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by Raphael Brandon, consultant and specialist in sports fitness training

The fitness trainer is now becoming accepted as a necessary member of the modern coaching team. This new coaching model has the Head Coach leading a team of specialist coaches, therapists and sports scientists. For example, the head coach is accompanied by a secondary technical coach, a physiotherapist, a psychologist, a fitness trainer and a physiologist, with each performing their specified role, but communicating and working as a team.

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For elite sports, the trainer should be able to design workouts that cover all relevant fitness areas - strength, flexibility, agility, aerobic and anaerobic endurance and speed. These workouts must be both specific to the sport and suitable for the level of the athlete. In addition, the trainer should be able to assess fitness levels, understand physiological and biomechanical test data, liaise with physiotherapists regarding injury prevention and rehabilitation and also be able to pass on sound nutritional instruction. This job description, if carried out to full capacity, requires a great deal of expertise and experience and is likely to be beyond the knowledge base of most head coaches. Thus, the advantage of using a specialist fitness trainer is that he or she has the specific skills, experience and time to optimise the physical preparation of the athlete.

The purpose of this presentation is to explain the principles behind designing a sports specific fitness programme and describe some of the important training methods that should be employed. Specifically I will discuss fitness assessment procedures, analysis of the fitness demands of a sport, strength and power training, balance and stability training, endurance training, and speed and agility training.

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Fitness assessment & needs analysis
The principles behind designing sports training programmes are analogous to the methods used by corporate management consultancy firms. When asked to provide a business solution, a management consultancy firm will begin by establishing the goal the client wants to achieve. They then assess the client's current status, systems, markets, etcÉ The final step is to calculate what is required to bridge the gap between the client's current status, and what they need to achieve their business goal. This final step is called gap analysis. The plan they implement is based completely on the outcome of the gap analysis. This gap analysis model is exactly how a sports fitness programme should be designed. Step 1 is to set the athlete's or team's goals - what do they want to achieve. Step 2 is to assess the athlete's or team's current level of fitness. This assessment must cover all the relevant fitness areas specific to their sport or event. Step 3 is the gap analysis, which is calculating the difference for each fitness component between the current and ideal fitness levels. Finally, Step 4 is designing the training programme that will improve each respective fitness area to the required level.

This example should clarify the situation.

Player profile: Male 19 year-old national tennis player. Some weight training experience and completes regular cycling and treadmill workouts.

1. Goal - Become a professional player on tour
2. Fitness Status

Test Multistage fit test 30 m sprint Standing broad jump Overhead medicine ball throw 20 m Shuttle run

Fitness area Aerobic Linear speed Leg power Arm power Agility

Current 11.8, VO2 max = 52 4.2 s 2.3 m 16.1 m 4.7 s

Ideal 55 3.9 s 2.8 m 16 m < 4.5

Gap analysis
Aerobic fitness is pretty good, not far off ideal. All the sprint, agility and leg power tests are below ideal. Especially, the standing broad jump test, suggesting that leg power could be improved. Arm power is fine and therefore needs only to be maintained.

The programme
The player has a six-week period of no competitive tennis and so we will devise a plan to improve leg power and agility for this period, while maintaining upper body strength and aerobic fitness.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Frappier drills Squat jumps, standing long jumps, hexagon drill, lateral hops. Resisted sprints, 10 x T drill, 2 mins rest. Power cleans,squats, leg curls, power lunges, medicine ball for upper body and trunk As Monday Easy aerobic session plus medicine ball work Rest As Monday

The progression over six weeks would be to increase the intensity of the plyometric drills and the weight lifted in the gym - e.g., replace squat jumps with drop jumps into lateral sprint. By the end of the six week period the player would be re-tested and hopefully we would see improvements in 30m sprint, standing long jump test and 20 m shuttle run test.

Non-lab-based fitness assessments
Here is a selection of fitness assessments that cover all aspects of physical performance. For each athlete or team one should select a few relevant tests, using this list as a guide.

Multi-Stage Fitness Test (Bleep test)
Estimates aerobic power or VO2max, in ml/kg/min. Very good for games players as it is specific to the nature of their sport. Not suitable for rowers, swimmers or cyclists as they will achieve higher scores on specific tests. Also, endurance athletes may have trouble with short turns.

Level 8    =   40 ml/kg/min
Level 10   =   47 ml/kg/min
Level 12   =   54 ml/kg/min
Level 14   =   61 ml/kg/min
Level 16   =   68 ml/kg/min
Level 18   =   75 ml/kg/min

Cooper Test
The Cooper test is an alternative test for aerobic fitness. It is very simple, being the maximum distance run in 12 mins.

VO2 max is estimated by the formula = 22.351 x d (km) - 11.288 (ml/kg/min)

VO2 max scores from elite sports:
Endurance runners & cyclists > 75 ml/kg/min
Squash   =   65 ml/kg/min (male)
Football    =   60-65 ml/kg/min (male)
Rugby   =   55 ml/kg/min
Volleyball   =   50 ml/kg/min (female)
Baseball   =   50 ml/kg/min (male)

300 yard Shuttle
This is a test of intermediate anaerobic power, i.e., the lactate system. It is performed as a shuttle run over 25 yards ( 300 = 12 x 25 ). This is a good test for games players as the shuttle format makes it sport specific. Especially for football, rugby, hockey, basketball, squash.

T - Drill
This is a test of agility. It involves running forwards 10 yards, side- stepping left 5 yards touching a cone, side stepping right 10 yards touching a cone, side-stepping back 5 yards and running backwards 10 yards to the start. This is classic test for tennis, squash or football, which involve multidirectional movement.

20 m Shuttle Run
Another test of agility but a more simple drill involving only sprinting and turning. Good for rugby, football, tennis and all games. The athlete starts in the middle cone, sprints 5 metres to the left, touches the far cone, turns, sprints 10 metres across to far cone, touches and sprints back to the middle.

Linear Sprint Speed (5 - 60 m)
Test of maximum sprint speed are essential for most sports. The distance chosen may vary for different sports. For instance, in tennis - 5 m and 20 m useful for assessing initial acceleration, For a rugby back, 60 m may be more appropriate for assessing max speed.

Standing Long Jump
A test of maximum anaerobic power (leg). Functional test for initial acceleration and horizontal power. Good for sprinters, tennis, rugby, hockey, football, fencing. Good scores are 2.50 - 3.30 m (male), 2.3 - 3.0 m (female).

Vertical or Sargant Jump
A test of maximum anaerobic power (leg). Probably the most widespread test used to test leg power. Considered very functional. Athlete performs a counter movement jump using the arms and touches with one arm as high as possible. This is a functional vertical power test. Suitable for basketball, football (centre back, keepers, strikers), volleyball, tennis serve, rugby. Good score: 55 - 70 cm (male).

Drop Jump
A further max anaerobic power test (leg). Athlete drops off a bench and instantly rebounds and performs a maximum vertical jump. The score is the maximum drop height at which the athlete can still achieve the same score as on the vertical jump. This is a measure of the athlete's plyometric (SSC) power. Anything less than 18" suggests that SSC exercises for RFD are a priority.

Overhead Medicine Ball Throw
A test of upper body power. The athlete performs the equivalent of a football throw-in with no run-up. 2 - 5 kg ball is suitable for most sports.

Press Up Max
This is a test of upper-body strength. Correct form is important and must be monitored for a correct test score. For men >45 is excellent, women >30 is excellent. For men <20 is poor, women <8 is poor.

Sit Up Max (1 min)
This is a measure of trunk strength endurance. The athlete performs as many full sit ups as possible in 1 minute with his/her feet held. Good scores are 60 for men and 50 for women. Poor scores are 38 for men, 30 for women.

1 RM Squat
Maximum leg strength test. Considered the most functional of leg strength tests in predicting sprinting and jumping ability. Elite athletes can achieve 2 x BW (male) and 1.5 x BW (female). 1 RM can be estimated from formula 1 RM = wt x (1 + 0.0333 x reps).

1RM Leg Press
Maximum leg strength test. A useful test as no technique or prior experience is required; however, it is not as functional as the squat. The recommended guideline is that athletes should be able to push >2.5 x BW.

1 RM Bench Press
Maximum upper body strength test. The need for maximum upper body strength varies between sports and so it does not always need to be tested. For example, in football a basic upper body strength will suffice but in rugby max upper body strength should be developed. Good scores are 1.25 x BW (male) and 0.8 x BW (female).

Per Cent Body Fat
This is an important test because it relates directly to an athlete's fitness. It can be measured by skin fold formulas or by bio-impedance machines. Too much body fat means aerobic training and nutrition need to be prioritised. Remember: athletes only need to eat a low-fat diet to be lean - not a low calorie diet. Be careful that the test is accurate and that you can trust it; otherwise you could be boosting aerobic training and changing diets for no good reason. A body-fat score can be highly motivational; you do not want to invoke misplaced changes in eating habits. Typical scores for athletes are 6-12% for men and 12-20% for women.

Flexibility
Ideally, the full range of motion for all the major joint movements should be tested, for instance, straight leg raise test for the hamstrings. (For a complete rundown, see PP issue 108, September 1998, or Norris (1998), "Flexibility; principles and practice," published by Black.)

Continued »

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