Training principles and progression
Physical Education · Key Stage 3 · The School
Overload and progression
The body adapts to demands greater than it is used to — OVERLOAD. Do the same session every week and adaptation stops, because it is no longer a greater demand. PROGRESSION means increasing the demand gradually as the body adapts. Increasing it too fast is the main cause of injury, and increasing it not at all is the main cause of a plateau.
FITT
FITT names the four things that can be increased: FREQUENCY, how often; INTENSITY, how hard; TIME, how long; and TYPE, what kind of activity. Changing one at a time makes it possible to tell what worked. Changing several at once and improving tells you only that something helped.
Rest is training
Adaptation happens during RECOVERY, not during the session — the session is the stimulus, the rest is when the body rebuilds. Training hard every day without recovery produces worse results than training hard three times a week with rest between. Sleep matters more than most supplements. Planning it is done with a coach who can see the athlete.
A runner currently does 3 sessions a week, 20 minutes, easy pace, all running. Progress ONE variable at a time. FREQUENCY: 3 to 4 sessions. INTENSITY: add intervals to one session. TIME: 20 to 25 minutes. TYPE: swap one run for cycling to reduce impact. Change all four in the same week and injury or exhaustion is likely, and you will not know which change caused which effect.