After studying this section you should understand
- Training Principles
- Training Programmes
- Warm Up & Cool Down
- Fitness Testing
Training Principles
There are 4 training principles:
1. Specificity
- Every person will need a different training programme because we are all different.
- The correct part of the body needs to be trained – there is no point making a weightlifter run 5 miles a day, as this will not improve his strength.
- Train to the correct level – if someone is unfit, do not start them with a 5 mile run.
2. Progession
- Gradually increase the amount of training that’s done when the body has got used to the previous training.
3. Overload
- To improve, you must make your body work harder than it usually would, so you need to push yourself beyond the threshold.
- You can do this by increasing frequency, intensity and duration of training.
4. Reverability
- If you stop training, your fitness levels will drop.
- It takes much longer to gain fitness than it does to lose it.
Training Programmes
A training programme must suit the person it is for.
Many programmes are used using FITT
- Frequency – how often you should exercise.
- Intensity – how hard you exercise.
- Time – how long you should exercise.
- Type – what exercise you should use.
Warm Up & Cool Down
Warming up and cooling down are vital to every training session.
Warm Up
- Gradually gets your body ready for exercise
- Increases the body temperature and blood flow to the muscles
- Stretches the muscles, mobilises the joints and increases range of movement
- Concentrates the mind on training
Cool Down
- Gets your body back to normal state
- Helps replace the oxygen debt in the muscles, getting rid of any lactic acid, which could cause muscle stiffness later on
- Gets rid of extra blood in your muscles to prevent pooling in your veins. This can make you feel dizzy and weak if exercise is stopped suddenly
Fitness Tests
If you have a high aerobic fitness level, then it means that compared to others your heart rate will be lower when resting and exercising, you can exercise for longer without feeling tired, and you can use up more oxygen when you exercise.
To measure you heart rate, place you first two fingers on one of you pulse points:
- Carotid artery – this is on you neck, to the one side
- Radial artery – this is on your wrist, by the base of your thumb
- Count the beats over 15 seconds, then multiply that number by 4 to get beats per minute.
- That’s your heart rate.
There are 3 main tests for aerobic fitness:
1. Harvard Step Test
- 30 step-ups a minute for 5 minutes.
- Rest for 1 minute, then take your pulse to calculate your heart rate
2. 12 Minute Run
- Run around a track as many times as you can for 12 minutes.
- The further you run, the fitter you are.
3. Multistage Fitness Test (Bleep test)
- Run shuttles between 2 lines 20m apart.
- Start on the first bleep.
- The time between the bleeps gets shorter, so you have to run faster.
- When you drop out, your level and number of completed shuttles are recorded.
Endurance tests - This can test the endurance of different muscles, seeing how many times you can do an exercise. Sit ups or press ups.
Strength tests - A dynamometer measures hand and forearm strength.
Speed tests - 30m sprint test measures your speed over a certain distance
Flexibility test - Sit and reach test measure flexibility in the hamstrings and back
Power test - Vertical jump and standing long jump measures your power in your legs
