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Improving Performance
How do athletes train for improved
performance?
• Improved athletic performance is
achieved by combining the right balance
of all aspects of training—strength,
aerobic, anaerobic, flexibility and skill—
into a tailored plan to suit an individual
athlete’s needs.
Strength Training
• Strength is defined as the maximal force
generated by a muscle group.
• Strength training involves manipulating several
variables to achieve the different goals of
strength, muscle hypertrophy and muscle
endurance.
• These variables include:
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repetitions
volume
sets
rest periods.
intensity
• Intensity is often determined in one of
two ways:
– by determining 1RM and lifting a
percentage of that depending on the goal
– by calculating how much the athlete can lift
for a set number of repetitions, e.g. the
maximum load for 10 repetitions.
• Resistance training
– refers to any exercise in which muscles
contract against an external resistance with
the aim of increasing strength, muscle size
or muscle endurance.
– The resistance may be elastic bands,
hydraulics, weight machines or free
weights.
• Swimming pool exercise routines are one
example of hydraulic resistance training.
• Another example involves hydraulic machines
that involve two concentric contractions of the
antagonistic muscle groups.
• These machines do not allow eccentric
contractions.
• When using hydraulic resistance, greater
resistance is achieved by a faster speed of
execution.
• Elastic resistance bands and tubing are now
becoming popular because of their portability
and affordability
• Weight training
– Weight training, or isotonic training, specifically refers
to exercises that rely on gravity for resistance.
– These exercises involve equipment such as barbells,
dumbbells, weight stacks and plates to increase the
force of gravity.
– They involve concentric and eccentric contractions.
– During weight training exercises, the muscle
strengthens throughout the full range of motion.
– However, the majority of the load is at the beginning,
so this is the most difficult part of the lift.
– The resistance varies throughout the exercise
depending on joint angles.
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Designing strength training programs
– The eight steps in designing an effective and safe
strength training program.
1. Identify the goals or needs of the athlete.
2. Select exercises, considering whether they are multijoint or single-joint exercises, and the muscle groups
involved.
3. Determine the order of exercises
- alternate:
– lower and upper body exercises
– push and pull exercises
– power exercises, then multi-joint exercises, then single joint
exercises.
4. Determine the volume of the session (i.e. total
amount of weight to be lifted).
5. Determine the intensity required (as a
percentage of 1RM).
6. Allow rest periods between sets
These will be influenced by the training
status of the athlete and the training goal.
7. Determine the number of exercises.
This will be influenced by the athlete’s
background.
8. Determine the number of training
sessions per week.
• Incorporating variations
– Once you have established the muscle
groups that need to be worked, you can
consider different exercises or variations of
exercises to continually challenge muscles.
• Training systems
– To improve strength, an athlete needs to
perform at least three sessions a week,
whereas generally strength can be
maintained with two sessions a week.
– Beginners will usually start work on a
program of 2–3 sets of 10–12 repetitions,
with the emphasis on technique.
– However, once a base has been
developed, more advanced overload
training systems can be incorporated.
Aerobic training
• Continuous
– Continuous training involves non-stop exercise for
a set period of time or distance.
– This can involve any mode of exercise—rowing,
cycling, running, swimming, kayaking, and so on.
– Traditionally, team sport athletes go for a 10kilometre road run to build aerobic endurance.
– This run would be a ‘steady state’ activity at 75 per
cent of MHR.
– Nowadays, unless a sport is a continuous
endurance sport such as triathlon, distance running
or road cycling, more emphasis will be placed on
interval training as the method to improve aerobic
endurance
• Fartlek
– Fartlek training involves continuous
exercise interspersed with ‘sprints’ of
varying distances.
– This is also referred to as ‘speed play’ and
often involves hilly terrain.
– An example would be a 45-minute cycle
that includes 10 reps of high intensity
spurts for 30–60 seconds
• Long interval
– There are two types of interval training:
• continuous intervals, which involve low-intensity exercise
between the higher intensity repetitions
• stop-start intervals, which have a prescribed rest period
between repetitions.
– Research indicates that interval training is an excellent way to
improve aerobic fitness.
– Manipulating the duration, number and intensity of repetitions, as
well as recovery periods, will provide overload.
– A popular form of continuous interval training is high-intensity
interval training (HiiT), which research indicates is very effective
for fat burning and increasing aerobic power.
– This type of training increases resting metabolic rate. One
example is to include 15–20 minutes of 30-second sprints and 60–
90 seconds of jogging (after a warm-up).
– An example of stop-start intervals would be 10 × 150-metre sprints
with 2 minutes of recovery time between repetitions.
Anaerobic training (power and speed)
• A tennis player has just finished a long rally which
involved quickly covering both sides of the court,
then sprinting to the net to hit the winning volley.
• Anaerobic fitness allows the player to quickly
accelerate, and to sustain repeated high-intensity
efforts with short recovery.
• Anaerobic power refers to the maximum rate that
ATP is produced by the alactacid anaerobic energy
system, while anaerobic capacity refers to the total
amount of ATP produced by both the alactacid and
lactic acid energy systems during sustained highintensity exercise e.g. 60–90 seconds at maximal
effort.
• Developing power through resistance/weight
training
– Power is the ability to generate large amounts of
force as quickly as possible.
– Consequently, power is a combination of strength
and speed.
– Power exercises involve acceleration (e.g. bench
throws, jump squats and power cleans) throughout
the movement, whereas strength exercises will
have a deceleration phase (e.g. bench press,
squat and shoulder press).
– Power can be developed by using free weights,
machines and medicine balls. When using free
weights, an athlete aims to perform the exercise
explosively.
• Guidelines for developing power through
resistance training include the following:
– load = 50 per cent of 1RM for a trained athlete
(high maximal strength) or 20–40 per cent of
1RM for a developing athlete (continue to work
on maximal strength)
– reps = 1–5
– sets = 3–5
– speed = fast but controlled
– recovery > 3 minutes.
• Plyometrics
– Plyometric exercises involve a fast, powerful movement
using a pre-stretch or counter-movement that involves
the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC).
– Examples include jumps, hops, bounds and medicine
ball exercises.
– Individual considerations for plyometric programming
include:
• size of the athlete—lower volume for larger athletes due to great
stress levels on contact
• the athlete’s injury profile
• the fatigue factor—technique is compromised when an athlete is
fatigued and can lead to greater risk of injury
• the maturation level of the athlete
• sports demand—if power is not a major component of the sport,
or the person is training purely for health benefits, plyometrics
are not recommended
• fitness level—the athlete should have an adequate strength
base.
• Plyometrics should be performed when an
athlete is in a non-fatigued state, so is
programmed in to the early parts of a training
session.
• For team sports, 1–2 plyometric sessions is
sufficient per week, with at least a 48-hour
recovery between sessions.
• As a general guide, it has been suggested to
limit foot contacts to 100 per session for
beginners and 140–200 per session for
advanced athletes.
• Beginners could commence with 3–4 exercises,
with 2–4 sets of 5–10 reps and 2-minute
recovery periods.
• Short interval
– Anaerobic intervals involve short periods of
high-intensity work.
– The manipulation of the duration, intensity
and rest period will determine what is being
trained—the alactic energy system, the lactic
acid energy system, or speed.
– Varying the duration of high-intensity intervals
will change the training effect:
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up to 6 seconds: targets alactic power
6–25 seconds: improves alactic capacity
25–40 seconds: incorporates lactic power
40–60 seconds: improves lactic capacity.
– Recovery rates will be influenced by the
training status of the athlete.
– Elite athletes will recover faster and still stay
in the correct training zone.
– The work-to-rest ratio will generally be
between 1:1.5 and 1:5.
– This means 30 seconds of effort will be
followed by 45 seconds to 150 seconds of
recovery.
– Overspeed training is employed to increase
stride frequency.
– This includes running downhill, using a bungee
cord or pulley system, or high-speed
(lowresistance) cycling.
– Resisted training improves stride length and
includes running pulling a sled or tyre, using a
harness or parachute as extra resistance or
running uphill.
Flexibility training
• Flexibility is the ability to move a muscle through
a complete range of motion.
• When an athlete’s muscles are tight and they
have a limited range of movement, there is an
increased chance of musculoskeletal injuries
and a possible reduction in performance.
• Regular flexibility training can improve or
maintain an athlete’s range.
• Flexibility training can also be found within
specific physical activities.
• There are three key types of stretching that
can be incorporated into a training program:
static, dynamic and ballistic stretching.
• In addition, there is a fourth type of stretching
which can be useful: PNF stretching. This
involves an isometric contraction or ‘hold’
followed by a concentric muscle contraction,
with the sequence repeated several times.
• Variations include hold/relax and
contract/relax. An example of PNF stretching
is an assisted hamstring stretch.
• Static
– Static stretching is performed slowly and does
not require any equipment.
– The muscle is slowly taken to its end point and
held for a period of time, simultaneously
relaxing and lengthening the stretched muscle.
– It is recommended that athletes hold each
stretch for 10–30 seconds.
– Static stretching is suitable for all athletes.
• Dynamic
– Dynamic stretching involves continuous and
progressively faster isotonic muscle contractions,
allowing the muscle to work through to its full range of
motion.
– It uses speed of movement or momentum to assist with
the stretch.
– Movements are more sport specific.
– Walking lunges and leg swings are examples of
dynamic stretching:
• Ballistic
– Ballistic stretching is a form of dynamic stretching
involves a bouncing action at the end of the range of
movement.
– This stretch is not held. Usually, this approach activates
the stretch reflex (muscle spindles are stimulated) so
the muscle does not relax.
– Ballistic stretching has a greater likelihood of injury.
An example of a ballistic stretch is
bending over to touch your toes,
using gravity and a bouncing movement
Skill training
• Drills practice
– Drills are specific exercises designed to improve
the technique and efficiency of the skills an athlete
performs.
– They allow emphasis to be placed on one aspect
of the sport.
– During drills practice, the coach will provide cues
and feedback to assist learning.
– Drills are predominantly used to practise technical
skills, often in isolation from other aspects of the
sport.
• Coaches should observe the following
guidelines:
– Drills should work on an athlete’s weaknesses as well
as their strengths.
– Rotate players quickly in the drill, or make sure there
is enough equipment so everyone is active rather
than waiting for their turn in long queues.
– Plan for drills to only run for a short period of time
(e.g. 3–5 minutes) to keep concentration high.
– Once a skill has been learned, modify the drill to
make it more challenging.
– Variety is important to maintain interest and focus.
– Find a name for each drill that all the athletes are
familiar with. This will reduce the instruction time on
the next occasion that the drill is used.
• Drills practice for team sport athletes may
initially involve no defensive manoeuvres
at all, but may then progress to passive
defensive and actual defensive skills.
• Targets should also be set, so
improvement can be easily monitored.
• Modified and small-sided games
– Modified and small-sided games have become popular
with team sport coaches as an effective way to develop
sport-specific adaptations.
– Careful and creative planning allows the games to be fun
while developing skills under competitive conditions.
– Small-sided games have the benefit of increasing player
involvement (for instance, the number of ‘touches’ with
the ball) during actual game play, which can enhance
tactical and technical skills.
– It also assists with developing communication and
teamwork.
– Rules can also be altered to emphasise a particular skill
or situation.
– Coaches should give feedback on ‘the run’ rather than
having too many stoppages.
• Games for specific outcomes
– Training games can be created for any number of
specific purposes, limited only by the imagination of
the coach.
– In most instances, these games will primarily be
aimed at improving players’ decision-making
abilities, tactical awareness or fitness.
– Examples of games for specific outcomes include:
• ‘what if’ situations, e.g. ‘There are 3 minutes left on the
clock and you are behind by 2 points …’
• uneven team numbers, e.g. 6 versus 5 (to train for a
situation that may occur when a player is injured, sent off or
sin-binned).