TF PAS - The Total Conditioning Package

At Team Fitness we believe in conditioning as a complete and total package. Of course there are sports specific demands. Some sports even make position specific demands. But for the optimum performance, the best results, there is an underlying need to approach fitness as a holistic discipline.

Far too often we work with elite, even Olympic athletes who suffer injury or compromised performance because their training regime has lead to muscle imbalances. They have trained in a narrow focus that is skill driven, but overlooks some very fundamental physiological facts.

Like the badminton player who wouldn't weight train as he "would bulk up and slow down." This in spite of the fact that his fitness coach was more agile across the floor and could jump higher for longer than him. And surprise surprise could bench press twice as much as the racquet man.

Like the Premiership footballer, who was constantly injuring his hamstrings. Why? Because the muscles that drive the kick, the leg extensors - quadriceps - were twice as strong as the muscles that would finally arrest a leg travelling at some 60 mph - the hamstrings.

There is often a misunderstanding among athletes and coaches about the relationships and components of total fitness.

This is why we designed the TF PAS Package. - Power Agility and Stamina. This is an approach that recognises all aspects of fitness and body conditioning, and adapts them to suit the individual athlete's needs.

• Power - the combination of strength and speed.

• Agility - the discharge of the proprioceptive skills - balance and co-ordination.

• Stamina - the balance of energy and repeated stress endurance.

These three components are present throughout physical activity. It is the absolute values and then the relationship between them that determine whether it is an elite performance or failure, or worse still injury.

The TF PAS approach is to design programmes that deliver those values in the correct measure to ensure a sports specific performance of the highest level - every time - with minimum risk of injury.

© Team Fitness 2004.

Case Study: Client E - Speed Development for the Whole Team Client E is a football team in one of the lower divisions of the English league. The team coach wanted to improve their fitness levels and general speed on the pitch in order that they could match and beat most of the teams in their division. The team did not have extensive resources in terms of time, equipment and training facilities. Team Fitness started with a general fitness programme based on a more structured running schedule, interval and sprint training as well as hill runs. Running technique was also studied. Using a local gym, Team Fitness introduced weight training for both upper and lower body, and cardio-vascular workouts. Team Fitness also negotiated use of a local running track. By comparing performance times, the team was then split into small training groups. This ensured that effort was optimal rather than the average of the whole team. Track training added variety and made better use of training time. Sprint speeds recorded over 30 metres improved for the whole team, and endurance over 90 minutes was also noticeably increased. The team moved from bottom of the division to within 1 point of promotion. They won their last 6 matches, scoring within the last 10 minutes in 3 of them. More Team Fitness Case Studies.

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