Training Principles

Table of content

• Specificity

• Progressive overload

• Fatigue Management

• S.R.A.

• Variation

• Periodization

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To consider any sports program effective, it must meet certain conditions. We can refer to these conditions as principles.

These principles stem from sports physiology, biomechanics, and motor behavior, serving as guidelines for how training works.

Once you understand them, you'll be able to assess and create effective training programs for any sport.

Understanding these principles offers some great benefits:

• If you prefer not to write your own program, you can search online for existing routines and evaluate whether they incorporate these principles.

• If you enjoy crafting your own routines, you can ensure that your training includes all the key principles discussed in this article.

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The 6 principles are:

1. Specificity

2. Progressive Overload

3. Fatigue Management

4. SRA

5. Variation

6. Periodization/Phase Potentiation

The simplest and perhaps most important principle is SPECIFICITY.

The principle states that to improve any physiological function in your body, you must specifically stress that function. In other words, training should reflect your needs/goals.

For instance, a bodybuilding program is not specific if it involves plyometrics or long-distance running to improve physique. Similarly, a football player trying to enhance performance through drills on a basketball court is not being specific. While these examples may seem extreme, they highlight a crucial aspect of specificity.

If you want to improve at long-distance running, focus on long-distance running. If your goal is to build muscle, concentrate on weight training. The more closely a training routine resembles the actual physical performance you wish to enhance, the greater the likelihood of improving that trait.

Specificity emphasizes that if your goal is to develop a particular ability, your training should focus exclusively on exercises that train or develop that ability (or its underlying characteristics).

While some qualities—like strength, speed, and size—can be improved through similar training styles, others cannot. Thus, the first question you should ask yourself is: What is my goal? What do I want to achieve?

A classic example of incompatible goals is someone attempting to compete in both a bodybuilding show and a powerlifting meet within two weeks. You cannot be in peak condition for both, as their demands differ significantly. Bodybuilding requires hypertrophy, which is achieved by lifting moderate loads in a medium rep range (6-15), while powerlifting focuses on strength through high loads with low repetitions (1-5).

Another example involves someone striving to excel in high-level bodybuilding while also trying to become a high-level football player. Again, you must prioritize one goal over the other, as these activities activate distinct and exclusive molecular pathways, making it physiologically impossible to excel at both.

In summary, endurance activities trigger molecular pathways that contrast with those activated by power and strength activities. Just as you can either turn the lights on or off in your room, you can only activate one set of pathways at a time.

This is not to say you cannot combine both types of training, but you should be aware of the interference effect and the trade-offs involved.

Here below an interesting graph related to the differences between endurance and power-based activities:

Here, instead, a little overview of the interference effect (from the biggest to the lowest) between qualities:

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The second training principle is PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD.

In simple terms, this means gradually making your training more challenging over time.

If this principle is not followed, your progress will eventually plateau. By introducing overload, we create a stressor (in this case, training) that is sufficient to disrupt homeostasis. The body then adapts to this stimulus.

As we continue to apply progressively larger stressors—through increasingly difficult training—our body adapts further, allowing us to achieve higher levels of fitness.

Practical example of what we want to achieve:

In the first example (first line), we are applying progressive overload by increasing repetitions over the weeks.

In the second example (second line), we are applying progressive overload by increasing the weight lifted over the weeks.

By implementing an appropriate progression scheme, we can ensure continuous progress in our training. This can involve increasing either the number of repetitions or the amount of weight lifted over time.

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Third principle is FATIGUE MANAGEMENT.

Unfortunately, we are not perfect machines, and we have limited resources in terms of energy. Any type of stress—whether physical or mental—places demands on the body.

Therefore, it’s crucial to track fatigue over time to ensure the longevity of an athlete’s career and to facilitate ongoing progress. You can have the best training routine in the world, but without proper recovery and effective fatigue management, your progress may suffer. In the worst-case scenario, you could even risk injury.

It’s essential to focus on both sides of the equation: training and recovery. By balancing these two aspects, you can optimize your performance and maintain a sustainable path toward your fitness goals.

Some recommendation for fatigue management:

• Recovery Time for Muscle Groups: If you follow a bodybuilding-style program, allow each muscle group at least 48 hours to recover before training it again. This rest period helps prevent overtraining and supports muscle growth.

• Separate Strength and Endurance Training: If you train as a hybrid athlete, aim to perform strength training and endurance training on different days. If that’s not possible, ensure there’s at least a 6-hour gap between the two sessions to allow for optimal recovery and also limit the interference effect.

• Prioritize Sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Sleep is crucial for recovery,.

• Hydration and Nutrition: Ensure you stay well-hydrated and maintain a diet that aligns with the level and intensity of your activities. Proper hydration and nutrition play a crucial role in your recovery ability.

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The fourth principle can be viewed as a combination of progressive overload and fatigue management: Stimulus-Recovery-Adaptation (SRA).

In the progressive overload section, we established that training must progressively become more challenging to induce continuous adaptation. Conversely, in the fatigue management section, we emphasized the importance of monitoring fatigue and ensuring proper recovery.

The SRA principle combines these two concepts. It states that after providing an external stimulus (i.e., training) and managing fatigue effectively (i.e., recovery), we can achieve the desired adaptation.

Train hard, recover, train harder, repeat.

This principle can be explained using the General Adaptation Syndrome model, which outlines three distinct phases:

1. Alarm Phase: The body begins to experience the stressor (training) and activates various physiological and psychological processes in response.

2. Resistance Phase: The body adapts to the stress, increasing its capacity to cope. As a result, a greater stressor is needed to trigger new adaptations, reinforcing the need for progressive overload.

3. Exhaustion Phase: This occurs if the stress placed on the body exceeds its ability to recover. This is why fatigue management is crucial. We need periods of intense training followed by periods of easier training or rest; we cannot maintain peak intensity at all times.

Basically, we need to have blips of hard training and blips of easier training/rest, as we cannot always go at full speed.

If you neglect the SRA principle, fatigue can accumulate quickly, reaching a level where effective training becomes impossible. In fact, this could lead to a deterioration of your physical condition as fatigue skyrockets.

The key takeaway is this: train hard, allow your body time to recover, and then train harder to facilitate adaptation.

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Variation is the fifth principle.

It is based on the premise that if we continuously train using the same exercises and routines, our progress will eventually slow down and we will hit a plateau.

Consider learning a new language: in the early stages, we experience significant improvements because we are starting from scratch. Regardless of the learning method we choose, we see positive results. However, as we acquire more knowledge, progress becomes increasingly difficult. Eventually, the time spent on fine details may not yield proportionate improvements.

This phenomenon is known as adaptive resistance. As an athlete develops any quality they are training, the potential for further adaptation decreases, along with the rate of improvement.

In a weight training scenario, for example, if a 3x6 squat routine initially leads to growth due to its challenge, six months later, we might need to increase to 6, 7, or even 8 sets to achieve the same stimulus and maintain that challenge.

Similarly, in endurance training, if you start with a routine of running for 20 minutes at a steady pace, you may experience improvements in your cardiovascular fitness and endurance. However, after several months of following the same routine, your progress may plateau. To continue improving, you might need to increase the duration to 30 or even 40 minutes, or incorporate interval training to provide a new stimulus.

For this reason, incorporating variations in rep schemes, exercises, or changing the training routine is essential for breaking through plateaus and ensuring continued progress.

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The final training principle we will discuss is periodization. This concept refers to a logical sequence of phases within a training plan, where each initial stage lays the groundwork for improvements in subsequent phases. Organizing training in this way allows for greater enhancements compared to a continuous routine without distinct phases.

For instance, consider team sports like football or basketball. Athletes in these sports must develop multiple skills to compete at the highest level, including strength, power, agility, and endurance. However, since each ability requires dedicated time to develop, trying to train them all simultaneously can be counterproductive. Additionally, without achieving a solid foundation in one ability—such as strength—progress in related skills like power will be limited.

Using the analogy of language learning, imagine trying to learn Spanish and Italian at the same time. Without first mastering one language, your ability to understand the nuances of the other will be limited, and you might even confuse words due to their similarities. A more effective approach would be to focus on one language first, allowing you to build a strong foundation that can then provide a “boosting” effect when you start learning the other.

The same principle applies to training. By concentrating on limited number of abilities first ( to build a strong foundation), athletes can then shift their focus to other qualities later in the season.

However, it’s important to remember that if we neglect a specific ability for too long, our performance in that area will deteriorate due to a natural rate of decay.

Ultimately, finding a balance is crucial; we need to focus on a few skills at a time while ensuring that we don’t let too much time pass without training other abilities, to maintain overall performance.

Thank you for reading.

INTERESTING READINGS:

• Training Principles: Evaluation of Modes and Methods of Resistance Training - Stone et al (2002)

• The Fitness-Fatigue Model Revisited: Implications for Planning Short- and Long-Term Training – Chiu et al (2003)

• Specific training effects of concurrent aerobic and strength exercises depend on recovery duration - J.Robineau et al (2016)

• Scientific principles of hypertrophy training – M. Israetel et al (2020)