Important Exercise Principles

Below follows a description of some basicmain source of energy. Aerobic exercises are
exercise principles that needs to be understoodgenerally speaking exercises of a cyclical and
before effectively engaging in any exerciserepetetive nature over a reatively long period
program.time, such as jogging, cycling and swimming.
The main forms of exercise dealt with here are:Aerobic exercise makes the heart work harder to
Cardiovascular exercisepump the required amount of blood through the
Strengt trainingbody at a faster rate. This is a direct response to
Sports-specific trainingthe working tissues increased need for oxygen .
Three basic principlesAs blood is pumped faster through the body it
In order to be specific in your exercise goals it ismust also be reoxygenated at a higher rate,
important to understand a little bit about howwhich is why respiration frequency will also
exercise affects various systems in your body .increase.
The next section intends to explain some of theAerobic exercise strengthens the heart muscle
main responses in your body to different form ofand increase the vital capacity of your respiratory
exercise.system. Low intensity aerobics include walking and
There are three basic principles that needs to beswimming. Running, tennis and dance are
applied to any form of exercise in order to beexamples of high intensity aerobics.
successfulAnaerobic exercise on the other hand consists of
These three main principles are:short duration, high intensity activities, which last
Specificityup to about 2 minutes. There are two types of
Progressionanaerobic energy systems, the ATP energy
Overloadsystem, which utilize creatine phosphate as the
Specificitymain energy source, and the anaerobic glycolysis
The specificity principle can be interpreted andsystem that use glycogen when oxygen is not
applied in many different ways depending on whatpresent. Intense exercise that lasts up to 30
you want to improve ,specificity can apply toseconds mainly uses creatine phosphate as an
muscle groups,energy systems or specificenergy source and from 30 seconds and onwards
movements or activities.the glycolysis system takes over. glycogen is
You can break down and apply the principlemainly derived from carbohydrates and glucose.
almost any way you like to fit your specific goalsExamples of anaerobic exercises include weigth
within and exercise program. However, in itslifting, sprint and other non-endurance exercise
simplest most general form specificity means thatactivities.
in order to get better at any type of skill orCardiovascular Exercise
activity you need to perform that activity, thisCardiovascular exercise refer to exercises that
means that if you want to get better attarget the cardiovascular system. These types of
swimming you need to swim,if you want to be aexercises are mainly aerobe. Examples of
better runner you need to run, throwing dartscardiovascular exercises are running,cycling and
you need to throw darts etc..swimming
OverloadStrength training
The principle of overload states that a greaterStrengt training is a form of anaerob exercise
than normal load is required if adaptation is tothat has the goal of increasing the strength of
take place. The body will then adapt to theskeletal muscles. It can be utilized for both
increased stimulus of the specific tissue orrehabilitation and fitness purposes as well as in
system we want to affect. When the body hassports specific training. In this section follows a
adapted, a greater and/or different stimulus isbasic description of som of the main principles of
required to continue the adaptation process. Instrength training.
order for a muscle (including the heart) toStrength Training Principles:
increase in strength, it must be gradually stressedThere are three fundamental elements to a
by working against a load greater than it issuccessful strength training program
accustomed to.Overload: To experience gains in strength the
Progressionmuscle must be loaded more than it is
The principle of progression refers to the rate ofaccustomed to.
which overload is applied. In principle there existsProgression: The active muscle must work against
an optimal rate of which to apply overload toa gradually increasing resistance in order to meet
achieve optimal results. Overload should not bethe overload.
increased too slowly or improvement will not takeSpecificity: Gains in strength are dependent on the
place. In the event that overload is increased toomuscle group used, and movement pattern
rapidly it will result in injury or muscle damage andperformed
most certainly no improvement. For example, anGains in strength are not necessarily due to
athlete that exercises only sporadically and withincreased muscle size or cross sectional area. This
too much overload violates both the principle ofis particularly true in the very first phase of
overload and the principle of progression and willstarting a new strength training program.
not achieve good results.The changes that takes place in this very first
As you can see, these three principles are highlyphase is mainly due to the nervous system
interconnected and are reciprocally dependent onadapting to new stimuli. The centers of the brain
eachother. They also relate strongly to additionalcontrolling movement learns to recruit the neural
principles like those of adaptation and individualpathways of the specific movement more
differences.efficiently. As a results increased strength and
Aerobic and anaerobic exerciseload-bearing capacity is achieved . The principle of
Aerobic exercise is a term used to describe thespecificity particularly applies in this respect.
forms of exercise that utilizes oxygen as the