FITT Principles and Related Vocabulary

Principle of Frequency - Frequency refers to how often the activity or exercise is performed. It is important to set up a regular schedule for activity. You are likely to see improvements when you exercise regularly and have a scheduled fitness routine. Typically, a safe frequency of activity or exercise is three to five times per week. Principle of Intensity - Intensity refers to how hard your body works during the activity or exercise. Being able to monitor the amount of effort it takes during your workouts is important. Increasing repetitions, monitoring your heart rate or RPE (rate of perceived exertion- scale of 1-5) are a couple of ways to determine your intensity during activity. As you continue workouts, you can begin to slowly increase intensity of your activity or exercise and gain additional fitness benefits. Principle of Type - Type refers to the activity you choose in order to achieve an appropriate training response. Selecting the right activity or exercise is important when setting goals. Consider the characteristics of each exercise you choose and how they will improve your fitness levels or skills. For example, if you wanted to improve or increase your push-up PR you might choose to do exercises like release, incline or decline pushups or planks. Principle of Time - Time typically refers to the duration of the activity or exercise but could also include the number or reps (repetitions). Gradually increasing the amount of time spent or reps executed on the activity or exercise will allow your body to adjust and become more efficient during performance. This factor varies, depending on the health-related and skill-related fitness you are addressing. For example, cardiovascular activity recommends a minimum of 20 minutes while stretching may take 1030 seconds for each stretch.

Examples:
FITT Principle for Cardiovascular Endurance: Frequency- exercise 3-5 times per week Intensity-train at 60-85% of target heart rate zone or RPE 3-5 Time-20-60 minutes per session is recommended Type-any aerobic activity that keeps heart rate within your target heart rate zone is good; running, biking, swimming, etc. Fitnessgram- Pacer & Mile FITT Principle for Muscular Endurance: Frequency- weight train 2-4 times per week Intensity- add or maintain weight and execute a higher number of repetition during the workout Select a weight that you can lift more than 12 times. The weight being lifted is called the resistance. Each lift is called a repetition. Repetitions are the number of times an exercise is repeated. A fixed number of repetitions followed by a rest period are called sets. Rest periods between sets is minimal lasting no more than 30 seconds. Time- a total workout can be about 30-60 minutes Type- an activity that allows the muscles to perform a physical task over a period of time without becoming fatigued; body weight, exercise bands, etc. Fitnessgram- Crunches. *To build muscular endurance, lift lighter weights (less resistance) with more (13-25) repetitions. FITT Principle for Muscular Strength: Frequency- weight train 2-4 times per week Intensity- train at 60%-75% of 1RM for 6-12 repetitions Select a weight that you can lift at least 6 times but no more than 12 times. The weight being lifted is called the resistance. Each lift is called a repetition. Repetitions are the number of times an exercise is repeated. A fixed number of repetitions followed by a rest period are called sets. Rest periods between sets is between 1 and 3 minutes long Time- a total workout can be about 30-60 minutes Type- anaerobic activities such as weight lifting. Fitnessgram- Push-ups *To build muscular strength, lift heavier weights (more resistance) with fewer (6-12) repetitions.

FITT Principle for Flexibility: Frequency- daily stretching Intensity- stretch muscles and hold beyond its normal length at a comfortable stretch Time- hold stretch for 10-15 seconds with the stretching workout lasting 15-30 minutes or as part of a warm-up or cool down. Type- static and/or dynamic. Fitnessgram- Shoulder Stretch & Sit & Reach

Planning is essential when working to improve your bodys fitness. These are some training principles you should consider when planning your own workout program.
Principle of Specificity - How did you do on your fitness tests? When you set goals for your workouts, you will be addressing your specific training needs. Using a specific set of activities, you will be able to refine your skills. For example, tennis players may want to improve their ability to change directions quickly so they can return more balls over the net and win more matches. You may do relay drills to help you specifically improve your agility. Principle of Progression - The way you increase your intensity and duration during activity refers to the Principle of Progression. Your challenges in your training should increase in a logical and gradual manner to offer the most benefit to the body and avoid risk of injury. For example, an inactive person would be unable to train adequately for a marathon in just one week. Attempting too much activity in the beginning would place this person at risk of serious injuries. The training should include a gradual progression in time and intensity of each workout. Principle of Overload - The Principle of Overload refers to the adjustments the body makes when it is stressed beyond normal levels. By exercising at a level above normal, a variety of changes take place that cause the body to function more efficiently. Have you ever done an activity or exercised really hard and felt extremely sore the first time you did the activity, but then the next time you did the activity you did not feel nearly as sore? This is an example of your bodys response to overload, as it grows stronger and adapts to physical activity. Principle of Reversibility - Have you ever taken a break from your exercise routine, only to return and find you had difficulty reaching the same levels of performance? It is important that training continues or you will reverse in your improvements. An example of reversibility in action is taking time off during the summer months and not doing activities like running a mile, push ups or sit ups? When you return to school in September do these activities seem really difficult? If you stop participating in an activity for a given length of time, you will see a decline in your fitness and skill levels. Be sure to stay active, including PE related fitness skills during the summer to avoid this issue. Principle of Tedium - The Principle of Tedium suggests including variety in your workouts to avoid boredom and overuse injuries. If your normal routine includes jogging five days a week for 20 minutes, you may want to consider adding some other cardiovascular activities. You could jog three days a week and bike a local trail on the other two days. This will provide a change of scenery and variety in your workout to prevent tedium and eventually, loss of interest in your workouts.