As a football player I know that it is essential to have a good stamina level and one that can last for a full 90 minutes and extra time should it be required. I play centre midfield and so it is even more important to have a good stamina level. Circuit training can improve cardiovascular endurance. A complete circuit consists of between 8-15 stations and the circuit must be relevant for a specific sport so that the exercises at each station can be relevant for that particular sport. I.E a Hockey circuit should have exercises involving hitting a hockey ball or passing a hockey ball etc.
My program is designed specifically for Football and is to be completed over a six-week period. The stations are all designed specifically for a football player, there will be 10 stations and they will alternate the muscles that are used at each station so that you are not working the same set of muscles for two stations in a row. The circuit is designed for a midfielder, however could be helpful for attackers and defenders however there are no goalkeeping skills involved. From my circuit I am aiming to improve cardiovascular endurance and it may also improve ball skills. These are essential skills for an outfield player.
Cardiovascular endurance – The ability of the heart, lungs and circulatory system to deliver oxygen and remove waste during exercise. This is essential for the player to keep a constant pace all the way through the match. Ball skills – the skills in football are all open skills. This means that the movement will change in a different environment. A skill is a particular action or set of actions. These are essential for football as they cover everything from a simple pass to more complicated skills of dribbling the ball in different directions. During Sport the body uses up oxygen and pyrovic acid is also made, however when the body no longer has enough oxygen pyrovic acid turns to lactic acid, which is in fact poisonous to the muscles. This is why it is essential that a central midfielder have enough oxygen for the entire duration of the match, so that no lactic acid is produced.
To improve the fitness or skill in a particular part of the body you must “overload” that particular part of the body. By doing this you are essentially making the particular part of the body and its muscles do more work then it would normally do. All of these points will be taken into consideration when designing my circuit. Specificity means that exercises should be made specific for a sport or muscle group. So the exercises will be made to contribute to improving stamina and ball skills. Progression and Overload link together, progression means that you must ensure your body continues to progress throughout the exercise and Overload means you must overload your body to ensure that it progresses.
So I must continue to increase the time of exercises, as this will benefit my stamina level. Reversibility is the effect when you stop doing exercise or get to a certain point, once you have reached a certain point of your exercise program and feel comfortable you must continue to overload your body otherwise it will stop to improve. So I must continue to do exercise for longer or increase the repetitions to ensure reversibility doesn’t come into effect. Tedium is the effect of doing the same exercise continuously, it means you will become bored and therefore not be concentrating on the exercises as much which will result in impaired results. I am not only going to try and prevent tedium, but am also going to create motivation; this will keep me interested in my program and will enhance my results.
Before designing a training program you must consider Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type also known as the components of F.I.T.T. Frequency – We should train at least 3 times a week, and need times of rest because our bodies need time to recover between sessions over the week. Intensity – We will not improve unless we make our body systems work hard enough so that the body systems adapt. Time – If we are trying to improve aerobic fitness levels training sessions must continue to get longer and longer. Type – This is very important for my particular circuit, the training you do must be of a certain “type” so that it improves the right areas relevant for your particular sport.
I must also look at safety aspects when doing my training program, it is important that no injuries are picked up. Therefore it is very important to do a full warm-up and warm-down. This includes increasing our heart rate at the beginning of the training session and stretching all of our muscles even the ones that we think will not be used in the training session. Due to my circuit being performed in my garden, the surface could become dangerous, it is important to wear the correct footwear for the varying surfaces. For example on a wet, damp and soft surface screws in studs are essential.
This is a precaution, which must not be overlooked for safety reasons. Plan: The main theme of my training will be a circuit, which I will design and should be completed once a day. There will be set days for rest, as the body requires recovery time between sessions. At the end of each week there will be a test, which will show if any improvements have been made as a result of the weeks training. This test will also be carried out before my training program begins to show what levels I am at before I started the training.