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TRAINING GUIDELINES
Exercise is one of the most important factors in the overall health of an individual.
Listed among its benefits are:
• Increased capacity for physical work (strength endurance)
• Increased cardiovascular (heart and arteries/veins) and respiratory efficiency
• Decreased risk of coronary heart disease
• Changes in body metabolism, e.g. losing weight
• Delaying the physiological effects of age
• Reduction in stress, increase in self-confidence, etc.
There are several components of physical fitness and each is defined below.
STRENGTH
The capacity of a muscle to exert a force against resistance. Strength contributes to power and speed.
MUSCULAR ENDURANCE
The capacity to exert a force repeatedly over a period of time, e.g. it is the muscular endurance of
your legs to carry you 10 km without stopping.
FLEXIBILITY
The range of motion of your joints. Improving flexibility involves the stretching of muscles and
tendons to maintain or increase suppleness, and it provides increased resistance to muscle injury or
soreness.
CARDIO-RESPIRATORY ENDURANCE
The most essential component of physical fitness, is the efficient functioning of the heart and lungs.
AEROBIC FITNESS
Is an exercise of relatively low intensity and long duration, which depends primarily on the aerobic
energy system. Aerobic means "with oxygen", and refers to the use of oxygen in the body's metabolic
or energy-generating process. Many types of exercise are aerobic, and by definition are performed at
moderate levels of intensity for extended periods of time.
ANAEROBIC TRAINING
Is an exercise intense enough to trigger anaerobic metabolism. This means “without oxygen” and
is the output of energy when the oxygen supply is insufficient to meet the body’s long term energy
demands. (For example, a 100 meter sprint.)
OXYGEN UPTAKE
The effort that you can exert over a prolonged period of time is limited by your ability to deliver
oxygen to the working muscles. Regular vigorous exercise produces a training effect that can increase
your aerobic capacity by as much as 20 to 30%. An increased VO2 Max indicates an increased ability
of the heart to pump blood, of the lungs to ventilate oxygen, and of the muscles to take up oxygen.
THE TRAINING THRESHOLD
This is the minimum level of exercise which is required to produce significant improvements in any
physical fitness parameter.
OVERLOAD
This is where you exercise above your comfort level. The intensity, duration and frequency of exercise
should be above the training threshold and should be gradually increased as the body adapts to the
increasing demands. As your fitness level improves, the training threshold should rise. Working
through your program and gradually increasing the overload factor is important.
PROGRESSION
As you become more fit, a higher intensity of exercise is required to create an overload and therefore
provide continued improvement.
SPECIFICS
Different forms of exercise produce different results. The type of exercise that is carried out is specific
to the muscle groups being used and to the energy source involved. There is little transfer of the
effects of exercise, i.e. from strength training to cardiovascular fitness. That is why it is important to
have an exercise program tailored to your specific needs.
REVERSIBILITY
If you stop exercising or do not do your program often enough, you will lose the benefits you have
gained. Regular workouts are the key to success.
WARM-UP
Every exercise program should start with a warm-up where the body is prepared for the effort to
come. It should be gentle and preferably use the muscles group to be involved later. Stretching
should be included in both your warm-up and cool down, and should be performed after 3-5
minutes of low intensity aerobic activity or calisthenic type exercise.
WARM DOWN OR COOL DOWN
This involves a gradual decrease in the intensity of the exercise session. Following exercise, a large
supply of blood remains in the working muscles. If it is not returned promptly to the central
circulation, pooling of blood may occur in the muscles.
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