Fitness for sport

Trevor Dunne
Coaching responsibility
 Help your athletes to achieve the levels of
energy fitness and muscular fitness
demanded by their sport.
Stages of training – being examined
1. Warm up
2. Energy fitness
3. Muscular fitness
4. Cool down
1. Warm Up
 Begin each session with a warm up
designed for your sport.
 Low energy – high skill sports – include
stretching and skill rehearsal.
 High energy – raise HR, stretch and
rehearse technique.
 Adequate warm up prevents injury and
helps prepare athletes psychologically for
the event.
Warm Up
 Stretches should be to the point of
discomfort and then hold for 5-10
seconds.
 Stretch the muscles required for the
activity, stretch the ones that are more
easily injured and those that you have had
difficulties with in the past.
2. Energy fitness
 This is the bodies ability to store and use
fuels efficiently to power particular muscle
contractions.
 Coaches must match the energy demands
of the sport in training.
Energy Pathways
 The energy that muscles use to contract
comes from two systems:
 Aerobic – with oxygen
 Anaerobic – without oxygen
 The system used will depend on the
availability of oxygen and on the intensity
and duration of the activity.
Anaerobic
 2 parts to this system
 Creatine Phosphate (10-15 seconds)
 The lactate energy system (30-40 seconds
seconds)
 The anaerobic system is used at the
beginning of exercise before respiration
and circulation adjust to the effort and
begin to supply oxygen. It is also used
when the energy demands exceed the
bodies ability to produce aerobic energy.
Anaerobic contd.
 In the short term anaerobic phase (CP),
energy comes from limited energy
supplies in the muscles.
 In the lactate system energy comes from
stored muscle glycogen.
Aerobic
 Aerobic energy sources are used during
longer steady paced activities such as
running.
 Aerobic energy comes from the burning
(oxidisation) of fat and carbohydrates.
 If the activity is so demanding and
exceeds the bodies ability to provide
oxygen – additional energy comes from
the non-oxidative breakdown of muscle
glycogen – and produces lactic acid.
Contd.
 Fuelling muscles anaerobically is far less
efficient that fuelling it aerobically.
 When muscle glycogen is burned
aerobically it produces 38 units of energy
– used anaerobically it only produces 2
units.
 The anaerobic pathway produces more
lactic acid and this interferes with the
muscles ability to contract and hinders
energy production – causing fatigue and
poor performance.
Oxygen consumption during Aerobic exercise
Oxygen consumption during Anaerobic exercise
Oxygen Deficit
 At the start of exercise – where needs are
immediate – oxygen consumption takes
several minutes to meet required levels.
 OD is anaerobic work at the start where
CP stores are used (all or some).
 Steady state – when oxygen demands
meets supply
Oxygen debt
 A temporary elevated level of oxygen
consumption on finishing exercising.
 Pays back the oxygen deficit.
 Replenishes stores of phosphagens,
removes lactic acid and restores balance.
Energy Training
 MAXIMUM HR

Peak

Speed
95-100%

Anaerobic training 90-95%

Anaerobic threshold 85-90%

Aerobic foundation
70-85%
Aerobic Foundation
 Training for aerobic fitness helps to
toughen ligaments, tendons and
connective and reduces the risk of injury.
 It also lays the foundation upon which all
future practices and performances are
built.
Aerobic contd.
 Good aerobic training includes three
components:
 Low intensity, long duration activity.
 Medium distances with occasional periods
of increased activity.
 Resistance effort – such as hill work for
runners.
Anaerobic Threshold
 This marks the point at which the athlete
begins to produce excess lactic acid. This
is the upper limit of efficient aerobic
energy production.
Contd.
 The threshold can be measured in
laboratory treadmill tests – but with
practice an athlete can learn what it feels
like. When breathing becomes difficult
and sustained effort is doubtful – it is an
indicator that the threshold is near.
 This type of training done twice weekly
can increase threshold – as it help the
muscles fibres to work better aerobically
(pace training, fartlek)
Anaerobic Training
 This is achieved by progressively
increasing speed while decreasing
distance or duration of effort.
 Interval training – exercise interval
followed by active rest.
 The rest is vital as it maintains circulation
and uses muscle contractions at low
intensity to remove waste products and
promote recovery.
Contd.
 Athletes HR should be below 125 before
starting a second interval
 Stop intervals if the athlete cannot
maintain good form.
 No more than 2 sessions per week
 No more than 4-6 weeks of this training –
then taper off before competition.
Speed
 When athletes are new to
a sport they should follow
the training pyramid – experienced athletes
can do speed work throughout the season.
 Speed is partially inherited and partially
acquired.
 Speed can be acquired as athletes learn to
relax and become more efficient – more
comes when speed drills are supplemented
with weight training.
Samples of speed work
 Acceleration sprints – start easy and
speed up (safest)
 Hollow sprints – start and end fast and go
easy in the middle.
 Starts – if required for swimming ,
sprinting of football.
Peaking
 If you skip stages in the pyramid – training will
be less successful and may lead to injury.
 As the season progresses – so too should
training.
 Use early competitions to build training, sharpen
skills and improve speed.
 By mid season – be at the competitive level that
can be maintained for the rest of the season.
 If athletes peak too soon – they may slump
before the season ends.
Tapering
 This is a period of reduced training before
an important competition.
 It allows for optimal stores of energy to be
available, and provides time to heal minor
injuries.
 Taper for days (teams or sprinters) or a
week or more (long distance events).
 A longer taper is required in sports that
involve a greater volume of training.
3. Muscular Fitness
 This includes strength, endurance, power,
speed and flexibility.
 Experienced athletes often do strength
training in the off season to build muscle
size and force and then proceed to add
endurance and power during the season.
 Each component of muscular fitness can
be enhanced by resistance training.
Contd.
 High resistance with few reps builds
strength.
 Low resistance with many reps builds
endurance.
 Resistance can be applied with free
weights, machine weights, body weight,
air and hydraulics.
Strength
 How much strength is required for your
sport?
 Determine this and then decide what the
athlete requires.
 Do athletes need more strength?
 Experience shows that the strength of a
muscle group should be 2.5 times the
resistance encountered.
 More strength will not improve
performance but less may hinder it.
Contd.
To help improve strength:
 Set the weight so the max number of reps
is 8-10
 Do three sets for each muscle group
 Increase the resistance when the athlete
can do ten reps.
 Lift every second day – 3 times per week.
 Can improve at a rate of 1-3% per week.
 Ensure proper warm up and adequate
supervision.
Muscular endurance
 Should be specific to how the muscles are
used in the sport.
 Endurance is very trainable and dramatic
improvements in endurance are associated
with improved performance and success in
sport.
 Can work on short term (3 sets@ 15-25
reps), Intermediate (2 sets @30-50 reps)
and long term (1 set @ 100+ reps) – all
done three times weekly.
Power
 Power is the rate of doing work. It involves both
strength (force) and speed (distance divided by
time)
 This is essential training for many sports.
 Use a weight at 30-60% of the athletes 1RM.
 Get them to lift the weight as fast as possible.
 Do three sets of 15-25 reps three times per
week.
 Increase resistance when the athlete can perform
25 reps.
Plyometrics
 Exercises used to develop power.
 These explosive movements build strength
and the elastic recoil that provides more
power for jumping and other activities.
 Start this gradually and stop if legs
become sore.
 Work on a soft surface (grass or dirt)
 Work up to three sets and then increase
resistance (work uphill or wear a weighted
vest)
Contd.
 This will increase strength by about 8-10%
and improve elastic recoil and will help
athletes to learn how to use force more
effectively.
Speed
 Reaction time (how long it takes you to
initiate a movement) and movement time
(the time it takes you to get from the start
to the end of the movement).

 Class exercise: Examine ways to improve

these.
4. Cool Down
 Important to prevent pooling of blood.
 Plan a cool down for each session.
 After easy jogging or easy aerobic
movements, do stretching exercises to
reduce the chance of delayed, muscles
soreness.

 End of section on fitness