PHYSIOLOGY OF
EXERCISE AND
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
ARLENE P. GIRAY
Subject Professor
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Application of the
Principles of Training
Module 2
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Learning Objectives
How to apply the principles of training:
moderation, reversibility, specificity, variance,
overload and progression
How to apply knowledge of the principles of
training to periodization
How to define periodization and macro, meso and
micro cycles
How to plan a personal health and fitness program
that will promote sustained involvement in a
balanced, active and healthy lifestyle; the plan
should include principles of training.
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The effective training follows
several basic guidelines that
should be applied to all
forms of training: these are
known as the ‘PRINCIPLES OF
TRAINING’
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MODERATION
A balance between too much or too
little training to achieve adaptation.
Training load needs to be balance
Too much will lead to burn out
(physical and mental fatigue and over
use injuries)
Too little will not gain the body any
adaptations 5
REVERSIBILITY During periods of injury, holidays or
illness, if you stop training your
Adaptation to training are adaptations will reverse and upon
resuming training you will need to start
reversed if the training is again at a lower level than when you
reduced or stop stopped training.
Overload – when the body is made to
work harder than it normally does, in
order to cause adaptation
One of the most significant adaptations
to be reversed in response to inactivity
is known as Atrophy – decrease in the
size of muscle cells and takes place
after approximately 48 hours.
Fitness – If you don’t use
it you lose it. 6
SPECIFICITY
1. THE INDIVIDUAL - each performer has a
different rate of adaptation in response
to different types of training, primarily
due to genetic variations.
2. The sport/activity – the predominant
energy system/s, the major fitness
components, movement patterns,
muscle fiber type and muscle/joints
used for that particular sport/activity.
1.01 Remember structural organization 7
VARIANCE
Helps prevent repetitive strain/overuse
injuries, such as osteoarthritis, stress
fractures and shin splints, which are
common with performers such as ballet
dancers.
Varietyis the spice of life and this is just
as true for training.
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OVERLOAD
In order to produce a training effect,
exercise or workload must be increased as
the body adapts, so that the individual in
training at a level slightly above that which
they would usually perform at.
The chronic overloading of muscles through
exercise causes adaptations to perform
better in exercise.
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Overload is achieved by
adjusting/increasing FITT:
1.FREQUENCY- How often you train
2.INTENSITY – how hard you train
3.TIME – (duration) how long you
train for
4.TYPE – aerobic or anaerobic
training as covered within
specificity 10
PROGRESSION
An extension of the overload principle
Overload is increased gradually over the course of
an exercise program
Slow, gradual overload increase first 4-6 weeks of
a program (starter phase)
Steady, progressive overload increase next 18 to
20 weeks
Once desired fitness level is achieved, develop a
maintenance program to sustain the benefits.
Note: 10% rule: a common-sense guidelines to improve physical fitness without
injury.
- Training intensity or exercise duration should be increased by no more than 10%
a week 11
PERIODIZATION
Organized division of training into a
number of specific blocks, periods or
phases.
Ensure athletes progressively develop to
reach a skill/physiological peak at the
correct time for an ultimate sporting
target.
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MACRO-CYCLE
Longer-time plan of
training aimed at achieving
a long-term goal/objective.
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MESO-CYCLE
An intermediate block of training
aimed at achieving a particular
medium-term goal/objective.
Typically lasts between 4 to 16 weeks.
Itis simplest form, a macro-cycle could
consist of three meso-cycles namely
pre-season, competition and off-season
(or transition) training. 14
PRE-SEASON
Meso-cycle 1.1/basic fitness phase – this part
of the training cycle is characterized by the
development of a basic/general all-around
fitness.
Meso-cycle 1.2/specific event phase –
characterized by training that will
progressively increase in intensity and focus
on the fitness components important for the
individual/event.
Meso-cycle 1.3/ pre-competition phase – as
competition season approaches, the focus is
to integrate all the aspects above.
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COMPETITION SEASON
Meso-cycle2.1/ maintenance phase – the
aim is to maintain fitness levels between
competitions and remain injury-free.
Meso-cycle 2.2/monitoring and recovery
phase – important to monitor closely for
signs of overtraining/burn out, and taper
down training intensity and increase
recovery if necessary as the tail end of the
season approaches. 16
TRANSITION/OFF-SEASON
Meso-cycle 3.1/recovery phase 1
Meso-cycle 3.2 a gradual build-up of low-
level training/ activity or cross-training to
help start preparing body for the start of
pre-season training.
Meso-cycle 3.1 and 3.2 are typically between
2 and 4 weeks long; however, the longer
the competition season, the greater the
rest/ recovery phase that may be required.
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MICRO-CYCLE
Simply a number of training sessions
which form a recurrent unit. Although
they can last up to three weeks, a
micro-cycle is typically one week of
training aimed at achieving a short-
term objective/goal.
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BENEFITS OF PERIODIZATION
➢ MODERATION/REVERSIBILITY
➢ SPECIFICITY
➢ VARIANCE
➢ OVERLOAD
➢ PROGRESSION/TESTING
➢ WARM UP/COOL DOWN
➢ FLEXIBLE
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Testing
Testing will enable the athlete/coach to
monitor whether the training load is
correct:
At the start of training, to ensure the
overload is not too high/low
During training, to assess when it may
need increasing to ensure further
adaptations or even decreasing to
prevent burn out.
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Warm up
Three phases of warm up
1. pulse-raising activities – aerobic sub-maximal exercise to
increase temperature/elasticity and cardiac output (Q),
heart rate (HR), and minute ventilation (VE), in order to
redistribute blood from organs to muscles
2. Mobility – controlled joint movement should rehearse
activity movement patterns to help mobilize and lubricate
joints structures
3. Stretching – active muscle used in the training exercise
should be stretched.
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Benefits of warm up
It prepares the cardio-respiratory and musculo-
skeletal system for more intense exercise
It increases: muscle temperature; enzyme activity
required for cellular respiration; release of
synovial fluid, lubricating joint structures;
elasticity of muscle/connective tissues;
redistribution of blood flow (Q) from organs to
muscle (Vascular shunt)
It reduces: risk of injury; early onset of anaerobic
work, build-up of lactic acid and early fatigue.
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Cool down
Two phases:
1.Pulse lowering activities –
moderate/low intensity aerobic
activity
2.Stretching of active muscles
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Benefits of a cool down
Maintains venous return (VR), stroke volume (SV),
cardiac output (Q), minute ventilation (VE) and
blood pressure.
Gradually reduces muscle temperature
Stretching returns muscles to their pre-exercise
length
Reduces the risk of injury and DOMS
Flushes capillaries with oxygenated blood
Speeds up removal of lactic acid
Prevents blood pooling. 24
SAMPLE MICRO CYCLE
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SAMPLE MESOCYCLE
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PERIODIZATION MODELS
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OVERTRAINING
OVERTRAINING SYNDROME (OTS)
Prolonged maladaptation including burnout,
chronic overwork, staleness, unexplained
underperformance syndrome and over fatigue.
Occurs when there is an imbalance of training
loads and recovery
Can lead to dramatic decrease in performance
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Designing a training program
PRIORITIES IN EACH PHASE
OFF-SEASON: PRE-SEASON: SEASON: POST- SEASON:
Cardio Specific Maintenance Cross training
Endurance and strength, speed,
General Strength power, skill
related activities
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MICRO-CYCLE TRAINING PLAN
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DAILY TRAINING PLAN
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Reminders:
Failure
to plan is planning to fail –
Alan Lakein
A PREDETERMINED PLAN SERVES A
GUIDE; BE OPEN TO MAKE
ADJUSTMENTS WITH THE TRAINING
PLAN.
LEARNTO ADAPT – NO SINGLE MODEL
WILL SPELL SUCCESS FOR YOU
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