TRAINING PRINCIPLES 10 KEY TRAINING PRINCIPLES TO CONSIDER

TRAINING PRINCIPLES 10 KEY TRAINING PRINCIPLES TO CONSIDER IN ANY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PROGRAM

SPECIFICITY • An activity program tailored specifically to the needs and interests of the person. • Can be specifically tailored to the needs of the person or specific demands of a sport or sport position a person plays. • For example: Body building v fat loss. Energy systems, fitness components and muscles used for an ‘onball’ player compared to a full back or Netball Centre compared to Goal Shooter.

INTENSITY • How hard your heart, lungs and muscles work during physical activity. • A specific intensity is required to train particular energy systems, fitness components or muscle groups. • Most health related benefits occur when you are working at least at moderate intensity • Examples of Moderate intensity physical activities: brisk walking, cycling, raking leaves, lifting weights and golfing.

DURATION • Refers to how long an activity lasts. Examples of duration: Ø Length of training program (e. g. 12 weeks pre-season) Ø Minimum time needed to train to achieve a health or fitness benefit (e. g. at least 6 weeks) Ø Length of individual training sessions needed to achieve benefits (e. g. 20 minutes for fitness) Ø How long a bout of exercise is within a training session (e. g. a 10 minute bout of intensity running).

PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD • Slowly adding more to your training plan • When you start a new exercise activity requiring higher intensity, different fitness components or muscle group, a stress response occurs in your body. • Your body responds and adapts to the new demands and then plateaus (stops improving). • To continue improvement, further stress (progressive overload) needs to be added to the body e. g. higher weight, running 2 minutes longer, higher reps.

DETRAINING • A rapid return to pre-training levels. • Can occur from stopping a training method or stopping training altogether. E. g. due to illness, injury, boredom etc.

FREQUENCY • How often an individual is active. • To improve a fitness component you need to train that component 3 times a week. • Adequate rest between sessions is also required to allow adaptations to occur. • E. g. Resistance training every second day or alternating muscle groups each work out.

MAINTENANCE • Fitness gains can be maintained by training twice a week. • This may include sporting activities. • Adequate rest between activities is still important. • Training twice a week avoids detraining.

INDIVIDUALITY • Everyone responds and adapts differently to exercise and different training methods. • Reasons include: initial fitness levels, interests (likes and dislikes), hormones, genetic factors, motivation, nutritional requirements, recovery and injury

DIMINISHING RETURNS • Each persons potential for improvement in each fitness component is genetically pre-determined • As you get closer to your ultimate potential, the rate at which you can improve slows down. • E. g. a person who is new to training and untrained has a much greater potential to improve compared with an elite athlete who trains daily and is near their maximum potential.

VARIETY • Changing your physical activity plan to keep you interested and motivated. • Possible changes include: Ø Where you work out. Ø Who you work out with. Ø Type of activity e. g. cross training, running, swimming, bike riding, aerobics classes. Ø Duration, intensity and rest intervals.