Principles of training

The acronym ISPORRT can be used to remember the principles of training:

  • Individual Needs
  • Specificity
  • Progressive Overload
  • Overtraining
  • Rest and recovery
  • Reversibility
  • Thresholds of training

Every performer has their own individual needs and so will require a different training programme. Their training programme must be tailored to the performer and their needs as well as being relevant to what they are training for. Every performer will have varying aims as well.

The training programme must be specific about what component of fitness will be worked on and how it relates to the activities that they do. Some sports require a variety of components of fitness so one may be focused on in each training session.

Progressive overload is gradually increasing the amount of overload you do to increase your fitness with a reduced risk of injury. Within progressive overload is the FITT principle

Overtraining is training too frequently and not allowing your body to rest and repair after training. If you frequently overtrain you have a much higher increase in risk of injury and a decrease in performance

Rest and recovery is allowing your body time to recover after exercise and allowing adaptations to take place. Rest allows the body time to recover from stress put on it during training. It also allows adaptations to the body to take place

Reversibility is the principle that any fitness gained, or body adaptations developed from training will gradually reverse and be lost if you stop training. If you rest for too long or stop training altogether this can occur. When coming back to training you should take into account the amount of time you have not been training for

Thresholds of training set levels for performers to train at depending on their aims to ensure their training is safe and impactful. If you work below your lower threshold, little to no impact will be made. If you train above your upper threshold could cause damage and injury. The two training zones are aerobic and anaerobic. Your aerobic zone (60-80% of maximum heart rate) increases your cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance and reduces body fat. Your anaerobic zone (80-90% of maximum heart rate) increases your strength and power, uses primarily fast twitch muscle fibres and works at a much higher intensity.

The FITT principle:

  • Frequency - increasing number of sessions a week
  • Intensity - Increasing intensity e.g running faster or lifting heavier weights
  • Time - Increasing the time spent on each activity
  • Type - Matching the type of training to the component of fitness you want to improve

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