Program design principles Flashcards
Principle of specificity:
the concept that training must be specific to an individual’s goals as the adaptations they will see will be based on the training completed.
Assessments allow a trainer to uncover a client’s starting point and plan the appropriate progression for their goals and abilities.
SAID principle:
specific adaptations to imposed demands; stress on the human system, whether biomechanical or neurological, will require the body to adapt specifically to those demands.
Principle of variability:
training programs must include variations in intensity, duration, volume, and other aspects of practice.
Principle of individual differences:
there is no one specific way to train every client due to the uniqueness of each person.
Fitness assessments provide information about a client’s current fitness level and potential challenges; the data collected should be used to determine the appropriate training loads and progression.
Diminishing returns:
everyone has a set genetic limit to their potential and, eventually, the effort put into training will no longer produce the same results.
Principle of progressive overload:
the body must be forced to adapt to (or overcome) stress that is greater than what is normally encountered.
Principle of reversibility:
clients lose the effects of training after they stop working out.
General adaptation syndrome (GAS):
the three stages of adaptation the body goes through in response to stress.
Alarm stage (shock): the body’s initial response to stress; symptoms include fatigue, weakness, or soreness.
Individuals will see gains in strength, but mostly through neuromuscular changes.
This stage may last from two to three weeks.
Resistance stage (compensation):
after around four to six weeks of continued exercise, the body will enter the resistance stage.
Changes in the body include biochemical, mechanical, and structural improvements.
Clients may experience improvements in muscle size and strength.
Exhaustion stage (fatigue):
may happen at any time in GAS.
Symptoms in this stage mimic those of the alarm stage, but without adequate rest or recovery, the client may experience burnout, overtraining, injury, or illness.
The fitness professional should conduct assessments and monitor the client for symptoms of overtraining.
Overtraining: a condition that results from the accumulation of stress from both training and non-training activities, resulting in long-term decreases in performance.
Overtraining symptoms include:
Unusual muscle soreness
Delays in recovery
Performance plateaus or declines
Irritability.
Supercompensation:
the term that describes the post-training period when the trained function has a higher performance capacity than prior to the training period.
Periodization:
an organized approach to training involving progressive cycling of various aspects of a training program during a specific time.
Important to help clients stay injury-free and keep their bodies responsive to adaptations.
When conceptualizing the development of a fitness program, periodization is the most commonly used term to refer to how a training program is broken down into discrete time periods.
The time periods are referred to as macrocycles, mesocycles, and microcycles:
Macrocycle: the overall training period, usually one year or more.
Mesocycle: a training phase in the annual training plan; made up of three to nine microcycles.
Microcycle: a one-week-long cycle of training sessions, or a single session.
Undulating periodization:
short durations of hypertrophy training alternated with short durations of strength and power training.
Block periodization:
highly concentrated, specialized workloads focused on achieving maximum adaptation.
Linear periodization:
progresses from low-intensity to high-intensity across the entire macrocycle.
