All training programs adhere to basic, common principles. Its not about mixing and matching like your playing the scratch cards, but working out a solid programme so that you are at the top of your game when you need to be. They include:
I. EXERCISE OVERLOAD - the training event must increase the frequency, intensity, or duration of the specific exercise activity being trained for to be able to promote physiologic improvement and achieve a training response.
II. SPECIFICITY OF TRAINING - adaptations in metabolic pathways and muscle fibers are dependent on applying the types of metabolic stress (aerobic versus anaerobic) to be used in the final event to the specific muscle groups to be used for that activity.
III. SPECIFICITY OF VO2MAX - To achieve the optimum improvement in VO2max for any activity, the cardiovascular system needs to be stressed by that specific activity. As demonstrated above, there are general benefits to the heart and vascular system from any aerobic exercise, but if one wants to maximize VO2max, one needs to use the specific activity in training (a bicycle trainer will not maximize performance on a treadmill).
IV. SPECIFICITY OF LOCAL MUSCLE CHANGES - there are local improvements in the muscle trained for a specific activity that will not generalize to other muscle fibers in that limb, or to the same muscle used in other exercises. Changes in ATP levels and other metabolic parameters in the vastus lateralis (a thigh muscle) are greater in cyclists (who use this muscle to a greater degree) than in runners training at the same VO2max).
V. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES - Not all individuals will respond to an equivalent training stimulus to the same degree or at the same rate. We are all different genetically and training programs need to be individualized.
VI. REVERSIBILITY OF TRAINING - Deconditioning can occur rapidly when training ceases. At bed rest for 20 days, there is a decrease in VO2max of about 1% per day. Maintaining some level of conditioning during the off season minimizes deconditioning. And a reconditioning program should be part of every athletes schedule before the next season’s competition begins.