exercise programme

Scenario

Make sure you have read the scenario carefully and picked out all the clues.

Principles to include

Progressive Overload is a combination of two principles;

Progression:

  • Gradually increase the amount you do

Overloading:

  • Training more than you normally do.

Progressive overload – gradually increasing intensity of workload for example starting at 5KG and increasing to 6KG once 5KG becomes too easy, in this way the muscles adapt to the new work loads increasing the strength of the individual. By increasing workload slightly minimises risk of injury, therefore the body can continue to train without fear of needing to stop due to injury.

Overtraining is not allowing your body sufficient time to recover. It is based on the principle of rest and recovery – allowing time between training sessions for sufficient rest and for adaptations to take place.

For example have training sessions on alternate days so that the body has time to replenish energy stores so it can train again and begin to adapt.


FITT stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type. It encompass's other principles of training such as thresholds and is an easy way for an athlete to apply progressive overload.


Frequency– how often training occurs. For example training once a week and then increased to twice.

Intensity - how hard the person is working. Sprinting 20 shuttles rather than 18 is an example that demonstrates working harder.

Time – how long the person trains for. For example the first session was 20mins but by 5th session the individual was working for 30mins.

Type – the training must match the needs of the activity.

Thresholds of training are the levels that you should work within to meet your training goals and are linked to intensity. Threshold is a range or training zone usually based on heart rates. There should be a lower and upper limit. Working within the threshold should give safe training effect. An individual's aerobic target zone is 60–80% and anaerobic target zone 80%–90% and is calculated using Karvonen formula.

Warm up & Cool down

Warm ups are used to reduce the risk of injury and need to follow 3 stages:

  1. pulse raise such as jogging to increasing HR and cardiovascular function. This moves blood to muscles so sufficient oxygen is available at the start of the activity.
  2. stretch/mobilise joints which prevents muscle tear by increasing elasticity of muscle, by gradually increasing intensity muscles required to work at. Use Dynamic Stretching in this part.
  3. activity specific drills or skill-related activity and small sided games. This offers a psychological preparation to the warm up.


Benefits of Warming up include:

  • increase heart rate, blood flow & oxygen delivery to the muscles
  • muscle temperature increase which can increase flexibility
  • prepares you physically
  • prepares you mentally
  • allows performer to focus on task and get in the zone
  • better concentration
  • reduced anxiety
  • allows performer to practise tasks ready for the game/event
  • leads to improved performance

One of the main benefits cited for a Cool Down is that it reduces the risk of muscle stiffness after exercise. This is because it speeds up removal of lactic aid and maintains circulation thus reduces the chance of muscle soreness and prevents cramp.

Cool downs do not reduce injury per-se, but can reduce the occurrence of delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMs). The main value of the cool down is to gradually reduce work rate and therefore control the rate at which the body systems reach resting levels. Cool down can also prevent blood pooling which can lead to fainting after a vigorous exercise session.

A cool down should be similar to the pulse-raising activities in a warm up (consisting of aerobic activities such as jogging, side-stepping, running backwards etc.), except the intensity should decrease, moving from a moderate to a low intensity.

Include Static Stretching in the cool down.

Methods of training

The methods of training you need to know are: continuous, fartlek, circuit, weight/resistance.

The method of training you choose must relate to the clues in the scenario and the areas of focus in the question, these are usually:

  • Muscular Endurance: Circuit Training
  • Cardiovascular Endurance: Continuous Training or Fartlek
  • Muscular Strength: Weight Training
  • Body Composition: Circuit Training or Weight Training

Continuous Training

Exercising at a steady workload, with no breaks or rest periods for an extended period of time.

Component of fitness: Aerobic fitness/ CV endurance / stamina

Continuous training involves working for over 20 minutes at an even pace with no rest intervals. It is sometimes referred to as ‘steady state’ training. To be considered continuous training at least 20 minutes of exercise at a moderate pace and constant heart rate must be performed. The most common forms of activity are swimming, running, rowing or cycling. It should be the method of training that is most commonly performed for those who work for long periods of time at a constant pace, for example a marathon runner, triathlete or a 10 km open water swimmer. Therefore it is a training method that predominately produces adaptations to the body’s ability to take in, deliver and use oxygen and supply energy by the aerobic energy system. It is also a common method used by games players early in the pre-season period or recovering after a long-term injury when an ‘aerobic-base’ is required before more intensive forms of aerobic training are introduced (i.e. Fartlek or interval).

Fartlek Training

Running at different paces, often over different terrains for an extended period of time (usually between 20 and 60 minutes). Also known as 'speed play'.

Component of fitness: Aerobic endurance/CV endurance / stamina

Fartlek is different to continuous training because despite involving exercising for a prolonged period of time without resting, there are many changes of speed or intensity. Fartlek training involves exercising at varying intensities and because there are changes in speed; both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems will be stressed.

Many elite games players will carry out this type of training, although they will usually use their own pitch of field of play, rather than using different terrains. For example, football players will perform walking, running and sprinting different distances around the penalty or 18-yard box.

Circuit Training

A series of exercises where the participant moves from one exercise station to the next. The session can be designed to improve skill or fitness.

Component of fitness: suitable for all components

Circuits can be organised to allow a high intensity of exercise with a recovery period before using the same muscles again. Circuit training is a very adaptable method of training, but altering the stations or reps/sets you can alter the aspect of fitness worked on.

Different exercises helps to avoid tedium and therefore increase chances of maintaining training and circuit training can be made more specific to a sport by making sure exercise focus on relevant components of fitness and relevant muscles. When analysing a circuit you should rest time, work time, exercises, components of fitness, muscles being worked and specificity of exercises to the sport.

Weight/resistance training.

Components of fitness: muscular endurance and muscular strength.

Resistance machines such as a bench press machine, or leg press machine can be used to develop strength. The benefits of these machines are that they can control the ‘range of movement’ and isolate the muscle or muscles being trained. However, this is also their limitation because they do not allow the development of supporting muscles during lifting. ‘Free weights’ require supporting muscle activation and are more challenging, therefore lead to greater adaptations and improvements in fitness. However, there is a greater risk of injury (e.g. dropping a weight on yourself, or damaging a joint). Most elite athletes use Olympic lifts and the development exercises that are used to develop them and training using these lifts has been shown to be most beneficial such as jumping, sprinting and other activities. Examples of these exercises includes; snatch, power cleans, clean and jerk, back squat, front squat, ‘good morning’, dead-lift and straight leg dead lift.

Weight training can be varied to allow targeted training on the muscles required for the sport and this reduces tedium. Weight training can be specific by using high reps, low weights to improve muscular endurance and low reps, high weights for muscular strength/power. However it requires correct balance, too much emphasis on weight training could have negative impact on body weight and sport efficiency.

Things to Consider

Make sure you have included:

  • warm-up
  • main activity
  • cool down
  • rest days

It is likely you will be asked to plan either 1 weeks worth of exercise with an extra session a few weeks later or individual sessions over a period of weeks.

Either way it is important to make sure that you have shown Progressive Overload, for example in continuous training:

  • Week 1 - 20 mins on treadmill, level 4, 0% incline
  • Week 2 - 25 mins on treadmill, level 5, 0% incline
  • Week 5 - 30 mins on treadmill, level, 7, 1.5% incline.

To access higher grades you must justify your exercise programme, following PEEL is an easy way to structure your responses. Use terms like FITT, Progressive Overload & Recovery.