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Principles of Exercise



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Adherence to certain basic exercise principles is important for developing an effective program. The principles of exercise apply to everyone at all levels of physical training, from the Olympic-caliber athlete to the weekend jogger. They also apply to fitness training for military personnel.

These basic principles of exercise must be followed:

  • Regularity. To achieve a training effect, a person must exercise of ten. One should strive to exercise each of the first four fitness components at least three times a week. Infrequent exercise can do more harm than good. Regularity is also important in resting, sleeping, and following a good diet.
  • Progression. The intensity (how hard) and/or duration (how long) of exercise must gradually increase to improve the level of fitness.
  • Balance. To be effective, a program should include activities that address all the fitness components, since overemphasizing any one of them may hurt the others.
  • Variety. Providing a variety of activities reduces boredom and increases motivation and progress.
  • Specificity. Training must be geared toward specific goals. For example, soldiers become better runners if their training emphasizes running. Although swimming is great exercise, it does not improve a 2-mile-run time as much as a running program does.
  • Recovery. A hard day of training for a given component of fitness should be followed by an easier training day or rest day for that component and/or muscle group(s) to help permit recovery. Another way to allow recovery is to alternate the muscle groups exercised every other day, especially when training for strength and/or muscle endurance.
  • Overload. The work load of each exercise session must exceed the normal demands placed on the body in order to bring about a training effect.
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