01/03/2022
5 Core Principles of Training
Training can be as complicated or as simple as you want to make it. I find that it's easier to make sense of things if you have a basis of core principles that you can come back to when you feel lost. So, these are my 5 core principles of training that I come back to all the time:
- Train the specific quality - The body adapts to stimulus, not to specific exercises so focus on training what it is that you want to improve. If you want to get stronger, lift heavy. If you want to get fast, do fast things such as jumping and sprinting. If you want to build muscle, do some reps. If you want to improve your aerobic fitness, you will have to do some longer duration cardio. Train the quality you want to improve
- Overload - in order to improve at something, you need to make sure you are doing slightly more over time. There are many ways to do this, but it all comes down to doing more work over time. The body will only adapt to the stress you place on it, so if you're not increasing the stress then there will be no signal for the body to adapt.
- Eat to support your goals - This can be as simple as eating slightly more if you want to add muscle/get stronger or eating slightly less if you want to lose weight. There are 1000s of ways to do this, so find what nutrition strategy works best for you, but make sure it's supporting your training, not taking away from it. The only real "non-negotiable" when it comes to nutrition and lifting is making sure you get in enough protein (around 1g per pound of bodyweight)
- Recover - Choose a training split that suits your lifestyle and allows you to recover properly from one workout to the next. Prioritise sleep to make sure you recover from your workouts. It really is that simple.
- Repeat for a long time - Any changes will take time to happen, so stick with things and be patient. Training should be a lifelong endeavour, not just a 12 week or 8 week program.
Having written all this out, it may be useful to look at what I haven't included. There are no magic sets and reps. No programs, periodization strategies or exercises you must do. To me, all of that is a matter of preference and usually not all the important. There are 1000s of ways to put a traniing program together and they all work, but if you're not focusing on the 5 things above, you probably won't see much progress.
So, next time you're wondering why your training may not be going as well as you hoped, don't worry about finding the next great program or periodization scheme, rather take a look at this list and make sure you are doing the basics right first.
