5 sports tests for fitness level - how to test your sports fitness

Sports training or training

Quite often the concepts of “sports training” and “sports training” are combined, making them synonymous. But in reality, everything is somewhat different. That is, the first concept is an integral part of the second.

Let's look at an example: if an athlete performs certain physical exercises, then this is training as a sports training center. And if an athlete hones his technical skills using video material, then training as such will not be carried out. But the athlete’s preparation will still continue.

Thus, it is worth noting that training is part of the training of athletes, but is not its main method.

Objectives of sports training

To achieve the main goal of sports training, an athlete must complete a number of tasks:

high level of theoretical and practical competencies within a particular sport;
a high level of physiological preparation and stability of the main body systems that bear the main load in this sport;
achieving a high level of tactical and technical competence in the chosen sport;
development of psychological preparedness, at the level necessary for sports activities, in the chosen sport;
implementation of integral training, which includes complex interaction of the main types of athlete’s preparedness in competitive activity.

Endurance test (squats)

Place your feet wider than your shoulders and, straightening your back, take a breath and sit down. We rise up as we exhale. Without stopping or resting, we do as many squats as we can. Next, write down the result and check it with the table:

Less than 17 times is the lowest level.
28-35 times – average level.
More than 41 times – high level.

Facilities

Sports training is a process that is implemented by certain means. These means characterize this process as purposeful physical activity. These include different types of physical exercise. They are classified in relation to the necessary sports improvement, namely: aimed at preparing for competitions, at the general training of athletes and special preparatory ones.

Competitive exercises include conditions similar to those of sports competitions, and have fairly high demands on the athlete’s level of preparedness. This makes this type of exercise not as effective as special-preparatory exercises, since the second type takes into account the characteristics of a particular sport and is not aimed at achieving high results during training.

These exercises are distinguished by their variability and the ability to develop different aspects of physical fitness by using them in different ways. For example, for a track and field athlete, special preparatory exercises will simulate running as the main technical unit of the sport, but at the same time will be varied to more successfully achieve the goals of sports training. These will include: running with obstacles, with accelerations along distance segments, etc.

General preparatory exercises that help improve overall physical fitness also occupy their niche in sports training. While special exercises are aimed at developing those sports skills that are inherent in a given sport, general exercises contribute to the growth of desired results against the backdrop of strengthening general sports training.

Load dosing

Loads are the most important factor by which the degree of influence of the muscular muscles on general physical fitness is determined. It represents a measure that affects the human body. Moreover, it is characterized by the fact that in the process of its implementation a person overcomes difficulties of both an objective and subjective nature.

For example, two students with different levels of physical fitness may receive different loads when performing physical exercises to strengthen muscle tissue. In the process of performing physical activity, a person develops signs of fatigue, which characterize the level of compliance of the loads performed with preparedness.

With a mild degree of fatigue, the following signs are observed: the skin becomes slightly red, a small amount of sweat appears on the face, breathing is slightly rapid without severe shortness of breath.

A severe degree of stress is characterized by significant redness of the entire body, severe sweating, breathing through the mouth and a general deterioration in the person’s well-being, accompanied by rapid heartbeat, severe shortness of breath and impaired attention.

Heavy loads for an unprepared person can have very negative consequences. With this type of activity, both the face and lips may take on a blue tint. Salt secretions from the body along with sweat are visible on the clothes. In addition, there may be a lack of coordination of movements, trembling of the arms and legs. The condition can be aggravated by nausea, noise in the head and ears, pain and general malaise.

The health and level of fitness varies from person to person. In accordance with this, it is necessary to select the optimal level of load, which will not be able to harm the body. Thus, for a professional athlete, moderate loads are ineffective and will not bring a certain result, while for a beginner, heavy types of activity can lead to dangerous injuries (damage to the knees, ligaments).

In the process of improving the level of general physical fitness, it is necessary to change the level of loads. If it remains constant, it will not bring the desired results and will become habitual for a person. Thus, during exercise, it is necessary to constantly make adjustments and change the dosage of loads upward.

There are different types of physical work. Based on its nature, both training and competitive loads are distinguished. The first of them are characterized by various indicators, among which physical as well as physiological can be distinguished.

Physical indicators include signs of physical work, such as the range of motion performed during exercises, the number of repetitions performed, the pace maintained, the level of difficulty of the exercises and other parameters. In turn, physiological ones include certain signs that indicate the state of the reserves of the human body. This may include, for example, an increase in heart rate or pulse.

Competitive loads are aimed at increasing individual characteristics, such as strength, agility or endurance. Determination of dosage size should be based on the following factors:

the number of repetitions performed during classes;
increase in range of motion;
starting position of the exercise;
speed or pace;
timing and nature of rest between repetitions.

There is a direct relationship between physical activity and the number of repetitions performed. The higher their number, the greater the degree of load, and vice versa. The same goes for range of motion. The starting position can be either vertical or horizontal. Its change also significantly affects the nature of the load received during exercise.

Long rest after intense activity contributes to a more complete recovery of the body. In essence, rest between repetitions can be either active or passive. Active rest involves performing light unloading exercises, while passive rest involves a complete cessation of physical activity.

Thus, these factors can have a significant impact on the total volume of physical activity, increasing or decreasing its energy level.

Sports training methods

Also, sports training is a combination and methodological distribution of methods. They, in turn, are grouped into three types:

The acquisition of knowledge.
Development of motor skills.
Development of general motor abilities.

The first group includes:

Oral: explanations, stories, conversations, descriptions.
Using printed resources: working with textbooks, manuals, cards.
Using visibility: direct visibility (when the demonstration occurs with the active participation of one of the subordinates), indirect visibility (video recordings, drawings, diagrams, etc.) and active methods (with explanations using the example of the participant himself).

The second group consists of two methods of working on physical exercises: divided and integral exercise.

The third group includes:

repetition method;
interval method;
circular repetition method;
a game;
method of variability;
uniformity method;
competition method.

Physical training system[edit | edit code]

Prominent domestic specialist N. G. Ozolin defined training as the process of adapting the body to increasing functional loads, to increasing demands in the manifestation of speed, strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination of movements, to increasing volitional efforts and mental stress and other requirements of sports activity .

Research carried out by various specialists in recent years has made it possible to obtain abundant methodological material, which provided the basis for an important conclusion: selective improvement of any one aspect of physical fitness practically does not exist. And since the volume of workloads of highly qualified athletes consists of 70% or more specialized exercises, the training sessions simultaneously influence the development and improvement of all aspects of their preparedness. It is no coincidence, therefore, that advanced trainers plan training activities according to two indicators: 1) non-specific work; 2) specific. And already within the framework of these two indicators, means are regulated for a comprehensive or selective influence on the development of certain motor qualities.

It follows that if we talk about training means, then according to their focus they can be classified as follows:

1) speed-strength exercises, characterized by maximum intensity and power of effort;

2) exercises that require predominantly endurance in cyclic movements;

3) exercises that require the manifestation of subtle and complex coordination abilities in the conditions of a regulated movement program;

4) exercises that require complex manifestation of physical qualities in conditions of variable modes of motor activity, continuous changes in situations and forms of action.

An important role in the development of motor abilities is played by the restructuring of hormonal regulation of muscle activity. Its main functions are the mobilization and selective redistribution of the body's resources to predominantly loaded organs and tissues, the regulation of plastic processes and the formation of the structural basis for the body's long-term adaptation to intense muscular activity. These systems determine the capacity of the body's adaptive reserve and, consequently, the optimal duration of developmental training influences and the magnitude of the corresponding functional changes.

V.N. Platonov, analyzing the immediate and long-term adaptation of athletes to loads, shows that the concept of adaptation is closely related to the idea of functional reserves: athletes differ from those who do not engage in sports in their ability to mobilize functional resources.

Urgent adaptation reactions are determined by the magnitude of the stimulus, the degree of training of the athlete, and the ability of his functional systems to effectively recover. Unlike the stages of immediate adaptation, there are four of them in long-term adaptation:

1) systematic mobilization of functional resources during the implementation of training programs in order to stimulate adaptation mechanisms;

2) intensively occurring structural and functional restructuring of the body, hypertrophy of organs and coherence of the functioning of various systems;

3) sustainable adaptation while creating the necessary reserve to ensure a new level of system functioning;

4) wear and tear of individual components of the system in the form of overtraining.

It is generally accepted that the dynamics of an athlete’s specific performance can be described basically by the same curve as the dynamics of fitness. In the process of developing fitness, the relationships between its elements change, thus changing the factor structure of the athlete’s performance. Fitness and readiness are constantly changing, with a general upward trend. Coaches and athletes structure the training process in such a way as to create optimal conditions for readiness for sports achievements and at a certain time to acquire sports form. Sports training in this sense is the process of managing the development of sports form.

Many methods of special training that are used in modern sports are integral in nature, since they are associated with various subsystems of training: technical-tactical, physical, psychological.

Thus, high achievements in modern sports are achieved through great physical and mental stress, against the background of constant training work with large volumes and high intensity of general and special exercises. This is a struggle in which you have to overcome not only the resistance of a strong opponent, but also your own shortcomings, limited physical and mental capabilities.

Of course, the desire to engage in physical activity and test one’s physical and mental potential is included in the motive for the activity of a high-class athlete.

But the leading motive for the latter is to achieve success, which is socially determined and perceived as the fulfillment of a social task.

It is customary to distinguish the following basic physical qualities.

Strength is defined as a person's ability to overcome or resist external resistance through muscular effort. It is customary to differentiate between (1) self-strength abilities (static strength), which manifest themselves during activities in a static mode and slow (“pressing”) movements, and (2) speed-strength abilities.

Depending on the type of work performed, muscles can exert force without changing their length - this mode of muscle work is called static or isometric, and with a change in length - dynamic mode.

Speed is usually defined as a person’s ability to perform motor actions in a minimum period of time for given conditions. This is a type of human physical ability, genetically and socially determined differences in the manifestation of the psychophysiological and morphological properties of his body, which determine the ability to move the body or its individual parts per unit of time. Taking this into account, in recent years, instead of the term “speed,” the term “speed abilities” is more often used, distinguishing two types: speed as the ability for emergency motor reactions and speed as the ability that determines the speed characteristics of movements. In other works, three relatively independent forms of manifestation of speed are distinguished: speed of motor reaction, speed of a single movement, frequency of movements. Direct immediate transfer of speed from one element of activity to another is observed only in coordinationally similar movements.

In real sports practice, complex forms of manifestations of speed mainly take place. In all these variants, a complex interaction of a person’s own strength and speed capabilities is manifested, therefore, in the opinion of most specialists who practically work in sports pedagogy, there is reason to talk about speed-strength qualities. The most striking manifestation of this quality is the so-called “explosive strength” as a person’s ability to exert large amounts of force in the shortest amount of time. This quality is necessary both in weightlifting (for example, weightlifters) and in light athletics (for example, sprinters).

Endurance is the ability to perform any activity for a long time without reducing its effectiveness. Performing physical activity over a relatively long period of time, without reducing its effectiveness, depends on the anaerobic and aerobic performance of the athlete, which makes up his overall energy capabilities.

The concept of “physical performance” is closely related to the concept of endurance. In general, the amount of physical performance is directly proportional to the amount of external mechanical work that a person is able to perform with high intensity. Physical performance is in a certain way related to endurance, but is not identical to it, since “physical performance” is a broader physiological concept.

There are general and special endurance. General endurance means the athlete’s ability to effectively and continuously perform aerobic work, in which a significant part of the muscular system is involved. However, according to the fair remark of V.N. Platonov, such a definition is acceptable only for sports of a cyclic nature. The structure of the general endurance of representatives of other sports includes, first of all, the ability to perform long-term and effective work of a speed-strength, anaerobic, and complex coordination nature. If such athletes are given too much prolonged work of moderate intensity, this leads to a decrease in speed-strength and coordination capabilities. According to V.N. Platonov, general endurance is the ability to perform long-term and effective work of a non-specific nature, which has a positive impact on the process of development of specific components of sportsmanship due to increased adaptation to loads and the presence of phenomena of “transfer” of training from non-specific types of activities to specific ones. Special endurance is the ability to effectively perform work and overcome fatigue under conditions determined by the requirements of competitive activity in a particular sport.

Coordination abilities are determined by a person’s ability to most perfectly, quickly, accurately, expediently and economically solve motor problems, especially complex ones and those that arise unexpectedly. The most adequate reflection of coordination capabilities is the degree of correspondence of motor actions to the environment.

Coordination capabilities in practice are more often defined as the motor quality of dexterity; its measures are:

1) coordination complexity of the task;

2) accuracy of its implementation;

3) execution time, in particular, either the time required to master the required level of accuracy, or the minimum time from the moment the situation changes to the start of the response movement, when the detailed characteristics of the movement are not known in advance.

When improving the coordination capabilities of an athlete, the main attention is paid to the development of subtle kinesthetic sensations, accurate visual perceptions, and the ability to anticipate (anticipate) the spatial and temporal characteristics of one’s own actions and the actions expected from opponents.

Flexibility is the ability to perform movements with a greater amplitude. A comparative measure of flexibility is the maximum range of motion.

The development of speed-strength qualities creates favorable preconditions for the formation of a rational structure of motor skills and helps to increase the general and special physical fitness of the athlete. The main indicator of sports technique is the rhythm-velocity structure, reflecting the relationships between the temporal, spatial and power components of motor activity of various parts of the athlete’s biomechanical apparatus involved in movement. Movements performed at a high level of speed differ in their psychophysiological characteristics from relatively slow movements in that at maximum values of the speed of movement of individual parts of the body, sensory corrections to the output of the action are difficult: the reflex ring does not have time to work.

Physical qualities are closely related to each other both in their structure and in their manifestations in human motor activity. It appears that some physical traits (such as endurance and flexibility) are not as closely related, while others (such as speed and strength) are closely related. Based on the last fact, the concept of speed-strength qualities is highlighted, which is understood as a person’s ability to develop maximum effort in the shortest period of time while maintaining the optimal amplitude of movement.

In sports games, as well as in martial arts, which, by the nature of the technique of the actions performed, can be classified as sports with a complex coordination structure of activity, the greatest importance is the speed of performing integral motor acts, and not their elementary components. However, speed in a holistic complex coordination movement depends not only on the implementation of “own” structural components, but also on the level of development of other motor abilities. Only with the parallel development of other physical qualities, through the formation and improvement of motor skills, can significant changes be achieved in indicators of speed and speed of motor actions. A special effect is achieved by the holistic method, which provides for the complex impact of exercises on the body of those involved, emphasizing the development of several components of speed in one training session.

Types of sports training

Training an athlete is a complex pedagogical process that includes many factors that collectively contribute to achieving the goal. Therefore, there are 6 types of sports training:

Theoretical preparation. The base or center for sports training consists of all the necessary theoretical knowledge and skills that are necessary for successful physical development within a particular sport.

Physical training. The process of developing the physical qualities and functional capabilities of the body, in order to realize the possibility of achieving high sports results.

Technical training. This type of training involves mastering certain technical skills of motor activity that are inherent in individual sports.
Tactical training. This is the process of mastering rational tactics for conducting effective competitive activities. At the same time, special technical techniques are an integral part of this training.
Psychological preparation. Sports activity is directly related to psychological pressure. Therefore, the training of an athlete should include the development of stress resistance, his moral and volitional qualities.
Integral training. Recently, another complex type of training for athletes began to be identified. This process is aimed at developing abilities for variable but holistic implementation of all of the above types of preparation for competitive activity.

It should also be noted that sports training is a purposeful pedagogical process that must be competently and methodically correctly organized in terms of alternating and combining all types.

Ruffier index

We determine the reaction of the cardiovascular system. We measure our pulse for 15 seconds (1P). Next, we squat 30 times for 45 seconds (medium pace). Having finished the exercises, we immediately begin measuring the pulse - first in 15 seconds (2P) and, after 45 seconds, again in 15 seconds (3P).

The Ruffier index itself is determined by the following formula:

IR = (4*(1P+2P+3P)-200)-200/10.

We calculate the result:

Index less than 0 – excellent.
0-3 – above average.
3-6 – satisfactory.
6-10 – below average.
Above 10 – unsatisfactory.

In short, a result is considered excellent when the sum of heart beats is less than 50 for all three 15-second intervals.

Athlete Training Standards

All of the above parts, components and terms related to the specifics of individual sports are regulated at the state level. More precisely, these are federal standards of sports training, which are a set of minimum requirements for the level of sports readiness in both Olympic and non-Olympic sports. These requirements must be met by all organizations that provide sports training for athletes in accordance with the relevant laws of the Russian Federation.

Sports activity is the education of spirit and character, which must be properly organized and controlled.