For my personal exercise programme I have decided on association football as my chosen sport.
Personal Exercise Programme
"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will" Vince Lombardi
Planning and research
For my personal exercise programme I have decided on association football as my chosen sport. Association football, commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each. It is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world. Football is a ball game played on a rectangular grass or artificial turf field, with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing goal. In general play, the goalkeeper is the only player allowed to use their hands or arms to propel the ball; the rest of the team usually use their feet to kick the ball into position, while they may also occasionally use their torso or head to intercept a ball in mid air. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition. The game of football is governed by the Football Association. The FA governs all professional football clubs in England. It is a member of UEFA and FIFA, and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB). Unlike other national football associations, it does not take the national name (i.e. English) in its title (compared to the Scottish Football Association, for example).
All of England's professional football clubs must be members of the Football Association. The FA is responsible for the appointment of the management of the England men's and women's national teams and the organization of the FA Cup (the nation's most prestigious cup competition). Although it does not run the day-to-day operations of the country's top league, the Premier League, it has veto power over the appointment of the league Chairman and Chief Executive and over any changes to league rules. The Football League, England's second tier league, consisting of The Championship, League One and League Two, is self-governing. The game is controlled at the local level, by 43 County Football Associations affiliated to The Football Association but with responsibilities for organising and running football activities in their area. A hierarchy of leagues operates throughout the game, each taking responsibility for the administration of their own activities, such as membership, fixtures and registrations
To become a professional footballer there are a certain number of requirements that need to be met. All footballers should have good cardio-vascular fitness. They need to be quick over long and short distances. It is more common for the attacking players to be quite fast and have good ball control. However in the modern game speed, good ball control and the ability to read the game is essential to every player.
I play centre back for my school and my local club. The job of the centre-back - also called centre-halves or central defenders - ...
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To become a professional footballer there are a certain number of requirements that need to be met. All footballers should have good cardio-vascular fitness. They need to be quick over long and short distances. It is more common for the attacking players to be quite fast and have good ball control. However in the modern game speed, good ball control and the ability to read the game is essential to every player.
I play centre back for my school and my local club. The job of the centre-back - also called centre-halves or central defenders - is to stop opposing players, particularly the strikers, from scoring, and to bring the ball out from their penalty area. As their name suggests, they play in a central position. Most teams employ two centre backs, stationed in front of the goalkeeper. There are two main defensive strategies used by centre backs: the zonal defence, where each centre back covers a specific area of the pitch, and man-to-man marking, where each centre back has the job of covering a particular opposition player.
The position was formerly referred to as "centre-half". In the early part of the 20th century, when most teams employed the 2-3-5 formation, the row of three players was called halfbacks. As formations evolved, the central player in this trio (the centre-half), moved into a more defensive position on the field, taking the name of the position with them. Good examples of English centre-backs in the modern game include Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, and Jamie Carragher.
Centre-backs are often tall, very strong and have a good heading and tackling ability. An ability to read the game well is also a distinct advantage. Sometimes, particularly in lower leagues, centre-backs concentrate less on ball control and passing, preferring simply to clear the ball in a "safety-first" fashion. However, there is a long tradition of centre-backs having more than just rudimentary footballing skill, enabling a more possession-oriented playing style.
Specific focus
My personal positional requirements are that I have a high level of cardio-vascular fitness, good aerobic and anaerobic fitness and I should be reasonably fast. I need a general good level of muscular strength.
By the end of my P.E.P I hope to have improved in all of the above areas which I will test both before and after.
The Components of Fitness
Exercise scientists have identified nine components that comprise the definition of fitness. The following lists each of the nine components and an example of how they are used:-
* Strength - the extent to which muscles can exert force by contracting against resistance (e.g. holding or restraining an object or person)
* Power - the ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movements (e.g. jumping or a sprint start)
* Agility - the ability to perform a series of explosive power movements in rapid succession in opposing directions (e.g. ZigZag running or cutting movements)
* Balance - the ability to control the body's position, either stationary (e.g. a handstand) or while moving (e.g. a gymnastics stunt)
* Flexibility - the ability to achieve an extended range of motion without being impeded by excess tissue, i.e. fat or muscle (e.g. executing a leg split)
* Local Muscle Endurance - a single muscle's ability to perform sustained work (e.g. rowing or cycling)
* Cardiovascular Endurance - the heart's ability to deliver blood to working muscles and their ability to use it (e.g. running long distances)
* Strength Endurance - a muscle's ability to perform a maximum contraction time after time (e.g. continuous explosive rebounding through an entire basketball game)
* Co-ordination- the ability to integrate the above listed components so that effective movements are achieved.
Of all the nine elements of fitness cardiac respiratory qualities are the most important to develop as they enhance all the other components of the conditioning equation.
Baseline tests
Principles of training
Specificity
Progression
Overload
Reversibility
Tedium
Specificity-
To improve the range of movement for a particular joint action, you have to perform exercises that involve that joint action. It is quite possible for an athlete to have good mobility in the shoulder joint but to have poor hip mobility. Practising shoulder mobility exercises may further improve the shoulder mobility but it will not affect the hip mobility.
In addition to developing general levels of all round mobility in an athlete, coaches need to consider the specific mobility requirements of a given event. The coach can analyse the technique of his/her event, identify which joint actions are involved and determine which need to be improved in terms of the range of movement. A thrower, for example, might require improvements in his/her shoulder and spine mobility. A hurdler might need to develop his/her hip mobility.
The amount and nature of the mobility training required by each athlete will vary according to the individual athlete's event requirements and his/her individual range of movement for each joint action. It may be necessary to measure the range of movement for particular joint actions to determine the present range and future improvement.
Specificity is an important principle in strength training, where the exercise must be specific to the type of strength required, and is therefore related to the particular demands of the event. The coach should have knowledge of the predominant types of muscular activity associated with his/her particular event, the movement pattern involved and the type of strength required. Although specificity is important, it is necessary in every schedule to include exercises of a general nature (e.g. power clean, squat). These do not relate too closely to the movement of any athletic event. They do, however, give a balanced development, and provide a strong base upon which highly specific exercise can be built.
To use heavy throwing implements or weighted belts may seem the obvious solution to the specificity problem, but it is probable that by doing so the athlete will unconsciously develop compensatory movements in his/her technique in adjusting to the new weight. Most authorities consider that in the throwing events the training implement should be kept within 15% of the competition weight.
Can we be specific in the speed of movement? Training at low velocity increases low velocity strength substantially but has little effect on high velocity strength (Coyle and Fleming, 1980). Is there then any justification for slow velocity strength training for athletes who have to perform movements at great speed? Yes. Slow velocity training may be of value in stimulating maximum adaptation within the muscle. Muscle growth (and increase in contractile strength) is related to the amount of tension developed within the muscle (Goldberg, 1975). When an athlete performs high velocity strength work, the force he/she generates is relatively low and therefore fails to stimulate substantial muscular growth. If performed extensively the athlete may not be inducing maximum adaptation with the muscles. It is important therefore for the athlete to use fast and slow movements to train the muscles.
Progression-
To continue to develop, increase, grow and improve the systems being trained must be subjected to overload progressively. Greatest gains are found at the start of a programme and subsequently slow down. However progression can help shock the body back into adaptation by changing the training method used.
Overload-
When an athlete performs a mobility exercise, he/she should stretch to the end of his/her range of movement. In active mobility, the end of the range of movement is known as the active end position. Improvements in mobility can only be achieved by working at or beyond the active end position.
* Passive exercises involve passing the active end position, as the external force is able to move the limbs further than the active contracting of the protagonist muscles
* Kinetic mobility exercises use the momentum of the movement to bounce past the active end position
A muscle will only strengthen when forced to operate beyond its customary intensity. The load must be progressively increased in order to further adaptive responses as training develops, and the training stimulus is gradually raised. Overload can be progressed by:
* increasing the resistance e.g. adding 5kg to the barbell
* increasing the number of repetitions with a particular weight
* increasing the number of sets of the exercise (work)
* increasing the intensity- more work in the same time, i.e. reducing the recovery periods
Reversibility-
Improved ranges of movement can be achieved and maintained by regular use of mobility exercises. If an athlete ceases mobility training, his/her ranges of movement will decline over a period to those maintained by his/her other physical activities.
When training ceases the training effect will also stop. It gradually reduces at approximately one third of the rate of acquisition (Jenson and Fisher, 1972). Athletes must ensure that they continue strength training throughout the competitive period, although at a much reduced volume, or newly acquired strength will be lost.
Tedium-
If training programmes are repetitious, athletes can soon become bored and lose their motivation. To keep motivation high athletes should change the surroundings in which they train in or experiment with a new type of training every once in a while.
