NEWS | Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Personal Training - the professional way

Andy Colbourn

Increasingly, people are turning to exercise as a means of improving their quality and, quite literally, their quantity of life while talking on personal training
As well as making you look and feel better, exercise is now recognised as a preventative measure for many cancers, heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and numerous other illnesses. Doctors commonly recommend exercise as an alternative to traditional medicinal prescription.
At Triton Sport, we want you to focus on your potential. Everyone has the potential to attain a level of health, fitness and vitality that they will be proud of, and it is our intention to help get you there.
Your personal exercise goals are, of course, entirely individual and our role would be to guide, support and encourage you to achieve these through carefully planned, progressive exercise sessions based in and around your home or gym of choice. Careful nutritional monitoring and sensible, logical advice will help you to eat the right foods at the correct times, contributing to the effectiveness of your fitness program.
Training for any physical sport has a number of benefits associated with health, fitness and performance. For the competing athlete, good results are what the athlete expects in return for the dedication and sacrifice put in the hours of training. Most of the time, rather than the amount of training, it is the type of training which is important and as long as this addresses areas of weaknesses identified in the athlete, this should guarantee improved performance. It is useful to include both aerobic and anaerobic training in any sporting programme as both types of training can benefit, though to varying degrees, different types of athletes involved in different sport disciplines.
Getting it wrong, getting it right
Aerobic training produces changes in the cardiovascular system, respiratory system and musculature and increases both the aerobic capacity of the individual and the ability to perform submaximal exercise i.e. an intensity which can be maintained for a prolonged period of time. During this type of training fat is the preferred fuel so that the body is utilsing fat to provide energy to the working muscles. For an endurance athlete this is of vital importance as the more fat that can be used to provide energy, the more muscle glycogen is spared (i.e.saved for later) and so muscles can continue working without getting fatigued or glycogen depleted.
At higher exercise intensities, glycogen becomes the preferred fuel and energy production depends more on anaerobic metabolism (without using oxygen) the greater the exercise intensity. Exercise of high intensity cannot be maintained for a long period of time as a result of accumulation of lactic acid (and large discomfort!). Training at this intensity is more associated with shorter distance type events e.g. sprints, track cycling and intermittent sports e.g. football, rugby, basketball etc. but including some anaerobic training for endurance athletes is an ideal way of increasing strength and speed endurance.
Identifying strengths and weaknesses of athletes will help the athlete’s coach prescribe an optimal training programme geared towards addressing the weaknesses and fine-tuning the strengths. This is the basis of sport physiological testing which in today’s world, with so many advances in sport science, is key to an athlete’s success

Andy Colbourn, a professional Triathion and swimming coach, is one of the directors at TritonSport Malta Ltd. For more information visit: www.tritonsport.com or call 79431458/ 99406597