1. Chapter Six
Training for Fitness

2. Principles of Training
1. Principle of overload: FITT
2. Principle of progression
3. Principle of specificity

3. Principle of Overload
In order to improve your level of fitness, you must increase the amount of regular activity or exercise that you normally do.
Overload occurs when increased demands are made upon the body causing cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular adaptations to occur.
Increased motor units in muscle fibers, muscle hypertrophy and hyperplasia (size and # of fibers), increased bone density, new capillaries develop, VO2 max increases, cardiac output increases)

4. The principles of overload are: F requency I ntensity T ime Type
Principle of Overload
The principles of overload are:
F requency
I ntensity
T ime
Type

5. Principle of Overload Frequency
- Number of times per week you engage in
physical activity or exercise.
- Increasing how often you work or exercise
Recommended:
Cardio: 3-5 days per week
Resistance: 3-4 days per week for total body
Flexibility: Done daily

6. Principle of Overload Intensity - How hard you work.
Increasing the difficulty or exertion level of your physical activity or exercise
Increase in heart rate during a run, increase the amount of weight, increase the length of stretch
Recommended:
Cardio % of MHR for aerobic; >85% for anaerobic
Resistance- varies usually 55-95%
Flexibility- to full range of motion

7. Principle of Overload Time
-The duration of a single workout, usually measured in minutes or hours.
-Increasing the length of time, or duration each time you work or train.
Recommended:
Cardio minutes based on intensity
Resistance minutes; 1-8 repetitions for strength, 5-12 for building muscle, for building endurance
Flexibility- 2-3 sets per muscle/muscle group; seconds

8. Principle of Overload Type Recommended:
- The particular type of physical activity or exercise you choose to do.
Recommended:
Cardio- walking, jogging, cycling, circuit training, interval training
Resistance-resistance bands, free weights, machines, body weight exercises, or anything that stress the neuromuscular system
Flexibility- static stretching and dynamic stretching

9. Principle of Progression
As your fitness levels increase in exercise/activity over a period of time, so do the factors in your FITT. Overload occurs at an optimal rate. Progress too slowly and no improvements will be made. Progress too quickly and risk injury or burnout.

10. Principle of Specificity
Overloading a particular component will lead to fitness improvement in that component alone.
Training for one area does
not necessarily improves
another.

11. The Warm-up
A portion of a complete workout that consist of a variety of low-intensity activities that prepare the body for physical work.
Examples:
A few minutes of a slow jogging/movement
Dynamic stretches (most appropriate)- slow,
controlled actions which propel muscles into full
range of motion and increase core muscle temperature.

12. The Cool-Down The cool-down has two phases:
Cardiovascular Cool-down: consist of low-intensity activity for 3-5 minutes.
Stretching Cool-Down: involves 3-5 minutes of light static stretching.
Cool-down prevents:
Blood pooling: a condition in
which blood collects in the large
veins of the legs causing excess build-up of lactic acid.
Cool-down improves:
Venous return: rate of blood flow back to
heart

13. Other Training Factors
Trainability: The rate at which an individual’s fitness levels increase during fitness training.
Training Plateau: A period of time during training when little, if any, fitness improvement occurs
Detraining: The loss of functional fitness that occurs when one stops fitness conditioning.

14. Other Training Factors
Variation Principle: Minor modifications to exercise routine yields greater results. Adjusting speed, sets, reps, intensity. Helps prevent burnout and plateau.
Cross-training: Involves combining exercises across different disciplines of training.
Examples: A distance runner trains on a cycle one day a week and does resistance training two days a week to supplement their normal running.

15. Overtraining: Over exercising, or being active to a point where it begins to have negative effects on the body.
Overtraining can cause other health issues: fatigue, chronic muscle soreness, and burnout
Recovery Principle: adequate time is required to rest and recover in between bouts of exercise.
Restoration: Ways in which you can optimize your recovery from physical activity or exercise.
Factors that influence restoration: Age, experience, environment, rest time, nutrition, including fluids, program variation