Training Principles and Methods for Enhanced Athletic Performance

Posted on Jun 14, 2024 in Physical Education

T1)

Q2) Using the principle of specificity, explain why fartlek training would be more beneficial training for soccer than continuous training to improve performance.

Specificity refers to the principle of training the specific energy system, fitness component, and muscle groups required for a particular sport or activity. Fartlek training would be more beneficial training for a soccer player than continuous training because it closely mimics the demands of a soccer game.

Soccer involves intermittent bursts of high-intensity running, sprinting, and jumping, interspersed with periods of lower-intensity jogging and walking. Fartlek training replicates these varying intensities by incorporating random intervals of fast and slow running, allowing players to improve both their aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels. This type of training targets the relevant fitness components and energy systems, such as muscular endurance and the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems, which are essential for soccer performance.

Q3) Suggest two ways you could apply progression to the class practical fartlek session.

Progression, a gradual increase in training load over time, is crucial for continuous improvement. Here are two ways to apply it to a fartlek session:

Increase Running Time/Decrease Rest Time: Gradually increase the duration of the high-intensity running intervals while decreasing the rest periods. For example, instead of running for 90 seconds and resting for 30 seconds, increase the running time to 120 seconds and reduce the rest to 20 seconds.
Vary Terrain and Intensity: Incorporate hills or uneven terrain into the fartlek runs to increase the challenge and engage different muscle groups. Additionally, you can increase the speed or resistance during the high-intensity intervals to further enhance the training stimulus.

These progressions help build endurance, improve both aerobic and anaerobic capacity, and better prepare the body for the demands of soccer.

Q4) After the class practical fartlek conditioning phase was complete, you participated in a cool down. Explain two reasons why you completed the cool down.

A cool down is an essential part of any workout, including fartlek training. Here are two reasons why:

Gradual Recovery of Heart Rate and Blood Flow: After intense exercise, your heart rate is elevated, and blood is primarily directed to your working muscles. Cooling down gradually returns your heart rate to its resting state and helps prevent blood from pooling in your legs, reducing the risk of dizziness or fainting.
Muscle Recovery and Waste Removal: Intense exercise can lead to the accumulation of metabolic waste products, such as lactic acid, in your muscles. Cooling down helps flush out these waste products by promoting blood flow, reducing muscle soreness, and aiding in recovery.

Q5) Referencing the session you chose to complete, justify its suitability for a kayaking athlete.

While the previous questions focused on fartlek training, this question seems to be referencing a resistance training session. Assuming that’s the case, resistance training is highly suitable for kayaking athletes for the following reasons:

Increased Muscular Endurance: Kayaking requires sustained upper body strength and endurance, especially in the shoulders, back, and core. Resistance training helps build these muscle groups, allowing kayakers to paddle for longer periods with less fatigue.
Improved Power Output: Power is crucial for generating speed and acceleration in kayaking. Resistance training exercises, such as explosive pulls and core work, can enhance a kayaker’s power output, leading to improved performance.
Injury Prevention: A strong and stable core is essential for maintaining proper paddling technique and preventing injuries. Resistance training that targets the core muscles helps improve stability and reduce the risk of lower back pain or other overuse injuries.

T2)

Q1) Based on your own experience during this resistance training session, explain if you believe you will experience DOMS in the next 24-48 hours.

Whether or not you experience DOMS depends on several factors, including your current fitness level, the intensity and volume of the resistance training session, and the specific exercises performed. DOMS, or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, is common after engaging in unfamiliar or strenuous exercise, especially eccentric exercises that involve lengthening the muscle under tension.

If the resistance training session was particularly challenging, involved new exercises, or placed a significant load on your muscles, it’s more likely that you’ll experience some degree of DOMS in the next 24-48 hours.

Q2) Choose a sport and explain the benefits for an athlete including the resistance training that you did in their training program.

Let’s choose basketball as the sport. Resistance training is highly beneficial for basketball players due to the sport’s demands for strength, power, agility, and injury prevention. Incorporating resistance training, similar to the session you described, can provide the following benefits:

Increased Muscular Strength and Power: Resistance training helps basketball players develop stronger muscles, enabling them to jump higher, sprint faster, and overpower opponents in the paint. Exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses are particularly beneficial for building overall strength.
Improved Agility and Quickness: Resistance training, especially when incorporating plyometric exercises like box jumps and lateral shuffles, can enhance a player’s agility and quickness, allowing them to move swiftly and change direction efficiently on the court.
Injury Prevention: Strengthening muscles around the knees, ankles, and core can help prevent common basketball injuries like ACL tears, ankle sprains, and lower back pain. Resistance training exercises that focus on these areas are crucial for injury prevention.

Q3) Referencing the session you chose to complete, justify its suitability for a kayaking athlete.

(This question appears to be a duplicate of Q5 from T1. Please refer to the answer provided for that question.)

Q4) With your session completed, explain how and when you would overload training.

Overload, the principle of gradually increasing the demands placed on your body during training, is essential for continued progress. Here’s how to apply it to your resistance training:

Increase Resistance: Gradually increase the weight you lift for each exercise. Start with a weight that challenges you but allows you to maintain good form. As you get stronger, increase the weight in small increments.
Increase Repetitions or Sets: If you’re not ready to increase weight, you can increase the number of repetitions or sets you perform for each exercise. This also increases the overall volume and challenge of your workout.
Decrease Rest Periods: Shortening the rest periods between sets forces your muscles to work harder and recover faster, leading to greater adaptations.
Vary Exercises: Introducing new exercises or variations of existing ones challenges your muscles in different ways, promoting continuous growth and preventing plateaus.

It’s important to apply overload gradually and listen to your body. Avoid increasing the training load too quickly, as this can lead to injury. Aim to increase the intensity or volume of your workouts by no more than 10% per week.

T3)

Q2) Explain how and why the principle of variety can be applied to interval training.

Variety in training is crucial for preventing boredom, reducing the risk of overuse injuries, and promoting continuous improvement. Here’s how to apply variety to interval training:

Change Work-to-Rest Ratios: Vary the duration of the high-intensity work intervals and the recovery periods. For example, you could alternate between short, intense intervals with longer recovery periods and longer work intervals with shorter rest periods.
Vary Intensity: Experiment with different levels of intensity during the work intervals. You can use perceived exertion, heart rate zones, or speed/resistance levels to gauge intensity.
Incorporate Different Modes of Exercise: Instead of sticking to one type of exercise, incorporate a variety of activities into your interval training. For example, you could alternate between running, cycling, swimming, or bodyweight circuits.
Change Terrain: If you’re running or cycling, vary the terrain to challenge your body in different ways. Include hills, trails, or uneven surfaces to add variety and engage different muscle groups.

By incorporating variety, you keep your workouts engaging, challenge your body in new ways, and prevent plateaus.

Q3) (A short interval training session would be most beneficial for a goal shooter in netball.)

This statement is true. Short interval training, characterized by work periods dominated by the ATP-PC system (under 10 seconds) and a work-to-rest ratio of 1:5 or greater, is highly beneficial for netball goal shooters. Here’s why:

Specificity: Netball goal shooting involves repeated bursts of explosive power and quick movements, similar to the demands of short interval training. This type of training helps improve the specific energy systems and muscle fiber types used in goal shooting.
Enhanced Power Output: Short interval training enhances the body’s ability to produce and utilize ATP-PC, the primary energy source for short-duration, high-intensity activities like goal shooting.
Improved Recovery: The long rest periods in short interval training allow for adequate recovery between bursts of effort, mimicking the intermittent nature of a netball game.

T4)

Q2) From the circuit training session above, outline the training principles of frequency and intensity using examples from the program.

To answer this question, I need the details of the circuit training session mentioned. Please provide the table or a description of the exercises, sets, reps, and rest periods.

Q3) The circuit training completed during your practical class focused on improving muscular endurance. Outline two changes you would make to the circuit to aim at improving muscular power.

To shift the focus of a circuit training session from muscular endurance to muscular power, you need to increase the intensity and decrease the volume. Here are two key changes:

Decrease Repetitions, Increase Weight: Instead of performing 20-25 repetitions per exercise, reduce the reps to 8-12 and increase the weight lifted. This emphasizes lifting heavier loads with fewer repetitions, targeting fast-twitch muscle fibers responsible for power.
Decrease Rest Periods: Shorten the rest periods between exercises to 30-60 seconds. This maintains an elevated heart rate and forces your muscles to work under fatigue, further enhancing power development.

Q4) In the space below, create a training session for a basketballer. Provide three examples of exercises you would prescribe, including reps, sets, and rest breaks. These exercises should be the same as the ones used in your class practical circuit training.

To create a basketball-specific circuit training session, I need the exercises from your practical class. Please provide the list of exercises, and I’ll design a sample session.