IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE THE PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING, INCLUDING A CONCISE EXAMPLE

4 Adaptation

Athletes will attain peak fitness after months of training in preparation for competition. Such fitness levels cannot be achieved overnight. Fitness involves improved cardiorespiratory functions, blood circulation, high ATP-PC levels etc For eg if an athlete from the tropics at sea level were to participate in a competition at high altitude in a temperate country, the athlete should be put through a training programme in a selected training environment to help the athlete adjust to competing in the cold and at high altitudes.

5 Progression

Progression in training should be carried out in phases to give time to the athlete to adapt. Training should progress from lower levels of difficulty and intensity to higher levels. The exercise prescribed should progress from targeting the large muscle groups to the specific muscles related to the sport of the athlete. Tactical training should also progress from the general play to the specific and lastly the progression in training should be from quantity to quality. For eg, a soccer team is put through aerobic training (quantity training) and later on the forwards and wingers are put through anaerobic training to build up power and speed.

6 Reversibility

This represents detraining ie the body would return to its original detrained state over time once training stops . The changes would involve decrease in VO2 max, loss in muscle mass and creatine stores, increased heart rate during exercise, decrease in cardiac output and the increase in the lactic acid build up for shorter periods of activities. A typical example is a 400m athlete who was running the race at 52 secs and after a year of layoff would not be able to complete the race in say 58 secs.

7 Variation

Boredom and staleness can also cause poor performances. It is for this reason that the coach should vary the training programme. Variations could be introduced into training times, training frequency, training environment , training drills and alternating training with other related sport to introduce variety in training. For example, athletes could be given sessions on the treadmill in the gym instead of running on the track.

8 Rest and Recovery

All athletes need to rest for proper recovery. In the recovery period, the body's systems would be able to heal injured muscles and tissues, blood lactate to be removed from the body and for the replenishment of glycogen stores. Failure to implement proper rest after exercise would lead to exhaustion, burnout, injury and illness.

9 Warm up and Cool Down

Warm up will help to increase the body temperature before stretching so as to ensure that muscles and ligaments would not be strained. Warm up also increases the respiration rate and more oxygen would fill up the body and muscles . Cooling down will help the muscles and tendons to relax and also help in the removal of the lactate in the blood.

0 Long Term Training

'Rome was not built in one day'. Likewise, the making of a champion would take hard work over years. Training should progress systematically over a period of time before a champion could be realized.

1 Diminishing Returns

It is a known fact that progress in training is always clearly observed at the initial stages and once the athlete reaches sophistication in training, the athlete would not experience much improvement because the athlete would have reached his/her plateau of performance. Beyond this npoint , it will get harder and harder for the athlete to improve on the performance. Understanding this principle is important so the athlete would not feel a sense of despair when improvements are not seen. The athlete should be motivated to train harder.

Reference : 1 MacArdle , Katch and Katch, Exercise Physiology ( 4ht Edition)

2 Scott and Powers , Exercise Physiology - Theory and Application To Fitness and Performance ( 2004)

Adaptations To Endurance Training

Cardiovascular Adaptations

Aerobic endurance training would result in the capillaries increasing in number and size as well. Therefore more O2 rich blood can be transported to the muscles. Connected to this , there will be increases in the levels of haemoglobin and myoglobin thereby supporting the transport of the inhaled O2. There is lower blood viscosity and because of this , the blood is thinner and flows through the body more easily. Hematocrit is decreased and the ratio of blood cell volume to total blood volume is also decreased. All this leads to an increase in the a-VO2max level of the body. increased VO2 max. level of the body.

Respiratory Adaptations

The respiratory responses to exercise is substantially changed by endurance training.the amount of O2 inhaled and the CO2 exhaled is increased. A higher vrrespiration rate would not only give more O2 but also get rid of more CO2. Endurance training would increase the cappiliarization around the alveoli thereby helping to increae the rate of O2 exchange and CO2 removal.

Neuromuscular Adaptations

There would be an increase in the glycogen stores in the muscles, increase in O2 through higher concentration of capillaries, haemoglobin and myoglobin as well as the size and number of motochondria where muscular contractions take place. There will be an increase in the size of the slow twitch muscle fibers and this will allow for greater aerobic energy production, leading to a simultaneous increase in glycogen and triglyceride stores. Muscle fibers that are neither fast or slow twitch would be able to be converted to slow twitch fibers for use in aerobic activity thereby increasing size and production once again.

In summary, endurance training increases:

Heart size

2 Stroke volume

3 Cardiac output

4 A-vO2 difference

5 Maximum voluntary ventilation

6 Ventilatory economy

And endurance training decreases:

7 Respiratory exchange ratio

8 Systolic and Diastolic blood pressure

9 Oxygen cost and cardiac output of submaximal exercise

0 Resting heart rate

Adaptations To Strength Training

Neuromuscular Adaptations

Strength training does not lead to much cardiovascular and respiratory adaptations although the heart has to pump faster and harder to transport blood and O2 to the extremities that might require O2 to flush out the accumulated lactic acid. The size of fast twitch fibers would be increased with strength training. This is why sprinters have huge quadriceps. ATP-PC levels are not only increased with strength training , but also the ability of the muscles to produce more phosphocreatine is also increased.

Coordination of the agonists, synergists and antagonists muscles is also increased thereby increasing performance with better coordination. Strength training with greater repetitions at high loads may cause an increase in capillarisation but increases in hypertrophy will result in a maintained or decreased capillary density.

Cardiovascular Adaptations

Immediately following a workout, heart rate is acutely elevated. The heart rate is also affected by the amount of resistance, the number of repetitions and the muscle mass involved in the contractions. However there appears to be a reduction in heart rate from resistance training which is considered beneficial. Strength trained athletes have shown increases in the left ventricular wall thickness, absolute left ventricular wall mass and septum and wall thickness but in aerobic trained individuals, there is increases in the volume of the left ventricular chamber.

Methods of Fitness training

Sprint

( 100 metres)

Distance Running

( Marathon )

Tennis

Aerobic Endurance

Conditioning and high volume and about 10 reps of striding down the straight for about 50 metres at about 80% of maximum heart ratewith 15 to 30 secs rest in between

Conditioning and distance running. High volume and 10 reps of 1 km runs at 60% of maximum heart rate with a rest period in between sets.

Conditioning and distance running coupled with circuit training

Muscular Endurance

Strength training all body parts with major muscle groups with specific training for the muscles of the thighs and lower extremities

Strength training for all body parts with concentration on the muscles of the lower extremities

Strength training

( circuit training) for all body parts with emphasis on the forearms and lower extremities.

Muscular Strength

Strength training all body parts with major muscle groups with specific training for the muscles of the thighs and lower extremities

Strength training for all body parts with concentration on the muscles of the lower extremities

Strength training for all body parts with emphasis on the forearms and lower extremities.

Flexibility

Static, active and PNF stretching before and after training and competition

Static, active and PNF stretching before and after training and competition

Static, active and PNF stretching before and after training and competition

Body Composition

Sprint athletes need lower body musculature and

arm musculature without the fat.

Distance runners need higher fat and lower body weight and composition to be light so that there is less drag

Tennis players need low fat to be agile on the court. They must have some muscle composition in their forearms.

Agility

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Reaction Time

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Muscular Speed

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Anaerobic and Phosphagen system workout

Muscular Power

Strength training

Strength training

Strength training

Balance

Sprint runners should need to be streamlined.

Distance runners need balance to run on track and around curves

Tennis players need balance to retrieve a drop shot at the net as well as to recover to sustain a rally.