8 Key Training Principles For Fitness and Sports Training
The 8 Training Principles are research-based guidelines that can
help you accelerate your training progress and optimize your results.
Knowing how to apply these principles gives you an educated basis on
which you can make
informed decisions about designing your fitness or
sports training program. The principles can also help you evaluate the merits of fitness equipment and personal training services.
All
of the principles complement each other. For best results, they should
be applied in concert throughout every phase of training.
1. Principle of Specificity
suggests that your body will make adjustments according to the type of
training you perform and in the very same muscles that you exercise.
How you train determines what you get.
This principle guides you in designing your
fitness training program.
If your goal is to improve your overall level of fitness, you would
devise a well-rounded program that builds both endurance and overall
body strength. If you want to build the size of your biceps, you would
increase weight loads on bicep curls and related exercises.
2. The Principle of Overload
implies that you must continually increase training loads as your body
adapts over time. Because your body builds and adjusts to your existing
training regimen, you must gradually and systematically increase your
work load for continued improvement.
A generally accepted guideline for
weight training
is to increase resistance not more than 10% per week. You can also use
percentages of your maximum or estimated maximum level of performance
and work out within a target training zone of about 60-85% of maximum.
As your maximum performance improves, your training loads will increase,
as well.
3. The Principle of Recovery assets that you must get adequate rest between workouts in order to recuperate. How much rest you need depends upon your
training program, level of fitness, diet, and other factors.
Generally, if you perform a total
body weight
workout three days per week, rest at least 48 hours between sessions.
You can perform cardio more frequently and on successive days of the
week.
Over time, too little recovery can result in signs of
overtraining. Excessively long periods of recovery time can result in a
detraining effect.
4. The Principle of Reversibility refers
to the loss of fitness that results after you stop training. In time,
you will revert back to your pre-training condition. The biological
principle of use and disuse underlies this principle. Simply stated,
If you don't use it, you lose it.
While
adequate recovery time is essential, taking long breaks results in
detraining effects that may be noticeable within a few weeks.
Significant levels of fitness are lost over longer periods. Only about
10% of strength is lost 8 weeks after training stops, but 30-40% of
endurance is lost in the same time period.
The Principle of
Reversibility does not apply to skills. The effects of stopping practice
of motor skills, such as weight training exercises and sport skills,
are very different. Coordination appears to store in long-term motor
memory and remains nearly perfect for decades.
A skill once learned is never forgotten.
5. The Principle of Variation
implies that you should consistently change aspects of your workouts.
Training variations should always occur within ranges that are aligned
with your training directions and goals. Varying exercises, sets, reps,
intensity, volume, and duration, for example, prevents boredom and
promotes more consistent improvement over time. A well-planned training
program set up in phases offers built-in variety to workouts, and also
prevents overtraining.
6. The Principle of Transfer
suggests that workout activities can improve the performance of other
skills with common elements, such as sport skills, work tasks, or other
exercises. For example, performing explosive squats can improve the
vertical jump due to their common movement qualities. But dead lifting
would not transfer well to marathon swimming due to their very
dissimilar movement qualities.
7. The Principle of Individualization
suggests that fitness training programs should be adjusted for personal
differences, such as abilities, skills, gender, experience, motivation,
past injuries, and physical condition. While general principles and
best practices are good guides, each person's unique qualities must be
part of the exercise equation. There is no
one size fits all training program.
8. The Principle of Balance
is a broad concept that operates at different levels of healthy living.
It suggests that you must maintain the right mix of exercise, diet, and
healthy behaviors. Falling out of balance may cause a variety of
conditions (e.g., anemia, obesity) that affect health and fitness. In
short, it suggests
all things in moderation.
If you go to
extremes to lose weight or build fitness too quickly, your body will
soon respond. You could experience symptoms of overtraining until you
achieve a healthy training balance that works for you.
For fitness
training, balance also applies to muscles. If opposing muscles (e.g.,
hamstrings and quadriceps in the upper legs) are not strengthened in the
right proportions, injuries can result. Muscle imbalances also
contribute to tendinitis and postural deviations.
Keep these 8
Training Principles in mind as you design and carry out your fitness
training program. They can help you make wise exercise decisions so you
can achieve your goals more quickly with less wasted effort.
Dr. Denise K. Wood is an educator and sport and fitness training
consultant from Knoxville, TN. She is the creator of
[http://www.womens-weight-training-programs.com]
Dr. Wood is an
inspirational motivator with an extensive toolbox of training techniques
based in science and delivered to accelerate the learning curve. She
has trained a wide range of clients from beginners with special needs to
Olympians. Her mission: Teach sound principles, inspire life-changing actions.
Dr.
Wood is a former track and field champion with extensive international
experience. She was mentored by world-class Olympic lifters and a former
Soviet coach. As a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee
during the peak years of her athletic career, she coached many elite
athletes in the field events and strength
training. She has held many
national positions in Olympic Development and with USA Track and Field.
As
a career educator, Dr. Wood has been recognized for her work as an
outstanding professor in the exercise sciences and research/statistics.
Her experience with clients in physical therapy, allied health fields,
and corporate fitness has further broadened her knowledge of human
performance.
Dr. Wood earned her B.A. from Montclair State
University in Health and Physical Education with teacher licensure, and
both her M.S. and Ed.D. in Exercise Science from The University of
Tennessee. Her areas of concentration were Motor Learning, Social and
Psychological Aspects of Sport, and Research Design and Statistical
Analysis. Dissertation topic: The Effect of Two Free Weight Training
Programs on Selected Closed Motor Skills. She is a professional member
of the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and
Conditioning Association, the North American Society for the Psychology
of Sport and Physical Activity, and the American Society for Training
and Development.
