BEAGH HURLING ClUB
|
| TRAINING |
What is the objective of endurance training ?The objective of endurance training is to develop the energy production system(s) to meet the demands of the event. What are the energy production systems ? In the human body, food energy is used to manufacture adenosine triphosphate (ATP) the chemical compound that supplies energy for muscular contraction. Since ATP is in very low concentrations in the muscle, and since it decreases only to a minor extent, even in the most intense voluntary contraction, tightly controlled energy pathways exist for the continual regeneration of ATP as muscular contraction continues. For continuous exercise, ATP must be re-synthesised at the same rate as it is utilised. What types of endurance are there ? The types of endurance are Aerobic endurance, Anaerobic endurance, Speed endurance and Strength endurance. A sound basis of aerobic endurance is fundamental for all events. Aerobic EnduranceAerobic means 'with oxygen'. During aerobic work the body is working at a level that the demands for oxygen and fuel can be meet by the body's intake. The only waste products formed are carbon dioxide and water. These are removed as sweat and by breathing out. Aerobic endurance can sub-divided as follows:
Aerobic endurance is developed through the use of
Anaerobic means 'without oxygen'. During anaerobic work, involving maximum effort, the body is working so hard that the demands for oxygen and fuel exceed the rate of supply and the muscles have to rely on the stored reserves of fuel. In this case waste products accumulate, the chief one being lactic acid. The muscles, being starved of oxygen, take the body into a state known as oxygen debt. The body's stored fuel soon runs out and activity ceases - painfully. Activity will not be resumed until the lactic acid is removed and the oxygen debt repaid. Fortunately the body can resume limited activity after even only a small proportion of the oxygen debt has been repaid. Since lactic acid is produced the correct term for this pathway is lactic anaerobic energy pathway. The alactic anaerobic pathway is the one in which the body is working anaerobically but without the production of lactic acid. This pathway can exist only so long as the fuel actually stored in the muscle lasts, approximately 4 seconds at maximum effort. Anaerobic endurance can sub-divided as follows: |
Anaerobic endurance can be developed by using repetition methods of relatively high intensity work with limited recovery.
Speed enduranceSpeed endurance is used to develop the co-ordination of muscle contraction in the climate of endurance. Repetition methods are used with a high number of sets, low number of repetitions per set and an intensity greater than 85% with distances covered from 60% to 120% of racing distance. Competition and time trials can be used in the development of speed endurance.
Strength enduranceStrength endurance is used to develop the athlete's capacity to maintain the
quality of their muscles' contractile force in a climate of endurance. All
athletes need to develop a basic level of strength endurance.
Treatment of Acute Sporting Injuries
Immediate treatment for almost all acute athletic injuries is Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation (RICE).
Rest is instituted immediatley to minimize hemorrhage, injury and swelling. Ice causes dermal vasoconstriction and helps limit inflammation and reduce pain. Compression and elevation help limit edema.
The injured part should be elevated. A bag that is chemically cooled or filled with chipped or crushed ice (which will conform bette than ice cubes to body contours) should be placed on a towel over the injured part. An elastic bandage should be wrapped over the ice bag and around the injured part, loosely enough to permit blood flow. After 10 min, the wrapping and the ice bag should be removed, but the injured part should be kept elevated. After a further 10 min, the ice bag and the wrapping should be replaced. Ten minutes with and without ice should be alternated for 60 to 90 mi. This procedure can be repeated several times during the first 24h.
Pathology of ice application
Cold limits swelling by vasoconstruction and reduction in capillary permeability. It helps to limit pain by reducing impulse transmission from pain receptors. It limits muscle spasm by reducing impulse tranmission from tendon receptors to muscles. It limits tissue destruction by decreasing cellular metabolism. Prolonged application of ice, however, can cause vasodilation, increased swelling, pain, and tissue destruction.
Supports and splints
In most injuries, pain is greatly reduced if the injured part is immobolized correctly. Supportive bandaging or splinting reduces stress, prevents painful movements, and helps control the swelling which is produced when tissues of any kind are damaged. Inflatable splints are a very convenient method of providing a comfortable, removable, adjustable support to a led or an arm. A simple splinting method is to tie one injured part to a neighbouring uninjured part, with crepe bandages, cotton bandages, or scarves and towels. Splints and bandages should never be tight, as they can constrict the blood flow and cause further damage. To check the circulation, you should press on the thum-nail or toe-nail on the bandaged limb, to see whether the blood returns to the nail immediately after the pressure has turned it white. If the blood return is sluggish, the bandage must be loosened or removed immediately. It is best not to use non-stretch strapping as a first-aid binding.
Applying heat
Whereas cold therapy can be applied immediately to an injury, and continued through the rehabilitation phases for as long as there is swelling, bruising and pain, heat should only be applied, if at all, in the recovery phases of rehabilitation. Applying heat draws blood to the skin under the heat source. This tends to increase internal bleeding or fluid exudate (swelling) in an immediate injury. Therefore heat is not appropriate in first-aid. Heat is used later on to relieve muscle tension, promoting relaxation.
Creams
Massage, like heat, aggravates the situation when an injury has just happened. Any cream applied must be laid gently on the skin and allowed to soak in. If you rub it in, not only do you risk increasing internal bleeding, but you could stimulate blood clotting and bone formation in torn muscle fibres.
Injury Prevention
Like most athletes, you undoubtedly want to lower your chances of incurring an injury while participating in your favorite sport. Injuries decrease the amount of time you can spend in leisure activities, lower your fitness, downgrade competitive performance, and can lead to long term health problems such as arthritis. There are some general rules for injury avoidance which apply to all sports. Sports scientists suggest that injury rates could be reduced by 25% if athletes took appropriate preventative action.
Common Misconceptions
Coaches and athletes believe that males have higher injury rates than females. Male and female athletes have about the same injury rate per hour of training. Among runners it is considered that training speed is the cause of injuries (Speed Kills) but research indicates that there is no link between speed and injury risk.
Do not overdo it
The amount of training you you carry out plays a key role in determining your real injury risk Studies have shown that your best direct injury predictor may be the amount of training you completed last month. Fatigued muscles do a poor job of protecting their associated connective tissues, increasing the risk of damage to bone, cartilage, tendons and ligaments. If you are a runner, the link between training quantity and injury means that the total mileage is an excellent indicator of your injury risk. The more miles you accrue per week, the higher the chances of injury. One recent investigation found a marked upswing in injury risk above 40 miles of running per week.
The two best predictors of injury
If you have been injured before you are much more likely to get hurt than an athlete who has been injury free. Regular exercises has a way of uncovering the weak areas of the body. If you have knees that are put under heavy stress, because of your unique biomechanics during exercises, your knees are likely to hurt when you engage in your sport for a prolonged time. After recovery you re-establish your desired training load without modification to your biomechanics then your knees are likely to be injured again.
The second predictor of injury is probably the number of consecutive days of training you carry out each week. Scientific studies strongly suggest that reducing the number of consecutive days of training can lower the risk of injury Recovery time reduces injury rates by giving muscles and connective tissues an opportunity to restore and repair themselves between work-outs.
Psychological Factors
Some studies have shown that athletes who are aggressive, tense, and compulsive have a higher risk of injury than their relaxed peers. Tension may make muscles and tendons taughter, increasing the risk that they will be harmed during work-outs.
Weak Muscles
Many injuries are caused by weak muscles which simply are not ready to handle the specific demands of your sport. This is why people who start a running programme for the first time often do well for a few weeks but then, as they add the mileage on, suddenly develop foot or ankle problems, hamstring soreness or perhaps lower back pain. Their bodies simply are not strong enough to cope with the demands of the increased training load. For this reason, it is always wise to couple resistance training with regular training.
Muscle imbalance
Screening for muscle imbalances is the current cutting edge of injury prevention. The rationale behind this is that there are detectable and correctable abnormalities of muscle strength and length that are fundamental to the development of almost all musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction. Detection of these abnormalities and correction before injury has occurred should be part of any injury prevention strategy. Assessment of muscle strength and balance and regular sports massage can be beneficial in this strategy.
Make it specific
Resistance training can fortify muscles and make them less susceptible to damage, especially if the strength building exercises involve movements that are similar to those associated with the sport. Time should be devoted to developing the muscle groups, strength training, appropriate to the demands of your sport. If you are a thrower then lots of time should be spent developing muscles at the front of the shoulder which increases the force with which you can throw, but you must also work systematically on the muscles at the back of the shoulder which control and stabilise the shoulder joint.
Injury Prevention Tips
- Avoid training when you are tired
- Increase your consumption of carbohydrate during periods of heavy training
- Increase in training should be matched with increases in resting
- Any increase in training load should be preceded by an increase in strengthening
- Treat even seemingly minor injuries very carefully to prevent them becoming a big problem
- If you experience pain when training STOP you training session immediately
- Never train hard if you are stiff from the previous effort
- Pay attention to hydration and nutrition
- Use appropriate training surfaces
- Check training and competition areas are clear of hazards
- Check equipment is appropriate and safe to use
- Introduce new activities very gradually
- Allow lots of time for warming up and cooling off
- Check over training and competition courses beforehand
- Train on different surfaces, using the right footwear
- Shower and change immediately after the cool down
- Aim for maximum comfort when travelling
- Stay away from infectious areas when training or competing very hard
- Be extremely fussy about hygiene in hot weather
- Monitor daily for signs of fatigue, if in doubt ease off.
- Have regular sports massage
Coaches
The key is rapid action when the injury first appears and a lot of psychological support to
back up the remedial treatment. It is when things are not going well that the athlete really
needs their coach
TOP
Plyometrics Training
Speed and strength are integral components of fitness found in varying degrees in virtually all athletic movements. Simply put the combination of speed and strength is power. For many years coaches and athletes have sought to improve power in order to enhance performance. Throughout this century and no doubt long before, jumping, bounding and hopping exercises have been used in various ways to enhance athletic performance. In recent years this distinct method of training for power or explosiveness has been termed plyometrics. Whatever the origins of the word the term is used to describe the method of training which seeks to enhance the explosive reaction of the individual through powerful muscular contractions as a result of rapid eccentric contractions.
Muscle Mechanism
The maximum force that a muscle can develop is attained during a rapid eccentric contraction. However, it should be realised that muscles seldom perform one type of contraction in isolation during athletic movements. When a concentric contraction occurs (muscle shortens) immediately following an eccentric contraction (muscle lengthens) then the force generated can be dramatically increased. If a muscle is stretched, much of the energy required to stretch it is lost as heat, but some of this energy can be stored by the elastic components of the muscle. This stored energy is available to the muscle only during a subsequent contraction. It is important to realise that this energy boost is lost if the eccentric contraction is not followed immediately by a concentric effort. To express this greater force the muscle must contract within the shortest time possible. This whole process is frequently called the stretch shortening cycle and is the underlying mechanism of plyometric training.
Choose the method to fit the sport
The golden rule of any conditioning programme is specificity. This means that the movement you perform in training should match, as closely as possible, the movements encountered during competition. If you are rugby player practising for the line-out or a volleyball player interested in increasing vertical jump height, then drop jumping or box jumping may be the right exercise. However if you are a javelin thrower aiming for a more explosive launch, then upper body plyometrics is far more appropriate.
Plyometric Exercises
The following are examples of lower body and upper body plyometric exercises.
Lower Body
Drop Jumping: - This exercise involves the athlete dropping (not jumping) to the ground from a
raised platform or box, and then immediately jumping up. The drop down gives the pre-stretch to
the leg muscles and the vigorous drive upwards the secondary concentric contraction The exercise
will be more effective the shorter the time the feet are in contact with the ground. The loading
in this exercise is governed by the height of the drop which should be in the region of 30-80 cm.
Drop jumping is a relatively high impact form of plyometric training and would normally be introduced
after the athlete had become accustomed to lower impact alternatives, such as two-footed jumping on
the spot.
Bounding and hurdling: If forward motion is more the name of your game, try some bounding. This is
a form of plyometric training, where over sized strides are used in the running action and extra
time spent in the air. Two-legged bounds reduces the impact to be endured, but to increase the
intensity one legged bounding, or hopping, can be used. Bounding upstairs is a useful way to work
on both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the running action. Multiple jumps over a series of
obstacles like hurdles is a valuable drill for athletes training for sprinting or jumping events.
These exercises are all aimed at the lower body, but a variety of drills can be used to make the
upper body more explosive.
Upper Body
Press ups & hand clap: Press-ups with a hand clap in between is a particularly vigorous way to
condition the arms and chest. The pre-stretch takes place as the hands arrive back on the ground
and the chest sinks, and this is followed quickly by the explosive upwards action. Once again, to
get the best training effect keep the time in contact with the ground to a minimum.
Medicine Ball: Another means of increasing upper body strength popular with throwers is to lie on the ground face up. A partner then drops a medicine ball down towards the chest of the athlete, who catches the ball (pre-stretch) and immediately throws it back. This is another high-intensity exercise and should only be used after some basic conditioning.
Planning a Plyometric Session
The choice of exercises within a session and their order should be planned. A session could : begin with exercises that are fast, explosive and designed for developing elastic strength (low hurdle jumps; low drop jumps) work through exercises that develop concentric strength (standing long jump; high hurdle jumps) finish with training for eccentric strength (higher drop jumps). An alternative session could :- begin with low hurdle jumps progress to bounding and hopping, continue with steps or box work finish with medicine ball work out for abdominals and upper body.
Warm up
A thorough warm-up is essential prior to plyometric training. Attention should be given to jogging, stretching (static and ballistic), striding and general mobility especially about the joints involved in the planned plyometric session. A warm-down should follow each session.
How many ?
It is wise not to perform too many repetitions in any one session and since it is a quality session, with the emphasis on speed and power rather than endurance, split the work into sets with ample recovery in between.
Where to do it and what to wear
For bounding exercises use surfaces such as grass or resilient surfaces. Avoid cement floors because there is no cushioning. Choose well-cushioned shoes that are stable and can absorb some of the inevitable impact. All athletes should undergo general orthopaedic screening before engaging in plyometric training. Particular attention should be given to structural or postural problems that are likely to predispose the athlete to injury.
Conditioning for plyometrics
Higher than normal forces are put on the musclosketal system during plyometric exercises so it is important for the athlete to have a good sound base of general strength and endurance. Most experts state that a thorough grounding in weight-training is essential before you start plyometrics. It has been suggested that an athlete be able to squat twice his body weight before attempting depth jumps. However, less intensive plyometric exercises can be incorporated into general circuit and weight training during the early stages of training so as to progressively condition the athlete. Simple plyometric drills such as skipping hopping and bounding should be introduced first. More demanding exercises such as flying start single-leg hops and depth jumps should be limited to thoroughly conditioned athletes. Conditioning programmes to develop leg strength are detailed on the Lower Leg Conditioning page and the Leg Conditioning page.
Young athletes
Some authors suggest that moderate jumps can be included in the athletic training of very young children (Lohman, 1989). However, great care needs to be exerted when prescribing any training procedures for preadolescent children. Because of the relatively immature bone structure in preadolescent and adolescent children the very great forces exerted during intensive depth jumps should be avoided (Smith, 1975).
Summary
Plyometric type exercises have been used successfully by many athletes as a method of training to
enhance power. In order to realise the potential benefits of plyometric training the
stretch-shortening cycle must be invoked. This requires careful attention to the technique used
during the drill or exercise. The rate of stretch rather than the magnitude of stretch is of primary
importance in plyometric training. In addition, the coupling time or ground contact time must be as
short as possible. The Challenge to you as coach or athlete is to select or create an exercise that
is specific to the event and involves the correct muscular action. As long as you remember specificity
and to ensure there is a pre stretch first then the only limit is your imagination.
TOP
Speed Training
TOP
Speed is the quickness of movement of limb, whether this be the legs of a runner or the arm of the shot putter. Speed is an integral part of every sport and can be expressed as any one of, or combination of, the following
- maximum speed
- elastic strength (power)
- speed endurance
Speed is influenced by the athlete's mobility, special strength, strength endurance and technique.
Energy system for speed
Energy for absolute speed is supplied by the anaerobic alactic pathway. The anaerobic (without oxygen) alactic (without lactate) energy system is best challenged as an athlete approaches top speed between 30 and 60m while running at 95% to 100% of maximum. This speed component of anaerobic metabolism lasts for approximately six seconds and should be trained when no muscle fatigue is present (usually after 24 to 36 hours of rest)
How do we develop Speed ?
The technique of sprinting must be rehearsed at slow speeds and then transferred to runs at maximum speed. The stimulation, excitation and correct firing order of the motor units, composed of a motor nerve (Neuron) and the group of muscles that it supplies, makes it possible for high frequency movements to occur. The whole process is not totally clear but the complex coordination and timing of the motor units and muscles most certainly must be rehearsed at high speeds to implant the correct patterns.
Flexibility and a correct warm up will affect stride length and frequency. Stride length can be improved by developing muscular strength, power, strength endurance and running technique. The development of speed is highly specific and to achieve it we should ensure that :
- Flexibility is developed and maintained all year round.
- Strength and speed is developed in parallel
- Skill development (technique) is pre-learned, rehearsed and perfected before it is done at high speed levels.
- Speed training is performed by using high velocity for brief intervals. This will ultimately bring into play the correct neuromuscular pathways and energy sources used.
When should speed work be conducted ?
It is important to remember that the improvement of running speed is a complex process which is controlled by the brain and nervous system. In order for a runner to move more quickly, the leg muscles of course have to contract more quickly, but the brain and nervous system also have to learn to control these faster movements efficiently. If you maintain some form of speed training throughout the year, your muscles and nervous system do not loose the feel of moving fast and the brain will not have to re-learn the proper control patterns at a later date.
In the training week speed work should be carried out after a period of rest or light training. In a training session speed work should be conducted after the warm up and any other training should be of low intensity.
Speed Workouts
| Event | Speed Session |
| 100 m | 10 * 30m at race pace from blocks with full recovery 3-4 * 80m at race pace with full recovery |
| 800 m | 5 * 200m at goal race pace with 10 sec recovery 4 * 400m at 2-3 sec faster than current race pace with 2 min recovery |
| 1500 m | 4 * 400m at goal race pace with 15-10 sec recovery 4-5 * 800m at 5-6 secs per 800m faster than goal race pace with 6 min recovery |
| 5,000 m | 4-5 * 800m at 4 sec per 100m faster than goal race pace with 60
secs recovery 3 * 1 mile at 6 sec per mile faster than goal race pace with 2 min recovery |
| 10,000 m | 3 * 2000m at 3 secs per 200m faster than goal race pace with 2
min recovery Five 5 min intervals at current 5k race pace with 3 min recovery |
| Marathon | Six 1 mile repeats at 15 sec per mile faster that goal race
pace with 1 min recovery 3 * 3000m at 10k race pace with 6 min recovery |
Reaction Speed Drill
The athletes start in a variety of different positions - lying face down, lying on their backs, in push up or sit up position, kneeling or seated. The coach standing some 30m from the group then gives a signal for everyone to jump up and run towards him/her at slightly faster than race pace. Repeat using various starting positions and with the coach standing in different places so that the athletes have to change directions quickly once they begin to run.
Speed Principals
The general principals for improved speed are as follows:
- Choose a reasonable goal for your event, and then work on running at velocities which are actually faster than your goal over short work intervals
- Train at goal pace in order to enhance your neuromuscular coordination, confidence and stamina at your desired speed
- At first, utilise long recoveries, but as you get fitter and faster shorten the recovery periods between work intervals to make your training more specific and realistic to racing. Also move on to longer work intervals, as you are able
- Work on your aerobic capacity and lactate threshold, conduct some easy pace runs to burn calories and permit recovery from the speed sessions
- Work on your mobility to develop a range of movement (range of motion at your hips will effect speed) and assist in the prevention of injury
|