Training or performing physical exercise has numerous health and mental benefits and must be a part of your daily life. It helps you build strength, speed, power, endurance, improve skill, build confidence and ambition, and  improve self-esteem. It helps you gain knowledge about your body; how it performs, what are its physical and mental capacities, and how you could improve them. It also makes your body more resilient against injuries and illness. 

Principles of training

Training is the practical application of science of sport and health sciences to improve the quality of life, improve athletic performance, reduce the risk of injury, and assist in injury rehabilitation. For training to be effective in achieving its desired outcome, few key elements, such as training intensity, training volume, training load, specificity, progression and periodization need to be in perfect harmony. 

Let’s learn about some of the key principles of training and how you could apply them to your training to achieve your goals.

1. Training Load or training intensity:  Exercise is a stressor that produces physical and mental responses in the body. It is this stress that helps us adapt to training. For training to be effective, and for optimal adaptation, this stress needs to be appropriately controlled. This is achieved by careful application of training load. It has two variables:

• External load: This is determined by the organization, quality, and  quantity of exercise. For example: in resistance training external load is the amount of weight lifted. Total work done, distance covered, or velocity achieved are other examples of external load. 
• Internal load: Specific external load creates a specific internal load in the body (termed as psychophysiological response). Heart rate, skin color, sweating, genetics, nutrition, lactate threshold, hydration, and sleep are some examples of internal load. 

Image showing training structure. 

2. Training Volume: Training Volume and load are inversely proportional. Meaning, as the intensity (load) goes up, training volume goes down. In resistance training, number of sets and repetitions represent total volume of training. Whereas, the amount of weights lifted in training intensity. A good training program should strive to strike the right balance between training load and training volume. 

3. Individuality: Every individual is different (anatomy, training age, genetics lifestyle), and training should be planned as per the individual differences. 

4. Specificity: Simply put, if you want to improve your 100 mt sprint, you shouldn’t be training like a marathon runner. Specific training induces specific responses, meaning your training should mimic the demands and skill of your actual activity or sport. 
5. Progressive Overload: In order to continue making progress, training demands placed on the systems of the body must be increased (overloaded) as they adapt and become capable of producing better performance (speed, strength, power and endurance). This is why training must always be progressive in nature, barring when the body is reaching the state of overreaching or overtraining. 

Application of principles of training

Now that you know about some of the core principles of training, let’s learn how to apply the principles of training intensity and training volume to your training. 

Volume is the number of sets and repetitions you perform. If you perform three sets of five repetitions, your total volume is fifteen repetitions. Volume and intensity are conversely proportional – as intensity goes up, volume reduces. It is humanly not possible to perform multiple sets or reps with one-rep-maximum load. 

It is common to prescribe training volume on the basis of one repetition-maximum (1-RM). Here is how you can find your one repetition-maximum of a particular exercise.  1-RM strength could be predicted using repetitions-to-fatigue with a submaximal weight. 

Beginners: 1-RM (kg) = 1.554  X 7 – to 10-RM weight (kg) – 5.181

Advanced: 1-RM (kg) = 1.172  X 7 – to 10-RM weight (kg) + 7.704

For example, estimate 1-RM bench press score for a trained individual whose 10-RM bench press is 70 kg as follows:

1-RM = 1.172 X 70 KG + 7.704 = 89.7 kg. 

Image showing the relation between intensity and volume of training.

Ratings of perceived exertion: Another widely used and reliable tool for prescribing exercise intensity is Borg’s Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE). Developed by Gunnar Borg, the scale allows the user to rate how easy or how hord the exercise is, providing an indication of exercise intensity. 

The scale goes from 1 – 10, 1 being absolutely easy, and 10 being maximal effort. 

Image showing RPE scale. 

Opposed to percentage-based training, RPE training accommodates daily stressors, such as sleep, work related stress, and nutrition, thereby giving the lifter a chance to avoid feeling burned-out. 

If you are a beginner, performing 2-3 sets of each exercise with 10-15 sets per muscle group per week at an intensity of 60-80% is a good recommendation to follow. Gradually, as your body starts adapting to the stress of training, you could then focus on increasing the intensity of your training. 

Whether you are an advanced athlete or a beginner, right from the very first time your training should alway be in balance when it comes to training intensity and training volume. It helps in:

• Reducing the risk of injury. 
• Optimal adaptation to training. 
• Optimal recovery. 
• Avoiding the conditions of overreaching and overtraining. 
• Keeping the process of training fun and motivating. 
• Proper application of overload and progression. 

References

1Current Sports Medicine Reports. Journals.lww.com. 2021. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/pages/default.aspx (accessed 21 March 2021).

2Impellizzeri F, Marcora S, Coutts A. Internal and External Training Load: 15 Years On. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 2019; 14: 270-273.

3Coffey V, Hawley J. Concurrent exercise training: do opposites distract?. The Journal of Physiology 2016; 595: 2883-2896.

4BarBend Newsletter – BarBend. BarBend. 2021. https://barbend.com/newsletters/ (accessed 21 March 2021).

5Chen M, Fan X, Moe S. Criterion-related validity of the Borg ratings of perceived exertion scale in healthy individuals: a meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences 2002; 20: 873-899.

6Eston R. Use of Ratings of Perceived Exertion in Sports. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 2012; 7: 175-182.

7ACE | Certified Personal Trainer | ACE Personal Trainer. Acefitness.org. 2021. https://www.acefitness.org (accessed 21 March 2021).

8Expert Strength Coaching + Free Content | Barbell Logic Online Coaching. Barbell Logic. 2021. https://barbell-logic.com (accessed 21 March 2021).

9Kasper K. Sports Training Principles. Current Sports Medicine Reports 2019; 18: 95-96.

10Lorenz D, Morrison S. CURRENT CONCEPTS IN PERIODIZATION OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING FOR THE SPORTS PHYSICAL THERAPIST. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2015 Nov;10(6):734-47. PMID: 26618056; PMCID: PMC4637911.

11Bomgardner R. Rehabilitation Phases and Program Design for the Injured Athlete. Strength and Conditioning Journal 2001; 23: 24-25.

12Reiman MP, Lorenz DS. Integration of strength and conditioning principles into a rehabilitation program. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2011 Sep;6(3):241-53. PMID: 21904701; PMCID: PMC3164002.

Prolonged sitting or being sedentary has been linked to various musculoskeletal complications such as neck pain, lower back pain, and cervical spondylosis. These complications have a high socioeconomic cost as they result in lost working days, and lead to significant health expenses. 

Also, being sedentary is associated with an increased risk of developing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, obesity, hypertension, type-2 diabetes, arthritis, cancer, depression, metabolic syndrome and all cause mortality. WIth rapid advancements in the fields of technology and entertainment, time spent in sitting has significantly increased, resulting in severely low levels of physical activity. 

Truth is; this is not the first piece you will read about the effects of being sedentary on health, and I am certain that this won’t be the last one to talk about it as well.  

My sincere concern is for you, why do you choose to stay glued to your television and mobile phone while lying in your bed, why do you choose to stay ignorant about your health? Why have you forgotten the fact that your body is meant to move, it is meant to jump, climb, lift, run and do so many extraordinary things? 

I believe, you have been shackled by the perils of convenience that your phone and computer have to offer, you let it in, and now it has intruded into every aspect of your life, and nobody, but only you can save yourself! 

What Is Being Sedentary? 

Metabolic equivalent (METs) is used to estimate how much energy is expended in doing an activity. Spending prolonged hours in activities of low energy expenditure (reading, screen-time, video games, driving, and viewing TV) of 1-1.5 METs is defined as sedentary behavior. 

The Price You Pay For Being Sedentary: 

Enjoying your TV a bit too much? You’re 50% more likely to die prematurely than those who sit the least. 

• Being sedentary causes severe damage to your muscle and bone health. Your body is meant to perform movement, and the lack of it leads to loss of muscle and connective tissue health. It is one of the major causes of sarcopenia (loss of muscle due to immobility).  
• It leads to an increased risk of obesity, and obesity related complications. 
• It leads to reduced insulin sensitivity, increased levels of inflammation in the body, and impaired blood sugar regulation in the body, thereby increasing the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome,  and cardiovascular diseases. 
• Reduced physical activity leads to impaired endothelial function, and increased risk of developing hypertension. 

Image 1 showing the effects of physical inactivity. 

• It results in impaired balance between bone resorption and formation, causing severe loss in bone mineral content. Consequently, leading to diseases such as osteoporosis, and arthritis. 
• Chronic low levels of physical activity could result in painful and irregular menstrual cycles. 

How Do We Address The Issue of Sedentary Behaviour? Answer: Physical Exercise. 

Physical exercise is a non-invasive means to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and improve the quality of life. Yet, so many people across all age-groups struggle to meet the recommended guidelines. 

Current Guidelines For Physical Exercise For Various Age Groups By World Health Organisation (WHO): 

• Infants stay physically active numerous times in a day via a variety of activities. 
• Children aged 1-2 years should spend a minimum of 180 minutes per day in moderate to vigorous physical activities. 
• Children aged 3-4 years should perform a minimum of 180 minutes of physical activity, out of which 60 minutes should be of moderate to vigorous nature. 
• Children and adolescents aged 5-17 years should participate in 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous daily physical exercise, and should include vigorous physical exercise three times per week. 
• Adults aged 18-64 years should perform 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise; or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity; or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week.
• Pregnant and postpartum women without contraindication should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week.

 Benefits of Physical Exercise: 

• Improves muscular health, and cardiorespiratory fitness.
• Reduces the risk of chronic diseases, such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and depression. 
• Improves mental health. 
• Reduces the risk of  developing osteoporosis and arthritis, and improves bone mineral density. 
• Reduces tremors, the risk of falls and fractures. 
• Reduces the risk of obesity. 
• Promotes optimal mental development in children, improves concentration and academic performance. 
• Reduces the risk of gestational hypertension, excessive gestational weight gain, delivery complications, postpartum depression, newborn complications in pregnant and postpartum women.

Go, get up, and move – you will feel a whole lot better. Unshackle yourself from this self-imposed prison of convenience! 

Author details:

References

• Ahrens, K., Vladutiu, C., Mumford, S., Schliep, K., Perkins, N., Wactawski-Wende, J. and Schisterman, E., 2014. The effect of physical activity across the menstrual cycle on reproductive function. Annals of Epidemiology, 24(2), pp.127-134.
• Biddle, S., García Bengoechea, E. and Wiesner, G., 2017. Sedentary behaviour and adiposity in youth: a systematic review of reviews and analysis of causality. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1).
• Booth, F., Roberts, C., Thyfault, J., Ruegsegger, G. and Toedebusch, R., 2017. Role of Inactivity in Chronic Diseases: Evolutionary Insight and Pathophysiological Mechanisms. Physiological Reviews, 97(4), pp.1351-1402.
• Hardman, A. and Stensel, D., 2009. Physical activity and health 2e. London: Routledge.
• Omidvar, S., Nasiri Amiri, F., Firouzbakht, M., Bakhtiari, A. and Begum, K., 2019. Association Between Physical Activity, Menstrual Cycle Characteristics, and Body Weight in Young South Indian Females. International Journal of Women’s Health and Reproduction Sciences, 7(3), pp.281-286.
• Shrestha, N., Kukkonen-Harjula, K., Verbeek, J., Ijaz, S., Hermans, V. and Pedisic, Z., 2018. Workplace interventions for reducing sitting at work. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews,.
• Warburton, D., 2006. Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 174(6), pp.801-809.
• Who.int. 2021. Physical activity. [online] Available at: <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity> [Accessed 25 February 2021].
• Wu, X., Han, L., Zhang, J., Luo, S., Hu, J. and Sun, K., 2017. The influence of physical activity, sedentary behavior on health-related quality of life among the general population of children and adolescents: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 12(11), p.e0187668.
• Wullems, J., Verschueren, S., Degens, H., Morse, C. and Onambélé, G., 2016. A review of the assessment and prevalence of sedentarism in older adults, its physiology/health impact and non-exercise mobility counter-measures. Biogerontology, 17(3), pp.547-565.

Training or performing physical exercise has numerous health and mental benefits and must be a part of your daily life. It helps you build strength, speed, power, endurance, improve skill, build confidence and ambition, and  improve self-esteem. It helps you gain knowledge about your body; how it performs, what are its physical and mental capacities, and how you could improve them. It also makes your body more resilient against injuries and illness. 

Principles of training

Training is the practical application of science of sport and health sciences to improve the quality of life, improve athletic performance, reduce the risk of injury, and assist in injury rehabilitation. For training to be effective in achieving its desired outcome, few key elements, such as training intensity, training volume, training load, specificity, progression and periodization need to be in perfect harmony. 

Let’s learn about some of the key principles of training and how you could apply them to your training to achieve your goals.

1. Training Load or training intensity:  Exercise is a stressor that produces physical and mental responses in the body. It is this stress that helps us adapt to training. For training to be effective, and for optimal adaptation, this stress needs to be appropriately controlled. This is achieved by careful application of training load. It has two variables:

• External load: This is determined by the organization, quality, and  quantity of exercise. For example: in resistance training external load is the amount of weight lifted. Total work done, distance covered, or velocity achieved are other examples of external load. 
• Internal load: Specific external load creates a specific internal load in the body (termed as psychophysiological response). Heart rate, skin color, sweating, genetics, nutrition, lactate threshold, hydration, and sleep are some examples of internal load. 

Image showing training structure. 

2. Training Volume: Training Volume and load are inversely proportional. Meaning, as the intensity (load) goes up, training volume goes down. In resistance training, number of sets and repetitions represent total volume of training. Whereas, the amount of weights lifted in training intensity. A good training program should strive to strike the right balance between training load and training volume. 

3. Individuality: Every individual is different (anatomy, training age, genetics lifestyle), and training should be planned as per the individual differences. 

4. Specificity: Simply put, if you want to improve your 100 mt sprint, you shouldn’t be training like a marathon runner. Specific training induces specific responses, meaning your training should mimic the demands and skill of your actual activity or sport. 
5. Progressive Overload: In order to continue making progress, training demands placed on the systems of the body must be increased (overloaded) as they adapt and become capable of producing better performance (speed, strength, power and endurance). This is why training must always be progressive in nature, barring when the body is reaching the state of overreaching or overtraining. 

Application of principles of training

Now that you know about some of the core principles of training, let’s learn how to apply the principles of training intensity and training volume to your training. 

Volume is the number of sets and repetitions you perform. If you perform three sets of five repetitions, your total volume is fifteen repetitions. Volume and intensity are conversely proportional – as intensity goes up, volume reduces. It is humanly not possible to perform multiple sets or reps with one-rep-maximum load. 

It is common to prescribe training volume on the basis of one repetition-maximum (1-RM). Here is how you can find your one repetition-maximum of a particular exercise.  1-RM strength could be predicted using repetitions-to-fatigue with a submaximal weight. 

Beginners: 1-RM (kg) = 1.554  X 7 – to 10-RM weight (kg) – 5.181

Advanced: 1-RM (kg) = 1.172  X 7 – to 10-RM weight (kg) + 7.704

For example, estimate 1-RM bench press score for a trained individual whose 10-RM bench press is 70 kg as follows:

1-RM = 1.172 X 70 KG + 7.704 = 89.7 kg. 

Image showing the relation between intensity and volume of training.

Ratings of perceived exertion: Another widely used and reliable tool for prescribing exercise intensity is Borg’s Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE). Developed by Gunnar Borg, the scale allows the user to rate how easy or how hord the exercise is, providing an indication of exercise intensity. 

The scale goes from 1 – 10, 1 being absolutely easy, and 10 being maximal effort. 

Image showing RPE scale. 

Opposed to percentage-based training, RPE training accommodates daily stressors, such as sleep, work related stress, and nutrition, thereby giving the lifter a chance to avoid feeling burned-out. 

If you are a beginner, performing 2-3 sets of each exercise with 10-15 sets per muscle group per week at an intensity of 60-80% is a good recommendation to follow. Gradually, as your body starts adapting to the stress of training, you could then focus on increasing the intensity of your training. 

Whether you are an advanced athlete or a beginner, right from the very first time your training should alway be in balance when it comes to training intensity and training volume. It helps in:

• Reducing the risk of injury. 
• Optimal adaptation to training. 
• Optimal recovery. 
• Avoiding the conditions of overreaching and overtraining. 
• Keeping the process of training fun and motivating. 
• Proper application of overload and progression. 

References

1Current Sports Medicine Reports. Journals.lww.com. 2021. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/pages/default.aspx (accessed 21 March 2021).

2Impellizzeri F, Marcora S, Coutts A. Internal and External Training Load: 15 Years On. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 2019; 14: 270-273.

3Coffey V, Hawley J. Concurrent exercise training: do opposites distract?. The Journal of Physiology 2016; 595: 2883-2896.

4BarBend Newsletter – BarBend. BarBend. 2021. https://barbend.com/newsletters/ (accessed 21 March 2021).

5Chen M, Fan X, Moe S. Criterion-related validity of the Borg ratings of perceived exertion scale in healthy individuals: a meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences 2002; 20: 873-899.

6Eston R. Use of Ratings of Perceived Exertion in Sports. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 2012; 7: 175-182.

7ACE | Certified Personal Trainer | ACE Personal Trainer. Acefitness.org. 2021. https://www.acefitness.org (accessed 21 March 2021).

8Expert Strength Coaching + Free Content | Barbell Logic Online Coaching. Barbell Logic. 2021. https://barbell-logic.com (accessed 21 March 2021).

9Kasper K. Sports Training Principles. Current Sports Medicine Reports 2019; 18: 95-96.

10Lorenz D, Morrison S. CURRENT CONCEPTS IN PERIODIZATION OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING FOR THE SPORTS PHYSICAL THERAPIST. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2015 Nov;10(6):734-47. PMID: 26618056; PMCID: PMC4637911.

11Bomgardner R. Rehabilitation Phases and Program Design for the Injured Athlete. Strength and Conditioning Journal 2001; 23: 24-25.

12Reiman MP, Lorenz DS. Integration of strength and conditioning principles into a rehabilitation program. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2011 Sep;6(3):241-53. PMID: 21904701; PMCID: PMC3164002.