With Winter training well under way did you manage to reflect on the last competition season went? Did you get the results that you had planned for or were you left wanting in one or more disciplines?
Do you have any idea how fit you really are? How healthy you really are? Do you know what your fat burn zone is? How many calories you should eat? Do you really have a slow metabolism? How much progress have you really made in the last 3 months?
All these questions that should be considered when exercising.
Two ways to help you monitor if your training programme is working are:
1. Competition Results
2. Sports Testing
The first option is limited to competition season, which is a little late to tweak your training programme to maximise time-spent training. There may be the opportunity to do some winter cross training such as cross country races or off-road duathlon, of which may not give you a quantifiable measure.
This is where clinical based Sports testing is well placed to add as an accurate measure.
Understanding what your baseline fitness levels are across swim, bike, run disciplines are important to set in order to write an effective training programme.
Reasons for testing maybe two fold.
· Firstly, to understand fitness levels and be able to monitor the effects (hopefully positive) of training with regular testing,
· and secondly, to be able to monitor the potential for overtraining or injury.
Types of testing available:
|
VO2 Max / Sub Max Lactate threshold Resting Metabolic Rate Body Composition Resting Heart Rate |
Biomechancal Assessments · Running · Cycling Flexibility Assessment Strength Assessment Injury Risk Stratification |
How often should testing be carried out?
In order to make the testing effective, it is worth having a series of tests spread across the season. This allows for the programme to be amended accordingly ensuring maximum effect.
What is generally involved?
After taking a thorough exercise and injury history, a typical assessment would look something like this:
· Height, Weight
· Body circumferential measurements
· Body Fat test
· Hydration test
· BMI measurement
· VO2max / Submax
· Anaerobic Threshold (only measured with VO2max)
Wherever testing takes place there should be the flexibility to tailor the testing to whatever the requirements are.
If you are interested in undertaking a sports test, please feel free to contact the sports clinic on 0871 2219394 or for more information follow this link http://www.drummondclinic.co.uk/clinic/sports-medicine/