Alright, so what are these ‘training principles’ that we talk about and hype up so much?
Well, they are the invisible wall that no fad training regimen can get around.
Think of those as the things that outline the way your body functions – Regardless of who you are, what your ‘body type’ is, etc.
So what are the MOST important training principles to go by? Let’s have a look.
Intense Training
First and foremost, if you’re in the game of fitness for the goal of creating meaningful changes to your health, biochemistry, and how you look naked, you’ll have to acknowledge this – Your workouts MUST be challenging.
Each and every set must take you close to failure.
This is the real stimulus that will give your body a reason to get better on every level – Hormonal, muscular, cardiovascular, etc. etc.
Key Point: Take each set within 2-3 reps away from failure. Make it challenging!
Progressive Overload
Besides the fact that your workouts must be challenging in the first place, they must also be PROGRESSIVELY more and more challenging.
In your training, you will notice that what was once impossible to push/pull for more than 5 repetitions eventually becomes easy for 10.
This is nothing but your body adapting! To progress further, you must demand more from the body in one way or another – This is referred to as the principle of “progressive overload (PO)”
PO can be realized in a couple of ways:
- Increasing working weight
- Increasing the number of reps
- Increasing the number of sets
- Increasing training frequency
- Increasing time under tension
- Decreasing rest times between sets
Note that these should not be done at the cost of proper exercise execution, which brings us to the third fundamental training principle
Key Point: As you go through your training sessions, progressively increase the demand upon the musculature. Create a new stimulus!
Constant Tension
Oftentimes, in attempts to progressively overload, trainees start jerking the much heavier weights with improper exercise form and even inertial swinging movements (cheating).
However, during every set, one must make sure that the muscle is always working and not jerking!
Pay attention to both phases of the movement- The phase where your muscles contract and the phase where they relax.
You can induce tension on both of these phases and create a stimulus for the development of the musculature on a variety of levels (strength, balance, size, etc.)
Key Point: Don’t cheat on your exercises! Aim for a good contraction and a controlled relaxation on the way down, on every single rep!