The principles of training should be thought of as the 'golden rules' of making fitness training work for the individual participant. Following these golden rules will help athletes select the correct training type and method to guarantee success and carry athletes towards achieving their goals.
TRAINING PRINCIPLES
How many training principles can you think of?
No two individuals will benefit from exercise exactly the same way physically or psychologically, in other words exercises are tailored directly to YOU. Individual factors include: Fitness level. Interests. Hormones/mood. Motivation/mentality. Genetics. Injury/soreness/fatigue. Time & resources.
INDIVIDUALITY
The way the body responds to physical activity is very specific to the activity itself, therefore if we want to improve a certain skill, movement or fitness component we do exercises specific to that skill, movement of fitness component. Consider the following: Muscle groups. Fitness components. Range of motion. Game-like.
SPECIFICITY
Gradually and systematically increasing the difficulty (weight/intensity, reps/sets/duration & frequency) of your workouts to generate continual progress in aerobic (cardio) and anaerobic (muscular) fitness. Consider the following (FITT): Frequency - how often you train. Intensity - how much effort (weight & speed) you give. Time - how long you train for. Type - what exercises do you do. Can you add an extra element.
PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD
Variety in training protocols, methods and exercises increases the likelihood to yield gains in performance. Variety ensures we train all fitness components, muscles groups & energy systems, while also making workouts more interesting. Training programs should also vary in intensity, duration and volume. Training phases (periodization) is a good example of variation: General conditioning Intensive sport specific work (pre-season). In-season maintenance (competition). Off-season regimen.
VARIATION
https://www.otpbooks.com/models-of-periodization/ Strap yourselves in! Things are about to get crazy!
MODELS OF PERIODIZATION
Considered the "traditional model" of program design, where there is a progressive change in volume and intensity across multiple cycles. Volume will steadily decrease as intensity increases. Linear periodization is best suited for beginners and intermediate level athletes or fitness enthusiasts who are looking to build a foundation of strength and muscle mass.
LINEAR PERIODIZATION
LINEAR PERIODIZATION MODEL
https://www.fittr.com/articles/general-adaptation-syndrome When a body is exposed to a stimulus, there will be an initial fatigue or strain. Once the stimulus is removed, the body will recover and adapt to regain a level of balance. The body then begins the process of reinforcing, or super-compensating, to prepare to better handle the stimulus the next time it arises. If the stimulus never recurs, the body returns to the previous baseline. Given a large enough or consistent stimulus, a body will go through successive super-compensations to better handle the stresses, and that baseline level of function will gradually increase.
GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME
GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME
The volume and intensity of work is constantly varied throughout a planned wave-like pattern. Undulating periodization is best suited for all-round athletes who train all physical qualities. With an undulating program, the training volume and intensity are varied between each workout, week-to-week and month-to-month, making the stress to the body constantly changing, allowing for progressive overload and sufficient recovery. Variability does not mean random!
UNDULATING PERIODIZATION
Warming up increases your heart rate and therefore your blood flow. This enables more oxygen to reach your muscles. A warm-up also activates and primes the connections between your nerve and muscles, which improves the efficiency of movement. Warming up also warms up your body temperature, making your muscles more flexible. You can warm up in the following ways: Static stretching. Dynamic stretching. Low-moderate intensity exercises. Heat therapy (hot water, sauna, heat packs/gels). Massage (rub down, massage gun, foam roller).
WARM UP
To cool down after exercise, simply reduce the intensity of the activity you've been doing, allowing your heart rate and breathing rate to steadily reduce. Gently stretching each of the main muscle groups for 10 to 15 seconds after exercise will restore their length and alignment, which lowers the risk of injury, promotes blood flow, reduces stress to the heart and other muscles and adds muscle strength. A proper cool down speeds up recovery and improves future performance. Good examples of a cool down include: Light movement. Static stretching.
COOL DOWN
After a relatively light workout, your muscles may be able to recover in 24 hours, whereas a more challenging workout might take two to three days. Very intense workouts might take even longer. Living an overall healthy lifestyle is the most important step you can take to maximize your recovery from working out. No recovery method can make up for poor nutrition and a lack of rest. Things to consider post working out: Nutrition. Sleep. Hydration. Minimise/moderate unhealthy substances & sedentary behaviour/poor postures. Promote blood flow and flexibility.
RECOVERY
Rest is a state of low stress, allowing your body to replenish fuel stores, repair and strengthen muscle fibers and recalibrate the mind. Inadequate rest will need to overtraining, where you will experience negative results. Sleep is the most important form of rest for the body, which needs to be undertaken in sync with your circadian rhythm. Active rest can be any activity where your heart rate is low, breathing is under control and mind is clear (meditation).
REST
What do you enjoy doing as a form of meditation?
Workout gains or progress will be lost when an athlete stops training at the necessary levels to maintain their performance. If you don't use it, you lose it! The higher your performance level, the harder it is to maintain. Fitness gains can be easily be lost with age, injury, fatigue/burnout, illness, poor sleep, nutrition & mentality and anything else that stops you from training. The quickest reversal tends to be our aerobic fitness (cardiovascular endurance).
REVERSIBILITY