Personal Training Tips; Essential training principles you must know!
Before you ever expect to make solid gains in a gym, there are several fundamental principles of training that you must know. These are not exercises or pre-made programs that will get you where you want to go, rather they are basic guidelines that all of your programs should abide by. If these principles are followed properly then your gains will be constant and your goals
will become realities. All of these principles are very closely intertwined as you will see below.
Progressive Overload
Progressive overload means that your body will only respond to training by making physiological and structural changes, when it is pushed outside of its comfort zone and into a state of physical stress. Your body is a very clever organism and it will become bigger, faster and stronger in order to cope with the stress that you are placing it under. As your body adapts to the demands you are placing on it during your exercise sessions, you must then increase the load in order to make further gains. This can be done by several different means such as more weight, more reps, more sets, shorter rest periods, different exercises and a combination of several of these. You always need to be progressively overloading your body in order to be getting progressively better.
Specificity
As I stated above, your body is a very clever thing. When we train and our body makes adaptations, it makes them very specifically to the demands we are putting it under. Basically what it means is that what you train will get better, and what you don’t train will not. You should not expect a crossover in fitness and strength from one exercise to another. For example a swimmer may be fit in the water, but that does not mean they will be fit while running. Or a bicep curl will strengthen your arms but has no effect on your legs. Following this principle will help in designing programs specific to your goals.
Variety
Following on and going hand in hand with specificity is variety. In order to achieve excellent overall fitness and strength, a variety of different exercises must be performed in a variety of different planes of movement. This is also referred to as periodization and entails changing your program very regularly in order to keep shocking your body into new gains and also to keep your motivation levels high and keep you interested in your sessions. Nothing becomes more boring than performing the same routines day in day out at the gym. Variety will also be a key in helping with your overload principle as performing new exercises and new techniques will keep your body in the state of stress that will force it to change. Programs should be changed at least every 4-6 weeks with new research suggesting your body will adapt within 2 weeks of a training program.
Recovery
This is the part of training that a lot of people get wrong, especially when they are super dedicated to their goals and wish to reach them quickly. You must always remember that when you are in the gym you are breaking your body down and placing it under stress, and all of the gains and improvements are actually made when you are at home resting and refueling. This means that adequate rest time and sleep must be had between sessions. Too much training without rest can actually make you end up worse off. Sometimes skipping that 2nd session for the day and getting a few extra hours rest will do you the world of good. This does not always mean that you have to do completely nothing while resting; your rest days can include light cardio or activities that require some physical exertion. You just must ensure you aren’t training the same body part day after day and expecting amazing results.
Reversibility
Reversibility refers to the old saying “use it or lose it”. As amazing as your body is in adapting to exercise and making you fitter, stronger and leaner, it will also revert back to its previous state quite quickly if you take time off from training. Your body always tries to maintain something called homeostasis, which is the maintenance of a steady and normal internal state. This means that your body is always trying to be normal and standard. During our normal daily lives, we have no need for big muscles, super strong muscles, amazing cardio etc, our body only attains these attributes because we force it to. Once we stop placing our body under stress it will go back to where it needs to be to get through your normal daily activities. It has been shown that strength gains will begin to deteriorate in as little as 2+ weeks of no training. Keep this in mind when you have injuries, sicknesses, holidays etc and get back on the exercise bandwagon as soon as you can, and if you have had a long break then always come back and don’t jump straight back in to the intensity you trained at prior to your break.
A great gym program is always changing and always moving forward. Keep these basic principles of training in mind whenever thinking about your next session and you will continue to achieve your goals. If you always do what you have always done, you will always be how you have always been. Mix it up and go hard!
