I like to plan my training in a ‘biggest to smallest’ way – i.e. I look at the whole season then break that down into months, weeks and days.
This year I’m competing in the FISAF Masters category – so I’m aiming for the NZ FISAF Open in May, then a NZCAF Regionals competition (I don’t have a local regional competition so I’ll likely head down to the Wellington comp), then NZCAF Nationals!
Planning to be routine ready (season planning)
At the moment, I’m focusing on just being ready for the first comp (which I’m quietly freaking out about!). Then I’ll review and plan my next chunk of training after that (i.e. training for Regionals and Nationals).
So, with those big picture dates in mind, I then think backwards. I need to have a full routine ready for the FISAF comp, so I really want to start training full routines 6 weeks before that so that (hopefully!) I’m fit enough to perform well. So I put ‘fulls’ on my calendar then break down the weeks before that into 30sec chunks of my routine, and break those 30secs into legs/skills/arms. Like this…
I like to learn legs first so that I can get the choreography to music as soon as possible, then I add skills as quickly as possible so that I’m building fitness… and I’m just slow to learn arms so I give myself a little more time to get them all added in, although I’m trying to learn them all the time (mostly at home when I’ve got a few mins).
Basically, I’m aiming to spend one week learning 30secs of legs, then a week to add in skills, then another week to add arms – so by the end of three weeks, I have a ‘full’ 30sec ready. Then I work on the next 30sec (and add it to what I’ve already got when I’m training routines). So by the time I’m 6 weeks out from comp, I’m ready to be doing my full routine. It’s also a nice way to gradually build my strength and fitness as I train for each section of my routine. Especially as I’m starting at zero. Well, maybe 2/10 but I’ve got to get to 10/10 in about 8 weeks so I know I’m going to be really pushing my body to be ready in time!
Every year I wish I’d started earlier! Do you? Please tell me I’m not alone!!
Breaking down trainings into Sport Aerobic components (weekly planning)
To cover my bases, I break down Sport Aerobics into its key components – fitness, strength, flexibility, skills, choreography – and I aim to train each of those multiple times every week. Of course those trainings need to support the routine goals I have for each week.
Personally, I train ‘heavy’ strength once per week then aim for three trainings of each of the other areas. A lot of my fitness, choreography and skills trainings get done together in one session because I focus on my routine and so obviously I need to include choreography and skills in those sessions and fitness builds from that. I then like to do additional fitness – usually HIIT (high intensity interval training) which I keep fairly simple but sharp & fast. And, finally, my flexibility needs a lot of work so I try to do a couple of really good stretch sessions and a yoga or two (I use an app for yoga).
If you’re training with a club, you’ll likely be doing most of your training there, but it doesn’t hurt to scan through your week and make sure you’re getting enough fitness, strength, flexibility, skills and choreography training in. One way is to think about your ‘weakness’ – which area needs the most work? This is a good one to add to an at-home training session.
If you do other sports, you’ll likely be getting some fitness/strength there. And, if you do dance or an acro sport, you’re probably getting some nice flexibility there.
I’ve made a little template that you can use to brainstorm ideas to cover each area of your training (you might like to take this to your coach and get them to help you). I’ve also included a weekly planning template so you can make sure you’re covering your bases – you can either plan in advance, or tick off the trainings you do and then do an at-home session of anything missing at the end of a week or similar. For example, you might tick off your choreography, skills and strength at your school trainings but maybe ran out of time to do some flexibility so you could do some stretches at home in the weekend.
If you do purchase the template or anything else in my shop, thank you for supporting me to keep producing Sport Aerobics-specific content 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way! 🙂 You can email me or find me on Instagram @abbyjaneaerobics.
Happy training! 🙂
