Suggest what training/practice methods might be used to improve performance. Outline a six week training/practice programme that will be used to improve performance.
Eleanor’s strengths in Front Crawl are:
- Good co-ordination
- Good level of stamina
To maintain her co-ordination Eleanor should carry on swimming all four strokes and also take part in other sports.
To maintain her stamina Eleanor should keep swimming the front stroke but each time she goes swimming she should increase the number of lengths she does. This will maintain and hopefully increase her stamina.
Eleanor’s weaknesses are:
- Her head is too low when she swims
- Not got enough strength
To improve elly’s head position she should practice full stroke without breathing and part practice on her head position.
To make elly improve her strength she should work on her arm pull. She could use a float in between her legs so she does not kick and this will improve the strength in her arms. After to improve her strength on her legs she should hold the float in her arms whilst swimming therefore she would not be working her arm muscles and this will improve the strength in her legs.
Training programme week 1
Breathing Practices
- You need to be good at breathing because it will make you swim a lot faster. Whilst breathing your head needs to be the right height and you need good leg action, otherwise it will interfere with stroke rhythm and you will have a poor streamline.
Warm Up
I will make elly swim 5 laps around the pool
At first I will make her swim a metre without breathing then two, and then gradually make the distance longer everyday, to achieve overload.
By the end of the week I want her to swim the whole length of the pool without breathing too many times.
I will give her 2 days for recovery.
S To improve Elly’s ability to breathe properly whilst swimming
M Swim the whole length of the pool, without stopping too many times.
A I’ve agreed this drill with Eleanor
R Yes she can already swim quite far without breathing
T By the end of the week
E Not that exciting
R I will keep a record of her progress
FITT
Frequency-Elly will have 5 training sessions this week. Intensity-Elly will have to do a lot of swimming for this drill; therefore she will have to work quite hard. Time-She will spend about an hour a day on this drill. Type-Breathing practices.
Training Programme Week 2
Arm stroke
- You need to have a strong arm stroke to build up speed and to help glide you through the water. You must make sure your hand isn’t flat otherwise it acts as a break and creates resistance.
Warm Up
I will make elly swim 5 laps around the pool
To help Eleanor improve her arm stroke I am going to make her swim with a float between her legs so she only uses her arms to pull her through the water. This will make her arms a lot stronger and will teach her how to do the strokes properly by getting the timing right because she will only have to think about her arms and not worry about her legs.
Each day I will make her swim further to achieve overload. I will give her 3 days of for recovery.
To make it more exciting and for a strengthening activity I will make Eleanor try and retrieve an object from the bottom of the pool, only using her arms.
S To improve Elly’s arm stroke whilst doing front crawl
M Swim up and down the whole length of the pool only using her arms
A I’ve agreed this drill with Eleanor
R Yes, her arm stoke is already good
T By the end of the week
E I will make her do different activities to make it exciting
R I will keep a record of her progress
Frequency-Elly will have 4 training sessions this week. Intensity-Elly will have to do a lot of swimming for this drill; therefore she will have to work quite hard. Time-She will spend 2 hours a day on this drill. Type-Making her arm strokes stronger.
Training Programme Week 3
Leg Action
- You need to have good leg action to help you glide faster through the water. You have to make sure that your kick isn’t too deep otherwise there is increased resistance and you get tired quicker.
Warm Up
I will make elly swim 5 laps around the pool
To help elly improve her leg action I am going to make her put her arms out straight in front of her and make her hold a float so she can only use her legs.
To reach overload and show progression, I will gradually make her swim faster, and will time her to make it more exciting and so she has a got a competition against herself to do well and get better.
This week she will be training for 5 days as I feel she needs to work quite a bit on her legs.
S To improve elly’s leg action
M Swim up and down the whole length of the pool only using her legs
A I’ve agreed this drill with Eleanor
R Yes, her leg action seems good
T By the end of the week
E Yes, I will time her so it gives her motivation to succeed
R I will keep a record of her progress
Frequency-Elly will have 6 training sessions this week. Intensity-Elly will have to do a lot of swimming for this drill; therefore she will have to work quite hard. Time-She will spend 2 hours a day on this drill. Type-To make her leg action stronger.
Training Programme Week 4
Body Position
- To succeed in doing front crawl, whilst doing swimming, you body must be streamline. Your head has to be the right height and you have to lift it in order to breathe, otherwise the resistance increases and it is harder to swim.
Warm Up
I will make elly swim 5 laps around the pool
To improve Eleanor’s body position I will make her practice the full stroke without breathing and do part practices on head position. This should enable her to swim faster and she will use less energy therefore she wont get tired as fast. This will also help her agility, so she will be able to stop and start quickly therefore it would help her in races.
I will make her do this for 4 days this week.
S To improve elly’s body position
M Help her swim streamline
A I’ve agreed this drill with Eleanor
R Yes, this should be easy to do
T By the end of the week
E Not really
R I will keep a record of her progress
Frequency-Elly will have 4 training sessions this week. Intensity-She won’t have to do that much swimming on this particular drill as it is more focused on the positioning. Time-She will spend 1 hour a day on this drill. Type-To improve her body position.
Training Programme Week 5&6
Stamina
- You need to have good stamina whilst swimming so you can keep going for a long time without getting too tired.
Warm Up
I will make elly swim 5 laps around the pool
To improve elly’s stamina I am going to make her race against people. This should make her a lot fitter and also increase her muscular endurance. In this week I am going to make her swim for longer each day to reach overload, and this should show me some progression.
I am going to make her train for 4 days this week and 4 days in week 6 because I feel stamina is one of the most important things you need.
S To improve Eleanor’s stamina
M Helps her swim for longer
A I’ve agreed this drill with Eleanor
R Yes, this should be easy to do, but tiring
T By the end of the week
E The races should be fun
R I will keep a record of her progress
Frequency-Elly will have 4 training sessions this week and 4 next week. Intensity-She will have to do a lot of training this week and it will be physically demanding. Time-She will spend 1 hour a day on this drill, but will have 6 days off overall. Type-To improve her stamina, help her become a better swimmer.
Identify some factors which affect performances in both positive and negative ways:
Somatotype/bodytype- Your weight can have an effect on you in both a positive and negative way. If you were an ectomorph or an endomorph you wouldn’t be as good at swimming as a mesomorph. This is because an ectomorph has a small body mass, and an endomorph has a big body mass, so you need to be the right weight and build, like a mesomorph, to be able to have all the right aspects to become a swimmer.
Age- Age can also have different affects on the performance. If you are really young you’re very unlikely to be a very good swimmer because your body wouldn’t be the right build. Whereas if you was too old you probably wouldn’t be a good swimmer as well because you wont have good stamina or muscle endurance.
Motivation/Arousal- Motivation is very important during competitive activities because it makes you want to succeed and do better. But too much arousal can make you get too angry and you will end up getting disqualified in swimming competitions.
Stress- Stress will make you have a negative effect towards your performance because it can distract you from your goals, and it can make you lose your focus.
Family/Peer support- Support from families can really help performers because they can motivate you and make you want to do better so you can show them how good you are. But it can also have a negative affect because you feel you have to impress too much and this can lead to you making an unnecessary mistake.
After practicing/training for 6 weeks assess how much improvement has been made:
