'Design a preparation phase training plan for a sport of your choice, which focuses on relevant areas of physical preparation

Recovery/Transition- Here the body recovers from previous competitions and training.

Dividing the macrocycles into mesocycles require a depth of planning for the preparation and training leading to the main goal.

These mesocycles are specific to the areas of preparation that I will be concentrating on to achieve my goal, which I see as essential in hockey to succeed. So I will be concentrating on developing a training programme including preparation on strength, power, speed, flexibility, aerobic fitness and anaerobic fitness, which are key components of fitness in hockey.  

Hockey requires a high standard of aerobic fitness as it involves 70minutes of play, so this will be my main area of preparation training. Anaerobic fitness is also important for short bursts of energy and speed, when making a break or needing to backtrack when defending. Because of this anaerobic training will also receive a good amount of time for preparation.  Strength and flexibility are not so important, and I feel that I already have a good standard of these elements of fitness, so they will not appear as frequently in my training programme. I have decided to allocate my programme to these certain elements;

Strength – 10%

Flexibility- 10%

Aerobic fitness- 45%

Anaerobic fitness- 35%

Here are explanations of the components of fitness I wish to improve and examples sessions that will be used in my 8 week mesocycle;

Strength training: this is an important aspect in hockey as with all sports there is constant power and endurance required in the muscles, particularly in the lower body. In weight training, low or moderate intensity with many repetitions will improve muscular endurance, while few repetitions and high intensity improve muscle strength and size. The basic principles for strength training are:

1.) There should be progressive overload of specific muscles or muscle groups.    

2.) Large muscles should be exercised before small ones.  

3.) Allow recovery periods between individual exercises and between exercise periods.

To maintain strength, once weekly strength training should be enough, but to improve strength then three times weekly training would be sufficient.

Example session 1. Strength – Power. LOWER BODY

• Power cleans
• Half squats
• Calf raisers
• Full front squats
• Quad extensions
• Hamstring curls

High intensity: 3x12 sets 1 min rest

Low intensity: 3x 12 sets 2/3 min rest

Example session 2. Strength – Power/endurance. UPPER BODY

• Bench press
• Bent over bar bell rows
• Forward raisers
• Dumbbell pullover

High intensity: 3x12 sets 1min rest

Low intensity: 3x12 sets 2/3 mins rest

Flexibility – Stretching: to increase the length of a muscle and its tendons. This area is divided into many different areas, all of which stretch the muscles in different ways.

Example sessions - Stretching

1. Ballistic stretching: in these exercises, the muscles are stretched by swinging the body part to beyond range.
2. Active stretching: unassisted, sustained stretch to the end position
3. Isometric stretching: Resistance of muscle groups via isometric contractions – sustained tension.

Passive stretch + RESISTANCE

4. Passive stretching: Assisted (body weight/ partner), sustained stretch to the end position. Increases passive range – reserve zone. Used in cool down to reduce muscle fatigue and soreness.

Aerobic fitness: Aerobic training is sufficiently needed throughout a hockey game; this is because approximately 50-70% of a player’s game is aerobic (depending generally on the position being played). Regular aerobic training will increase muscle strength, and change the muscle fibres, giving greater potential for aerobic energy production, since the fibres enlarge.

Example sessions – Cross training

• Swimming
• Rowing
• Cycling
• Running

All these activities should last between 15 and 45 minutes.

Anaerobic fitness: Sprinting for example will increase anaerobic fitness. Training at high intensities for up to 60 seconds has been shown to increase the glycolytic capacity of the muscle, and so improves the muscles ability to break down glycogen in the absence of oxygen and means that the athlete can exercise for longer periods of time before feeling the effects of fatigue.

Example session 1 – Short speed work

        To be performed at 80% work rate.

        PYRAMIDS- 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 50m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 10m.

        30 seconds rest between each distance

        10mins rest between each set and repeat x3

All of these fitness components make up my 8 week mesocycle. Breaking down the mesocycle into weekly training programmes creates my microcycles. Each of these give more detail of what the programme involves, week by week.

Each day is then described in detail to show the aspects of training which will be covered.

Weeks 1-3 will be low intensity training, weeks 4 and 8 will be rest weeks, and weeks 5-7 will be high intensity.

I have produced 2 microcycle tables to show the variance between the high intensity and the low intensity microcycles. The subsequent weeks are repetitions of these 2 tables so do not need to be written out again.

MICROCYCLE 1. - Low intensity training. [Weeks 1-3 of the mesocycle]

% Allocation for the fitness component conditioning areas:

Strength 20%

Flexibility 15%

Aerobic 50% this is the key component, as general fitness is needed to be improved at the start of the preparation period

Anaerobic 15%

MICROCYCLE 2. – High intensity [weeks 5-7 of the mesocycle]

% Allocation of fitness component conditioning areas:

Strength 20%

Flexibility 20%

Aerobic 20%

Anaerobic 40% this is now the key component as this is the main fitness area which needs to be conditioned before the start of the summer league. The aerobic aspect has been worked on as a high % allocation throughout and is now well conditioned.

The skills sessions become more specific in weeks 4-8 as the start of the league gets nearer.  When the league is over the rest phases of the cycle can come in to effect.  

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References

Bean, A. (2000) A Complete Guide to Strength Training,London :A&C Black publishers

Bompa, T.O (1999) PERIODISATION :periodisation of strength training,Human kinetics

Dick, F.W. (1989) Sports Training Principles, London:A&C Black publishers

Wesson et al (1998) Sport and PE, Hodder and Stoughton

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