1. Pull-ups – pulling yourself up on a bar – This will improve Muscular Endurance/Muscular Strength this will involve my biceps and triceps 2. Squats – Whilst crouching extend your legs behind yourself and then bring them back in to a crouching position – this will improve Muscular Endurance this will involve my abdominals, gastrocnemius, hamstrings and quadriceps 3. Sit-ups – From a lying position on your back, lean forward until your back is straight and you are in a sitting position – This will improve Muscular Endurance this will improve abdominals and latissimus dorsi
4. Step-ups – Step onto a bench, then step off it to a steady rhythm – This will improve Cardiovascular Endurance and will involve my heart, gastrocnemius, hamstrings and quadriceps 5. Press-ups – Lying on your front, push yourself off the floor with your hands – This will improve Muscular Endurance and involve my biceps and triceps 6. Shuttle Runs – Short sprints between two points – This will improve Cardiovascular Endurance/Speed and it will involve my heart 7. Ski-Jumps – Stand by the side of a bench then jump to the alternate side – This will improve Muscular Endurance and will involve my gastrocnemius, hamstrings and quadriceps.
8. Skipping – Do fast skipping with cross-overs – This will improve Cardiovascular Endurance and involves my heart 9. Biceps Curls – With a heavy weight in your hand bend your elbow and bring in your arm towards your body, flexing your bicep muscle – This will improve Muscular Endurance and involves my biceps For my circuit I will be using the four principles of training which are ~ Specificity, Overload, Progression and Reversibility. For my circuit I will be using Specificity a lot in order to improve in my chosen sport which is swimming.
I will be specifying in all the areas, which I need to train to be better at swimming. Every week I will make my circuit harder by either by increasing the number of reps I do, or the length of time I do the activity. This means I will be using the principal of Overload in my circuit. To use the principal of progression I will use Overload to make my body work harder and therefore progress each week. But to progress safely I will add rests in between each training station, this will help to avoid injuries such as torn muscles.
To avoid Reversibility I will stick to a pre-drawn plan and exercise harder each week. It takes 3 to 4 weeks to reverse, so training once a week will prevent Reversibility. Testing My Circuit A week before my circuit training I will have a bleep test to see how good I am in different areas of fitness. A week after my circuit training I will have another bleep test to see how well my circuit has performed. In general my circuit program was successful, it tested each area of fitness that I designed it to. Although it achieved its aim, there wasn’t enough equipment to do a large variety of workouts, so I couldn’t exercise certain muscles or combinations of muscles at one time.
My bleep test proved that in my bleep tests I had improved in the areas that were tested, but out of all the areas that were tested some were not used in my chosen sport. It would have been a better test if the area tested were more specific to my sport. As shown in my ‘Monitoring The Programme’ sheet, I had to change some rep and time limits in order to create an achievable level at the start for each station however this meant that I was not concentrating on a individual muscle all through my programme. That would mean that all the tested muscles were not up to their full potential by the end of the programme.
I found my circuit very intense and tiring, but effective because the circuit tested all the appropriate areas. By the end of each session I felt that I could not do any more exercise as my muscles were aching, this would mean that I am using the principle of overload correctly in my circuit. Although I had improved by the end of my program I had only improved minimally, so if I were to repeat this again I would make it last 14 weeks. I would have a longer of time to make improvements to the programme and improve my fitness to a higher level.