Conditioning - Twice a week at college, we have a conditioning session in the mornings. This session usually last's for about an hour. The session will differ each session but we always involve stretching. Stretching exercises will improve our flexibility and also improve the range of motion of and joints.
In the last 5 months at college we have cut down on the aerobic work, and are tending to concentrate on the anaerobic workouts. such as and focus on increasing endurance. such as , or increase short-term muscle strength.
Below are the fitness components we do at our conditioning sessions:
Speed
''Speed is the rate of , or equivalently the rate of change of position, many times expressed as d moved per of ''.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed)
Speed is essential for all us athletes, so speed training is introduced into our programme, I believe rugby games are won on speed, so this part of the session I favour most and try work as hard as I can at it. At college we tend to concentrate over short distances. Our speed session is done by having two lines of cones, set about 15m apart, and in turn we sprint from one end to the other, this is done around 5/6 times each with full recovery. We have full recovery between each sprint so we can give 100% in each sprint.
As shown in the picture below, we often use mini hurdles with our sprinting. The hurdles are excellent for agility training too, they are about 6" high and can be used for fast feet and knee lift drills.
Image from : http://www.blades.nl/home/rugby/trainingsmateriaal/hurdles.jpg
Agility
is a component of physical fitness that describes changing the body's direction with speed and precision.
We do many different drills at college to help us improve and work on our agility. This is a skill that requires good co-ordination, balance and excellent timing. One of the drills we do is that one person stands around 5meters away and in turn we run towards that person and at the last moment he/she (the person standing still) will step left/right and we must cut and go the opposite way. We then put this into a one on one situation where we split into attackers and defenders and try to beat our opponent, this can then be related to a rugby match situation which we will benefit from.
Reaction time
Reaction time is the time it takes to react to stimuli. Having a quick reaction could be the difference between winning and losing so our programme involves us working on our reaction time.
The procedure is simple; one person stands around 5/7 meters away holding a tennis ball out horizontally. He/she will drop the ball and the person working must react to the ball and sprint and try to catch it off the one bounce.
Another exercise we do is with a reaction ball as shown in the picture below. This Improves reaction time and first step quickness. Teaches hand eye coordination, and develops balance. The exercise is simple; we drop the ball, and then start chasing it as it bounces away.
Image from : www.overspeeduk.com
Core
Core training is designed to integrate all the components of a complete fitness plan to build your body from the inside out, building first lean and strong core muscle.
Nearly every movement of our body involves the use of our Abdominals, Oblique’s and/or Erector muscles. These muscles are the core of all strength and power movements, as well as the core muscular connection between your upper and lower body. The stronger these muscles are the more support and stability they can provide for high productivity and creativity. If these muscles are weak and unable to supply the stability your body demands, injury is likely to occur.
Our Core Training system at college is good, it is highly efficient because it is easy to train and only lasts for about 15 minutes. It's portable, fun and very simple and that’s all we use is a gym ball. As shown in the picture below.
Image from: www.ipushfitness.com
Our core training involves us doing different movements on the ball, these are:
1. Forearm and elbow on the ball (holding your self up, straight back)
2. Ankles on the ball (lifting your hips up, upper part of back on the floor)
3. One legged (same as above but with just one leg)
4. (As shown in the picture above) we also role from one shoulder to the other, keeping our core switched on.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING
The principles of training that are outlined below should be followed to allow your training to progress. These should be applied to every, and all, forms of training that you undertake.
Overload
This principle states that training programs should stress the players’ physiological mechanisms enough to cause an improvement. This means that working on the same programme for a long time will not cause you to improve. Therefore, training status will be improved by gradually increasing the load that your body is working against. This can be achieved by either progressively altering:
The intensity (how hard you work) of the session : The number of repetitions that you do, the work time, the rest time, the mass lifted, etc.
The volume (how much work you do) of the session : How many exercises or sets you do
The frequency of training : How many sessions per week that you do.
Progression
This is a continuation of the overload principle. As the bodies physiological mechanisms adapt to your training, there is a need for the training to be advanced, otherwise you will remain at a training plateau and not respond to further training efforts. This progression has to be gradual in nature however, so as to prevent you becoming injured by over-exerting yourself, and possibly demotivated to further training because you are not achieving the training targets.
Specificity
All training routines need to be tailored to the specific demands of the sport, and the position being trained for, and the individual needs of the athlete, so as to maximise the competitive advantage. This is very important, as inappropriate training is a waste of time and resources, and can be detrimental to performance.
Recovery
Physical training only provides the stimulus for strength development. The recovery period is the time when the bodies’ physiological mechanisms for improvement are implemented. Insufficient recovery time will lead to the body becoming over trained. This will lead to poor performance and an increased risk of injury. If the recovery period is over-sufficient, then the training effect will be lost.
It is important that everyone realises that training / playing only provides a stimulus for improvement: It is only through rest that the body can actually improve. Therefore, if you allow sufficient recovery time for each physiological component (for example muscles, aerobic / anaerobic system, joint structures) that was trained in a session (or sufficient recovery time from a game, which stresses all the bodies systems) to recover, you will find your capabilities are enhanced.
Conversely, if you train too soon, you will not allow your body to recover sufficiently, and the next session will commence from a fatigued state. If this pattern continues, the result will be a state of overtraining and burnout.
Reversibility
The training gains achieved will be lost if the training load is removed. Therefore you need to plan and control training schedules (i.e. if you are going on holiday, or when injured) so that a sufficient level of general activity is maintained to prevent detraining (reversibility) occurring.
Recommendations for future training programme
Looking at our college training programme, there are some recommendations I would like to give and changes that I would do to the programme itself.
Weight training- As I stated at the start of this assignment regarding the current weight training programme, I would change the programme back to the way we trained at my first year of college where we trained upper and lower on separate days. I believe we would benefit more from this, I now this because this is the way the professionals train, so why should we be different?
Conditioning - The conditioning sessions are of a good standard and I believe we are benefiting from the session it's self. The only downfall in my eyes is that it can be quite tedious, I would like too see different types of training done (still involving speed, agility etc.).
Sprint training - Our 10m sprint work is the only type of sprint work we currently do at the moment, I would to see more emphasis put over a greater distance, 60m for example.
The injured - Throughout the year, there are a number of students who carry an injury. The students come to college but sit out the training due to their injury. I would like to see a injury rehab session in the programme so that we could get them doing something rather than nothing to aid their injury. This session could be on a late afternoon on a Wednesday and Friday.
Conclusion
I’ve enjoyed doing this assignment as it has given me a say to what I think of the current training programme at college. Although, due to my disagreements with the weight training programme, I’m sure there’s a good reason why we train like we do. Most of us see our weight training as a way to 'get big', but we need to take into consideration that we are rugby players, not body builders.
Bibliography
Class notes
Internet sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_training
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed
www.ipushfitness.com
www.overspeeduk.com
