I will Design and Carry Out my PEP on the Basis of me Being a Football Player Essay

I will design and carry out my PEP on the basis of me being a football player. I am 14 years and 6 months old and have been playing football since about the age of 5. I enjoy the game and I am quite good at it. Although I am quite good I would like to train to become better at the sport and increase my overall fitness level. I am generally fit but there is definitely room for improvement and I will look to do so. When I leave school I plan to join the British Army so I would like to become fit so that I can fulfil my plans. Over the 6 weeks that I carry out the training regime I will give it 100% and really try to improve my fitness and footballing skills. I want to make the best of my ability at football so I can enjoy what I do and hopefully it will benefit the Sunday league club that I play for. I play for Aspull Juniors. I have done so for 5 years now and enjoy playing for the team. I play in the centre of midfield and play in more of a defensive role. This position allows me to put a lot of effort in and influence the game. I am a good tackler of the ball and can pass good as well. For the job that I do on the football pitch I need to have a good stamina (so I can cope with the demands of the football math), good flexibility (so I don’t stretch my muscles when making tackles), good balance (to pass the ball and make vital tackles), strength (to out muscle opponents and kick the ball far), speed (to get to the ball quicker than the opponent), and good reaction time (this is so I can react to the ball quicker than an opponent.) My PEP should help me to improve all of these skills and as a result I will become a better football player. I have never suffered any long-term injuries of any kind and have no recurring injuries. Other sports that I enjoy to do are fishing, golf, tennis and table tennis. Although I do none of these sports competitively I am interested in them and have done for fun. PEP For my PEP I will use a pyramid session to gradually increase my fitness during the 6 weeks. I will use a badminton court as my guide and say that double the length of the court is equal to one length. I will increase the lengths as the program progresses to create an overload required to increase my fitness. I chose a pyramid session because I feel it is the most reliable way of increasing my fitness. Also I know that it will be easier to create an overload in either the amount of lengths or exercises that I do if I use a pyramid session. From when I have used this session in the past I have found that it always gives me a good workout and can be used to good effect. I will start and progress my PEP over the weeks using the FITT principal. I will increase the frequency by doing more exercises and by doing more running more often. I will increase the intensity by increasing the amount of exercise that will be done. I will do this by adding more lengths onto my pyramid session and more exercise in between. I will increase the time by putting more time into the exercises in between runs. The type will also be changed. I will change the fitness test that I will do after the pyramid sessions each week. The PEP that I have designed is one that I think will improve my overall fitness the most and also improve the skills that I need as a football player. It will start with a 5 minute jog. This jog will warm up my muscles so that they are not too stiff to stretch otherwise I will increase the chances of a ripped or torn muscle. After the jog I will move on to my stretches. They will be thoroughly carried out so not to allow any muscle injury whatsoever can occur. The stretches are one of the most important parts of the PEP and must be done with care and thought. If these are not done correctly than I will run the chance of pulling or tearing a muscle. The Pyramid Session starts by running the maximum amount of lengths you are wishing to do and then gradually working your way down until there are no more lengths to complete. In between lengths you are required to do exercises. For example, if I was planning to do 16 lengths I would do 16 lengths then a chosen exercise. After the exercise you then do 15 lengths then the exercise, then 14 lengths then a exercise and so on until there are no more lengths to complete. This Pyramid Session will progress throughout the 6 weeks of the PEP. Week 1 I will be doing 10 lengths, Week 2 and 3 I will be doing 12 lengths, Week 4 and 5 I will do 14 lengths and for the final week I will do 16 lengths. As the weeks progress an overload is created which will help me improve my fitness. The Warm Up For my warm up I will be doing a 5 minute jog around the All Weather pitch. The warm up is to warm the muscles up before stretching so I do not pull a muscle. I will time myself and be sure not to strain myself as this too could result in a pulled muscle if not careful. The Leg Exercises – Squats, Burpees, Switch Overs, Star Jumps These exercises will build up my leg muscles and allow me to put more power into a shot or long pass. These exercises will build up the strength and power in my legs and will allow me to hit a ball further and this will improve my skill as a football player. I have done more leg exercises than arm and body exercises because I feel that my legs are needed more on a football pitch. The Body Exercises – Sit Ups, Crunches The body exercises that I will do will allow me to build up my middle body muscles and will help me to become stronger and flexible in that area. This will help me when I play football because I will be able to adjust the middle part of my body easier and this will help me when I am playing. The Arm Exercises – Bench Press, Press Ups By doing these arm exercises it will improve my upper body strength and this will make it easier to shrug off opponents when challenging for a ball in a game. The exercises will build up the muscles in my arms and this can help when taking a throw-in. The Cool Down For the cool down I will do a light jog and then stretch. The cool down is to prevent lactic acid from settling in the muscles and producing cramps. This is just as important as the warm up and is needed to prevent injury after the PEP. Stretches Hamstring- I would sit on the ground then bend over front wards and touch the top of my shin, I would hold this for 10 seconds. Then I would sit up rest and then bend over front wards again only this time touching the toes rather than the shin. Quads- I would stand and balance myself against a wall with one arm then I would grab the left leg bend it backwards so the foot is touching my bum and hold for 10 seconds. Then I would stop rest and change legs. Groin Stretch- I would sit on the ground and put the soles of each foot together in a yoga sort of position. Then slowly put pressure on the inside of each leg to stretch the groin. Upper Arm- Place one arm in front of me and place the other arm underneath the arm that is held out and grab the shoulder. After this swap arms and do exactly the same. Hold each stretch for 10 seconds. Week 1 The warm up and the stretches went well and I then began my Pyramid Session. I had planned to do 10 lengths this week. I found that the Pyramid Session worked well. I completed the 10 lengths with ease but the exercises were quite challenging. At the end of all the lengths and exercises I found myself out of breath but I was pleased with the work I had done. I then went out onto the all weather pitch to do a 50 metre sprint. I did the sprint in 8.12 seconds which was a personal best. After the sprint I did a 5 minute jog and then stretched for 5 minutes. Evaluation I was very pleased with what I did this week but thought that I could handle more lengths than what I had done. The exercises that I did were quite demanding but I thought they would be easier to handle next week and was looking forward to the challenge. I was extremely pleased with the speed that I achieved in the 50 metre sprint and although it wasn’t a huge amount of time I did beat my personal best. Week 2 This week I had set myself 12 lengths to do but I wasn’t particularly worried about the task ahead. I started off with the 5 minute jog and a thorough stretch and then I began my Pyramid Session. The session went well again this week. Similar to last week I found that the exercises were again quite tough and challenging but the lengths were completed without much difficulty. After the Pyramid Session this week, I had set my self the throw/catch ball test. This was not physically challenging but I had to concentrate to get the 35 score that I got. This was not the best score I had ever had but I was pleased with the result. Evaluation I was again pleased with this week. The increase in lengths never really affected my performance this week. They were more challenging than the previous week but never caused a major problem throughout the session. The throw/catch ball test that I did was more about finding a rhythm and concentrating rather than a physical test. Week 3 After the initial warm up and stretch I moved onto another week of the 12 length Pyramid Session. This week it again never caused a huge problem but I was still tired towards the end of the session. The exercises still caused similar problems as they did in the first week and were tiring. It was this week when I began to feel an improvement in my fitness. After I completed the Pyramid Session I then went and did the muscular endurance test in the hotel foyer. My previous best at this test was 100 seconds but this week I nearly doubled that score with 190 seconds. I was extremely pleased with this result. At the end of the session I did a 10 minute cool down. Evaluation I found that the 12 lengths didn’t pose too much of a problem for me this week and I was looking forward to the challenge of 14 lengths next week. I think that the exercises again provided a challenge for me and I began to feel the improvement in my fitness. I was extremely pleased with the score I achieved in the muscular endurance test. I think that I did well this week and was looking forward to the next few weeks ahead. Week 4 Due to a Dentist appointment I was unable to complete the regime at school. As a result I set up a training course on a football field behind my house and carried out my session to the best of my ability taking the environment and lack of equipment into condition. I worked hard for 1 hour and was pleased with the workout I had. Week 5 This week was my first attempt in school of attempting the 14 lengths I had set. Firstly, I did the warm up and stretches then got started with the Pyramid Session. It began like the others had but towards the end I found that this session was a lot more tiring than the previous weeks. At the end my legs were aching and I was really tired. I had created the overload and felt the affect. Although I was tired I was pleased with the task I had done and was looking to the week ahead. The test this week was a standing broad jump. I managed to get a score of 1 metre 52 centimetres. I was quite pleased with the score although it was not a personal best. After the test I went outside where I did a 5 minute jog and stretched off to avoid cramped muscles. Evaluation I was pleased with the effort that I put in today and could feel a definite improvement in my fitness. I thought that 14 lengths were very challenging and along with the leg, arm and middle body exercises produced a Pyramid Session which would challenge me. The standing broad jump that I did was not spectacular but I was pleased with the result. Week 6 For this week I was supposed to do 16 lengths, but because I missed week 4 I decided that I would carry on with 14 lengths. I went outside and did the warm up followed by the stretches then went inside to carry out the Pyramid Session. The 14 lengths were challenging but I felt an improvement in my fitness and they were easier to complete than the lengths last week. The test for my final week was a repeat of the throw/catch ball test. I carried it out in the Sports Hall and beat the score I had gotten previously. I got a score of 33, beating the score of week 2 and equalling my personal best. Evaluation I was pleased with the work that I had done in my final week. I found that the 14 lengths in the Pyramid Session were easier to complete than the previous week. I was pleased with the level of my fitness and was pleased with the score I achieved in the throw/catch ball test. Final Evaluation Throughout my PEP I have seen my overall fitness gradually increase from week to week. I would definitely say the regime has been a success and recommend it to people wishing to improve their fitness. The Pyramid Session provides a challenge from week to week and the exercises between the lengths make it a very demanding regime. I was pleased with the work that the exercises did and at the end of the 6 week program saw an improvement in my leg muscles, middle and upper body strength. I am extremely pleased with the improvement and success that the PEP has had.