Alpine Skiing Training Session Plan - Essay Example

1. Warm-up

Warm-up is usually the first session of any training session as well as the preparation for a tournament or a competition. This session is always commenced slowly and simultaneously before it gradually involves all of the athlete's muscles and the whole body parts. This session is important in preparing the athletes both physiologically as well as mentally. This session is not usually overstressed before an exercise, the importance of this session is that the athlete’s body temperature is raised, it prepares the nervous system, muscles, ligaments and tendons, and the general body for the upcoming stretches as well as exercises (Müller 2009). This session generally minimizes the chances of injuries as the muscle elasticity is greatly increased. In most cases, skiing exercises normally work on strengthening the muscles of the leg and overall body flexibility, the purpose of the warm-up is for the next follow-up action. The active motions usually elevate the heart, metabolic rates, and respiratory system. This session usually takes at least 25 minutes and the next action is training or competition, the sequence, and components of an effective warm-up session include the following. The first five minutes of activity include a slow aerobic walk, and a fast then run and the purpose of this is to heat the muscles. The next is the 10 minutes activity to increase the range movement this is followed by 10 minutes of event-specific drills for preparation and coordination for training or the specific event (Barth 2005).

2. Mawalkoutout

This session is usually the main first exercise in an athlete's routine. In my main walk, the athletes warm their muscles by making walking slowly and gradually for a period of 3 to 5 minutes. This ensures that the athlete’s blood circulates throughout the muscular system and this greatly enhances flexibility for stretching purposes. The major role of the main walkout is to slowly circulate the blood and muscle warming as a way of preparing the athlete for the next strenuous activity mainly a competition or vigorous training (Müller 2009).

3. Stretching
Flexibility is one of the important factors in an athlete's best and optimal performance in competition as well as training. The flexibility factor is achieved in a stretching session and this activity involves an aerobic easy jog at the start of a training session or competition. This process begins with an easy stretch on the place of tension and holding the same position for about 15 to 30 seconds until the pull lessens. This is repeated severally after the tension eases and when it is felt. Every stretch is repeated severally on each side of the body more than five times, during the stretching session it is important to breathe upon leaning on the stretch it is important to exhale upon reaching the stretch point it is crucial to inhale and exhale(LeBoeuf 2008). The overall effects of daily stretching include an increase in the muscle-tendon unit; muscle tension is reduced, enhances increased circulation within the body, and finally develops body awareness. Despite the importance of this session, precautions should be taken regarding those athletes who have Down syndrome with the attribute of low muscle tone which makes them appear like they are more flexible (Thomas 2000). It is important to take the precaution that these athletes should not stretch too much beyond certain limits normally referred to as a safe range. Several stretches should be avoided and should not be over-emphasized; the unsafe stretches include spin roll, trunk backward bending, and neck backward bending. Therefore this session should be accurately performed to ensure its effectiveness more important is that athletes should focus on the correct positioning of the body and their alignment (LeBoeuf 2008).

4. Dry Land Training
This refers to training that is done pre-on-snow which involves any training that skiing athletes engage with before training on snow. This training may include athletics, cycling, football, and other training sports and activities. Dry land training is important because it contributes greatly to the athlete’s ability to foster his or her training to enhance competition on snow. The sport of Alpine skiing is considered to be a sport with a lot of demands from the athletes therefore to compete safely and successfully athletes must ensure that they are in perfect physical condition. Alpine skiing requires an athlete to have a well-established combination of endurance as well as strength notably a high capacity of quickness referred to as action and reaction endurance (Barth 2005). When athletes engage in serious and proper dry-land training athletes improve greatly their physical, mental, and psychological efficiency (Thomas 2000). Dryland training drills include balance and stance whereby good balance enhances the capability of employee to make skilled movements and patterns thus in Alpine skiing it is important to enhance the coordination between the eye and the foot. In skiing, the balance position always changes and this requires a high capability of repositioning the body into balance. Secondly, is the relay drills also referred to as the serving tray where the athletes group themselves into four each team with four cups of water in the tray? Each of the athletes runs for 20 meters and passes the tray containing water to the team member the winning team at the end of the race successfully crosses the mark and the water in the cup inside the tray must be 2/3 full, this kind of land drill enhances balance. Secondly is the utilization of the hoping line where three items are used and the athletes are expected to hop over the items and hop back and the process is repeated (Thomas 2000). Finally is the engagement in sporting activities such as soccer volleyball and table tennis and others which enhance dry-land drills.

5. Agility and speed
There is a close relationship between Agility and quickness in the athlete’s flexibility, coordination, strength, and balance. The strength enhances the increase in the contraction of the muscled thus agility and quickness is attributed to the process of flexibility training and strength training. This enhances the skier to easily make any directional body change quickly while at the same time maintaining balance (LeBoeuf 2008). This can be enhanced by the agility ladder drills where a ladder is placed the flatly on the ground and the skiers run fast stepping one foot on each of the ladder spaces maintaining the balance while increasing the momentum. Another training example for this is stair walking or running where the athletes walk up and down the designated somehow steep stair increasing the momentum as the time ticks this may be followed by a change in the style where athletes can run, walk or hop. For this training to be effective this exercise has to be repeated several times maybe around 10 to 12 times. A shuttle step drill is also important in enhancing agility and quickness whereby in a field gym marks are made from a starting point beginning with 5, 10, 15, and 20 meters and the athletes are expected to run touching all the marks and the training is repeated for all the marks back and forth. A side step drill is also used in training at this session where the skiers run facing forward at an angle and also they may make crossings on the leg repeating the exercise running sideways (LeBoeuf 2008).

6. Endurance
This is the ability to undertake some given amount of workload for a prolonged given period of time without deterioration and the performance quality remaining the same. The concept of endurance is very important in athletics performance notably skiing because the same action is always repeated all the time over and over (Yves Vanlandewijck 2011). To enhance endurance this session has to be fixed in the athlete's training program whereby an athlete notably a skier has to engage in a 20 to 30 minutes vigorous exercise on a frequency of two to three times per week. The training regarding this session includes hill climbing where the preferred hill or mountain should have a gradient of 30 degrees and a mark out of 30 meters. Athletes are expected to walk up to the 50-meter mark and go back down what follows is athletes running up and walking back down, running up the hill and running back down and while still running the athletes are expected to repeat the same exercise for a minimum of ten times. Distance running is also a key important aspect of enhancing endurance, I regard the athlete running for a distance of 3 kilometers followed by five kilometers, and finally running a distance of 10 kilometers. The third way of instilling endurance is athletes undertaking fartlek training in which the exercise involved comprises walking, jogging as well as running for a longer period of time (Max Rieder 2005). A good example of this is an athlete engaging for a two-minute walk, jogging for three minutes, running for a minute, jogging for half a minute, and walking for one minute. The sequence of this training and exercise can be continued and repeated for more than a total time of 30 minutes. In addition to the above exercises, mountain biking, as well as road biking, are key notable and efficient exercises that can be adopted in training for endurance (LeBoeuf 2008).

7. Power
Power is the athlete’s personal capability normally related to the strength of the body's muscles. This session is important because power is required to ensure that the athlete is strong enough to sustain himself in case of training or stiff competition. The routine gym should be adopted during the session for those skiers who have lower body strengthening (Max Rieder 2005). The major exercises that are involved in this session training involve the use of gym equipment that suits individual athletes or skiers, the key exercise process includes leg presses, jumping, weight lifting, and lunges. This activity is mainly during the training session but as it comes to the competition season the power sessions mainly involve key specific skiing activities which are characterized by dynamism. Such sessions utilize its training capability attributed to power such as jumping, muscle shortening, and lengthening rapidly. This session is important in ensuring that the rapid and ever-changing power demands in the context of skiing with the aim of improving its explosive power (Max Rieder 2005).

8. On Snow Drill session
This is the actual Alpine skiing on snow and this is where the real action takes place whether it is a competition or just for training. The training involves in this session plan includes the following. The first one is Garlands whereby this is a drill in which an athlete exercises a specific part of a turn and the exercise involves working on a one-direction turn moving towards a fall line and out in thee the same direction and moving across a designated hill (Mueller 2012). This drill is important in the initiation or completion of a turn. Secondly is the squash the grape exercise which is an important drill in making sure that the athlete has a more flexing ankle during the skiing training or competition, thumpers are also an important drill in flattening the uphill ski and this enhances the athlete to ski across the hills and continuously thump all the uphill ski on the snow maintaining the weight on the downhill ski. Sideslip is the exercise of the edge release so that the ski is perpendicular to the hill fall line and this is exercised at the edge setting the Ski move down the hill. A bunny hop is when the athlete exercise by engaging in small hops so as to gain more motion while moving. A frog jumps over the log which is an important exercise in ensuring that the athlete has an active initiation of any turn this involves the athlete initiating a turn by jumping toward the new direction (Bompa 2005). Falling leaf is an exercise that enhances the athlete to move forward towards the sideslip, the forward and the backward motion triggers the forward and backward motion while the skis skid forward and backward. Funnel turns is an exercise where the athlete begins with a long radius while as the momentum is gained the radius is gradually reduced this helps the athlete to gain an appropriate pattern. Leapers is an exercise in which when an athlete initiates a turn then he must jump towards the turn and flexing is initiated for the finishing of the turn and then leaps to the following turn finally the Crab walk were in a wedge position and moving on a falling line the athlete move one knee into the wedge and the flatten the ski doing the same with both sides, thus the skis stay in the hills falling line without making any turn (Max Rieder 2005).

9. Cool-down
This is an important aspect such as the warm-up before the start of training or competition in Alpine racing. It is dangerous stopping an activity once because it may lead to the pooling of blood and also difficulties and slow removal of waste products in the body system of the athlete. This may cause soreness, cramps, and other related complications (Bompa 2005). The importance of cool-down is that it cools and reduces the body temperature and the heart rate, therefore, speeding the recovery process of the athlete before the next training. Other importance is that it gives the athlete and the coach time to discuss the training or competition and that this is also a good time in which the athlete can stretch. This time the muscles are warm and they have a higher reception of stretching movement. The activities involved in the cooling down session involve a slow aerobic jog which lowers the body temperature and the heart beat rate which usually takes 5 minutes then it is followed by light stretching which removes waste from muscles taking a minimum time of 5 minutes (Max Rieder 2005).

10. Modification
This is an important session because it ensures that the athlete's special needs are taken care of. The Alpine skiing aids also provide an avenue in which the special needs are permitted in the rules. In this session there is a modification of the skills and techniques so that all the athletes can participate giving an example is a skier who has only one leg may use the same pattern of exercise or training but may not be able to do a wedge thus the training and exercise are subject to modification. Another factor that needs to be modified is the communication method in which different athletes prefer different types of communication systems and it is in this session that the best and most common communication method is modified to suit everyone. Finally is that this session involves modification of equipment to ensure that the athletes have a particular need met where some athletes may need a toe clip that holds the tips of the skis together and through this session it can be achieved and this concept integrated into this session ensure fair participation (Bompa 2005).

11. Adaptation
In this session adaptations regarding Alpine skiing are practiced and put to test, these specifications include. Outriggers in this exercise are that athletes who have the issue of balance are sorted out and made to adapt and overcome the difficulty in maintaining balance in motion the next is the mono-skis or bi-skis in which in this session the issues of athletes who do not use their legs. Many bi-skis may be brought and those who may not bi-ski independently can get access to mono-skis which can be skied independently (Müller 2009). Toe clips are also taken into account in this session which is commonly adapted to suit stand-up athletes who might be having some difficulty in holding the skis together. During this training session, the coaches are responsible for identifying other adaptive equipment such as tether lines and hole-hoops, and that training is undertaken to teach the movement patterns. These adaptive assistive devices are normally not used in competitions (Müller 2009).

12. Impairment
This unique session involves various exercises regarding those athletes who are impaired. In the case of orthopedic impairments leg braces can be adopted for the case of athletics who needed support, In most cases, this session is skipped because of the stiffness of the ski boot which has enough capability of holding the athlete upright and offer the required adequate support for skiing (Yves Vanlandewijck 2011). Finally is the auditory impairment in which the athletes are trained to use the hand or flag signals for the start (Yves Vanlandewijck 2011). Both the starter and the athlete should be aware of the underlying auditory impairment to meet the needs of the athlete.