Training Principles

There’s a saying, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Well, in this newsletter, I’ll teach you “how to fish.” What that means is that I’ll briefly discuss training principles, because if you have an idea of the general principles, you’ll be able to evaluate exercise programs that come in front of you.

Another saying in the training world is that “methods are many but principles are few.” So let’s discuss those few principles. These are the principles that will give you an idea of what a good exercise program is and what a good exercise program isn’t.

Principle #1: Individualization

Any exercise program must be individualized. You are a unique individual like no one else. You have your own medical history, your own exercise history, your own unique biomechanics, you have a certain amount of time available to you, and if you’re not training at a gym, only so much equipment available to you. There are dozens of other factors that must be taken into account when designing an exercise program.

So whenever I am asked “what’s a good program?” I give the answer “it depends.” An exercise program that is good for an endurance athlete will seriously damage the weightlifter. An exercise program that is good for a 25-year-old healthy male may be seriously damaging to the 55-year-old female with high blood pressure and arthritis in her joints.

So what isn’t a good exercise program?

Generally speaking, most programs that you find online aren’t the greatest, because they’re written for a very large population, and don’t have you in their mind.

Programs like P90X, Insanity, Crossfit and most organized fitness classes are not optimal, so it’s really a guessing game. One person may thrive on P90X, whereas another person will get no results from P90X, and yet a third person may actually get injured. An individualized approach is much more precise.

Principle #2: Progression

It sounds obvious and silly, but to make progress, you must progress. Your exercise program can’t be static, unless your goal is maintenance. And yet, how many people do you see in the gym doing the same thing, day in and day out, wondering why they aren’t getting results?

Your body adapts to whatever you throw at it, so each time you train, you should try to make progress in some form or another (everyone has off days, and it’s fine to take it easier on those days. It’s like taking 1 step back to take 2 or more steps forward). Here are some different ways to progress:

• Increase the weight
• Increase the repetitions
• Increase the number of sets
• Increase the range of motion
• Decrease the rest between sets or exercises
• Decrease the base of support

As long as you’re making some form of progress each workout, you’ll get close to your goal.

Principle #3: Specificity

The body adapts to exactly the type of stimulus you provide it. So jogging for 10K will not make you a better 100 meter sprinter. If you’re a boxer, shadowboxing with 10-pound dumbbells in your hands won’t make you better at punching with only a 10-ounce glove on your hand.

So identify precisely what you want to get good at, and figure out what exercise and method are best to reach that goal.

Now don’t mistake specificity to mean replicating sporting movements with weights (for example, if you’re a golfer, don’t swing a heavier club in training). That can actually make you worse by changing which muscles are active, when they activate, and how much force they contribute to the movement.

A good, thorough discussion of specificity is far beyond the scope of this newsletter because I could easily write 10 pages on the topic, or give a 2-hour talk.

 

Like It? Share it.

If you like this blog post, it would be very much appreciate if you share it on facebook and LinkedIn, tweet it on twitter, and pin it on pinterest.