Physical Conditioning
Senior 3 · Physical Education
Physical Conditioning
Lesson 1 of 4
25 min
A central midfielder in a full football match runs about 10 to 12 kilometres, and many of those metres are sprints, stops and turns rather than a steady jog. A player who is out of breath after twenty minutes makes poor decisions and gets to the ball late. The quality that keeps you going is cardiovascular endurance. In Senior 2 you learned to warm up and to estimate your maximum heart rate. In this lesson you train endurance on purpose, with four kinds of drill, and you learn a more accurate way to set your training heart rate.
Definition
Cardiovascular endurance (also called aerobic endurance or stamina): the ability of the heart, lungs and blood vessels to supply oxygen to working muscles for a long time. Example: running 3 km without stopping.
Aerobic exercise: steady exercise in which the muscles get enough oxygen, so you can keep going for many minutes (jogging, long skipping). Anaerobic exercise: short, very hard bursts in which the muscles work faster than oxygen can reach them, so you tire within seconds to about two minutes (a 100 m sprint).
Interval training: repeated periods of hard work separated by planned periods of rest or easy work. The work-to-rest ratio compares the two, for example 30 s of work and 60 s of rest is 1 : 2.
| Method | What you do | Example for S3 |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous training | Steady exercise with no rest, at a moderate pace, for 20 minutes or more | Jog four laps of the school field at a pace at which you can still talk |
| Interval training | Hard efforts with planned recovery | 6 × 200 m fast, walking or jogging back between runs |
| Fartlek (Swedish for "speed play") | Continuous running in which the pace changes, often with the ground: faster on the flat, easier uphill | A 20-minute run on a hilly path, sprinting from one tree to the next every few minutes |
1. Interval runs. Mark 200 m on the track or field. Run it fast but controlled, at a pace you could hold for about 400 m, not an all-out sprint. Walk or jog back slowly; that is your recovery. Start with 4 runs and add one each week up to 8.
2. Obstacle jumps. Set out 6 to 8 low obstacles about 1 m apart: cones, rolled-up mats or light sticks resting on two bricks, 20 to 40 cm high. Jump each one with both feet together, land softly on the balls of your feet with your knees bent, and take off again at once. Walk back and repeat 4 to 6 times.
3. Ladder drills. An agility ladder is a flat rope ladder laid on the ground, with rungs about 45 cm apart. If your school has none, chalk one on the floor or lay sticks across the ground. Look ahead, not at your feet, stay on the balls of your feet and pump your arms. Begin with the two patterns in the diagram, slowly, then speed up.
4. Skipping drills. Turn the rope from the wrists, not the shoulders, and jump only 2 to 3 cm off the ground. Work through: basic two-foot bounce, alternate-foot step (like running on the spot), high-knee skip, and side-to-side jumps. For endurance, skip in intervals: 30 s on, 30 s off, 8 rounds.
Figure: agility-ladder footwork seen from above, moving left to right. In pattern A each foot lands in its own square; in pattern B both feet touch every square, left then right, so the steps are quicker and shorter. Facing the direction of travel, your left foot is on the upper side of the ladder in the drawing.
Video: "10 Speed & Agility Ladder Drills For Fast Footwork & Quickness: Level 1", I Know Football. Watch the first drills, which match patterns A and B in the diagram; notice that the players stay on the balls of their feet and drive their arms.
In Senior 2 you estimated maximum heart rate as 220 − age and trained at a percentage of it. That rule ignores how fit you already are. The Karvonen method uses your resting heart rate too. Your heart rate reserve (HRR) is the gap between your maximum and resting heart rates:
Endurance training is usually done at 60% to 80% of the heart rate reserve.
Worked example
Worked example 1: a training zone. Ishimwe is 15 and his resting heart rate is 70 bpm. Find his zone for 60% to 80% intensity.
His zone is 151 to 178 bpm. Counting his pulse for 15 seconds after an interval, he should count about 38 to 45 beats.
Worked example
Worked example 2: planning an interval session. Keza runs 6 × 200 m. Each run takes her about 45 s, and she walks for 90 s between runs. Find the work-to-rest ratio and the length of the session.
Tip
The talk test. No watch? Talk while you train. If you can sing, the pace is too easy for endurance work. If you can speak in short sentences, you are in the aerobic zone. If you can only gasp one or two words, you are working anaerobically, which is right for a hard interval but not for a long run.
Warning
Safety. Warm up first and cool down after. Obstacles must fall over if a foot catches them: never jump over a fixed bar, a bench edge or a rope tied between posts. Drink water before and after, and train in the cooler morning or late afternoon on hot days. Stop and tell your teacher at once if you feel chest pain, dizziness or unusual shortness of breath.
Practice
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
