The aim of my programme is to develop my performance as a swimmer in an effort to reach my full potential. My programme has been designed with achievable targets in mind. Throughout the programme I will mainly work on strength and power due to my current fitness and the importance of this in my sport, swimming. By the end of the 6-week period I hope to improve my muscle strength and endurance, also my speed and reaction times.
Programme Seasonal Factors The time of the year that I will be doing my programme will be in the pre season preparation part of the year, this means that I will be training in preparation for close following competitions. Here most athletes focus on fitness for their sport, I will be doing strength training at a fast rate to also try to improve power. During this time you should already have done a lot of aerobic training in the out of season preparation period for general fitness. Personal Factors I also need to take into account personal factors. If I have an injury or if I’m not in the right state of mind this may affect my performance.
Types of Exercise I have mentioned briefly the types of exercise I will be doing in my programme. The general factors I will be working on are Muscular Endurance- This is the ability for muscles to maintain and repeat contractions without getting tired, and, Strength- This is the amount of force a muscle can exert against a resistance. These can be broken down into more specific areas of fitness: Power Or Explosive Strength- This is the ability to do strength performances quickly, and, Speed Of Reaction- This is the time taken between the presentation of a stimulus and the onset of movement. I have chose to include these types of exercise in my programme following the results I achieved in my fitness test, also for my sport, swimming, strength and muscular endurance are very important to pull you through the water. The type of training I will be doing is circuit training.
Circuit 1) Bicep Curls. This is to work on my biceps to get a stronger pull through the water. 2) Lunges. Works the quadriceps to build up strength for a strong push of the wall after a tumble turn or a backstroke start. This will also strengthen my legs muscles improving my weak kick. 3) Abdominal curls (centre). Works the abdominals which help to give you propulsion in the short bas strokes i.e. breastroke and butterfly. 4) Heel Raises. Works your gastrocnemius.
Cardiovascular Exercise- skipping. Improving stamina and increasing the heart rate 5) Box Press up. You need a strong upper body to pull yourself through the water. The prime movers here are your pectorals, triceps and deltoids. 6) Lower Leg Raise. Works my abductors. 7) Upper Body Raises. Works your erector spinae. 8) Back leg raises. Works my gluteals adding to the muscular endurance in my leg that I am trying to improve. Cardiovascular Exercise- Triangle 8 lap run. Improving stamina and increasing the heart rate.
9) Bench Dips. Works your triceps. 10) Upper Leg Raises. Works my adductors and my quadriceps. 11) Abdominal Curls (sides). Works the abdominals which help to give you propulsion in the short bas strokes i.e. breastroke and butterfly. 12) Pec Dec. Works my pectorals, trapezius and Deltoids. This is working your upper body and improving shoulder strength. Cardiovascular Exercise- Back to back sprints. Improving stamina and increasing the heart rate. Cool Down This is to help your body to recover after vigorous exercise.
I will start off by doing a gentle jog. This helps to keep my circulation going. So more oxygen reaches my muscles and lactic acid is cleared away faster. I will finish with a similar stretching to my warm up; this will loosen my muscles and prevent stiffness. Muscles often get very tight after exercise. It is important to do a cool down or you will suffer the next day. Fitness Tests The Bleep Test This measures your maximal oxygen consumption. This is the maximum volume of oxygen you are able to use when exercising. The larger the value, the fitter you are. This test measures the efficiency of your aerobic energy source. A larger person will generally consume more oxygen than a smaller person because he or she has lager muscles. I ran 50 laps with a level of three and improved to 56 laps and moved up a level.
Grip Strength Squeeze dynamometer as hard as possible and read the dial. You require a handgrip dynamometer, this measures strength. I scored an average of 34 for both hands classifying me as above average. This is one test I wanted to improve on as it tested my muscular strength and I successfully did that moving up to an average of 36 for both hands. Sit- up Test Lie on the ground and move elbows to knees, see how many you can do in 30 seconds. This test is for muscular endurance. I scored 19 which is average and I was disappointed with it. After 6 weeks I went up to 24 sit-ups which is a high score.
Sit and reach Test Sit on the ground with your legs straight and push a ruler forward as far as possible. You must be able to hold it for a few seconds. I was able to push it 25cm Standing Broad Jump Stand with your feet together behind a marked line and jump forward as far as possible. You measure from the back of the person’s rear foot. This was a weak exercise for me. I scored 160cm and after 6 weeks I went up 15cm. Five Metre Shuttle Run This test works out your speed. You run 10x5m as quickly as possible. I was able to get 19.94 secs and improved to a time of 19.43, both times were above average.
Stork Stand This test is to question your balance. You stand with one foot bend and touching the other legs knee and a stop watch is started when you rise on your toe of the other foot and see how long you can hold yourself up. I scored a disappointing score of 6.51secs which is a low score but was able to improve it slightly to 14 secs. Alternative Wall Toss The alternative wall toss is when you have 30secs to throw a tennis ball at the wall and catch it again as many times as possible and it tests your co-ordination.
I achieved a scored of 20 which is below average and only improved by 2 which still classified me as below average Illinois agility run You run the circuit shown below. You have to start on your chest. You have to go down the line back up to the top of the cones around the cones and back again then down to the end and up to the finish. My score in this discipline was 18.94secs and I made a minor improvement of 18.27 secs.