My training programme will cover a period of six weeks. My training programme takes into account all of the training methods and the principles of training. The training programme should be for three days a week. Each of those three days should cover at least 45 minutes of exercise. If the exercise is less than 45 minutes, it should be repeated until the 45 minutes are complete. 5 minutes of this will be for the warm up and five minutes will be for the warm down. The exercise done on the first day of the week will be the same, which is done for the rest of the week. Each week then will be different. The reasons for doing the similar exercises would be so that averages could be taken in the results and would be easy to conclude and analyse. This method would also reduce tedium during the training programme.
Warm up
Before every activity there should be a five-minute warm up. This is essential because the warm up would increase the blood flow to the muscles, stretch the muscles and concentrate the mind on the training.
My warm up should include:
A period of moderate exercise using the entire body, for example, light jogging.
A period of gentle stretching. We should work on the joints most likely to be emphasized during our central training session. The main muscles that need to be stretched are:
1. Hamstrings
2. Quadriceps
3. Gastrocnemiuis
4. Triceps
5. Deltoids
6. Trapezium
In your stretching include all four types of stretching: - static, passive, active and PNF stretching.
Practicing the various techniques and skills to be used in our training session. For example, a football player would perform some free kicks, throw-ins, etc.
Warm down
As I also mentioned above, before every activity there should be a five-minute warm down. This is essential because the warm down helps replace the oxygen debt in your muscles and also gets rid of the extra blood in your veins. My warm down is a slow 400m jog followed by a full stretch to get rid of lactic acid and prevent injury.
Results
Bleep test – level 10.6
Sit ups – 174 in five minutes.
Push ups – 166 in five minutes.
Pull ups – 9 in one minute
Results
Bleep test – level 11.4
Sit ups – 185 in five minutes.
Push ups – 177 in five minutes.
Pull ups – 13 in one minute
Week One
This week I am going to concentrate on improving my endurance levels both cardiovascular and muscular.
Resting heart rate = 60 beats per minute
Working heart rate = 134 after 400 m sprint
Session One
My warm up and also a 200m jog. This is to warm up the body and get blood flowing. It also gets you prepared mentally
Jog around the track and after every 300m sprint 100, repeat from 6-10 times, this is my main activity. This is a test of endurance and it becomes very tiring after a while. It will help my muscles by building them up and getting them ready for the next 6 weeks.
Do some ball skills for the rest of the session – passing it between two people, passing is one of the basic moves used in a football game. Then I practice doing some one twos the shooting with a first touch.
My warm down, this gets rid of lactic acid that has built up in the body, if you do not get rid of it then the next day your muscles will be stiff and you may get cramp.
Session Two
My warm up followed by sidestepping and running forwards and back for 300m, 100m for each, this is to exercise legs and get them warmed up for the run
After this I did a planned run, called the westend run.
Stretch – so that you don’t cause any injury
10 minute game of 5 a side football in the sports hall – to see if my stamina has improved
Warm down – to remove lactic acid
Football training after school on Wednesday 6.00-7.30
Evaluation
I found this week very productive, I worked myself well and felt the strain. It was quite tiring but I feel I can now put even more effort into the next 5 weeks and produce good results. My technique is to improve my general fitness levels and then put them to use and show a result. In my football match on Sunday I found no improvements but it has only been 1 week.
Week Two
Week 1 will be a circuit-training programme for football. It should be repeated for twice and for a minimum time of 15 minutes each .This is only a minimum and you can go over the time limit.
Session one and two
Equipment
- 3 Cones
- 20 Hoops
- Footballs
- 1 Measuring Tape
The Circuit
The orders in which the exercises are to be done are:
Warm up > The Circuit > Warm Down
Station One
On this station you have to start at the line, sprint to the first cone then sprint back to the line then sprint to the second cone, then sprint back to the line then sprint to the third cone, then back to the line. Then sprint to the second cone and back then to the first cone and back to the third cone and back to the line to complete the exercise. This counts as one ‘run’. Try to perform as many as you can in one minute. This will improve your speed, agility and muscular endurance of the quadriceps and hamstrings. All of these qualities would be useful in a football match.
Station Two
This station is a sit up exercise. Perform as many as you can in thirty seconds. These will improve muscular endurance in the abdominal muscles; this comes in handy when a throw-in needs to be thrown over a long distance. This is explosive strength because it is done in one explosive movement.
Station Three
At this station I had to chip a ball over a cone into the net. I recorded how many I did in 1 minute
Station Four
This is a shooting exercise. Place two cones 5m apart, then line up five balls 10m away from the cones and one cone 2m behind each ball. Strike the first ball then turn around and sprint around the cone and strike the next ball then turn around and sprint to round the cone etc. this will improve muscular strength and accuracy. See how many of the five balls you can get between the two hoops.
Station Five
Use a minute to rest and relax. Some light stretching can be done to remove the lactic acid that has built up in your muscles during the first four exercises.
Station Six
The exercise on this station is ‘burpees’. Burpees are squat thrusts and star jumps merged together. Do a squat thrust then stand up and do a star jump. This is one ‘burpee’. This will improve your agility, cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings. See how many you can do in one minute.
Station Seven
Place six cones 1m apart then dribble a ball in and out of them and sprint back to the start. This is one ‘dribble’. Try to do as many ‘dribbles’ as you can for 1 minute. This will improve ball skills, speed and agility.
Station Eight
The exercise on this station is kick-ups. Do as many as you can in one minute. This will improve ball control, and muscular endurance and also coordination. Try to use one foot and then the other and then try using both.
Station Nine
Set up four cones 5m apart. You stand 10m away from the cones. Get a partner to run to the first cone, you should time your pass so the ball reaches the cone at the exact time your partner reaches the cone. Do this with each cone. Try to use both feet to pass. See how many complete passes are done in 1 minute. This exercise will improve the ability to pass the ball accurately and ball control.
The table below displays the results from the two sessions result for the week of this circuit.
Warm down – remove lactic acid
Football training after school on Wednesday 6.00-7.30
Evaluation
This week was very tiring but I kept up to what I had set my self at the beginning of the week. In my football match on Sunday I felt a lot more fresh and my general game was better. I have enjoyed this week and I really want to improve in the next four weeks.
Week Three
This week I am concentrating on my stamina levels and cardiovascular fitness. I will use aerobic training this week because it is intense and good for improving stamina, working at a hard rate will also increase muscular endurance and my overall health. I need my stamina because football is quite physically demanding and you need to be able to put in a lot of effort all the time, especially the last 30 to 20 minutes.
Session One
Warm up – To get blood moving, muscles warm
And to get muscles ready and flexible for an activity
3 mile run (out of school). I ran home from my football club training which is just over 3 miles from my house – to raise stamina and overall fitness.
Also in training we did the bleep test which I scored 10.8 in which already shows improvement in my cardiovascular endurance and muscle endurance. I think I could have done better but I had in mind the 3 mile run home.
Warm down – remove lactic acid
Session Two
Warm up to prevent injuries
Skills – passing in a line whilst moving back and forth from cones getting back to the ball in time to pass it back, and practice crossing and set pieces.
Football games can not only be won from open play set pieces in the right places if executed properly can be match winners.
Warm down – remove lactic acid
Football training after school on Wednesday 6.00-7.30
Evaluation
I found this weeks sessions quite demanding which is good because I know that my body was working hard, especially the 3 mile run which took a lot out of me. My plan is to build up my fitness and then hopefully end up with some visible results. I am starting to feel things like the walk to school and getting up every morning a bit easier because my body is becoming healthier. I am also stretching every morning to improve my flexibility over the 6-week period as a bonus to the plan and to help my general performance.
Week Four
This week I will be focusing on my endurance levels. In football you need good endurance levels to keep your composure and battle right up to the final whistle. Also I will practice some set pieces to improve my technical side of the game
Session one
My warm up – to prevent any injury.
The Harvard Step Test
The Harvard Step Test measures your endurance fitness level. It tests how quickly your heart rate returns to its resting rate after exercise. The step-ups have four movements. First you step up with one foot, and then you step up with the second foot, and then step down with the leading foot and then step down with the other foot to the original position. The Harvard Step Test should be done for four minutes. After that take three pulse counts. Work out your fitness index by Length of exercise in seconds/ 2 x sums of three pulse counts.
After this I did the westend run (look back) three times to improve on my cardiovascular endurance.
Warm down – to remove any build up of lactic acid
Session two
Warm up – prepare myself for the session.
Press up test
This test measures the muscular endurance of our chest and shoulder muscles, which play an important part in football. The press up test is carried out by doing as many press ups as possible in 1 minute. The more press-ups we can do the more fitter we are.
Standing Broad Jump
For this test we stand with our feet comfortably apart and our toes immediately behind the start line. We then bend our knees and jump forward as far as we can. The distance we score is measured from our rear heel back to the start line.
Standing Vertical Jump
We stand next to a wall and reach up with our arm nearest to the wall. The highest point, which we can reach with our feet on the ground, is marked. We then leap upwards tapping our fingers against the wall as high as we can. The distance between the two marks is recorded and gives us a measure of our muscular power.
Free kicks
A square, which is 4m by 4m, is chalked in any place on a wall. The player should stand at least 10m away with a football. The point of the exercise is how many times out of fifty can you hit the square. Try to use both feet. This exercise measures accuracy, ball control and is useful in free kicks.
Penalties
With a partner have 40 penalty shots at a goal. Your partner will be the goalkeeper. You should aim for different spots in the goal to improve your accuracy and ball control. Try to use both feet. This exercise measures accuracy and ball control.
Warm down – to remove any build up of lactic acid
Football training after school on Wednesday 6.00-7.30
Evaluation
This week was quite tiring and I had to push my self a points to carry on and not give up. I had not a lot of the enthusiasm at the beginning of the week but I was very pleased with myself that I carried on. In my football match on Sunday I felt a lot more fresh and my general game was better. I have enjoyed this week and I really want to improve in the last two weeks.
Week Five
This week I decided to do some training on my agility and flexibility which I though would benefit my overall game and help me perform better in my final tests. Agility is a big factor of football agility is the ability to change direction quickly and control movements of the whole body. This is needed to be able to change direction quickly while dribbling or to collect a loose ball. Also being flexibility is very beneficial in all sports and helps to prevent injury. Also I will be practicing some skills, and also adding to my endurance and muscles.
Session one
Warm up - to prevent injury
Sit and reach test
We sit on the floor, legs straight, feet flat against the box, and fingertips on the edge of the top plate. We bend forward as far as possible, keeping our knees straight. We then measure the distance from the edge of the plate to our fingertips. This test helps with your flexibility, which does play a part in your football.
Illinois Agility Run
A course is set up with cones. We lie face down on the floor at the starting line. When told to start we must leap to our feet and complete the course in the shortest possible time. This measures and improves our agility, which is an important factor to consider while playing football.
Warm down – to remove any build up of lactic acid.
Session Two
Warm up - to prevent injury
Interval training
Jog around the track and after every 300m sprint 100, repeat from 6-10 times. This is a test of endurance and it becomes very tiring after a while. It will help my muscles by building them up and getting them ready for the next 6 weeks.
Heading
This exercise needs a partner. A partner throws you the ball at an appropriate height. While the ball is in the air your partner must tell which spot of the goal to head it in. See how many of the headers out of 50 you can get in the correct spot. Ask your partner to vary the height and speed of the headers to improve your headers. This exercise improves accuracy and ball control.
Volleys
Your partner throws the ball and calls a spot in the goal and you have to try to get it in that spot. See how many volleys you can get out of 50. Ask your partner to vary the height and speed of the volleys to improve your volleys. This exercise improves accuracy and ball control.
Warm down – to remove any build up of lactic acid.
Football training after school on Wednesday 6.00-7.30
Evaluation
This week was more relax then the last two and I strayed from my main aspects that I have been training to improve, but I think it will be more beneficial and I hoping my final test scores will prove me right.
Week Six
This week I will improve both my muscular and cardiovascular endurance. I will also go over some basics of football and take part in a five aside game to practice some general skills. The beginning of the week will be quite intense the end will be more relax to prepare me for the retest the following week.
Session one
Warm up – to prepare my self for the run.
I did the westend run for 8 minutes. Jogging for every first 50 seconds of a minute then sprinting for the last 10 seconds.
Warm down – to remove lactic acid
Then I did I full stretch and join in a 5 a side game of football in the sports hall to practice skills.
Session two
Warm up – to prevent injury.
Sit ups
This is a sit up exercise. Perform as many as you can in one minute. These will improve muscular endurance in the abdominal muscles; this comes in handy when a throw-in needs to be thrown over a long distance. This is explosive strength because it is done in one explosive movement.
Dribbling
Place six cones 1m apart then dribble a ball in and out of them and sprint back to the start. This is one ‘dribble’. Try to do as many ‘dribbles’ as you can for 1 minute. This will improve ball skills, speed and agility.
Football Assault Course
This ‘assault course’ is for the general skills of football. Start with shooting practise. Place 8 balls in a diagonal line. Place a ‘goal’ 18 m away. Run past each ball without stopping and shoot the balls in the goal. See how many balls you can get in.
Next there will be a ball and 10 cones. Dribble through the cones in a zigzag way as fast as you can.
Next is passing. There should be a 5m by 5m square. Do 30 passes between it to your partner on the other side. You should be standing 10m away from the square.
Next is chipping. There will be 10 hoops and 10 balls. They will each be 10m away from each other. Try to accurately chip each ball so it bounces in the hoop.
The key to this exercise is time and speed. The exercise is timed and it should be done as fast as possible. The faster the exercise the more skill involved.
Warm down – to remove any lactic acid
Football training after school on Wednesday 6.00-7.30
Evaluation
I felt like I was starting Football for the first time this week but it was good to go over old ground and gain extra confidence. I feel I can now build upon my performance and improve in general. It is important to progress your training if you were to continue with training because after six weeks you would have improved. You must increase either the intensity of the training, the frequency of the training or the length of training sessions to keep pushing the body to its limits.
Final Evaluation
This 6-week training plan has been quite tough to carry out. I found it hard to go through with it all but found the determination to do it because I want to get better at the sport and be a better player. None of the weeks we were affected by rain or injury which was lucky.
I felt more awake every day during the plan because I think that doing all this exercise actually works and does keep you healthy. What I must not do now is stop working because if I do then I will go into the stage called reversibility, where your fitness level drops. I want to keep up this level of fitness for the football season and work hard in training. I have always been an athletic person but I feel I have taken it to a new level and shall hopefully keep it there.
In general my training programme was successful because it tested each area and principle of fitness that I wanted it to. I think that, my training programme not only tested my fitness and my football skills, it also improved them.
The circuit training was very successful. By the end of the week, I had improved my speed as I did it faster the second time. Improving my speed was an encouraging result of the training programme because, speed is an important factor for playing football. It also improved my agility and the endurance of my quadriceps and hamstrings.
The sit-up exercise was very tiring, after each time I performed this exercise I could feel my abdominal muscles stretching and becoming stronger. I improved throughout the six weeks because as my results show I could do more sit-ups at the end of the training programme than in the beginning of the training programme. But as a whole I improved the strength and endurance of my abdominal muscles.
Chipping balls into hoops, I found this exercise fairly uncomplicated. Although my accuracy and chipping ability are somewhat good, they still improved as a whole.
The shooting exercise tested my shooting and accuracy ability. This was one of the easier stations as shooting isn’t a very backbreaking work out, although I did improve in the six-week period. I could pinpoint a spot between the cones and then usually get it there. This improved my accuracy.
The burpees’ exercise was the exercise that I found quite difficult, during the training programme, as it was very tiring and challenging. Overall, this did improve my agility, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings.
The dribbling exercise was a fairly easy exercise. I have improved on my speed and ball control. I noticed that I could do dribbling faster at the end of the training programme than at the beginning. I also noticed that I was not as tired as I was before.
The kick-ups exercise, 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.
The passing exercise, this exercise 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.
The westend/Interval training run was very tiring. It greatly improved my muscular endurance, speed and agility. This was a good way to improve. I also started to walk to school.
The Bleep Test is an exercise from hell. It is very grueling and needs a lot of muscular endurance, speed, agility and aerobic capacity.
I do not find the Harvard Step Test, difficult and I think that my results show that I was above average. I completed two Harvard Step Tests during the training programme. The Harvard Step Test measures my aerobic capacity and my recovery rate and my results show that my fitness index increased during the period of training. This also proves that the training programme helped my pulse and recovery rate which would enhance all of the rest of the exercises.
I found the pull ups very hard and I took a lot out of me the more I did.
Press-ups are easy but I still managed to do more and more as the weeks went by.
The standing broad jump and the standing vertical jump were very easy and my results show that my muscular strength in my legs was above average.
The free kick, penalties, headers and volleys exercise tested my accuracy at being able to pinpoint a spot to shoot at. My accuracy is good and I found that I was able to be even more accurate in my shooting and heading.
The sit-and-reach test tested my flexibility and my results show that I was above average.
The Illinois agility run was testing. I learned to speed my way through it, and learned that every second counted. It measured my agility and speed. I was a bit out of breath at the end of the run.
The football assault course was just a way to reduce tedium but also to see if I could combine all of my football skills together. The key to the course was speed but also to fulfill each section as best as possible.
I found the training programme to be very intense and tiring, but very effective as my training programme 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. The positive aspect was that I recovered quicker as I went on in the training programme.
If I were to perform the training programme again I would start by making the exercise time slightly less at the beginning of the program so I could get use to doing the exercises gradually. This would also be overloading because the exercises would get harder. Also so would join a gym to make use of better equipment.
If I was given another chance to perform he training programme again, I would have included more tests and exercises such as wall-sits, combination tests, dynamometer and shoulder lift test. I would also have compared my skin fold measurement to see if it changed during the training programme. I would expect that it would not change because it would take some time for the fat to reduce. I would also compare the change in my pulse rate during the training programme.
Although I had improved during the six-week period I had only improved slightly, so if I were repeating this programme I would make it last 12 weeks so improvements could be seen more easily. Once the training programme becomes too easy I would have to make it harder (overload) to affect reversibility. If the training programme is not made harder the body will stop improving in the areas of muscular endurance and anaerobic respiration. The body must train regularly to prevent reversibility. Reversibility is when the affects of training decrease and the benefits are lost.
I liked doing this plan and found it was worth it. I didn’t really encounter any problems and found it a demanding but I enjoyed it a lot too, the only regrets I have is looking back on it I could of pushed myself a little more.