PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING
Sport Specific versus General Fitness
Why Train? What to Train For?
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The first questions that you need to ask yourself is
what am I training for? Am I training for general
fitness, or am I training to be better in my sport?
There will be some crossover between the two
types, however, your ultimate goal will drastically
change the way that you approach your training.
Sport Specific Training
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Training that is centered around building muscle
size, strength, power, and endurance in the muscles
that are frequently used during a specific activity.
Uses sport specific movements to develop muscle
memory as well as increase muscles ability.
The human body has an incredible ability to adapt
to an external stimulus. This type of training can
make you bigger, stronger, more explosive, and
able to last longer during practice and competition.
General Fitness Training
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Training that focuses on developing a well rounded
fitness base. General fitness allows the average
person to remain in shape by keeping their muscles
(including their heart) strong and flexible.
Very broad and can include a number of different
workouts. Multi-joint exercises are best, but isolative
exercises can be important too.
This type of training is suited to the average Joe or
Jill, looking to be healthy.
Cardiovascular Health
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Cardiovascular training is extremely important.
Keeps blood pressure and heart rate down.
One of the most important ways to prevent Heart
Disease and Stroke
Burns fat
What type of Cardio?
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High Intensity Training (The H.I.T. Principle)
 Focuses
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on working very hard for a shorter period of
time. This can be used in strength training as well.
 Interval Training: Training hard for 2-3 minutes, then
training lightly for 2-3 minutes up to a maximum of
usually around 20 minutes.
 Interval training is the best way to burn fat, increase
VO2 Max, and develop cardiovascular strength.
Endurance Cardiovascular Training: Cardio activity for
longer than 20 minutes. Usually not overly intense, but
gets heart rate in to optimal fat burning or cardio zone.
Heart Rate Chart
Flexibility
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Flexibility is very important.
Flexibility increases range of motion by stretching
muscles and tendons. It can help to prevent injuries
caused by hyperextension of joints.
Flexibility also allows you to develop more strength
over a greater range of motion (ROM).
Rest and Recovery
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While we often focus on getting in as much exercise
as possible, rest and recovery is also essential for
reaching your weight loss and fitness goals. While
you can often do cardio every day (though you may
want to rest after very intense workouts), you should
have at least a day of rest between strength
training workouts involving the same muscle groups.
Make sure you don't work the same muscles two
days in a row to give your body the time it needs to
rest and recover.
Cardio Guidelines
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Cardio strengthens the heart and lungs, increases
endurance and burns calories which helps you lose
weight.
•For health benefits, do moderately intense cardio
30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, OR
•Vigorous cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week
•For weight loss, you may need to do 60-90 minutes
of activity several days a week
Strength Training Guidelines
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With strength training, you lift weights (dumbbells,
barbells, resistance bands, machines, etc.) to
strengthen the muscles, bones and connective tissue.
Strength training is just as important for weight loss
as cardio. By lifting weights, you build lean muscle
tissue which raises metabolism and reduces body fat
as long as you're also watching your calorie intake.
Strength Training Guidelines Cont’d
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The general guidelines for strength training are:
•Choose 8-10 exercises, targeting the major muscle
groups (lower body, chest, back, shoulders, biceps,
triceps and abs)
•For beginners, do one set of 8-16 reps of each
exercise to fatigue. More advanced exercisers can do
2-3 sets.
•Train each muscle group 2-3 non-consecutive days a
week
•Work each exercise through its full range of motion
and use good form
Assignment
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Each of you will research and create your own
workout program. Each workout needs to consist of
9-12 exercises that can be completed in 45min-60
min.
All exercises will start out with you completing 1214 repetitions for the first 3 weeks.
You must have 3 separate days with different
exercises on each day. You must train all of your
major muscle groups by the end of your week.