How to Plan a Six Week ‘PEP’.

1. Look at where you are now!

Ask the questions 

What is the main purpose of your 6 week programme? Have you any niggling/recurring injuries?

Which activity would you most like to be fittest for?

How fit are you right now? What was you MSFT score?

Are there any areas of fitness training that you do not like? Can you team up with a friend to train?

Do you have access to training facilities close to home, to make your schedule more suited to your current diary?

Answering these questions will create the ‘Introduction’ to your ‘PEP’.

2. Decide what aspects of fitness you wish to improve! Ask the questions 

Do I need more upper body STRENGTH? Do I need to improve my STAMINA/AEROBIC CAPACITY, through CONTINUOUS RUNS and FARTLEK? Would one of my chosen activities benefit from a bit more SPEED? Do I need to improve my AGILITY in a team game setting? Do I need to work on the specific area of INTERVAL training in the Pool or on the Track? Am I aiming to improve a specific ATHLETIC TRACK EVENT time, by doing mainly ANAEROBIC sessions and FARTLEK?

Once you arrive at your decisions on these questions, you will be able to write the ‘Aims and Targets’ of your ‘PEP’.

3. Use FITT to plan your programme.

F= frequency — how often you train per week? Remember... MON and WEDS Lunchtimes; your GAMES lessons; your fortnightly PE lessons and what you can access in the evenings.

I = intensity — how hard you exercise in a training session? Remember.., you should not over-train, so you need to have light sessions programmed into the PEP to avoid injury risk! T = time — how long each session lasts? Remember.., a tough session will have a shorter duration than a light session!

T= type of training activity? Remember. . . vary your programme, so it is not boring and bear in mind that diffèrent activities will still help you achieve your fitness goals! So why not have a swimming session that is based on INTERVAl. TRAINING principles to help you get through the SURVIVAL assessment   or a session on Stroke technique done as a LOW INTENSITY INTERVAL session to help you through the SWIMMING STROKES assessment   or a RESISTANCE TRAINING session in the Multi-gym to help you increase your power for SHOT PUTT   or PLYOMETRIC work on the ladder or mini hurdles. The choice is yours.

Once you have decided what you will do over the six weeks, you can put together your plan.

BUT... .don’t forget that you need to put into your own words what the ‘Principles of Training’ are (in Section 3), before creating your ‘Six Week PEP’ (Section 4). So here are a few other PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING that you need to know and explain in Section 3 of the PEP.

S =specificity... .make the exercises fit your training goals, as training will provide you with a very specific result. Marathon runners do not lift heavy weights and Discus throwers do not go for long steady runs of over 5 miles! Decide what your training effect/outcome should be and choose suitable exercises to achieve it. A good guide is that AEROBIC SESSIONS should be at least 20 minutes and ANAEROBIC/MUSCLE TRAINING SESSIONS at least 15 minutes.

P =progression. ...start off realistically, as you cannot suddenly hit the International scene overnight. Allow your body to progressively improve.

O =overload.. ..you have to push your body beyond its current limits, by working it harder than it is used to. Don’t forget the training timings and use FITT rather like the ingredients of a cake to juggle around with how hard!often/long you train and what you actually do for the session.

R =reversibility... .you will lose your fitness gains in about one third of the time it takes you to improve. So keep at it, or you will not meet your targets over the 6 weeks. Why not keep at it for the rest of your life… like I do!

T= tedium…doing the same thing over and over will make you bored,

so plan well and get plenty of variety in your sessions.  Make it fun

and easily fitted into your routine, with sensible REST DAYS when you need them or it does not fit in with your personal schedule or if it si simply a day when there is no practical lesson on your school timetable. So don’t waste your PE and Games lessons... .GET GOING.

Finally, after six weeks of slogging yourself to death, you will need to write your final EVALUATION (Section 5 of the PEP).

If you really apply yourself and strive for the goals that you set yourself you should look and feel a different person, even after just 6 weeks. You might find that your RESISTANCE maximums in the Multi-gym have increased, or your 400 metre time is vastly better, or that the SURVIVAL assessment feels so much easier to do, or your shot!discus/javelin flies further, or you deliver your papers in your fastest ever time. You may even finish with the MSFT (Bleep Test) to see if your fitness has improved against a standardised test.

You can do it and as we say in GREEN HOUSE          

BELIEVE.