During the training I will only need several weight machine and a handgrip test to test how much I have improved. What are my targets? My aim of the training programme is to be able to server a faster serve in Tennis. I want to speed up the server itself and I will do this by developing strength in my upper body, especially my arms. This will make my whole upper body stronger and hopefully result in a stronger serve.
How am I going to improve? I am going to do 6 training sessions working on my upper body. I will use a lot of weigh machines to work my upper body, such as the shoulder bench press. I will do the training over a period of about 6 weeks (1 hour/week) and use a variety of machines. I will gradually increase the amount of weight on the machines to make the intensity increase. I will also increase the number of reps for each machine. This again will increase the intensity as the training goes on.
How will I know if I improve? I am going to do tests during the training programme. One test before and one after to check if I had improved. I am going to test the strength in my arm. I want to do this because my aim of the training programme is to make my arms stronger to improve the speed in my Tennis serve. I will test my strength using the handgrip test. I will pull on the handgrip as hard as I can, as I will record what I got. I will do this a further two more times and work on my average score. I will the do the test again after I finished all the training sessions and see if my average score is better of f than when I started. I chose this over the 1 rep max test because this test specifically focuses on the strength in my arm, whereas the 1 rep max tests your strength in your shoulders too. All I will need for the handgrip test is the hand grip itself so it is simple but efficient to carry out.
Factors involving training Age, sex, fitness levels, injuries and medical conditions all affect my training programme. Males will find the training easier because a lot of weight machines will be involved in the training. Males have more muscle in their body composition and this is why they would find it easier. Age would definitely affect the training programme, as middle-aged people wouldn’t be able to do it. Teenagers might find it more difficult that people in there 20’s because there body isn’t a strong etc.
People with higher fitness levels wouldn’t really benefit from the training because they wouldn’t be improving unless the intensity was really intense, example doing about 50 reps on each machine. People with medical conditions would definitely find it harder depending on their condition. People with asthma would find it difficult to train continuously on the weights because they would have to stop occasionally and this would be disruptive.
Safety
Safety is a very important factor, as I do not want to injure myself. To prevent injuries I will check every piece of equipment before I use it. I will make sure I know how to use the machines before I actually get on them so I don’t do something wrong which will result in injury. I will wear suitable clothes for doing the training and will take off any jewellery. I will also first do a warm up so I will not pull any muscles when I am doing my training. The area I am training in should be tidy and so no accidents will happen. If I need to set up any equipment I will make sure that I set it up correctly.
This way there is less chance that I will do any harm to myself. I will do a cool down at the end of the session. This should prevent any muscle strain I might have. The order in which I use the weights is also important. I should do a little bit of exercise at a time, not all at once because I might overload and it might cause injury. If I do happen to get an Injury, it might cause me to be unable to do further training and this would be a very bad effect so I will try to make safety and important factor.
Seasonal Factors The season also affects my training. There are different amounts you should do depending on what the season is. Tennis is now peak season so I will have to train extremely hard so I will be at my peak. This will mean a lot of intense training and a good diet so I will be at my best during the season. Weight training I am doing weight training to increase the speed and power in my Tennis serve. Using weights is the best training I could do because I will be using machines that work on the whole of the upper body and some specifically for the arm. This will improve the strength in my arm and upper body resulting in a better server. Although weights are a good method, they can be very expensive and this is a down side of them. More advantages are that you don’t need that much space and several people can do the training at a time.