Energy Systems: ATP/PC & Lactic Acid

• The body's fuel is Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP).
• ATP enables cells to perform specialized tasks like muscle contractions.
• Energy is stored in chemical bonds between atoms and released when required.
• Adenosine Triphosphate consists of 1 Adenosine and 3 Phosphates.
• Detaching the last phosphate group releases energy for cell transfer and muscle contraction, enabling movement.
• Food provides kilojoules (kJ) of energy.
• Carbohydrates provide 16 kJ per gram.
• Protein provides 17 kJ per gram.
• Fat provides 38 kJ per gram.

Energy Systems

ATP/PC (Alactic Acid) System

• Relies on Creatine Phosphate as its fuel source.
• Lasts for approximately 10-12 seconds.
• Exhaustion of Creatine Phosphate stores causes fatigue.
• Produces heat as a byproduct.
• Recovery occurs when Creatine binds with free phosphate to reform CP.
• Has a fast ATP production rate but limited fuel stores.
• Examples include 100m run, high jump, and shot put.

Lactic Acid System

• Uses Carbohydrates (glucose/glycogen) broken down through anaerobic glycolysis as its fuel source.
• Lasts from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, depending on intensity.
• Accumulation of lactic acid faster than its removal causes fatigue.
• Produces lactic acid as a byproduct.
• Lactic acid reconverts to glycogen, taking 30-60 minutes.
• Produces ATP quickly and in large quantities.
• Examples include 400m and 800m runs, and 100m swim.

Aerobic System

• Uses Carbohydrates, Fats and Protein as fuel sources.
• Lasts for 1 hour of hard work or 4-6 hours of intermittent work, with 12 hours of rest.
• Fuel source depletion causes fatigue.
• Produces carbon dioxide and water as byproducts.
• Recovery depends on activity duration; short activities recover quickly, long activities may take days, needing carbohydrate replenishment.
• Extremely efficient in ATP production.
• Examples include 1500m swim, soccer, and triathlon.

Aerobic Training and Methods

Aerobic Training

• Uses the aerobic system as its primary energy source.
• Targets the aerobic energy system and cardiovascular system, improving oxygen delivery and utilization.
• Should be performed at least 3 times a week, at 70-80% of maximum heart rate (MHR), for 30+ minutes.

Continuous Training

• Involves sustained aerobic effort without rest for at least 20 minutes.
• Heart rate must stay above the aerobic threshold within the target zone.
• Long, slow distance training improves general condition, with heart rate at 60-80% of MHR, focusing on distance rather than speed.
• High intensity work of moderate duration is used by well-conditioned athletes, with heart rate at 80-90% of MHR, focusing on speed.
• Example: Jogging and cycling, needing 30 minutes per session for fitness improvement.

Fartlek (Speed) Training

• Varies speed and terrain, engaging both anaerobic and aerobic systems.
• Bursts of speed last 5-10 seconds, repeated every 2-3 minutes.
• Beneficial for athletes needing frequent sprints, stops, direction changes, and accelerations.
• Beneficial for pre-season training in team sports like soccer, basketball, or football.
• Examples: Running up and down sand-hills, group running with changing leadership, with regular speed bursts every 2-3 minutes.

Aerobic Interval Training

• Alternates work and recovery sessions.
• Active rest intervals, like walking or slow jogging, prevent full recovery but maintain pressure on the aerobic system.
• Helps remove lactic acid from the blood, allowing longer training.
• Important factors include training time and distance.
• Overload can be applied by adjusting work intensity, work time, number of repetitions, and work-rest ratio.
• Example: 1200m run with 100m sprints under 20 seconds and 40 seconds rest.

Circuit Training

• Develops aerobic capacity and improves strength, endurance, flexibility, skill, and coordination.
• Consists of 6-10 strength exercises completed one after another.
• Types include fixed resistance and individual resistance circuits.
• Progressive overload is achieved by increasing the number of stations, time at each station, and repetitions at each station.

Anaerobic Training and Methods

Anaerobic Training

• Uses high-intensity work with limited recovery to develop energy systems that function without oxygen.
• Lasts less than 2 minutes, shorter than aerobic training.

Includes three types:

• Short anaerobic training (less than 25 seconds) develops the ATP/PC system.
• Medium anaerobic training (25-60 seconds) develops the lactic acid system.
• Long anaerobic training (1-2 minutes) develops the lactic acid/aerobic systems.

Anaerobic Interval Training

• Sprint training over short distances using maximal effort.
• Uses the 2 anaerobic energy systems.
• Primarily aimed at developing speed.
• Intervals range from 10 seconds to 2 minutes.
• HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) requires maximal effort for short periods with equally short rest periods.
• Performed at 80-95% of MHR, with rest periods at 40-50% of MHR.
• Example: 15x 40m sprints under 8 seconds with 20 seconds rest.

Flexibility Training and Methods

Flexibility Training

• Enhances muscle length.
• Prevents injury
• Improves coordination
• Allows for muscle relaxation
• Decreases tightness and soreness
• Increases range of movement around joints
• Maximises performance potential

Factors Affecting Flexibility:

• Age: Muscle shortens and tightens with age.
• Sex: Females are generally more flexible.
• Exercise: People frequently involved in exercise are more flexible than sedentary people.
• Specificity: It is joint specific.

Static Stretching

• Muscle is slowly stretched and held for 30 seconds.
• Movement is smooth and slow
• Muscles are stretched without discomfort.
• Used during injury rehabilitation, warm-up, and cool-down.
• Example: Sitting with legs extended, gently reaching forward and holding for 30 seconds.

Ballistic Stretching

• Involves repeated movements to gain extra stretch.
• Activates the stretch reflex in the muscle.
• Can be harmful as the muscle can be stretched beyond its preferred length.
• Movements must be rhythmic to avoid injury.
• Example: Swinging legs, touching toes using a bouncy movement.

PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation)

• Lengthens a muscle against a resistance, usually with a partner's help.
• Combines static stretching, isometric contraction for strength development, and periods of relaxation.
• Useful for rehabilitation as it strengthens the muscle fibers.
• Examples: Groin (butterfly), quadriceps pull.

Dynamic Stretching

• Imitates movements experienced in the activity.
• Uses movement speed and momentum to warm up muscle fibers, easing extension during the activity.
• Reduces muscle tightness rather than lengthening muscle fibers.
• Examples: Arm circling and leg swings.

Strength Training and Methods

Strength Training

• Muscular contraction is resisted by calculated loads, building muscle strength.
• Purposes include:
  • Building strength
  • Developing power
  • Developing muscular endurance
  • Injury rehabilitation
  • Bodybuilding
  • General Health benefits

Types of Programs:

• Isotonic: Raising/lowering and pushing/pulling free weights to contract/lengthen muscle fibers.
• Isometric: Applying resistance where muscle length does not change.

Common Terms:

• Repetitions: Number of times an exercise is repeated without rest.
• Repetitions Maximum (RM): Maximum weight you can lift a number of times.
• Sets: A number of repetitions done is succession.
• Resistance: The weight or load.
• Rest: Period of time between each exercise.

Free/Fixed Weights

• Fixed weights on a weights machine allow for constant weight throughout the full range of motion.
• Good for isolating specific muscle groups.
• Encourages better joint strength and closer transfer of training to an activity.
• Dumbbells and barbells can appear as either fixed or free weights.

Elastic Resistance

• Elastic bands provide resistance as a cheap alternative to weights.
• Muscle tension is felt at both the up and down and along the full range of motion, providing complete resistance training.

Hydraulic Resistance

• Provides constant resistance throughout the full range of movement using hydraulic resistance exercise machines.
• Gravity does not assist the return, requiring effort through the full range of movement.
• Greatest resistance is felt when performing movements at higher speeds.

Principles of Training

• Involves Progressive Overload, Specificity, Reversibility, Variety, Training Thresholds, Warm-up and Cool-down.

Cool-down

• Is effectively a warm up in reverse.
• Brings the heart rate back to normal slowly, reducing strain on the heart and prevents blood pooling.
• Prevents muscle stiffness from built-up waste if not performed.

Reversibility

• Gains decline at approximately one-third of the rate of acquisition if training is stopped.
• Athletes should maintain strength, conditioning, and flexibility throughout the competitive season, but at a lesser intensity and volume.

Overload

• Fitness gains occur when the training load is greater than normal and progressively increases.
• Achieved by varying the frequency, duration, and intensity of training.
• In resistance training, overload can be progressed by increasing resistance, number of repetitions, number of sets, intensity, and decreasing recovery periods.
• In aerobic training, overload can be progressed by increasing time spent exercising, training frequency, and intensity to cover a set distance in less time.

Warm-up

• Designed to raise body temperature and prepare muscles.
• Divided into sections:
  • General body warm-up (jogging to raise body temperature)
  • Specific flexibility exercises (increase range of motion of joints to prevent muscle tears)
  • Callisthenics (push-ups, start-ups, sit-ups → increase blood flow)
  • Skill rehearsal (dribbling, passing, sidesteps)
• Increases mobility and reduces injury risk.

Specificity

• Exercise aimed at specific components of fitness, muscle groups, and energy systems used in the activity being trained for.
• Replicates movements in the activity as closely as possible.

Training Thresholds

• Minimum exercise required to produce athletic performance improvements.
• Aerobic training occurs around 70% MHR and 55% VO2 max.
• Anaerobic training threshold (80% MHR and 70% VO2 max) improves the anaerobic system and tolerates lactic acid increase, indicating the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA).

Variety

• Maintains motivation and reduces boredom in training.
• Coaches need to find different ways to meet objectives.

Anaerobic & Progressive Overload Training

• Progressive Overload increases intensity, load, reps, and sets using anaerobic principles, which requires decreased recovery time, increased distance, duration, intensity, and frequency.
• Specificity targets certain muscle groups, muscular endurance (40-60% RM, high reps, low sets), strength (80-100% RM, low reps, high sets), and power (50-75% RM, high reps, low sets).
• Reversibility includes maintaining a training program to avoid losses in aerobic fitness and strength.
• Variety includes using various aerobic training methods (fartlek, circuit, continuous, interval) and strength training methods (elastic, free weight, hydraulic), including isotonic and isometric exercises.
• Cardiovascular system improves if the athlete works closer to the anaerobic threshold, increasing capacity and tolerance to lactic acid.

Training Threshold

• Train for absolute strength, the threshold is high resistance.
• Train for strength endurance, requires high repetitions to challenge the set threshold.
• Warm up and cool down with General aerobic activity, Stretching, Callisthenics and Skill rehearsal.