STAGES OF CHANGE OR MOTIVATIONAL READINESS

Understanding each stage will help you determine where you are in relation to your different
personal health behaviours. It is common to be at various stages of change for different
behaviors.

1. PRECONTEMPLATION
•the stage during which individuals are not intending to make a long-term lifestyle change in
the foreseeable future; this is the “I won’t” stage. Individuals in this stage are either unaware,
unwilling, or too discouraged to change. They may be unaware of the risks associated with
their behaviors.
• Or they may think, “It can’t happen to me” or “It’s not that serious.” Or, they may want to
change but do not intend to take action because they may have become discouraged as a
result of being unsuccessful in previous attempts to change.

2. CONTEMPLATION
• stage begins when the individual starts to think seriously about intending to make a long-
term change in the near future (within 6 months); this is the “I might stage.
•In this stage, individuals are more open to information and want to learn more. They have
become more aware of the problem behavior but have not yet made a commitment to act.

3. PREPARATION
•stage is when the individual intends to take action in the immediate future: this is the “I will”
stage. People in this stage realize that the behavior change is an important part of who they
are.
• In this stage, you feel certain that you will begin a regular exercise program soon.

4. ACTION
•the desired level of the behavior has been reached, and it is consistently adhered to, although
the individual has been doing it for less than 6 months, this is the “I am” stage.
• The individual has made significant effort to change and, more important, has achieved
some degree of success with the change.
5. MAINTENANCE
• stage is when the behavioral practice is becoming habit; this is the “I still am” stage. People
in this stage are strongly committed to their changed behavior and have maintained the
desired level for more than 6 months. Maintainers have a much lower risk of relapse than
action takers do.
• As the maintenance of the desired behavior becomes lengthened. Heightened resistance to
relapse develops over time; individuals could theoretically exit the stages of change and find
themselves in the termination stage.

6. TERMINATION
• is when the individual no longer needs to attend to the task of maintaining the change: the
behavior change is completely integrated into his or her lifestyle.
• In this stage it is no longer something you have to “do”-it’s just who you are. The
temptation to revert to the former behavior is completely gone and the new healthy behavior
is almost an effortless part of who you are.

PRINCIPLES OF FITNESS TRAINING

These principles govern how your body responds to the stimulus of physical activity, By
following these principles, you can be sure to design a sale and effective activity program.

1. PRINCIPLE OF OVERLOAD
•states that a greater than normal load or intensity on the body system is required for training
adaptation or improved function to take place.
•In other words, you ask your body to do more than you usually require it to do in a normal
day. Our bodies respond to this overload by increasing fitness to better handle the same load
in the future. If the load is less than normal on a regular basis, your fitness level decreases.

2. PRINCIPLE OF PROGRESSION
•must be applied in a systematic and logical fashion over an extended period of time to
ensure safety and effectiveness. If too much overload is applied too soon, the system does not
have time to adapt properly and benefits may be delayed or injury may occur.
•You need to overload your body gradually so that it has time to respond and adapt. This does
not mean you increase the overload every time you exercise or participate in physical activity.
Rather, you attempt to achieve a new level of performance measured best by months rather
than days or weeks.

FITT Formula:
FREQUENCY
Refers to how you exercise and is most often expressed in the number of days per week.
INTENSITY
-refers to how hard you exercise. Fitness develops when a greater than normal load or
stimulus is placed on the body system.
Intensity is measured differently for each fitness component because each is influenced by a
different part of the body systems.
TIME
-is how long you exercise, Like Intensity, time and duration varies by fitness component. To
achieve health-related benefits from cardio respiratory endurance activities, it is
recommended that adults perform 20-60 minutes daily. Time daily. Time in resistance training
is most often measured by number of repetition and sets you complete and how much time
you rest between sets.
TYPE
-dictates what kind of exercise you should choose to achieve the appropriate training
response for the type of fitness you are trying to improve.

3. PRINCIPLE OF SPECIFICITY
•Indicates the need for an individual to perform a specific type of exercise to improve each
fitness component or improve fitness of a specific body part.
• In other words, to Improve muscular fitness, it is important to participate in resistance-type
activities. Likewise, to improve cardio-respiratory endurance, you must participate in
aerobic-type activities.

4. PRINCIPLE OF REVERSIBILITY
•states that changes occurring from physical activity are reversible and that if you stop being
active for an extended period of time, your body deconditions and reverts back to its
pertaining condition.
•Thus the maxim “use it or lose it.” Which is closely related to the biological principle of use
or disuse. The use and disuse principle dictates that although rest periods are necessary for
recovery after workouts, extensive rest intervals (more than a week or two) lead to a gradual
loss within 2 months if you completely stop exercising.
 5. PRINCIPLE OF RECOVERY
• states that physical activity, no matter how structured, requires a period of rest to permit the
body to be restored to a state in which it can exercise once more. Adequate time is required
for recovery of the large- scale systems that power the body during exercise and the
restoration of the energy stores depleted by exercise. Both allow for adaptation to take place.
•It is generally recommended that you rest 48 to 72 hours between exhaustive activity
sessions that are similar in nature.

6. PRINCIPLE OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

• states that we all vary in our ability to develop fitness in each of the fitness components.
These differences have to do with genetics, age, body size and shape, chronic conditions,
injuries, and gender.
• Not only do we differ in fitness based on heredity, but people different genetic backgrounds
respond differently to exercise. In other words, two people of different genetic backgrounds
could do the same program and get quite different benefits. Some people may get as much as
10 times the benefit from activity as others who do the same program.
•Although we cannot choose our parents, we can choose how we live our lives.

7. PRINCIPLE OF DIMINISHING RETURNS

• As individuals become fitter, the benefits they receive from working out may not be as great
as when they initially started.

• For example, sedentary individuals or those just beginning a fitness program tend to record
the greatest magnitude of changes for small doses of physical activity.
• However, as these individuals become fitter, the gains achieved become less and less, even
though PA is increased. This occurs as individuals approach their limits of adaptability.

8. PRINCIPLE OF VARIATION
• Including variation into a fitness program maintains individual’s interest and provides a
change of pace while making progress toward desired goals.
• Helps alleviate boredom and overcome periods where there seems to be little progress.

9. PRINCIPLE OF SAFETY
• Safety is of paramount concern in designing a fitness program.
•Before starting a program, individuals should have a thorough medical screening. This is
particularly critical when special conditions exist, such as beginning an exercise program
after a long period of inactivity or for rehabilitation after a heart attack.

Most Common Causes of Injury

• Failure to Warm UP
• Over training
•Excessive loading on the body
•Not taking safety precautions
• An Accident
• Poor Exercise Technique
• Reoccurring injury
• Genetic Factors
•Muscle weakness or imbalance
•Lack of flexibility
• Joint laxity
•Inappropriate equipment