds and swap arms.
I will then move on to some more pulse raising activities. However these will be a little bit more strenuous as my muscles will be able to cope with it now. I will do this for about 5 mins. It will consist of ½ sprints, ¾ sprints, running with knees up at a quick pace, and full sprints.
My Circuit
(There is a diagram of my circuit at the back of this work)
Station One
On this station there is a speed ladder. This is basically a rope ladder with flat metal step. The speed ladder is put flat on the ground.
On this station you have to run through the speed ladder, however you must put step into each hole with both feet. When you get to the end of the speed ladder, you turn around and sprint back outside of the speed ladder and go through the ladder again. You will have 40 seconds to see how many times you can go through the speed ladder.
This will improve my speed and will help me to improve the quickness of my feet. The muscles being used will be mainly, hamstrings, quadriceps and gastrocnemius.
Station Two
This station is a sit up exercise. Perform as many as you can in 40 seconds. Keep your feet flat on the floor and your arms on the side of your head. Also you must keep your knees bent. When doing a sit-up you must make sure that the top of your back touches the floor when you go down and your elbows touch your knees when going up.
This will improve muscular endurance in the abdominal muscles; this comes in useful when you want to throw a ball a long way and also for when you have to collect the ball into your stomach.
Station Three
This station is a weights station. On this station I will be using weights. I will be doing fly weights on the bench. Lay on a bench with head resting on it, and feet placed firmly on the floor. The weights go out to the side, then up into the centre of the body. Keep palms facing inwards, with elbows bent slightly. Avoid letting the elbows go lower than the shoulders, and aim to keep the weights in line with your ears. Remember to keep your back on the bench.
This will work on my muscular endurance in my arms, and also on my muscular strength. It will use the pectorals, and my biceps and triceps as well as my deltoids and trapezius.
Station Four
This station involves skipping ropes. You have a skipping rope and you have to do as many 2 footed skips as possible in 40 seconds.
This will help to improve my muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance. It will work my major leg muscles.
Station Five
This is a skill section. In this station you will be working on your goalkeeping movements. There will be 5 cones in a straight line all about 4 yards apart. You have to do sidestep through the cones whilst in a goalkeeping position and then you have to sprint back. See how many circuits you can do in 40 seconds.
This will work my goalkeeping skills. It will also help my cardiovascular endurance and my muscle endurance. It will work on my movement across the goals.
Station Six
This station involves doing press-ups. Rest your knees on the bench and straighten out your body. Keep your arms about shoulder width apart. Your palms should be flat on the floor and your hands should be facing forward. Now do press-ups. Make sure that your arms bend so that your elbows are at right-angles, before you extend your arms again. See how many press-ups you can do in 40 seconds.
This will help to improve my muscular endurance and muscle strength in my arms. The muscle that I will be working on this station are my biceps, triceps, deltoids and trapezius.
Station Seven
The exercise on this station are burpees, burpees are squat thrusts and star jumps mixed together. Do a squat thrust then stand up and do a star jump and then another squat thrust then stand up and do another star jump. See how many of these you can do in 40 seconds.
This will improve your agility, cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings.
Station Eight
This station is another one that involves weights. On this station you are doing bicep curls. Stand with soft knees, keeping your back straight and your feet shoulder width apart. Hold the weights with your palms facing away from you, in the downward position. Aim to keep the elbows tucked into the side and avoid swinging the weights up, or arching your back. Move the weights in a smooth motion from your middle up towards your chin, then lower under control, and repeat.
This station will help me to improve my muscular strength and my muscular endurance. This will work my biceps and triceps.
Station Nine
This station is shuttle runs. This involves sprinting. You have one starting point. Then another point about 15 yards away. You have to sprint to this point and back to the start. This counts as 1 shuttle. You have to see how many shuttles you can do in 40 seconds.
This will improve your speed, agility and muscular endurance of the quadriceps and hamstrings.
Station 10
This a goalkeeping skill section. You will need a ball and a wall. Stand about 20 yards away and volley the ball at the wall. Then when it rebounds you have to catch it. See how many catches you can make out of 30 volleys.
This will improve my handling.
Resting Time
There will be a period of ‘1 ½ minutes’ resting time between each station. This should be adequate enough time for me to recover from the previous activity.
Once the circuit is finished it can be repeated or a warm down will take place.
Warm Down - often forgotten, but very important.
Instead of just stopping completely after you have finished your activity, you should continue some part of it at a slower rate. This could be as easy as just walking or performing some stretching exercises.
The reason for this is that when you stop exercising, the heart still pumps blood around your body at a fast rate. If you stop suddenly the muscles are not pumping the blood back as quick as the previous rate, and this can cause the blood to ‘pool’ in the veins. This means that the waste materials such as lactic acid are not being removed from the muscles. This can cause a build up, which leads to stiffness and soreness.
My Warm Down
The warm down will consist of gentle jogging and stretching to remove the lactic acid that builds up in muscles while they are being worked. The warm down should help you perform better next time you exercise.
The muscles that were stretched in the warm up should also be stretched in the warm down. The stretches should be held longer then they were in the warm up to prevent stiffness and soreness
Preliminary Circuit
These results are from my preliminary circuit.
In the preliminary circuit I was doing 40 seconds on each station.
In six weeks time these results should improve, below is a results table set over six weeks.
*On target/Scored
Evaluation
In general my circuit program was successful, it tested each area of fitness that I wanted it to. Although it was successful, because there were so many people doing their own circuit program there wasn’t enough equipment, groups had to be formed so the equipment could be shared.
Station 1, shuttle runs, this station was very successful by the end of the six week period I had improved my speed as I did more runs in one minute. It also improved my agility and the endurance of my quadriceps and hamstrings. Station 2, sit-up exercise, this station was very tiring, after each time I performed this exercise I could feel my abdominal muscles becoming stronger. I improved throughout the six weeks, there was a slight glitch in the results, which was in week 4 I’d had a cold that week and that, was why I was under performing. But as a whole I improved the strength and endurance of my abdominal muscles. Station 3, chipping balls into hoops, I found this exercise very difficult my accuracy and chipping ability improved drastically. Station 4, shooting this station tested my shooting and accuracy ability. This was one of the easier stations as shooting isn’t a very strenuous work out, although I did improve in the six-week period. Station 6, burpees, this I found was the most difficult as it was very tiring and I had already done 4 other stations. This did improve my agility, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings. Station 7, dribbling, this was a fairly easy exercise I have improved on my speed and ball control, I noticed this in week five when I wasn’t as tired as I was the weeks before. Station 8, kick-ups, I am fairly good at kick-ups already but by the end of the program I was able to keep the ball under control at a lower height than what I started with. Station 9, passing, this station tested my right and left foot, my accuracy and my speed, my left foot has improved a lot by doing this exercise, my right foot has slightly improved.
During week four my results decrease, the reason for this is I had a cold that week and was unable to perform to my full potential, as my results show.
I found the circuit to be very intense and tiring, but very effective as my circuit tested all the areas I wanted it to. I was very tired though after completing each week of the program, my muscles were aching and my heart and breathing rate had increased drastically. If I were to perform the circuit program again I would start by having a recovery time between each station, also I would make the exercise time slightly less at the beginning of the program so I could get use to doing the exercises gradually.
Although I had improved during the six-week period I had only improved slightly, so if I were repeating this program I would make it last 12 weeks so improvements could be seen more easily. Once the circuit becomes too easy I would have to make it harder to affect plateauing. If the circuit is not made harder the body will stop improving in the areas of muscular endurance and anaerobic respiration. The body must also train to prevent reversibility. This is when the affects of training decrease and the benefits are lost.