Unit 27 – Task 4 – Cameron McIvo r

Introduction

In this task I will be reviewing my Unit 27 task 3 training plan the purpose of this is to cover all necessary areas, this task will give me a chance to talk about the strengths and weakness of the training program, I will also talk about the benefits Ryan managed to gain from the eight weeks of training. I will be breaking down and analyzing the training program to see how successful it was for Ryan. To see how successful the program was I divided the reviewing phase into three main sections. First of all I will explain week one to four, and how the chosen exercises benefited Ryan, I will also be talking about any mistakes, limitations and problems that occurred during week one to four, I will then explain how the training program was adapted to fix these issues. Next I will be focusing on analyzing the success rate of week five to eight which I will be using the same method as week one to four to review. Finally I will be bringing all task three and four work to an end by writing out a detailed conclusion where all my final judgments and overview of the training program will be completed, after I have spoken about how successful the program was I will write a short section outlining future recommendations, (things I would change about the program to better suit/benefit any future training programs).

Week one to four review

After the first four weeks of the program were completed it was clear for me and Ryan’s coach to see that adjustments were needed to be made to the speed section of the training program, flexibility was kept the same as the correct amount of progress was being seen from Ryan in this area. As each training session progressed Ryan’s coach and I would fill out week review sheets explaining how each weeks training went, by looking at the reviews over the four weeks I can see that there was a clear cause of concern for Ryan’s rate of speed progress, once the four week point was reached I decided to alter the speed section of the training program. This was in the hope that if slight changes were made to most of the speed related variables, a dramatic change of exercises wouldn’t be needed. The reason I didn’t want to change the exercises themselves was because of the way they were set up, observational or timing based methods would allow I and Ryan’s coach to make judgments on how well Ryan performed each exercise, keeping the same exercises allowed me to use Ryan’s old results of performing the exercise as a reference point to see how much improvement, if any, was made session to session. A problem that affected Ryan’s training during the first four weeks of training was the weather, a contingency plan was needed because of this, all outdoor training that was planned had to be postponed until the weather had cleared up, however the contingency plan was to relocate to somewhere not affected by the elements, (Black belt leaders center), fortunately because Ryan is a regular member that attends classes there his coach was more than happy to let us use his center for the training program. Ryan’s coach and I used the knowledge gathered from training Ryan over the four weeks to make the judgment that the speed section of the program needed to be changed so that Ryan would have a faster rate of progression

during the second half of the training program, the tests that I made Ryan participate in at this mid-point in the program also gave good indication that Ryan’s speed wasn’t keeping to the expected rate of progression however his flexibility was keeping up to all expectations for the mid-point in the program; this in turn led to the added difficulty of related variables in speed training weeks five to eight. At this point Ryan his coach and I all met up to discuss progress, we were all happy with changing the variables for speed and felt that it would have a substantial improvement on Ryan’s rate of speed progression, we also all agreed that flexibility training should stay exactly the same as a good amount improvement was already being seen at this point in training and testing results.

The profiling wheel scores were filled out a total of three times throughout the training program however one time only looks into improvements made within the two focus traits and no others; the two other wheels at the start and end of the program show all trait scores. The profiling wheel is used to make group judgments on selected traits, all data of these opinions will be calculated and an accurate chart will be created showing the triangulated final set of results, excel uses all the different data put in from people to come up with the middle result. The wheel is used to see how well Ryan is currently performing in each of his traits.

Ryan results from the first profiling wheel filed out before the start of the training and selection of the two main focus traits is shown clearly below. This was the start of the training program and at this point Ryan’s coach and I decided to make judgments on all of the following traits shown below in the performance profiling wheel. These judgments would be made by using a scoring system of 0-10; the higher the number the higher performance level Ryan’s trait is currently being performed at. As you can see from the data bellow Ryan is an overall performance level martial arts fighter however from analyzing the data I can see that there are many traits that are not at the same ability level, being performed at a level lower than the other performance level traits. The main traits that stuck out to Ryan’s coach and I were speed, flexibility, muscular endurance, strength, power and dodging. All these traits are becoming a real detriment to Ryan as he wishes to progress to a higher performance level within his sport however these areas are severely hindering his progress as a fighter. A selection of weak traits where then decided upon and selected for the testing phase, this is where tests would determine the weakest two traits that would then be selected for training in the program. The traits selected for the testing phase were flexibility, speed, dodging and power.

The second profiling wheel that was filled out by Ryan’s coach and I at the mid-point of the training program, (after week four) and it shows us that both traits have shown improvement, however flexibility has shown more improvement than speed. This time the performance wheel has only been used to re-assess the two traits flexibility and speed that are being trained and are currently at the mid-point of the eight week program. The main reason for doing this is to see if any improvement is being made; if none or little is seen then change can be implemented into the program so that more progression of traits will be seen in the second half of the training program. Speed and flexibility were shown as the weakest areas that needed to be trained in the program; this was decided from the results seen in the testing phase. So when comparing the results from the last performance wheel’s data against this one’s data I can see that my score and Ryan’s coach’s score for Ryan’s flexibility performance level was improved by a score of 1 point by both of us. Ryan’s other trait speed was only given an improvement of 1 point by his coach but not me. From these results, observations during sessions and testing data it’s clear to see that Ryan’s flexibility has improved an adequate amount throughout the four weeks of training and is on track to meet expectations of improvement made by the end of the program, however Ryan’s speed is not managing to keep up with the same rate of progression and is showing only a small amount of improvement, if things continue the way they are speed would not meet Ryan’s target. Change was made to the speed section of the program in hopes of seeing more improvement in Ryan’s speed throughout the final four weeks.

Two sources of normative data were used within this research project and were kept the same throughout the whole duration of the project, this was the case because I wanted to view the same normative data for speed and flexibility at three different points during the program, the normative data was used to make judgments against how well Ryan was performing each exercises drill against the normative data results, this happened at the start of the program, mid-point and end, each time Ryan’s testing results for both traits would be compared against the norms.

One source for speed and one for flexibility was use in this project, no normative data was used for dodging or power during the first set of tests before the training program started, this was because they were both bespoke tests and don’t have any normative data. Ryan’s results compared against the normative data for the flexibility sit and reach test showed that Ryan’s best test result was 7 cm; this only just makes it into the average section when comparing Ryan’s results against the normative data, this shows us that Ryan is not confident in his flexibility level and needs to make considerable improvement before advancing as a fighter. When looking at Ryan’s best score achieved in the speed cone test against the normative data I can see that Ryan has performed even worse, managing only 7.5 seconds as his best result, against the norms this is a poor result; this area will also needed real improvement.

However Ryan’s second testing results compared against the normative data showed some improvement during the second set of tests; these were run at the half way point of the program, (after week four training but before the start of week five). These tests show that Ryan’s flexibility on the sit and reach test has improved from 7cm, (shown in the last testing phase) to 9 cm, this shows an improvement of 2 cm made within the four weeks of training, against the normative data this is still an average score however it’s quite a bit more secure than the last score of 7cm was. This is an adequate amount of progress made which is what we were all expecting from Ryan at this point during the program. Ryan’s speed has improved by 0.5 seconds since the mid-point tests; his newest best score is 7 seconds which shows a good performance level against the normative data. However even though the normative data shows this score is good Ryan has only managed to achieve a 0.5 improvement in the cone shuttle test after four weeks of hard speed training exercises, this showed me that changed needed to be implemented into the speed section of the training program so that more improvement in testing results would be seen by the end of the program, the only positive seen from this data is that Ryan has improved from a poor – good score when comparing against the normative data four weeks of training.

API, (athlete perceived importance) and ASA, (athlete self-assessment) are placed into the second section of the profiling wheel pages, this section is where Ryan decides upon his own judgment and scores the importance of each trait before scoring himself as a self-assessment for how well he feel he is at each of the traits. Excel will then come out with a final number based off of the importance Ryan marked down for each trait against how good Ryan is at preforming said trait. This allows Ryan and coaching staff know how well each individual trait is progressing and

its importance to Ryan; like the profiling wheel this happened three times throughout the project, at the start mid-point and end.

Ryan’s results for API and ASA filled out before the start of the program are shown below; this is a data chart full of Ryan’s own judgments which he made on all his individual traits and their ability levels, Ryan also explained how important he feels each trait is. The chart then calculates and lists all trait discrepancy scores, which the main six weakest discrepancies where then selected as possible test areas. Flexibility, power, use of skills, aerobic fitness and muscular endurance all scored 24 in the discrepancy column however speed as the sixth and final trait scored at 21. From this data I can see that there are many areas for concern however because all the data is so similar and doesn’t give a great indication into which could possibly be the weakest two traits. However the data still tells me the six areas to consider and select from for testing. The next API and ASA will be after four weeks into the training, at the mid-point of the program.

Ryan’s second API and ASA results filled out after week four of training shows that speed and flexibility where selected as the two weakest traits for training. Ryan’s Flexibility’s score on the previous chart was, API 8, ASA 7 which gave a discrepancy score of 24. However now at the mid-point in the program we can see that Ryan has made very good progress meaning that this half of the training routine is having a positive impact on Ryan’s flexibility. Ryan’s own athlete self-assessment has improved in the new chart by 1 point; this has in turn had an effect on the final discrepancy score. This is a new score of 16 which is a very impressive drop from the last score of 24! This data tells me that the flexibility exercises are working well for Ryan and shouldn’t be changed as it may have a negative effect on progress made in the second half of the training program. From viewing the first chart we can also see that the old speed scores for Ryan where, API 7, ASA 7 which gave a final discrepancy result of 21. When looking at the new speed data scores that Ryan filled out at the

four week mark we see that he improved his own athlete self-assessment score by 0.5 points; giving a new discrepancy score of 17.5. although it is good to see progression is occurring and that Ryan feels he is improving with both traits, however flexibility has made twice the progress on this chart within the four weeks, this tells me that changes will defiantly need to be implemented into the training programs speed section exercises or variables so that a faster rate of progression is seen for Ryan’s speed development during the final four weeks of training.

The testing phase of the training program was vital to its success as the testing lead us to find the two weakest traits at the start of the program, tests were also very useful at the mid-point and end of the program, this was so Ryan could be tested two more times four weeks apart, the tests would allow Ryan to see how much progress, if any, he has made during each four weeks of training. The tests would be used to gather Ryan’s data which would then be compared against the normative data piece selected for each trait, the norms would let us know how well Ryan is doing on a wider sporting community level when looking at his scores against the norms, while the tests would be used to show Ryan’s steady rate of progression by comparing his test results with old test scores.

The first set of tests taken before the training began, the four weakest traits were selected to be tested, and the weakest two were then trained in the program. The flexibility sit and reach test showed that Ryan’s best test result was 7 cm; this shows Ryan’s flexibility results are at a lower average level. When looking at Ryan’s best score achieved in the speed cone test I can see that Ryan has performed even worse, managing only 7.5 seconds as his best result, this is a poor result; this area will also needed real improvement. The dodging test was the third test Ryan needed to completed, Ryan's best test result was test number three; this was a score of four dodged punches out of five which was very impressive to see from Ryan. Because this bespoke test I created my own scoring system and ratting system, Ryan achieved a good ratting for this test. The final test Ryan needed to complete to find the weakest two out of all four tests was the power punching bag test. The power test result number one and two shows the best results Ryan managed to achieve, this was 40 degrees, (another bespoke test which required its own new scoring and ratting system) which equates to a total of 4 points, out of possible 9. I gave Ryan an

average rating for this best test result. From these tests it’s clear for me to see that speed and flexibility were the weakest test results, I firmly believe the normative data for both of these two traits also shows me that they will need to be trained as they are holding Ryan back from progressing as a faster more flexible fighter, they are very important traits for a martial arts fighters to develop to a high performance standard. In the next set of tests which will be run at the four week half way point in the program will only test speed and flexibility to see how much progression/improvement they have made after four weeks of hard training.

The second set of tests taken at the mid-point in the program only had the two focus traits involved in the testing, (speed and flexibility) These tests show that Ryan’s flexibility on the sit and reach test has improved from 7cm, (shown in the last testing phase) to 9 cm, this shows an improvement of 2 cm made within the four weeks of training, against the normative data this is still an average score however it’s quite a bit more secure than the last score of 7cm was. This is an adequate amount of progress made which is what we were all expecting from Ryan at this point during the program. Ryan’s speed has improved by 0.5 seconds since the mid-point tests; his newest best score is 7 seconds which shows a good performance level against the normative data. However even though the normative data shows this score is good Ryan has only managed to achieve a 0.5 improvement in the cone shuttle test after four weeks of hard speed training exercises; this showed me that changed needed to be implemented into the speed section of the training program so that more progress will be seen in Ryan speed throughout the last four weeks of training. These two traits will be reviewed one final time at the end of the training program to see if the program was worthwhile, the amount of improvement over the eight weeks will be analyzed to see if the changed made to the program were good ones that benefited Ryan.

Targets are created to serve some purpose/benefit to the near or distant future of the training program or athlete, they are often set by the participant as personal goals to achieve however coach’s and other assistance can also speak to the participant being trained if they feel they need to intervene with a realistic good target that the participant, research plan or wider researching community can benefit from. At the start of the program Ryan and I decided that he wanted to see adequate improvement on the two focus traits by the mid-point of the program and substantial progress to be made by the end of the training program. This was a very good target for Ryan to set himself as I feel it has acted as a tool to keep Ryan motivated and on track to achieve his targets. This target has been met for the midpoint of adequate improvement for his flexibility trait, this trait is on track to meet all expectations and target of substantial improvement by the end of the program however the other trait speed hasn’t made an adequate amount of progress at this half way point of the program and is not on track to meet substantial progress made by the end of the program, to try and fix this problem I have changed many of the speed exercises variables so that they are more challenging, I expect this to improve Ryan’s rate of progression with his speed in the final four weeks of training.

Week five to eight review

After the final four weeks of the program were completed it was clear for me Ryan and his coach to see that the adjustments made to the speed section of the training program had worked incredibly well, changing the difficulty ratting for many of the speed variables from each speed training exercise was a very effective way to quickly increase Ryan’s rate of progression in the trait. When looking at the way Ryan managed to perform during these final four weeks I was very impressed, each session Ryan would turn up with a very positive attitude ready to work to the best of his ability, also no contingency plan was needed throughout training weeks five to eight. The changes made on the speed variables section of the program worked very well for Ryan in the last four weeks of training, each week as the variables got harder and harder, Ryan would step up to the challenge steadily and consistently improving his speed as each week of training passed. Ryan’s coach and I were also impressed by the way Ryan managed to perform in the final testing phase of the training program, before the program began Ryan and I both agreed that we wanted to see an adequate improvement in both traits by the mid-point of the program, this was the case with flexibility but not speed and that’s why the speed section of the program was slightly altered. However once Ryan completed his tests at the end of the final week it was clear to see from the results that Ryan had made substantial progress in both traits since the first set of test were run, before the training plan started. This was a very happy moment for Ryan and everyone else involved in the training program, these results showed that all the hard work and dedication had paid off. More evidence to support the improvement Ryan had made was the performance wheel profiling data which was reviewed and filled out by myself, Ryan and his coach, not only did Ryan improve the two focus traits, (speed and flexibility) he also managed to improve many of his other traits which have also managed to gain significant progress from the eight weeks of training.

The profiling wheel scores were filled out a total of three times throughout the training program this was the last time the performance profiling wheel was filled out, once the eighth and final week of the training program was completed. This performance wheel held the final set of data which was used to see exactly how much progress Ryan managed to achieve over the cause of the training program. This set of results will be judged against the other earlier performance wheel scores to see how much progress has been made for the traits.

Ryan results from the final performance profiling wheel are shown below in the performance wheel image however I will breathily explain the changes made. Flexibility was ranked as 6 by me and 7 by Ryan’s coach Ryan’s new scores achieved in the final performance profiling wheel show a score of 8 by me and 8.5 by Ryan’s coach this is a very good amount of improvement to make over just eight weeks, 2 points have improved from my original score for Ryan’s flexibility and 1.5 points gained for Ryan’s flexibility since the start of the program from Ryan’s coach; Ryan’s flexibility training has shown very few problems throughout the whole program and has constantly had a steady rate of progression as each week passed I’m extremely happy to say that this section of the program was a real success showing substantial

improvement, I scored Ryan one point of improvement after each four weeks of training when re-profiling however Ryan’s coach scored Ryan with slightly more improvement shown after the first four weeks rather than the second four. Fortunately I can conclude that the changes made to the speed variable section of the training program at the mid-point were defiantly worth doing, from looking at the final profiling wheel I can see that Ryan has made far more improvement during the second half of the program than the first. At the start of the program Ryan was scored at 7 by me and his coach, at the mid-point Ryan coach awarded him another point however I did not, change was them implemented in hopes of seeing more progress in the second half of the program. By the end of the program we can now see in the final wheel that I have given Ryan the score of 8 and his coach has given Ryan 8.5 this second half of the program defiantly shows much more improvement meaning the variable changes were defiantly a smart move. Many other traits have also gained significant benefits from the training program even though we weren’t directly focusing on them at any point in the program, the speed and flexibility training has rubbed off and had a positive effect on other traits such as muscular endurance, aerobic fitness strength, reaction time, power, faking and dodging. An example of this is aerobic fitness, which has improved by a score of 0.5 from Ryan’s coach and me since the start of the training program, it is now 8.5. all the training exercises designed to improve speed and flexibility have had many positive impacts on Ryan’s other traits, this was amazing news which really pleased all coaching staff and Ryan as it let Ryan know that all the hard work had paid meaning that all the time spent training was worth it.

The final testing and comparing of normative data phase happened after week eight for the final time, two sources of normative data were used within this research project were kept the same throughout the whole duration of the project, flexibility and speed sets of normative data were used one final time at the end of the training program so that Ryan’s progress and improvements made against the average normative data can be compared and judged.

Ryan’s speed testing best result compared against the normative data showed Ryan is now performing the three cone sprint test at a superb level, managing to complete the test in just 6.3 seconds which shows 0.7 more speed has been knocked off during the second half of the program after the variables were changed whereas only 0.5 improvement was made after the last set of speed tests at the mid-point of the program, this tells me that the variables that were made harder have had a positive impact on Ryan’s speed progression. Ryan’s flexibility ability on the sit and reach test shows an above average level when comparing Ryan’s final results against the normative data, Ryan managed this above average rating with a score of 11 cm on the sit and reach test, this was his best result which shows an improvement of 2 cm, from 9 cm since the mid-point program tests. Before that Ryan scored only 7cm on the first flexibility sit and reach test, looking at this data I can see that Ryan has had a very consistent, even and steady rate of progression throughout the whole training phase. When comparing both these sets of normative data against the two traits it’s clear to see that Ryan has come very far from his original poor results achieved when comparing against the norms at the start of the program. Ryan’s old flexibility ratting against the norms was a low average ratting which now, at the end of the training program shows an above average level when comparing against the normative data. The same can be seen from Ryan’s speed normative data, his first comparison showed a poor ratting however at the end of the program Ryan’s three cone shuttle data compared against the norms now shows a superb ratting, this shows me the program has been a real success.

API, (athlete perceived importance) and ASA, (athlete self-assessment) are placed into the second section of the profiling wheel pages, this section is where Ryan decides upon his own judgment and scores the importance of each trait before scoring himself as a self-assessment for how well he feel he is at each of the traits. Excel will then come out with a final number based off of the importance Ryan marked down for each trait against how good Ryan is at preforming said trait, this lets Ryan and coaching staff know how well each individual trait is progressing and its importance to Ryan; like the profiling wheel this happened three times throughout the project, at the start mid-point and end, it has happened twice before and now this was Ryan’s final set of API and ASA data.

From viewing the first ever self-assessment chart that Ryan filled out before the training began we see that the old speed scores for Ryan where, API 7, ASA 7 which gave a final discrepancy results of 21. The when looking at the new speed data scores that Ryan filled out at the four week mark we see that he improved his own athlete self-assessment score by 0.5 points; giving a new discrepancy score of 17.5. Although it was good to see the slight progression it wasn’t enough, this is when the speed variables where changed in the program so that more progression would be seen in Ryan’s speed over the final four weeks of training. So now when looking at Ryan’s final results after the final week of the training program I see that Ryan’s final speed scores for the chart are API 7, ASA 8, with a final discrepancy score of 14, by looking at this data I see that the same amount of progress, 0.5 was made in Ryan’s opinion over the first four weeks and final four week of the training program, however the higher the ability level number is for the ASA trait the harder it is then

to improve upon that score by as much, purely because you are performing at a much higher performance level for the trait and at that point improvement is harder make quickly, it takes more time to progress for all traits. So when looking at the data I feel that Ryan made more progress in the final four weeks as the same level of progress, (0.5) was harder for Ryan to achieve, Ryan and I were both very happy as a score of 8 is performance level standard which is exactly what Ryan wanted, Ryan wanted to improve his weakest traits up to the same performance level as his other more develop traits, and now this has been achieved.

From viewing the first ever self-assessment chart that Ryan filled out before the training began we see that the old flexibility scores for Ryan where, API 8, ASA 7 which gave a final discrepancy results of 24. The when looking at the new flexibility data scores that Ryan filled out at the half way mark we see that he improved his own athlete self-assessment score by 1 points; giving a new discrepancy score of 16, this was very impressive so it was decided to leave the flexibility section of the program exactly the same way it was originally planned out. Ryan’s final flexibility scores filled out at the end of the program are API 8, ASA 8, with a final discrepancy score of 16, I feel that this shows excellent progress over the cause of the program however once Ryan felt that he had reached a performance level standard in flexibility he still showed improvement week to week however he didn’t make enough progress during the section half of the program to advance himself to an even higher ability level such as elite level, however considering the sort period of time that the section half of the program lasted for it isn’t a surprise for me that Ryan didn’t manage to achieve a professional level of flexibility just within four weeks. Ryan and I have discussed the results and are both happy with the amount of progress Ryan achieved over eight weeks of training.

At the start of the program Ryan and I decided that he wanted to see adequate improvement on the two focus traits by the mid-point of the program and substantial progress to be made by the end of the training program. Now that we have reached the end of the program I can safely say that both targets have been met for both traits. Flexibility has constantly shown its steady and noticeable progression and because of this I was very sure this target would be achieved after the second half of the program unless something very drastic such as injury etc, prevented the trait from reaching a substantial level of improvement. On the other hand speed was always the main trait I was concerned about, but thankfully the changes I made to the speed exercises variables managed to make a real impact on the improvement/progression rate of Ryan’s speed, this allowed him to catch up during the final four weeks of training, by the end of the program I feel that Ryan managed to reach the substantial level of improvement that he had set a target to reach, I can infer this by looking at many sources such as the profiling wheel, testing and normative data which explain the larger amount of progress made in the second half of the training program, the variables changed at the mid-point pushed Ryan to work harder, this in turn helped him to achieve his target.

Conclusion

In conclusion I feel that the training program was a major success, I feel that all targets we set for Ryan at the start of the program were exceeded by the end, the program was designed to push Ryan to new limits, to force himself to grow and develop not only the two chosen focus traits but also as a mixed martial arts fighter. All exercises were centered on Ryan’s sport as a performance level fighter; the reason Ryan wanted to improve his traits in the first place was to become a faster more flexible fighter, the exercises I added into the program allowed Ryan to work on his speed and flexibility while focused around martial arts equipment or training methods for example, working on the speed trait by training Ryan with exercises on the flash pads. I feel that this helped motivate Ryan and also helped him when getting used to the exercises as he had some previous knowledge or experience with these/or similar exercises meaning he was able to perform without needing much guidance or help from me or his coach. The progress Ryan managed to make in many traits leads to believe that the program was a success, Ryan has also spoken to me since the program has ended to say how much more he feels he is improving when sparring against others now that he has completed the program and gained many benefits from it; Ryan’s coach who still works closely with Ryan also feels that the program was a huge success. All the performance profiling wheels, tests and observations made throughout the length of the program shows me that although the program didn’t go as smoothly as possible and alterations were needed at the mid-point, I feel that the changes were necessary to the program’s success; Ryan’s end results would have been a lot worse if the changes to the speed section of the training program weren’t implement when they were.

I feel that all the Normative data sources, profiling data, API/ASA assessments, testing methods and targets all had a very important fundamental part to play in this programs success each was used affectively to assist, aid or enrich the program with

either practicality or valuable data. I also strongly believe that the professionalism and smart well informed decision making used when going through the selection and training processes of the two major traits worked incredibly well uncovering and highlighting all key areas of weakness that needed to be addressed, I feel that the training routines and selection of exercises has worked well throughout the program with only a few issues which were relatively easy to sort out, the program has worked wonders for Ryan’s body, as he has managed to improve his general fitness levels and also strengthen other areas of his body considerably by sticking to the program from start to finish, not just the two traits selected for development.