OVERLOAD -
Means I must work harder than normal. My body will then adapt to the extra work and I will become fitter and stronger. For my training programme to be of benefit I should feel some form of discomfort and stress. My body will then gradually adapt to the new level of work and so my level of fitness will improve.
For example, distance runners must increase the distance they run, complete the run in a quicker time or run more often during the week.
REVERSIBILITY –
Fitness cannot be stored for future use and your level of fitness is constantly changing. This means I will lose fitness if I become inactive. It only takes three or four weeks to get out of condition. If the muscles are not used they will atrophy or waste away. This means I will then lose speed, power and strength. As a result serious sports performers today never lose their general fitness.
We lose our aerobic fitness more easily than our anaerobic fitness. This is because the muscles quickly lose their ability to use oxygen.
VARIANCE
Tedium, or boredom, must be avoided in training. I must make my training interesting and enjoyable, by using a variety of training methods.
I will avoid over use injuries by changing the nature of my training, for example by running on different types of surface.
FITNESS/STRENGTH DEMANDS:
Different types of strength training will result in different types of physiological adaptations. This means that I must be specific with my training as it is a very important principle to take into account. Strength endurance programmes will stimulate aerobic adaptations within the muscle cell and also some neural adaptations. It is the adaptations to the nervous system that are largely responsible for the early strength gains experienced by the athlete. In order to improve my strength and fitness I need to work against some form of resistance, but in order to make my training programme as specific as possible I need to consider the following:
The type of strength I want to develop-maximum strength, strength endurance or elastic strength.
Which muscles groups I want to improve.
From this section I am going to try and develop my maximum strength by incorporating weights into my training programme. As rugby does not focus on one main muscle group I am going to try and improve my overall fitness.
Before each session I will make sure I have a proper warm up and warm down
WARM-UP
Throughout my training program I must make sure that I warm up. My warm up will consist of jogging for a period of time. By gently raising your pulse you are beginning to increase your cardiac output and your rate of ventilation. Your vasomotor center is making sure that the blood is being distributed to the working muscles. The combined effect is to increase the amount of oxygen being delivered to the muscle cells, which will help to reduce the oxygen deficit when you start your activity for real. Each warm up may vary, as how long I jog for will depend on the temperature, longer if it is a colder day. This is to get my heart rate up and to get the blood circulating. The warm up will not be as long on a hotter day because the body will not take as long to warm up. When I am warm, I will stretch out the muscles I am going to use including triceps, biceps, hamstrings, quadriceps, gastronomies, deltoids, latissimus dorsi and abdominal.
I will hold each stretch for 8-10 seconds.
THE WARM UP
1. Start with a little jogging this will gently raise your heart rate to about 120 beat/min
2. Next, I will stretch all the main joints but will pay particular attention to the joints and muscles that will be most active.
3. Then I will practice for the training activity with the movement patterns that will be performed.
Helps prepare you mentally
Increases heart rate and blood flow
Warms muscles and makes them more flexible
Warms and loosens joints
Reduces the risk of injury to the muscles and joints
WARM DOWN
After each session I will warm down by doing some light jogging and stretching to the muscles I have used during the training. Your body also returns to its normal state more quickly if you perform some light exercise during the recovering period. The increased flow helps flush out waste products such as lactic acid and carbon dioxide, reducing your overall recovery time. When muscle action stops suddenly the amount of blood returning to the heart drops dramatically. This in turn reduces the stroke volume and causes a drop in blood pressure, making the athlete feel dizzy and light-headed. A cool-down allows the muscles to return to their normal temperature slowly because a sudden drop in temperature could cause muscle damage. A warm down is very important as it aids recovery and helps to prevent muscle soreness and injury so I will need to make sure I have a proper warm down after each training session.
1. First, I will do some jogging and other gentle exercises.
2. Then I will do some stretching and make sure I pay special attention to the main joints I used. I will also perform some flexibility exercises as my muscles will still be warm and at they’re most pliable.
WHAT IT DOES
THE F.I.T.T FORMULA
When planning a training program we must think about frequency, intensity, time and type of training. This is a F.I.T.T program.
F= FREQUENCY- means we must train regularly.
I = INTENSITY-sessions should gradually become harder.
T= TIME-the time spent training should increase.
T= TYPE OF TRAINING- means that our training must include activities specific to our sport. For running or cycling aerobic type training is required.
TRAINING METHODS
We can choose from many different training methods. They are all based on an understanding of how our body adapts to training. Some of the different methods we could use include:
CONTINUOUS TRAINING - Continuous training means exercising without rest intervals. There are two types of continuous training:
- LONG, SLOW DISTANCE TRAINING
- HIGH INTENSITY, CONTINUOUS TRAINING
Long, slow distance training can be, for example, running, cycling or swimming. It does not put a lot of stress on the body and has a limited fitness effect.
In contrast, high intensity, continuous training can be, for example, rowing, cycling or swimming at near competition pace. This is very hard work and can improve fitness considerably.
FARTLEK TRAINING - Fartlek training allows us to develop the fitness we choose in the way we like. It involves training using a variety of activities. We can run, walk, sprint, cycle or ski over a variety of distances, over different types of ground and at different speeds. The way we put the activities together will produce an aerobic or anaerobic training effect.
INTERVAL TRAINING - Interval training is the most popular type of training used in sport for training the elite athlete. It is very versatile and can be used in almost any activity although it is most widely used in swimming, athletics and cycling. Interval training can improve both aerobic and anaerobic capacities and enables the athlete to exercise at the specific intensity necessary to train the relevant energy system for the activity.
CIRCUIT TRAINING - In Circuit Training a number of different activities in a given sequence. This is called a circuit. A circuit usually has 6 to 10 activities such as press-ups and sit-ups. Circuits can be designed to improve aerobic or anaerobic fitness, depending on the type of activity included, the time spent on each activity and the number of circuits completed. The activities should be chosen to help develop fitness for our particular sport.
WEIGHT TRAINING - When we weight train we use either free weights or machine weights as a form of resistance. This enables us to overload our muscles gradually and safely.
EXERCISES AND EXERCISE ORDER:
1) Leg press - to be replaced by squats as soon as possible (3-4 weeks)
2) Bench press (machine progressing to free flat bench)
3) Leg curls (hamstring curls)
4) Calf raises
5) Shoulder press (machine progressing to free weights)
6) Crunch sit-ups
7) Bicep curls (machine progressing to free weights)
8) Back raises
9) Tricep press
The rest period between sets of the same exercise stays the same (2-3 minutes).
I have placed my weight training sessions at equal intervals throughout the week (e.g. Monday, Wednesday & Friday or alternatively Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday). This enables the muscle to recover during the rest day.
I have thought about all the aspects I have listed above and have come up with a training programme that best suits my needs and me. I have done it for 6 weeks, and I increased the intensity every week.
Week 1:
I performed well during this week. I completed all the activities during the week. I found that my muscles were a bit achy at the end of the week, but that’s because my body was not used to training. I do not think that it was too hard. I think my fitness improved slightly over the week. I found the weights day quite hard. My skill tackling has improved slightly, this showed in my match on Sunday. Warm up and down were effective.
(TP) = taclking practise
Week 2:
I performed well during this week. I completed all the activities during the week. I found the sprint work challenging, there were to many runs. I found the weights got easier. My muscles did not feel as tired and achy because they got use to the training, I think the light jog helped my muscles not ache. I think my speed has now improved slightly and my aerobic capacity has got bigger. My skill has not yet improved because I haven’t done any skill work. Warm up and down were effective.
Week 3:
I performed well during this week. I completed all the activities during the week. I found the weights hard as I did it 3 times during the week. Again I think my fitness improved but only slightly. I found the swimming and running on the treadmill fairly easy. I think I set that week out very well because the day after a weights session I would do something that didn’t tire me. My muscles felt tired on Sunday after the sprints. My skill has not yet improved because I haven’t done any skill work. Warm up and down were effective.
Week 4:
I performed reasonable well this week. I found this week fairly hard. Tuesday I could not complete the Fartlek training, I found this was too hard. I completed all the other activities. I feel my fitness has improved a lot since the start of the training programme. The weight sessions are becoming challenging, but not too difficult. My body felt very tired after Wednesdays exercise. My legs felt stiff and sore. I feel my passing has improved. Warm up and down were good and helped relieve the achy ness in my legs.
(PP) = passing practise
Week 5:
I performed really well this week. I found Tuesday very challenging but I completed all the tasks in the activity. I think the box jumps were hard. On Wednesday morning my leg muscles were really sore and achy, I think the warm up before my weights helped ease the soreness. I feel this week I improved greatly. My kicking skill improved and so did my fitness level. I did a kicking test by using the posts. I did 3 kicks from the left side of the pitch, 3 on the right, 2 close and in the middle and 2 far away in the middle.
I got:
9/10 on conversion kicks
7/10 on drop kicks
8/10 kicks from hand
My passing and kicking has greatly improved, this showed in the match on Sunday. My warm up and down was very efficient. The weights are getting hard especially bicep curl. I did do all the reps, but with difficulty.
(KP) = kicking practise
Week 6:
This week was the hardest week of all. Every day I did an activity. On Sunday I did not perform too well in the match, as my body was very tired, I only played a half (25 minutes). After the training on Tuesday I felt sick. I found my acceleration has improved. My muscular strength and power have improved greatly over the past 6 weeks, as I can nearly lift my body weight. I managed to do 25 reps for the weights. This week was pitched at a very high level, which was too hard for me. I preformed reasonably well, but did not complete each activity. On Wednesday I did not do the weights session and only swam 20 lengths on Thursday.
(CNDA) = could not do activity
(DNCA) = did not complete activity
I think my training programme was pitched at a very high standard. It was very hard for me to complete, and I have quite a good level of fitness.
I think I applied specificity as I trained for my particular sport. My training program put stress on the muscles I will use in rugby. Every activity had a specific mix of fitness components. I also applied progression, as my training programme got gradually longer and harder. I put more and more on stress the muscles. My progression was not too fast, which cause injury or burnout and it was not to slow which causes boredom and staleness. I applied overload in the last 3 weeks, I struggled to complete a few activities and in one case failed to complete an activity. I did not over load the first 3 weeks, as I may pick up an injury. I needed to adapt to the intense training. My weights gradually got heavier and had longer repetitions. In the last week I applied overload and did as many reps I could and the heaviest weight I could.
I think progress was made, my fitness, speed, and strength all increased.
My monitoring showed that I found the last 3 weeks harder than the first 3 weeks. It shows I got fitter, faster and stronger.
I think that the exercises were the right choice because I used a range of activities, which worked different muscle groups. I also used a range of types of training - Fartlek, Continuous training, Weights, Plyometrics and Interval training.
No modifications were made through the training programme. I think they were in the right order because after weights or a heavy running session I would normally do swimming or cycling the next day, which eased the muscles and joints. Each week the training also got harder. The schedule was hard to manage as I trained most days of the week. Weekdays were hard to keep to the schedule because I had school and homework. It was easy to set up as I didn’t use much equipment, the running machine, swimming pool, rowing machine and weights were all at my local gym. The rugby balls, tackling pads and kicking post were all at school. It was very tiring to keep to the schedule. I think that it was very enjoyable because I changed the training each week, I used different types of activities. The weights got a bit boring towards the end because it was the same each week. I think it was interesting, because I did training that I had never done before it was a good experience.
If, I made another training programme I would use the same things but change the amount of work I did, I would decrease the workload and pitch it at a lower level.
