Name: Filipinas, Phoelene Kaye C.

Date: October 29, 2020___________

Course/Year/Block: BSN 1-7 Foundations of Physical Activities
Training Principles
I. Essay
Instructions: Identify the training principle/s which relate most to the given scenarios below. Briefly
explain why. (5 points each)
1. Mary made some great gains initially when she started lifting weights. She is complaining now that
weight training does not work anymore. She has not increased her weights for the last 3 months.

What Mary needs is progressive overload. The principle of progression states that continuous
overload of exercise should be performed if positive adaptations already took place for some time. If
Mary is lifting the same weights after promising gains, there will be no improvement in strength and
muscle mass – she is only maintaining what her body gained. Increasing reps and weights, in short,
increasing the demands your body needs to meet will force your body to make necessary changes and
improvements to achieve better results.
2. Deborah goes to the gym every day and always goes hard at it. Lately, her weights are getting lower,
she’s struggling to keep up in class and her body is always sore.

The principle of rest and recovery relates to this specific scenario. Without proper rest, Deborah
is endangering herself more, instead of actually benefitting from the hardcore routine. Exercise create
tears in muscle tissues and depletes muscle’s glycogen levels, resulting to muscle fatigue and soreness if
the body is not allowed to recover or rest. Deborah needs to realize that overtraining does not result to a
better outcome and could result to physical and mental exhaustion, in the end.
3. Jane is doing Step classes five days a week because she loves it! But she is starting to get sore shins.

Practicing exercises which you love is great for a good workout plan but one should note that
variety is also important in exercises, along with taking time to rest. The principle of variation and the
principle of rest and recovery should be exhibited in this scenario. Sore shins are inflammations of tissue
around the shin bone, which is a result of overtraining and repetitive activities on the same area. Having
a variety of exercises to execute is a good way to decrease the risk of overtraining and getting injured.
Adding to that, resting between days will allow the body to recover teared muscle tissues.
4. Tim is gutted. He has worked for six months to get into his body figure but since his ankle injury four
weeks ago, his running has gone back to what it was some time ago.

Who knew that there is such thing as detraining? This particular scenario relates to the principle
of reversibility, which is characterized by the reversal of adaptations made from training when training
is stopped for a long period of time. In Tim’s case, since he stopped running after his injury, his fitness
levels and muscle mass has declined, along with his VO2 max. However, he can immediately regain his
old body by slowly exercising his way to his end goal.
5. Amanda is stoked. Her fitness is just as good as when she went on holiday and all she did was a 2 x 30
minute hard runs each week. Before she left, she was running 4x a week for between 40-60 minutes.

The principle of maintenance can be seen from Amanda’s fitness journey. She maintained her
current fitness level by exercising at the same intensity while reducing volume – training as hard as
before even in shorten workouts can maintain a fitness component. It is important to note that
maintaining is easier than creating a new workout routine, or starting anew, even when the allotted time
for workout is reduced. This also actually allows the individual to shift different training programs when
different conditions persist, like how Amanda resorted to running 30 minutes hard runs twice a week on
a holiday.
6. Chris is a world class kayaker but over the last two years, his times have only dropped by 3% despite his
huge efforts in training. He has moved from 30th to 18th in the world on the back of this small change.

Although not directly included in the lecture proper, the ceiling principle relates to this specific
scenario, as well as the principle of periodization. The ceiling principle states that the amount of
improvement possible decreases based on the client getting closer to their genetic potential. Chris may
be already experiencing the ceiling principle since he is experiencing a decline in his times despite
efforts in training – his positive gains will become little to barely noticeable as compared to his (body)
improvements before. The principle of periodization comes in as Chris is an athlete player whom
requires systematic planning of specific training goals to achieve his peak performance during the
competition proper. Since he is at his ceiling potential, Chris may want to venture to different
approaches for optimal training mostly suited for his body and sports career goal.