Adherence to specific principles of exercise training may aid in the development of an intentional and successful physical activity regimen. Participating in regular physical activity and exercise throughout on a weekly basis may positively impact an individual’s overall health, and improve various components of physical fitness. However, an individual’s specific physical fitness goals may not be achieved if their physical activity program is not designed with respect to major exercise training principles. Adherence to specific principles of exercise training may aid in the development of an intentional and successful physical activity regimen. The core training principles which will be subsequently discussed include:

• Specificity
• Overload
• Progression
• Reversibility
• FITT
• Individual Differences

Specificity Principle: Only the body parts, muscles, or systems involved in a workout will be experiencing training (American College of Sports Medicine, 2013). For example, upper body weight training will only facilitate improvements to muscles groups which were engaged (i.e. shoulders, arms, back muscles). Therefore, an individual must evaluate the specific type of workout that will provide the greatest likelihood of physical activity and fitness goal achievement.

Overload Principle: Overload (i.e., “greater than normal workload or exertion”) is required to improve components of health-related fitness: cardiorespiratory (aerobic) endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility. According to the principle of overload, an individual must work (“load”) the body using a step-by-step increase in physical activity duration, time, and/or intensity in order to facilitate optimal fitness improvements (American College of Sports Medicine, 2013). This step-by-step increase is often known as progression.

Reversibility Principle: Individuals may lose the beneficial effects of training when participation in an exercise program is terminated (i.e., fitness gains are reversed; colloquially known as “use it or lose it”). Conversely, as an individual’s fitness level improves, s/he will be required to adjust the exercise program in order to procure further improvements (i.e., the previous work exerted to reach overload may no longer be sufficient) (American College of Sports Medicine, 2013a).

FITT Principle: The exercise training principle which outlines how an individual may design and monitor their individualized exercise program (American College of Sports Medicine, 2013).

1. Frequency: How often the individual performs the targeted exercise or physical activity.
2. Intensity: How much work or effort is exerted during a physical activity period (may be measured in a variety of ways such as heart rate, RPE, MET value, etc.).
3. Time: Duration of physical activity or exercise bout.
4. Type: Specific physical activity mode or exercise which an individual chooses to engage in (i.e. aerobic exercise, resistance training, sports-specific activity, etc.).

Individual Differences Principle: All individuals are unique in their exercise programming needs. Personal, environmental, and behavioral factors should be considered and assessed when planning to engage in a physical fitness training regimen (American College of Sports Medicine, 2013).

Works Cited

American College of Sports Medicine. (2013). ACSM’s guidelines for exercise testing and prescription. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.