To improve the fitness of a part of the body, you need to overload it. That means you need to make it work harder than usual. Over time, it adapts to meet the increased demand by getting fitter. You can overload your body in three ways: By increasing the frequency of the exercise. In other words how often you do the exercise. For example start by exercising twice a week, then move up to three or four times a week. By increasing the intensity of the exercise. In other words how hard you work. For example run faster or lift heavier weights or by increasing the time you spend on the exercise.
If you are very unfit you might start off jogging just for 5 minutes a session, and work your way up week by week to 30 minutes a session. Progression Your body takes time to adapt to the increased demands on it. So you should build up your exercise level gradually. But once it reaches a certain level when it can comfortably deal with the level of exercise, it will not improve anymore. To prevent this from happening the exercises must be made progressively harder to ensure that the body continues to improve. Reversibility Your fitness level changes all the time and it will go down if you stop training.
It takes much longer to gain fitness than to lose fitness. Therefore it is essential that exercise be carried out regularly to keep your fitness level up to scratch. I have made sure of this in my training programme by doing it on a regular basis. The F. I. T. T Principle Training programme My training programme will cover a period of six weeks. My training programme takes into account all of the training methods and the principles of training. The training programme should be for three days a week. Each of those three days should cover at least 45 minutes of exercise.
If the exercise is less than 45 minutes, it should be repeated until the 45 minutes are complete. 5 minutes of this will be for the warm up and five minutes will be for the warm down. The exercise done on the first day of the week will be the same, which is done for the rest of the week. Each week then will be different. The reasons for doing the similar exercises would be so that averages could be taken in the results and would be easy to conclude and analyse. This method would also reduce tedium during the training programme.
Before every activity there should be a five-minute warm up. This is essential because the warm up would increase the blood flow to the muscles, stretch the muscles and concentrate the mind on the training. My warm up should include: A period of moderate exercise using the entire body, for example, light jogging. A period of gentle stretching. We should work on the joints most likely to be emphasized during our central training session. The main muscles that need to be stretched are: 1. Hamstrings 2. Quadriceps 3. Gastrocnemiuis 4. Triceps 5. Deltoids 6. Trapezium
In your stretching include all four types of stretching: – static, passive, active and PNF stretching. Practicing the various techniques and skills to be used in our training session. For example, a football player would perform some free kicks, throw-ins, etc. Warm down As I also mentioned above, before every activity there should be a five-minute warm down. This is essential because the warm down helps replace the oxygen debt in your muscles and also gets rid of the extra blood in your veins. My warm down is a slow 400m jog followed by a full stretch to get rid of lactic acid and prevent injury.
On this station you have to start at the line, sprint to the first cone then sprint back to the line then sprint to the second cone, then sprint back to the line then sprint to the third cone, then back to the line. Then sprint to the second cone and back then to the first cone and back to the third cone and back to the line to complete the exercise. This counts as one ‘run’. Try to perform as many as you can in one minute. This will improve your speed, agility and muscular endurance of the quadriceps and hamstrings. All of these qualities would be useful in a football match.
Station Two This station is a sit up exercise. Perform as many as you can in thirty seconds. These will improve muscular endurance in the abdominal muscles; this comes in handy when a throw-in needs to be thrown over a long distance. This is explosive strength because it is done in one explosive movement. Station Three At this station I had to chip a ball over a cone into the net. I recorded how many I did in 1 minute Station Four This is a shooting exercise. Place two cones 5m apart, then line up five balls 10m away from the cones and one cone 2m behind each ball.
Strike the first ball then turn around and sprint around the cone and strike the next ball then turn around and sprint to round the cone etc. this will improve muscular strength and accuracy. See how many of the five balls you can get between the two hoops. Station Five Use a minute to rest and relax. Some light stretching can be done to remove the lactic acid that has built up in your muscles during the first four exercises. Station Six The exercise on this station is ‘burpees’. Burpees are squat thrusts and star jumps merged together. Do a squat thrust then stand up and do a star jump.
This is one ‘burpee’. This will improve your agility, cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance and strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings. See how many you can do in one minute. Station Seven Place six cones 1m apart then dribble a ball in and out of them and sprint back to the start. This is one ‘dribble’. Try to do as many ‘dribbles’ as you can for 1 minute. This will improve ball skills, speed and agility. Station Eight The exercise on this station is kick-ups. Do as many as you can in one minute. This will improve ball control, and muscular endurance and also coordination.
Try to use one foot and then the other and then try using both. Station Nine Set up four cones 5m apart. You stand 10m away from the cones. Get a partner to run to the first cone, you should time your pass so the ball reaches the cone at the exact time your partner reaches the cone. Do this with each cone. Try to use both feet to pass. See how many complete passes are done in 1 minute. This exercise will improve the ability to pass the ball accurately and ball control. The table below displays the results from the two sessions result for the week of this circuit.
This week was quite tiring and I had to push my self a points to carry on and not give up. I had not a lot of the enthusiasm at the beginning of the week but I was very pleased with myself that I carried on. In my football match on Sunday I felt a lot more fresh and my general game was better. I have enjoyed this week and I really want to improve in the last two weeks. Week Five This week I decided to do some training on my agility and flexibility which I though would benefit my overall game and help me perform better in my final tests.
Agility is a big factor of football agility is the ability to change direction quickly and control movements of the whole body. This is needed to be able to change direction quickly while dribbling or to collect a loose ball. Also being flexibility is very beneficial in all sports and helps to prevent injury. Also I will be practicing some skills, and also adding to my endurance and muscles. Session one Warm up – to prevent injury Sit and reach test We sit on the floor, legs straight, feet flat against the box, and fingertips on the edge of the top plate.
We bend forward as far as possible, keeping our knees straight. We then measure the distance from the edge of the plate to our fingertips. This test helps with your flexibility, which does play a part in your football. Illinois Agility Run A course is set up with cones. We lie face down on the floor at the starting line. When told to start we must leap to our feet and complete the course in the shortest possible time. This measures and improves our agility, which is an important factor to consider while playing football.