When beginning an exercise routine, it is common knowledge that change will occur for the initial 12 week period--almost regardless of what you do! However, one of the biggest mistakes people make as they progress is continuing to perform the same workout, over and over, for weeks or months at a time. And this certainly isn't the only mistake exercisers make!
Proper progression is the key factor in developing an effective personal fitness training program geared toward achieving specific results and continual development. How do you change your workouts so that they're effective, challenging and fun?
There are several universally accepted scientific training principles that must be followed in order to maintain development while improving conditioning and performance. These principles include:
1. The Principle of Individual Differences -- Because every person is different, each individual's response to exercise will vary. A proper training program should be developed with the following in mind:
- Individual’s goals
- Individual’s capabilities
2. The Principle of Overload -- The principle of overload suggests that a greater than normal load or “stress” on the body is required for "training effect" or “adaptation” to occur. Once the body has adapted, a different stimulus is required to promote continued change. In order for a muscle (including the heart) to increase strength, it must be gradually stressed by working against a load greater than it is used to. To increase endurance, muscles must work for a longer period of time than they are used to. Without an increase in the stimulus, the current level of exercise will only maintain the current fitness level. Changes in stimulus include:·
- Frequency
- Intensity
- Duration
3. The Principle of Progression -- The principle of progression speaks to the optimal level of overload that should be achieved, and an optimal timeframe for this overload to occur. Overload should not be increased too slowly, or improvement is unlikely. However, overload that is increased too rapidly will result in overtraining, with a likelihood of injury and/or muscle damage.
Proper progression also demands consideration with respect to proper rest and recovery. You should not (and cannot) train maximal or near maximal effort all the time. As stated before, this approach to exercise and programming will ultimately result in overtraining with a likelihood of injury and/or muscle damage, not to mention the mental fatigue.
4. The Principle of Adaptation -- Adaptation is the way the body responds to particular stimulus, and must be considered with respect to proper goal setting strategies. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important for each of us to understand which aspects of ‘‘fitness’‘ deserve our primary focus, and how to determine our risk for these leading causes of death. For the sake of clarity, we can separate the components of ‘‘physical fitness’‘ into two categories: health-related and motor-related:
Health-related:
- Cardio-respiratory fitness
- Body composition
- Flexibility
- Absolute strength
- Dynamic strength
Motor-related:
- Coordination
- Agility
- Power
- Balance
- Speed
- Accuracy
While the motor-related components are more important for successful athletic endeavors, the health-related components assume greater importance with respect to human function and productivity for everyday living!
This is where some folks get lost in their pursuit of fitness, not knowing which way to go to develop an exercise program. Worse, some erroneously assume they already have a foundation of fitness, and therefore move on to a more advanced or seemingly dynamic program. BIG MISTAKE!
5. The Principle of Specificity -- The Specificity Principle simply states that training must go from highly general training to highly specific training (again, this is why it is common knowledge that change will occur for the initial 12 week period--almost regardless of what you do). The principle of Specificity further implies that to become better at a particular exercise or skill, you must perform that exercise or skill. By repeating that skill or activity, the body adapts to the stress and the skill becomes easier to perform.
A key point to take away regarding specificity is that the activity being performed will create the direct result desired. For example, many people create a progression in their exercise programming that leads them down a road of increased performance. However, such a progression might not ultimately lead to achieving the primary goal.
6. The Principle of Use/Disuse -- The Principle of Use/Disuse implies that you "use it or lose it." This simply means that muscles size, strength and/or endurance increases with use but will diminish with disuse. The key is to find the proper balance between stress and rest. There must be periods that include varying levels of intensity over time. Periods of lower-intensity training and recovery are generally when training effect and adaptation occurs.
The ability to create effective training programming involves a variety of factors. Of these factors, a training periodization with proper progression is the key toward developing a program geared toward achieving specific results and continual development. Programming must be specific to an individual’s unique capabilities and goals.
