Principles of program design: exercise prescription

principle of specificity

the body's physiological and metabolic responses and adaptations to exercise training are specific to the type of exercise and the muscle group involved. The more elite you are, the more specific you must be

principle of reversibility

when individuals discontinue their exercise programs, exercise capacity diminishes quickly. There is a profound clinical significance to detraining. Within a few months of stopping a training program, most training improvements were lost. 

principle of overload

body systems must be subject to stimuli that are greater than those to which the individual is accustomed. Exercise below a minimum intensity threshold will not challenge the body sufficiently to result in physiological changes.  

law of diminishing returns

a point at which the level of benefit gained is less than the energy spent. Upon hitting this point, every additional input will give you a slower gain in output.

principle of progression

throughout the training program, you must progressively increase a component of training to stimulate further improvement. 

principle of individual variability

Individual responses to a training stimulus are variable

Variability in responders/non-responders for individual variability

age, health status, genetics, individual fitness level

principle of initial values

individuals with low initial physical fitness levels will shower greater relative % gains and a faster rate of improvement in response to exercise training than individuals with average or high fitness levels

principles of program design

Specificity

Initial values

Reversibility

Interindividual variability

Progression

Overload

Diminishing returns