Rugby player Essay Example for Free

Rugby player Essay I will be using circuit training as my method of exercise. I feel that this type of training will give me best results on the areas of fitness I want to improve. Because circuit training has different stations, different aspects of fitness can be worked on e. g. one station could be weight lifting, improving muscular strength, and another could be an agility run. This way I can work on different aspects of my fitness in one session. Also the type of exercising I will be doing is perfect for what I am trying to achieve. I can change the level of work load very easily with circuit training, because I am not following to a specific program. I will constantly change the amount of work and the intensity I will do, so I keep improving. I play a lot of rugby and in the last year I have moved up from under 16s to Colts, which is under 17s, 18s and 19s. The jump in age has been quite a shock, not only am I trying to keep my position as outside centre, the opposition are nearly twice the size of me! Last year I was considered one of the quickest and fairly strong and powerful, now that Im playing against 19 year olds; my advantage doesnt seem as great anymore. I feel that if I were to increase my strength and agility a bit then the gap between me and the opposition would be smaller, or in some cases be to my advantage. Another issue is safety; I weigh 12 stone and I am six foot, some opposition are six foot six and weigh 16 stone! I havent got that amount of strength to handle that amount of weight, especially in a game like rugby. So increasing my strength will hopefully make the game a bit safer for me, increasing endurance will mean I can perform longer, and increasing my agility would hopefully mean that I dont get tackled as much! My program will hopefully reduce my chances of getting injured, however I need to be safe and not injury myself whilst performing my program. That is why it is very important to warm up well before I actually start training. The benefits of a thorough warm-up are: My warm up will consist of a light jog around the gym for about 3 minutes, to loosen my muscles and start to get blood pumping quicker around my body. I will then perform a series of stretches on my legs, working up my body systematically. When stretching I will hold the stretch for at least 10-15 seconds, it is also important not to bounce when stretching as this can cause muscle tear. The stretches are as follow: I have chosen to do this particular warm-up as I feel that it will be sufficient, and it isnt very time consuming. After I have performed my training, I will do the same routine as the warm-up for a cool-down. The benefits of a cool down are that it helps to remove any excess lactic acid present in the blood. Lactic acid is produced in anaerobic exercise, and causes your muscles to stiffen after youve finished exercising. A cool-down brings more oxygen into the blood, so that the lactic acid can be removed quicker. Another safety issue is the equipment and how it is setup. I have been shown how to setup equipment properly. I have chosen to use simple equipment, so I can perform the program at home as well as at school. By using lighter weights, but heavy enough to be overloading, will reduce the chances of damaging my muscles or tendons. The only trouble with using lighter weights is that it works on muscular endurance rather than strength. Weight lifters lift weights so heavy that they can only do about 5 reps before having to stop. If I were to lift such a weight (in comparison to more body size) I would be very liable to injuring myself, because Im not yet fully grown. I will lift weights so I can perform about 15 reps, this I think will be working both endurance and strength. Men are stronger than women and there build allows them to train harder, so a woman would use even lighter weights. There are many ways in which people can train to improve their fitness. I will be using the principles of training- F. I. T. T and P. R. O. S to get the most out of my program. Frequency I will try to perform 2-3 sessions a week, I dont have much time to spare but that is why I chose a circuit that I can perform at home without the need of any special equipment. Intensity How hard I should work when exercising. This is the most variable aspect of training. One session you can work really hard and get a lot out of it, but you can also do the exact same thing and not work as hard and get nothing from it. I will work at an intensity that I feel I will be able to last two laps, and feel as if I have worked hard. Time This relates to the amount of time you spend doing an activity. This is quite important because if I wanted to work on my anaerobic system, then time monitoring would be essential. This will be the variable I will be changing if I feel I need to overload more.