When we train our body, it’s essential to know which fitness components are important so that we’ll know which of these parts we should focus on. This enables us to make a fitness training program that’s dedicated for that particular fitness component.
Overall Fitness Demands of a Sport
– One way to create a fitness training program is to rate the fitness components by the sport you’re going to use it. This enables you to create ratings such as low, moderate, high, or combinations of low-moderate or moderate-high.
– High and moderate-high ratings are the ones you should prioritize and it’s important to choose the right training activities that will benefit these components the most. Here are a few things to keep in mind while determining the physical demands of sports.
• Don’t pressure yourself with classifications
• Create the right balance of targeted training activities especially during off-season training phases and maintain them during competitive seasons.
Aerobic/Anaerobic
– Before doing such, consider asking yourself questions like: Does this sport require continuous, sustained activity, short bursts of intense activity, or a combination of both? Examples of high and low to moderate aerobic is by doing distance running. While Javelin on the other hand is low to high aerobic. Soccer is high for both while Archery is low for both.
– This gives you a chance to see that every sport has different intensities, how long each of them lasts, and finally, how much time you need to recover between each activity.
Strength
– After aerobics, let’s talk about strength. Strength benefits Olympic lifters the most, while marathon runners don’t. On the other hand, Basketball players has a fair share of moderate to high strength levels. See what type of strength are you targeting on depending on the sport you’ve chosen and which muscle groups does it emphasizes. Decide how will you combine these components when determining the physical demands of sports.
Speed
– After strength, speed comes into play. Activities such as sprints and tennis requires intensive use of speed, while activities such as bowling requires only low to moderate speed. Combining balance of speed, strength, and endurance can enhance speed development in the long run.
Power
– Power is just speed and strength combined together. Sports such as softball pitching requires high power development. Whereas a goalie in ice hockey only needs low to moderate power. Plan your fitness program by determining how frequently will you require using power and how long these power-related activities will last.
Agility
– Agility is the ability to move quickly while changing directions in an activity. Gymnastics requires high agility while golf only requires low agility.
Endurance
– Endurance is the repeating of submaximal muscle contractions for long periods of time during an activity. Rowing events and cross country skiing requires high amounts of endurance, while ski jumping on the other hand, only requires low endurance.
Flexibility
– Flexibility is the ability to move through long ranges of motions that uses your joints and muscles at the same time. Flexibility is of high importance for diving activities, but of low to moderate importance during long distance speed skating. Improve your range of motion by focusing on a specific joint that requires the greatest flexibility by doing a particular sport.
Fitness and sport skill testing plays a vital role in creating a fitness program for different types of athletes and individuals. Now that you know which fitness component benefits on each type of activity, you can now create your own fitness program depending on what type of component you want to improve. Have fun and enjoy a much healthier and fitter you.
