Foundations of Fitness

You are made to move, and your body and brain thrive when they are challenged physically.

Fitness means being able to move well, move often, and being able to sustain movement for a long time.

Activity should be your default setting. Building foundations of daily activity and then training with focus on your specific goals (PR in a 5k, deadlift 500lbs, run a marathon) is the best way to be fit and stay fit. You need to design an environment where you can thrive and a plan you can sustain for life.

Strength training helps build a lean, resilient body by strengthening your muscles, bones, and connective tissues. Lean muscle creates the shape and tone of your body and increases your metabolism.

Conditioning develops your heart and lungs for endurance and stamina. It trains your body to utilize fat and carbohydrate for fuel and become efficient at performing various intensities.

In both Strength and Conditioning, training needs to be specific. You must train with a focus and train progressively for the body to improve and grow.

Below are a few of the principles you need to know in order to train with purpose.

Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand (The SAID Principle)

The body is extremely adaptable, but it will only adapt to the specific stresses it is placed under and it must have reason to improve. This means when it comes to exercise, you need to train your body, not just “workout.” To train means to teach a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction over a period of time. Your training must provide enough exposure to various stresses and it must push past the body’s usual threshold to cause a need for change.

The differences in body type and ability of elite level marathon runners and sprinters demonstrate this principle. Each runner trains uniquely to be the best at their respective distance and their bodies adapt accordingly. Sprinters train for short term, explosive strength (100-400 meters), characterized by fast-twitch (Type II) muscle fibers and use of the anaerobic energy systems, while marathoners train for long term speed endurance (26.2 miles), using primarily slow twitch (Type I) muscle fibers and the use of the aerobic system. These adaptations cause the sprinter to be fast and muscular, and give the marathoner stamina and a lean build.

How to apply the SAID Principle to your training goals. Here are a few guidelines:

• Fat loss – Use full-body circuits and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to burn more calories and preserve muscle, use longer duration/low intensity cardio to utilize fat for fuel
• Strength – Perform compound movements with heavy loads (85-100% of 1RM) and use longer rest periods to fully recovery between sets
• Muscle Building – Utilize volume and frequency - train often, with moderate to heavy loads for 3 or more sets and shorter rest periods to enhance anabolic hormones

Progressive Overload

Progressive Overload is the foundation to every resistance training program. It is really just an extension of the SAID Principle, but it applies more specifically to increases in muscle size, strength, and endurance. Your body’s musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems need to be continually challenged in new ways in order to keep improving; you must be challenged to grow.

Progressive overload can be achieved in a variety of ways. Here are some of the most effective ones:

• Load Progression - Lifting heavier loads each set or each workout
• Volume Progression – Adding reps to each set or sets to each work
• Frequency Progression - Lifting the same load and volume more often in a given week
• Rest Progression – decreasing the rest period between sets

It is best to use varying types of progression throughout your training. Some work better for certain goals (load progression for strength, volume progression for mass) and all should be used strategically to avoid plateaus.

The Energy Systems

Commonly lumped together under the term “cardio”- your cardiovascular system is made up of 3 distinct systems that, surprise, must be trained specifically. They are called Oxidative, Phosphagen and Glycolytic (referring to the way they make energy). The Oxidative System is also called aerobic and means “with oxygen,” while the Phosphagen and Glycolytic are anaerobic ,“without oxygen.”

In an anaerobic state, your body exclusively burns glycogen (carbohydrate) which is your body’s preferred energy source. This is also where you will burn more calories per output. In an aerobic state, your body can use glycogen, fat, and even muscle tissue to produce energy, making it far more efficient at generating and sustaining energy.

Think of the three systems as a pyramid, with Phosphagen at the top, Glycolytic in the middle, and Oxidative at the bottom. The Phosphagen system’s capacity is very limited, and is only used for very short, high intensity activities (a sprint or maximum effort lift). The Glycolytic is also limited, and can be used for high intensity, short to moderate activities (a 400m race). The Oxidative is nearly unlimited, and primarily used for low intensity, longer duration-activities.

It is important to note that all 3 systems work interdependently, not exclusively. You can’t sustain a high level of energy output for too long, so the next system must kick in to manage the energy demands. The higher you climb on the pyramid, the more intense the exercise becomes, and the more you need systems capable of higher output. At both the climb to the top of the pyramid (anaerobic) and back at the bottom you also get an aerobic training effect. This is why it is more effective to train anaerobically (at high intensities), because you will get some aerobic training as a byproduct and increase all 3 systems more efficiently. No more just doing “cardio.” You need to train these systems with a purpose. This is the key to improving your fitness and conditioning.

Guidelines for a Successful Training Plan

• Train a minimum of 3x/week – The volume and intensity will vary depending on your goals and other activities you are involved in, but 3 concentrated sessions pertaining to your goal should be the very minimum. This will ensure that your training becomes routine, and serve as a foundation for you to build upon as you seek new goals in the future
• Include a progressive warm up and cool down each workout – You must prepare your body for action; Be sure to include some basic movements to increase heart rate and blood flow as well as ones specific to those you will be performing. A general rule is to break a sweat in the first 10 minutes. The cool down will do just the opposite; it will bring the body back to its normal state. Including some flexibility work at the end is a good way to keep the body balanced and loose.
• Utilize body weight exercises initially – This will teach proper movement patterns, neuromuscular control, balance and coordination, and prepare the body to perform more advanced tasks
• Continued progress through progressive overload – Be sure to vary the volume, intensity, frequency and other variables so that your body continues to adapt. This doesn’t mean doing different exercises or loading parameters every workout, it just means having planned variations - either daily, weekly, or monthly depending on your goals - that lead to more work being done over time
• Have a nutrition plan that matches your goals – You can have the greatest training plan in the world put together, but unless you have a nutritional component that complements it, you will never see the results you want to achieve. Some goals require more calories, some require less, some require different variations on carbs, protein, fat, etc., but all require one thing; quality foods that give your body the nutrients it needs to perform and rebuild
• Pursue purposeful exercise and quality movement – Know what you are trying to achieve with each exercise you perform. Complete every repetition with proper technique, effort, and concentration. As my college soccer coach used to say, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”
• Change it up – Progressively challenge your body to keep improving. The body wants to be in a state of homeostasis, in order to trigger adaptation you must give it new stresses in the form of varied intensity, volume, frequency, rest periods, and range of motion.
• Allow for recovery – When properly stressing the body, you must have proper recovery. Getting adequate nutrition, enough sleep, and taking days off will be vital factors in staying healthy and seeing positive results.
• Have fun and appreciate the results – Find activities and exercises that you enjoy and utilize as many of them as you can in your program; otherwise they will never become part of your lifestyle. During the activities that you may not like as much, think about the results that will come from them and let those thoughts motivate you to do them anyway.