PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING Sport Specific versus General Fitness

Why Train? What to Train For?  The first questions that you need to ask yourself is what am I training for? Am I training for general fitness, or am I training to be better in my sport?  There will be some crossover between the two types, however, your ultimate goal will drastically change the way that you approach your training.

Sport Specific Training  Training that is centered around building muscle size, strength, power, and endurance in the muscles that are frequently used during a specific activity.  Uses sport specific movements to develop muscle memory as well as increase muscles ability.  The human body has an incredible ability to adapt to an external stimulus. This type of training can make you bigger, stronger, more explosive, and able to last longer during practice and competition.

General Fitness Training  Training that focuses on developing a well rounded fitness base. General fitness allows the average person to remain in shape by keeping their muscles (including their heart) strong and flexible.  Very broad and can include a number of different workouts. Multi-joint exercises are best, but isolative exercises can be important too.  This type of training is suited to the average Joe or Jill, looking to be healthy.

Cardiovascular Health  Cardiovascular training is extremely important.  Keeps blood pressure and heart rate down.  One of the most important ways to prevent Heart Disease and Stroke  Burns fat

What type of Cardio?  High Intensity Training (The H.I.T. Principle)  Focuses on working very hard for a shorter period of time. This can be used in strength training as well.  Interval Training: Training hard for 2-3 minutes, then training lightly for 2-3 minutes up to a maximum of usually around 20 minutes.  Interval training is the best way to burn fat, increase VO 2 Max, and develop cardiovascular strength.  Endurance Cardiovascular Training: Cardio activity for longer than 20 minutes. Usually not overly intense, but gets heart rate in to optimal fat burning or cardio zone.

Heart Rate Chart

Flexibility  Flexibility is very important.  Flexibility increases range of motion by stretching muscles and tendons. It can help to prevent injuries caused by hyperextension of joints.  Flexibility also allows you to develop more strength over a greater range of motion (ROM).

Rest and Recovery  While we often focus on getting in as much exercise as possible, rest and recovery is also essential for reaching your weight loss and fitness goals. While you can often do cardio every day (though you may want to rest after very intense workouts), you should have at least a day of rest between strength training workouts involving the same muscle groups. Make sure you don't work the same muscles two days in a row to give your body the time it needs to rest and recover.

Cardio Guidelines  Cardio strengthens the heart and lungs, increases endurance and burns calories which helps you lose weight.  For health benefits, do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, OR  Vigorous cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week  For weight loss, you may need to do minutes of activity several days a week

Strength Training Guidelines  With strength training, you lift weights (dumbbells, barbells, resistance bands, machines, etc.) to strengthen the muscles, bones and connective tissue. Strength training is just as important for weight loss as cardio. By lifting weights, you build lean muscle tissue which raises metabolism and reduces body fat as long as you're also watching your calorie intake.

Strength Training Guidelines Cont’d  The general guidelines for strength training are:  Choose 8-10 exercises, targeting the major muscle groups (lower body, chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps and abs)  For beginners, do one set of 8-16 reps of each exercise to fatigue. More advanced exercisers can do 2-3 sets.  Train each muscle group 2-3 non-consecutive days a week  Work each exercise through its full range of motion and use good form

Assignment  Each of you will research and create your own workout program. Each workout needs to consist of 9-12 exercises that can be completed in 45min-60 min.  All exercises will start out with you completing repetitions for the first 3 weeks.  You must have 3 separate days with different exercises on each day. You must train all of your major muscle groups by the end of your week.