Last Updated: 21 March, 2017 “Except at a military boot camp, it is very difficult to force anyone to train.” (Plowman & Smith, 2011, p.15). This article is organised as follows: Positive benefits include an increased capacity to work for longer periods before the onset of fatigue and a rapid return to normal once activity has ceased. However, there is still much to be understood by sport scientists regarding training and, although new training techniques appear frequently, there are several fundamental, and well established, guidelines which should form the basis for the development of any training programme (Plowman & Smith, 2011). Ultimately, the only person who can force you to train is yourself. So, once you have got over the psychological barrier of wanting to place stress on your body you will need to consider how you are going to introduce that stress.
However, just ‘jumping straight into a training regime’ is likely to cause some injury to your body, either acutely (within the training session) or chronically (up to four weeks later). To aid in your fitness training, there are some principles of physical training which you may wish to consider. Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines“56% of Australian adults are either inactive or have low levels of physical activity – that is more than 9.5 million adults!” (ABS, 2013).
Part Two: Principles of Physical TrainingThe principles of physical training are:
Principle 01: SpecificityThis principle, also known as the SAID (specific adaptations to imposed demands) principle, simply means that how you train will directly affect your exercise response. The more closely the training programme matches the following factors, the greater its chance for success:
Principle 02: OverloadThis is a demand placed on the body greater than it is accustomed to. In order to determine the overload, one must first evaluate the individual’s critical physiological variables (specificity) and then consider the following three factors:
Principle 03: Adaptation (Rest and Recovery)This is the change in physiological function that occurs in response to training.Adaptation (Appendix A below) occurs during periods of rest, when the body recovers from the acute homeostatic disruptions and/or residual fatigue and, as a result, may compensate to above-baseline levels of physiological functioning. This is sometimes called super-compensation (Freeman, 1996; Bompa, 1999). It is important that exercisers receive sufficient rest between training sessions, after periods of increased training overload, and both before and after competitions. Adaptation allows the individual to either do more work or do the same work with a smaller disruption of baseline values. Keeping records and retesting individuals are generally necessary to determine the degree of adaptation (for example through fitness assessments). Principle 04: ProgressionThis is the change in overload in response to adaptation.Sport scientists suggest progression occurs best in a series of incremental steps (called step-loading), in which every third or fourth change is actually a slight decrease in training load (Freeman, 1996; Bompa, 1999). This step-down allows for recovery, which leads to adaptation. Each step should be small, controlled, and flexible. A continuous unbroken increase in training load should be avoided. Principle 05: Plateau, Retrogression and ReversibilityProgress is rarely linear, predictable or consistent:
Principle 06: Maintenance/RegularityThis is about sustaining an achieved adaptation with the most efficient use of time and effort.The individual will have reached an acceptable level of physical fitness or training and the amount of time and effort required to maintain this adaptation will depend on the physiological systems involved. For example, more time and effort are needed to maintain adaptations in the cardiovascular system than in the neuromuscular system and, generally, intensity is the key to maintenance (i.e. as long as exercise intensity is maintained, frequency and duration of exercise may decrease without losing positive adaptations).
Principle 07: IndividualisationIndividuals require personalised exercise prescriptions based on their fitness levels and goals, and individuals will adapt differently to the same training programme.The same training overload may improve physiological performance in one individual, maintain physiological and performance levels in the second individual, and result in maladaptation (Appendix A below) and performance decreases in the third. Such differences often result from lifestyle factors, particularly nutritional and sleep habits, stress levels, and substance use (such as tobacco or alcohol). Age, sex, genetics, disease, and the training modality also all affect individual exercise prescriptions and adaptations. Principle 08: Warm-Up/Cool-DownA warm-up prepares the body for activity by elevating the body temperature, in contrast to a cool-down which allows for a gradual return to normal body temperature. The best type of warm-up is specific to the activity that will follow and should be individualised to avoid fatigue. Principle 09: Variety/Tedium
Principle 10: Balance
Principle 11: Moderation
Principle 12: Nutrition
Principle 13: Sleep
Principle 14: Psychological AspectAnother important element (linking to Principle 09) beyond the physiological training principles is motivation, and I am sure most (if not all) people will have experienced the ‘body is able but the heart is not in it’ scenario.Therefore, any training programme should also have elements of fun and interspersing normal training sessions with games, variations and special events can help make sessions as enjoyable as possible. Part Three: Other ‘Models’ of the PrinciplesThere are two commonly accepted methods of using these principles, the first is the FITT Principle and the second is the SPORT Principle. These models are not holistic in nature, relating only to the physical aspects of training, omitting the nutritional and sleep elements. FITT Principle
SPORT Principle
Part Four: Pragmatic Principles of Physical TrainingThere are a variety of pragmatic principles of physical training which should be read in conjunction with the above principles:
Part Five: MiscellaneousUseful Links
ReferencesABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2013) Australian Health Survey: Physical Activity, 2011-2012. ABS Cat. No. 4364.0.55.004. ABS: Canberra. Armstrong, L.E. & van Heest, J.L. (2002) The Unknown Mechanism of the Overtraining Syndrome: Clues from Depression and Psychoneuroimmunology. Sports Medicine. 32(3), pp.185-209. Bompa, T.O. (1999) Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Department of Health (2014) Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-act-guidelines#apaadult. [Accessed: 21 March, 2017]. Freeman, W.H. (1996) Peak When It Counts: Periodization for American Track & Field. 3rd ed. Mountain View, CA: Tafnews Press. Fry, A.C. & Kraemer, W.J. (1997) Resistance Exercise Overtraining and Overreaching: Neuroendocrine Responses. Sports Medicine. 23, pp.106-129. Kreider, R.B., Fry, A.C. & O’Toole, M.L. (1998) Overtraining in Sport: terms, definitions, and prevalence. In R.B. Kreider, A.C. Fry, & M.L. O’Toole (eds.). Overtraining in Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, pp.vii–ix. Kuipers, H. (1998) Training and Overtraining: An Introduction. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 30(7), pp.1137-1139. O’Donovan, G., Lee, I-M., Hamer, M. & Stamatakis, E. (2017) Association of “Weekend Warrior” and Other Leisure Time Physical Activity Patterns With Risks for All-Cause, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer Mortality. JAMA Internal Medicine. 177(3), pp.335-342. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.8014. Plowman, S.A. & Smith, D.L. (2011) Exercise Physiology for Health, Fitness, and
Performance. 3rd ed. London: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. Rowbottom, D.G., Keast, D. & Morton, A.R. (1998) Monitoring and Preventing of Overreaching and Overtraining in Endurance Athletes. In R.B. Kreider, A.C. Fry, & M.L. O’Toole (eds.). Overtraining in Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, pp.47-66. WHO (World Health Organisation) (2017) What is Moderate-intensity and Vigorous-intensity Physical Activity? Available from World Wide Web: https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/physical_activity_intensity/en/. [Accessed: 20 March, 2017]. AppendicesAppendix A USEFUL TERMS EXPLAINED A1 PeriodisationA training programme should be implemented in a pattern that is most beneficial for adaptations and this is called the training cycle or periodisation (Plowman & Smith, 2011). Periodisation is a plan for training based on a manipulation of the fitness components and the training principles. The objective is to peak the athlete’s performance for the competitive season or some part of it. An individual training for health-related physical fitness can also use periodisation to build in cycles of harder or easier training in order to prevent boredom or to emphasise one fitness component or another. A2 Training AdaptationsTraining brings about physical and physiological changes typically labelled adaptations and training adaptations represent physical and physiological adjustments that promote optimal functioning (Plowman & Smith, 2011). Also, whereas exercise responses use resting values as the baseline, training adaptations are evaluated against the same condition prior to training. Training adaptations are evaluated by comparing variables of interest (e.g. heart rate) before and after the training programme during the same condition (at rest, during sub-maximal exercise or at maximal exercise). Compared with the untrained state, training may cause no change, an increase or a decrease in the measured variable. A3 DetrainingAs noted in the plateau, retrogression and reversibility training principle (Principle 05), training adaptations are reversible and this is termed detraining (Plowman & Smith, 2011).
A4 OvertrainingThe results of exercise training can be positive or negative depending on how the stressors are applied. Fry et al. (1991), Kuipers (1998) and Rowbottom et al. (1998) suggest that training is related to fitness goals and athletic performance on a continuum that is best described as an inverted U (Figure 1). At one end of the continuum are individuals who are undertrained and whose fitness level and performance abilities are determined by genetics, disease, and non-exercise lifestyle choices. Individuals whose training programmes lack sufficient volume, intensity, or progression for either improvement or maintenance of fitness or performance are also undertrained. The goal of optimal training is the attainment of peak fitness and/or performance. However, if the training overload is too much or improperly applied, then maladaptation may occur. The first step toward maladaptation may be overreaching, a short-term decrease in performance capacity that is easily recovered from and generally lasts from a few days to two weeks. Overreaching may result from planned shock micro-cycles, as described in the periodisation section, or result inadvertently from too much stress and too little planned recovery (Fry et al., 1991; Fry & Kraemer, 1997; Kuipers, 1998). If overreaching is planned and subsequent recovery is sufficient, positive adaptation and improved performance, sometimes called supercompensation, result. If, however, overreaching is left unchecked or the individual or fitness professional interprets the decrease in performance as an indication that more work must be done, overreaching may develop into overtraining. Overtraining, correctly termed the overtraining syndrome, is a state of chronic decrease in performance and the ability to train, where recovery may take several weeks, months, or even years (Fry et al., 1991; Fry & Kraemer, 1997; Kreider et al., 1998; Armstrong & van Heest, 2002). Understanding stress enhances our understanding of exercise, training, physical fitness and recovery. As emphasised previously, both acute exercise and chronic training are stressors. Thus, from this viewpoint, physical fitness may be defined as achieved adaptation to the stress imposed by muscular exercise. It results as an adaptation from a correctly applied training programme, is usually exhibited in response to an acute exercise task and implies avoidance of the overtraining syndrome. A5 Physical Activity
A6 Sedentary Behaviour
A7 Metabolic Equivalents
A8 Intensity of Physical Activity
A9 Moderate Intensity Activities
A10 Vigorous Intensity Activities
What is the principle of overload in exercise?Overload, the second important principle, means that to improve any aspect of physical fitness the individual must continually increase the demands placed on the appropriate body systems. For example, to develop strength, progressively heavier objects must be lifted.
What principle means that as the body adapts to the initial overload the overload must be adjusted and increased gradually?The principle of progression states that as your body adapts to your exercise routine, you have to change it up. This can mean gradually increasing the weight, duration, or intensity of your weight training in order to see growth.
What principle of exercise training states that if the body stops to exercise the body gradually returns to its initial level of fitness?There is a law of diminishing returns with exercise. Unfit people will change a lot early on, then less and less despite continuing to train hard.
What is adaptation in principles of training?Adaptation is your body's physiological response to training. According to sharecare.com, the principle of adaptation refers to “the process of the body getting accustomed to a particular exercise or training program through repeated exposure.
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