The FITT principle

There are four ways to achieve overload in an exercise programme. They can
easily be
remembered using the mnemonic, FITT.
The F.I.T.T. Principle is one of the foundations of exercise, a set of guidelines that
help you set
up a workout routine for maximum benefit. F.I.T.T. stands for:

Frequency–how often you train.

Intensity–how hard you train.
Time(or duration) –how long you train for.
Type–the kind of training you do.

Frequency
How often you exercise/train.

For Cardiovascular Exercise: Exercise Guidelines suggest moderate exercise

five days a
week or intense cardio three days a week to improve your health. For weight
loss, you
may need to do up to six or more days a week.

For Strength Training: The recommended frequency here is 2-3 non-consecutive

days a
week (at least 1-2 days between sessions.)

Intensity
How hard you train/How hard you work during exercise.

For Cardiovascular Exercise: The general rule is to work in your target heart rate
zone
(60-85% or 120-180) and focus on a variety of intensities to stimulate different
energy
systems.
For Strength Training: The exercises you do (at least 8-10 exercises), the amount
of
weight you lift and your reps and sets determine the intensity of your strength
workouts. In general, you want to lift enough weight that you can only complete
the
desired number of reps (around 1-3 sets of 8-16 reps of each exercise).

Time
(or duration) How long you train for/How long you exercise.
For Cardiovascular Exercise: The exercise guidelines suggest 30-60 minutes of
cardio (or
working your way up to that). How long you exercise will not just be dependent
on your
fitness level, but also your intensity. The harder you work, the shorter your
workouts
will be.
For Strength Training: How long you lift weights depends on the type of workout
you're
doing and your schedule. For example, a total body workout could take up to an
hour,
whereas a split routine could take less time.

Type
The kind of training you do/The type of activity you are doing.

For Cardiovascular Exercise: Any activity that gets your heart rate up counts as
cardio -
Running, walking, cycling, dancing, swimming, sport-related activities, etc.
For Strength Training: This pretty much includes any exercise where you're
using some
type of resistance (bands, dumbbells, machines, etc.) to work your muscles.
Bodyweight
exercises can also be considered a form of strength training, as well, although
building
strength will likely require more resistance.

If your aim is simple health related fitness, then the type of exercise you do does
not matter
very much –it just needs to raise your pulse into the aerobic zone for about 20
minutes.
You could even include activities like gardening, walking the dog or just dancing
round your
kitchen. However, if you are training for a specific event or competition, then the
type of
the exercise you do is very important.

Intensity will affect the time (or duration) of each training session. The length of
session
required to achieve improvements depends on how hard a performer is training.

To achieve improvements in aerobic fitness, you should aim to spend at least 20

minutes per session in the target zone.
However, time will vary greatly depending on the activity the performer is training
for.
If they are training for a marathon, they may need to spend several hours at a
time in
the aerobic zone.
A sprinter, on the other hand, will need to spend relatively little time exercising
–their
sessions are likely to consist of many short, high intensity bursts with lengthy
rests in-
Between.

Types of Training The 7 Methods Of Training

Continuous Training

Continuous training is any form of training that maintains the heart rate at a
desired level over a sustained period of time.

An example of continuous training would be cycling for 30 minutes at an intensity

that raises the heart rate. Other examples of exercises include running,
swimming or a mix (e.g. Triathlons).
When completing continuous training, an athlete should aim to keep their heart
rate between 60% and 80% of their maximum heart rate. You may want to read
our article on the energy systems to learn more on how to measure your
maximum heart rate and the different heart rate training zones.

Advantages

Continuous training is useful as it improves cardiovascular fitness and you can

train in most places. It is also good as you can train on your own or with a group.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantages of continuous training is that it can become boring and
tedious. We all know how boring it can be doing the same activity over and over
again. Varying your activity can help and our article on 5 ways on how to be a
better coach may be of interest here.

Fartlek Training

Fartlek training is a method of training that uses periods of exercise and rest. An
example of Fartlek training is running at a full sprint for 10 seconds, walking for 1
minute followed by a medium intensity jog for 4 minutes. An athlete would then
rest for a set period of time and then repeat the programme again.

Fartlek training should always consist of both high and low intensity training.

Advantages

An advantage of Fartlek training is that it develops both aerobic and anaerobic

systems as this type of training uses different types of intensity.

A further advantage of Fartlek training is that you can use this method virtually
anywhere so very little equipment is needed.
Disadvantage

A disadvantage of Fartlek training is that it can become very repetitive and those
new to training can find the intensity difficult to sustain for a long period of time.

Circuit Training

Circuit training is a type of training that involves exercises at a variety of different

stations. An example of circuit training could be to have six stations where an
athlete completes 30 seconds of activity at each station. The stations could
consist of:

●​ Burpees
●​ Press ups
●​ Sit ups
●​ Skipping
●​ Tricep dips
●​ Squats

Advantage

An advantage to circuit training is the stations can be easy to set up and can
require very little equipment.

Another advantage is that the stations can work on the same or different parts of
the body and circuit training can also involve sport related activities, fitness
exercises or both.

Circuit training can also allow for a period of rest between each station and work
on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.

Disadvantage
A disadvantage of circuit training is that athletes can fatigue very easily if the
circuit is not designed correctly.

A further disadvantage is that you may need a lot of equipment depending on

how you have planned your circuit.

Weight Training

Weight training is a method of training using weights. This could be free standing
weights such as the Yes4All adjustable dumbbells, body weight exercises,
resistance bands (View Price on Amazon here) or weight machines such as the
Bow Flex Home Gym Series.

Athletes use their 1 Rep Max to determine the intensity of the activity in weight
training (Read more on how to measure intensity here). Weight training is
measured using Sets and Reps.

Advantage

An advantage of weight training is it works on developing a number of

components of fitness such as Power, Speed, Muscular Strength and Muscular
endurance.

Disadvantage

A disadvantage of weight training is that you need to have weight training

equipment available to use. Our article on the best sports training equipment
includes our favourite weight machines and as you can see for the article, these
can be expensive to purchase.
A further disadvantage is that serious injury can occur if an athlete is not trained
correctly on how to use the machines.

Interval Training

Interval training is exercising with periods of rest planned into the session. An
example of interval training is completing 10x30m sprints with 20 seconds rest in
between each effort.

Interval training works on both aerobic and anaerobic systems as well as

developing the body’s recovery system.

Advantage

An advantage of interval training is that training sessions can be quick compared

to other methods of training such as continuous training.
Another advantage is that this method of training uses rest to help aid recovery
and can be relevant to sports (such as football or tennis).

It is also possible to measure the intensity of a training session by measuring a

persons heart rate (check out our article on our top 5 heart rate monitors for
more).

Disadvantages

A disadvantage of interval training is that athletes new to exercise can find this
method of training hard to repeat over a sustained period of time.

Plyometric Training

Plyometric training is a type of training that involves exercises with short bursts of
high intensity. An example of a plyometric exercise is a reverse lunge with
knee-up.

This method of training involves high intensity exercises/stretches aiming to

improve muscular speed and muscular strength.

Advantages

An advantage of plyometric training is that it can reduce the chances of injury in

the long term. It can also improve power, speed and strength.

Disadvantages

A disadvantage of plyometric training is that this method of training may not be

suitable for beginners. A further disadvantage to plyometric training is that
coaches will need to research the stretches and activities beforehand and if they
are performed incorrectly or to the incorrect athletes, it can cause pain or even
injury to the athletes.
 Flexibility Training

Flexibility training is completing certain exercises that will improve a person's

range of motion around a joint. An example of a flexibility training exercise is the
calf raiser.

Flexibility training is often regarded as an addition to a training session and not

fully planned for in a yearly training programme. To do this correctly, Flexibility
training should be incorporated into each training session as well as dedicated
training sessions just focusing on developing flexibility.

To correctly apply this type of training method, it is recommended that a total of

60 seconds should be spent on each stretching exercise.

Advantages
The advantage of completing flexibility training is that it can reduce the chance of
injury. In addition to this, it increases the range of motion and could improve your
technique and skill development.

Disadvantages

A disadvantage of flexibility training is that some athletes can find stretching

boring and not necessary. Another disadvantage is that it can take a while to see
benefits of this training method.