All about training
Training goals
At the most scientific level, training is all about conditioning the body so that it is tailor-made for the sport in question. This includes developing the right metabolic pathways to produce energy, the right ratio of anaerobic/aerobic fitness, the right strength in the right muscles and so on. This kind of approach is essential for the highest levels of competition, but even if you’re an amateur it is worth considering specific areas to work on for your particular sport.
Non-competitive athletes may have different training goals – to lose or maintain weight, to gain muscular strength or to become fit enough for a trekking holiday, for example. All training, however, conforms to four principles.
The principle of individuality
We are all different in the way we adapt to a training programme. Therefore everyone must adopt a programme that suits them personally and takes into account their specific needs as an individual.
The principle of specificity
Training programmes are very sport specific and you would not train to be a marathon runner by practising sprinting or train for a game of golf by kicking penalty shots. Choosing the right training programme is therefore essential. Think of the programme as a ‘load’ that must be ‘heavy’ enough to increase your fitness. If the load is too light, no training effect takes place. It can be made heavier by increasing the training frequency, duration and intensity.
The principle of disuse
This may follow illness or injury. After a period of two to three weeks of non-activity (even if you have been training regularly before), your state of fitness will drop to that which meets the needs of your daily activities only. This is the principle of disuse and explains why injury can be disastrous for top athletes. It is therefore important to try to organise an alternative activity which helps you maintain some level of fitness while you recover.
The principle of progressive overload
As you become fit you find that you are able to stress your body more than when you were untrained or unfit. This is the principle of progressive overload. It involves working the body harder than normal and as you adapt you can work at a higher level.
Phases in training
You may not be used to the time and discipline required for a regular training programme. To begin with, get yourself accustomed to the frequency of training – say, going to the gym three times a week – until it becomes more of a habit that fits in easily with the rest of your life. Keep the duration of training and the intensity deliberately in check until this happens.
Once the habit is more established, increase the amount of time you spend working out. Finally, increase the intensity – how hard you work out. This of course is subjective, and some days the training programme will feel harder than others.
Athletes usually need to increase the frequency, duration and intensity of training for maximum fitness, but the trade-off is that the harder they train the more likely injury becomes. Adequate rest and recovery are also crucial, and so sports coaches vary the programme for athletes in terms of intensity and emphasis, so that the athlete can peak when it is necessary. Non-athletes can adopt a similar approach, so that boredom does not become a reason to stop regular exercise.
Another aspect of training is that very few sports are ‘continuous’ in the sense that a 100-metre sprint and a marathon are – sports such as squash, football and basketball require bursts of high energy followed by short periods of rest or less intense activity, spread over a period of, say, an hour and a half. This clearly requires a mixture of different types of fitness, and a typical training programme in these circumstances would be as shown in the box.
The sports coach would ensure that these phases (which are progressive, that is, more physically demanding) blend in with the individual’s mastery of the necessary technique and skills, but this gives an idea of the different elements required for high performance.
Aerobic endurance training
You need this to build up your capacity for continuous work, and it is usually a mixture of high and moderate intensity. Aerobic capacity is important in long- distance running or swimming, sports such as football or basketball where you may be running for some time, and for climbing and trekking.
Aerobic sessions should be a minimum of 30 minutes each. The heart rate (HR) should be kept constant between 130 and 160 beats per minute, that is, between 67 and 75 per cent of the maximum heart rate (MHR). These types of sessions can be applied to activities such as running and cycling. The sessions can consist of cycling or running or mixtures of each, whichever the person prefers.
Anaerobic endurance training
This kind of training develops an athlete’s ability to run faster for longer distances. The energy stores are rapidly depleted as the athlete starts to run fast, so energy must be produced anaerobically and the runner quickly goes into oxygen debt. The typical duration of anaerobic training is 20 seconds to 80 seconds, that is, 150–400 metres.
Training progresses not by increasing the distance but by reducing the rest between repetitions.
Anaerobic speed training
This is what gives a sprinter the power to run at full speed for a short time. It is also useful in other sports that require short-term high intensity activity, such as the long jump, running for a catch in cricket or vaulting in gymnastics. The metabolic pathway in the body which produces energy for this kind of activity is part of the anaerobic (non-oxygen-requiring) system known as the phosphogen system. It is quick-acting and supplies high energy for a few seconds. The energy stores are quickly depleted but can be restored rapidly with training. Sprinters commonly run at full speed for about 10 seconds, then walk back slowly for two or three minutes. In that time, their energy stores can be replaced, and they are ready to run again. Doing cycles of running and walking like this can train the body to become efficient in delivery and use of phosphogen stores, and a trained athlete can do this many times before becoming fatigued.
Patterns of training
Continuous training, interval training and circuit training are all forms of aerobic training.
Continuous training
This is training at a certain level (either high or moderate intensity) for a long distance or time period, for example, jogging for five miles or using the bicycle for 45 minutes. High intensity (85 per cent maximum heart rate) is very effective for aerobic endurance training, whereas lower intensity continuous workouts (60–70 per cent maximum heart rate) is less stressful on the heart and lungs, and suitable for people who want to maintain a certain level of fitness, or for the middle-aged person who wants to become fit.
Interval training
This involves alternate periods of intense work with periods of lower exertion or rest. It is frequently used when training for swimming, cross country or track events, and allows the athlete to achieve the greatest possible workload with the smallest physiological strain (fatigue). For example, a runner may do a 4,800-metre run alternating between a 400-metre fast interval and a 800-metre recovery interval. The whole session should last 20 to 30 minutes although élite athletes may work for up to 60 minutes. Its advantage over continuous training is that it allows the athlete to work harder for longer because of the rest periods.
Circuit training
This involves going through a series of different activities which have to be completed as quickly as possible – such as skipping, press-ups, sit-ups, running on the spot and so on. Circuit training does increase aerobic fitness, but is particularly good for increasing strength, muscle endurance and flexibility. Heart and lung fitness can be improved by running more quickly in between each station.
An example of a non-specific training schedule
Day |
Exercise type |
Pattern |
Effort |
Duration |
Type of activity |
Monday |
Cycle or run |
Steady effort |
70% |
1 hour |
Aerobic endurance |
Tuesday |
Circuit training |
30 seconds per station |
75% |
30 minutes |
Aerobic speed |
Wednesday |
Recovery |
Active |
<50% |
30 minutes |
Aerobic |
Thursday |
Cycle or run |
1 minute of effort, 1 minute for recovery |
60–80% |
40 minutes |
Anaerobic endurance |
Friday |
Strength training |
3 sets of 10 repetitions per station |
70–90% |
1 hour |
Anaerobic speed |
Saturday |
Recovery |
Passive |
NA |
NA |
NA |
Sunday |
Cycle or run |
Steady effort |
65% |
2 hours |
Aerobic endurance |
All activities should be preceded and followed by at least a five-minute warm-up/down routine
NA = not applicable.
A Training programme for competition
This involves 13 to 17 weeks of activity leading to phase 4 (competition)
Phase 1: aerobic endurance training (6–8 weeks)
Phase 2: anaerobic endurance training (4–6 weeks)
Phase 3: anaerobic speed training (3 weeks)
Phase 4: competition
How to develop strength
You can train with the specific aim of increasing your strength. This approach used to be called ‘weight training’ but is now known as ‘resistance training’ because muscle is developed by working against some form of resistance. Various types of resistance can be used.
Free weights (barbells, dumb-bells, etc.)
These are still very popular. Different exercises can be prescribed to strengthen different muscle groups. One drawback is that free weights can be lifted only in the vertical plane (that is, up and down against gravity) and this is not always easy to convert to sports that may require movement in other directions.
The classic system of weight training was designed in the 1940s, based on the concept of ‘repetition maximum’ or RM. A 10-RM load was what an athlete could lift ten times before fatigue stopped him doing the next lift; a 5-RM could be lifted five times, and so on. Therefore a 1-RM load was heaviest, and could be lifted only once. How heavy each RM was varied from person to person.
A traditional programme would be:
• 10 repetitions with 0.5 of a 10-RM load
• 10 repetitions with 0.75 of a 10-RM load
• 10 repetitions with a 10-RM load.
Training should take place three times weekly and strength should improve measurably in five weeks.
Experienced lifters still find this system useful, but now often use 5- to 7-RM weights and work out five times a week – so moving towards more intense workouts. Stacked weights with pulley systems have replaced free weights in many areas; they have the advantage of being safer, and also can be designed to allow for movement in different directions.
Isometrics
Isometric contraction means contracting a muscle without movement, for example, pushing an arm against a fixed weight like a brick wall. This is now no longer in favour, because static muscle contraction is not a feature in many sports. Strength gains tend to be limited to the limb position used in training.
Isokinetics and variable resistance systems
These are the commercially available systems seen in larger gyms, which produce resistance by hydraulics, compressed air, flywheels and the like. They are designed to produce resistance of a pre-set constant velocity, or to match the ability of the athlete to apply forces throughout a range of movement. They are very specific and can load a muscle group continuously through a range of movement, but the drawback is that strength gained at one velocity may not transfer to another velocity, and many sports require acceleration of movement, which cannot be trained with isokinetics. Many machines are required to meet all an athlete’s needs.
Body weight
Body weight can be used as a form of resistance, as in jumping or running uphill. This is particularly good for developing the explosive strength needed for some sports. Plyometrics is a system of ‘depth-jumping’ and consists of body weight exercises. They require intense effort on each push-off and emphasise minimal time spent on the ground and maximum height in the air. Roughly defined, plyometrics is a collection of jumps, hops, leaps and bounds performed with speed and intensity. Plyometrics exercises are the link between strength and speed.
Skill-specific resistance
These include special contraptions such as rubber tubing to resist golf swings and tennis serves. Runners and swimmers can tow a heavy object, or wear weights or drag suits to increase their strength in the context of their sport. The drawback is that sometimes this kind of training can interfere with the normal muscular response – for instance, strapping weights to a runner’s ankles makes the legs work differently from when he or she is running without them.
Rest, recovery and detraining
Rest and recovery are very important components of any training schedule. Overtraining leads to a tendency to chronic fatigue and physical breakdown, and makes an athlete more vulnerable to injury and strain. This of course is the dilemma for top athletes, because once they ease up on training all the adaptations they have acquired start to reverse. Many are tempted to return to training too soon after injury or illness.
The skilful coach will take rest and recovery into serious consideration when designing a programme, to ensure that the athlete peaks at the right time.
Athletes should have one full rest day per week and one day of active recovery. This should take the form of light rhythmical activities such as jogging or swimming and should follow a day of hard training or competition.
Detraining is a phenomenon by which the physiological benefits of training are lost because of prolonged inactivity through injury or change in lifestyle. It becomes significant after periods of at least 14 days in trained individuals.
Tips for beginners
Regular exercise and sport have become increasingly popular among non-athletes of all ages, who participate for the sake of their health and well-being rather than competitively. They can be as highly trained as athletes, but may not want to spend the time and effort required for peak fitness. You are likely to get different advice from different people on how best to do this. Generally, however, it is agreed that a balanced programme with aerobic work at its core is the best approach. You also need to spend time on flexibility, relaxation and strength work.
The first question anyone unused to exercise should ask is: am I fit enough to start exercising? If you have had any episodes of unexplained dizziness or fainting or chest pains, heart trouble or high blood pressure or are already suffering from a condition such as diabetes, asthma or chronic chest disease, it is important to consult your own GP before starting any activity.
The key to success is gentle steady progress. Children should ideally be introduced to a sport as early as possible and be given realistic goals and opportunities for success to encourage them to stay involved. Most children are introduced to a sport such as swimming by parents, whereas more complex sports such as team games may be led by a PE instructor or teacher. Older children will naturally develop their own interests, preferences and motivation, all of which are important and become important factors, but body size may also influence their choice of sport.
People in mid-life and older age groups may decide to take up a particular activity through the influence of friends or colleagues or because a recent illness has given them the incentive to lose weight and become active. The age factor is very important and the earlier a person is introduced to a sport or activity the better his or her performance is likely to be.
Whatever your age, however, there is no point in exercising madly for two or three weeks only to find that you can’t continue because you have overdone it. One good way to start is to build exercise around your everyday routine so that it becomes part of your lifestyle. There are many ways of doing this but you could try:
• walking to work if possible or getting off the bus a stop or two earlier
• using the stairs instead of the lift
• walking to the shops or post box
• parking the car a mile from work and walking the rest of the way
• walking the dog (or take walks around the block three times a day, if you do not have one to walk)
• going on cycle runs (for shopping and other errands) or cycle rides
• organising family walks.
You need to take exercise three times a week for at least 20 minutes before you start to gain any benefit. A reasonable ‘maintenance’ level would be, say, moderate exercise for 30 minutes, three times a week. As mentioned above, you should get used to exercising frequently before you increase the duration and finally the intensity. For the non-athlete it does not matter if progress is a little slow, but each step should be made over eight- to ten-week periods.
If you are overweight or you have not engaged in physical activity for several years, consider non-weight-bearing forms of exercise such as swimming or cycling. This reduces the risk of injuring your knees, feet and ankles which may otherwise object to the new demands being placed upon them. After several months, improvements in cardiorespiratory (heart–lung) and aerobic efficiency can be measured and you may also have lost weight.
How hard am I exercising?
How should you go about estimating how hard a workout is? Some gyms use a subjective scale – starting with light, then moderate, severe and very severe. Moderate exercise is exercise that requires effort, but which can be maintained for about 20 minutes without severe exhaustion. This level is suitable for non-athletes. Another approach uses pulse counting.
Calorie counting
This is another way to assess the intensity of exercise. The more calories used up during exercise, the more energy is used, and the greater the intensity of exercise.
Energy used is normally expressed as kilocalories per minute (kcal/min). One kilocalorie is 1,000 calories. Many exercise machines allow you to monitor your calorific output.
The energy used during various activities has been calculated for average-sized people. Some examples are shown in the box.
Clearly, in a 30-minute workout, the more calories you use, the harder you are exercising. For a moderate workout, you should aim to burn between 250 and 300 kilocalories.
|
CALORIE COUNTING
|
|
Activity Energy used (in kcal/min)
|
|
Walking
|
|
average pace 4
|
|
fast 6
|
|
Cricket 6
|
|
Dancing 6
|
|
Cycling 7
|
|
Keep fit class 8
|
|
Swimming 8
|
|
Tennis, badminton 8
|
|
Football 10
|
Assessing improvements in fitness
Again, one of the simplest methods is simply to count your pulse rate. If you are in your twenties it should be approximately 60 beats per minute, and as you get older this resting pulse rate will rise and it will be around 80 to 90 beats per minute as you reach retirement. With all forms of regular training and activity this resting pulse rate will reduce.
Another method of assessing fitness is to measure your pulse rate during exercise and then stop exercising and note how quickly it returns to normal. Even after vigorous activity the pulse rate with training will come back to normal within 10 to 15 minutes. If you note this over a period of time in relation to the type of activity you have been doing (that is, how long did it take you to cover a fixed distance while running or walking?), you will have a record of all your results and be able to see the improvements in your fitness with training.
Pulse counting
This is a way of assessing your fitness and also working out your maximum heart rate. Most authorities now agree that the maximum heart rate is calculated as follows:
220 - Age = Maximum heart rate.
This can then be used to calculate training intensities.
Feel your pulse on the front of your wrist just above the skin creases near the thumb edge of the forearm and count it for one minute. This is called your ‘resting pulse rate’.
The increase in pulse rate that you must achieve to improve the function of your cardiovascular system, which services your muscles, is called ‘the loading pulse rate’ and can be calculated by the following formula:
Loading = Resting pulse + 60/100 * (220 - Age – Resting pulse)
For example, if you are 35 years old with a resting pulse rate of 60 beats per minute (bpm) you have to increase your pulse above the resting pulse rate by 75 beats per minute (that is, 135 beats per minute in total):
Loading pulse rate = 60 + 60/100 * (220 - 35 - 60)
= 60 + 60% - 125
= 60 + 75
Loading pulse rate = 135 beats per minute.
Therefore you must aim for a pulse rate of 135 beats per minute to be maintained for at least 20 to 30 minutes per session of activity. This is your loading pulse rate.
Using this principle you need only a watch with a second hand to improve your fitness. It is unwise to be too dogmatic about workloads and duration and intensity of training for non-athletes, because the maximum heart rate can vary quite remarkably from one person to another of the same age. Nevertheless, regular gentle aerobic exercise combined with flexibility, relaxation and strength exercises should be part of most people’s lives.
Flexibility
Why stretch?
Stretching helps to increase the range of movement in joints or a group of joints. It reduces muscle tension, helps to prevent muscle strains and allows the body to relax. It also prepares the body for activity; by focusing on each group of muscles as you stretch you develop body awareness. There is also some suggestion that regular stretching exercises help promote circulation to the areas focused upon.
Stretching done correctly should not be painful
As you stretch, relax and focus your attention on the muscle or group of muscles you are working on. It takes time to loosen tight muscles but becomes easier as you progress. Stretch until you feel a slight tension in the muscle, hold this for 15–20 seconds and the tension will ease slightly. Breathing should be normal, breathe out as you stretch, hold the stretch as you breathe in, then stretch a little further as you breathe out again. DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH. Make sure that you wear loose and comfortable clothing.
The wrong way
Never bounce as you stretch or stretch to a point where it becomes painful. If the stretch interferes with breathing, relax, ease off, breathe normally and begin again.
After the first easy stretching exercises and some light exercises to warm the muscles up, you should restretch until you feel mild tension within the muscles. Regular stretching exercises improve flexibility.
Specific training programmes for different goals
Training can be adapted to individual requirements and will involve combinations of aerobic/ anaerobic work with or without resistance training. If you have a specific goal in mind, ask for advice from the trainer at the local gym or club and also get advice on the right kind of diet (see ‘Useful addresses).
Overtraining
Training is all about achieving increasing fitness without paying the price of increasing injury. Training too intensively can lead to physical exhaustion. Tired muscles do not perform well, and are more liable to strains. Nor do they hold the limbs tightly, and falls, sprains and fractures may occur because of muscular exhaustion. Fatigue leads to poor balance and coordination, and this can lead to more injury. Adequate rest after exercise is crucial to allow the body to restore its energy, and repair the ‘wear and tear’ that goes with exercise.
Prolonged exertion can put repeated stress on certain bones and actually cause small fractures. One example of this is the so-called ‘march fracture’ of the foot, which is commonly seen in marching soldiers and runners. These fractures cause pain and swelling, but may not be easy to see on an X-ray till later, when they leave a callus (new bone growth around the fracture) on healing.
In the long run, joints that are over-used through sport are more prone to osteoarthritis as the person gets older. For instance, skiers put a lot of strain on their knees for long periods of time, and many have damage to the cartilage of their knees, which are worn down through over-use. In later years this may lead to stiffness and pain on walking. Runners may also have problems with their knees and ankles later on. The risk of such long-term injury has led to interest in exercise regimens that do not cause any joint damage. Examples of these are low-impact aerobics, swimming, water aerobics and resistance training using stretch bands.
Warm up, cool down
The warm-up
Warm-up reduces the risk of injury and improves your performance by increasing the speed and force of muscular contraction and, when it is related to the particular activity you’re about to undertake, it seems to sharpen coordination and improve rhythm. Although its mechanisms are poorly understood, it seems to permit faster adaptation to the activity and brings on so-called ‘second wind’ more readily.
When warming up:
• The activity should be intense enough to make you perspire but not so intense that it causes fatigue.
• Include loosening and stretching exercises.
• Include movements that mirror the activity you’re about to begin; for example, gentle jogging and stretching before a run and swinging a golf club or hitting some practice shots before a game of golf.
• Taper off your warm-up so that it ends about five minutes before you start your activity, to allow yourself to recover from any slight fatigue.
• Keeping warm after warming up is important, so make sure you’re appropriately dressed.
A SIMPLE WARM-UP ROUTINE
Duration:
10 to 15 minutes
Objective:
To increase the body temperature and prepare the body physiologically for exercise
Components
1. Pulse raiser: five-minute jog to increase the heart rate and make the body sweat
2. Static stretching to reduce the risk of muscular injury –five minutes
3. Sports-specific warm-up – five minutes replicating the event that you will do, for example, practising your swing before teeing off for a round of golf
The cool-down
A cool-down must be done at a much lower intensity than the preceding exercise and should last about five to ten minutes. Check your pulse rate at the end of exercise and again at the end of the cool-down. It should be within 20 beats of the normal resting pulse rate. At the end of the exercise period jog for five minutes keeping to a walk, then carry out long, slow, sustained stretches of the major muscle groups such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, calf muscles and pectoral girdle. Make sure you wear extra comfortable clothing to prevent over-cooling.
Stiffness and soreness
Muscle soreness can be divided into two types. Acute muscle soreness occurs towards the end of exercise or immediately afterwards. It is the result of the accumulation of lactic acid or hydrogen ions in the muscle, which makes it more acidic and less efficient. Activity also shifts more blood into the muscle, which leads to the ‘pumped up’ feeling that people experience after weights or prolonged endurance training. This kind of muscle soreness disappears soon after the exercise has stopped.
Delayed onset soreness comes on a day or two after exercise. It seems to be caused by actual muscle damage. When looked at under a microscope, there are signs of inflammation in the muscle. This type of soreness is associated with a different type of muscle contraction called eccentric contraction, which occurs especially after walking or running down hill, and disappears after several days of rest.
If it is very severe, taking simple pain-killers such as aspirin and ibuprofen will help. If you do experience muscle soreness then gentle rhythmical activities will ease the pain, such as slow jogging and swimming. It is important that the intensity should be dramatically decreased.
To prevent soreness, start training at low intensity and take your time to progress over the first few weeks. Avoid running straight downhill to ensure that you do not suffer eccentric contraction.
Massage, heat and Radox baths will help ease pain. A good cool-down also helps to reduce post-exercise soreness because it reduces metabolic poisoning levels of lactate within the muscle groups.
Why do people die suddenly during exercise?
We have all heard stories of people who died suddenly during a game of squash or while out jogging. The primary cause of these sudden deaths is a heart rhythm disturbance called ventricular fibrillation. Many people who die in this way have some risk factor for heart disease – they may be obese, unused to exercise or have had previous bouts of chest pain. Some do not give any clues in their medical history.
Sports such as squash are extremely vigorous, and someone who is just starting to play it may be unused to the level of exertion required. The excitement of the game may also distract a person from noticing the exertion till they are truly exhausted or it is too late. It has been said that ‘one should get fit to play squash rather than play squash to get fit’. The stress that such exertion poses on the body releases certain hormones which may play a part in heart rhythm disturbance.
Anyone who has a history of cardiac problems, or is obese or unused to exercise, should get a doctor’s advice before starting an exercise programme. Take it slowly and gently, and start with the gentler activities such as walking and swimming. Listen to your body and stop when you feel any chest pain, dizziness or faintness.
