PRINCIPLES OF

TRAINING
HEALTH OPTIMIZING PHYSICAL EDUCATIO 1
WEEK 13
PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING
◦ Overload
◦ Progression
◦ Specificity
◦ Diminishing returns
◦ Rest & recovery
◦ Adaptation
◦ Reversibility
OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE
◦ Applying stress or resistance that the body is not used to.
◦ Applied to increase strength and/or endurance.

ADAPTATION PRINCIPLE
◦ When the stress or workload becomes easier thru regular training.
◦ As weeks and months go by, a person experiences less muscle soreness from training.
◦ Skills that a person practices become easier to perform.
PROGRESSION PRINCIPLE
◦ Gradually increase workload to ensure improvement of physical conditioning.
◦ Applied when a person adapts to the present routine.

SPECIFICITY PRINCIPLE
◦ Incorporates exercises that have direct influence in sports skills or fitness components that are
essential for performance.
◦ The movements that the body follows during exercise should have movement patterns closest
to the actual movements during actual performance.
◦ If a person wants to increase jump height, then that person must perform exercises that
develop strength, then power, of the muscles used in jumping.
 DIMINISHING
RETURNS
◦ The longer a person has
been training, the less or
harder the gains.
Intensity

https://www.nutritiontactics.com/strength-training-studies-underpowered-ironic-muscle-hypertrophy-stats-explained/
 DIMINISHING RETURNS
Below is an example of how a person increases the intensity/load for back squats (exercise) every two weeks,
and how the increase gets less and less as the weeks go by until the person reaches a plateau.

BACK SQUATS
Week Week Week Week Week Week Week
1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10 11-12 13-14
Intensity/load in kgs 30 kgs 45 kgs 55 kgs 63 kgs 68 kgs 70 kgs 70 kgs
Increase in intensity/load
n/a +15 kgs +10 kgs +8 kgs +5 kgs +2 kgs 0 kgs
(gains)

*REMEMBER this is just an example. DO NOT try making such progression on your own. Every fitness program should be personalized and
based on one’s own fitness level, timeline, and goals. It is best to consult a fitness expert.
REST AND RECOVERY
◦ Muscles need adequate amount of time in-between training sessions for recuperation and
adaptation
◦ After the day that a person did exercise, one to three days must be spent without doing exercise
for rest and recovery. The number of days may be based on factors such as goals, opportunity
to do exercise based on work/school schedule, fitness level, etc.

REVERSIBILITY PRINCIPLE
◦ A person can lose the effects of training when he/she stops training
◦ Example: Albert was engaged in a fitness program designed for him by his personal trainer for
two years. He stopped for two months, then decided to go back to working out. If he will do the
same exercises as he was doing before, he will definitely not be able to do them at the same
intensity because his fitness level will not be at the same level as before he stopped training.