Become Your Own
Personal Trainer
Regular physical activity is important
for achieving and maintaining good
health and fitness. It is also a key
strategy for preventing illness and
disease, and minimising the risk of
injury.
Having an exercise training program
helps to structure and facilitate regular
physical activity.
SMART Goals
It is important to set goals prior to
developing a physical activity program.
These goals should be SMART goals:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time Framed
Also, select activities you enjoy doing
and will be motivated to continue.
Training Principles
The FITT principle is used to vary
training load. By altering any of the
FITT variables, your training load will
fluctuate and your fitness will improve.
FITT stands for:
Frequency – How many times per
week?
Intensity – How hard?
Type – What type of activity?
Time – How long does each session
go for?
Modifying these variables can
maximise the benefits of the key
training principles:
SMART goals will help you stay on
track and achieve better results. For
example, a SMART goal could be: to
complete three 30 minute run sessions
per week, starting this Saturday and
continuing for the next 3 months.
Exercise Guidelines
For maximum health benefits it is
recommended that you aim to
complete 3-5 aerobic activity sessions
per week and 2 strength training
sessions per week.
Aerobic activity should include a
combination of moderate and vigorous
activity, while strength training should
target major muscle groups with 2 sets
of 8-10 reps.
Overload – The body adapts to new
training loads, so plan a gradual
progression of your training as the
current load becomes easier to
maintain.
Recovery – You need to ensure
adequate recovery takes place
between periods of overload. Recovery
is essential for adaptation to occur and
assists in the prevention of injury and
overtraining.
Adaptation – The body adapts to
fitness training and becomes fitter.
Aerobic activity will lead to increased
endurance and cardiovascular health,
while strength training will result in
improved strength and injury
prevention.
It is also important to start your training
at a level that suits your current level of
fitness. It is always better to start easy
and build into exercise, particularly if
you do not currently exercise regularly.
FitSense Australia
Ph: 1300 88 58 40
www.fitsense.com.au
Become Your Own
Personal Trainer
Specificity – To become better at a
particular activity, training needs to be
specific to that activity. This is most
important if you are trying to improve a
particular aspect of your fitness. For
example, if you want to run your first
5km race, you need to run in order to
improve your running specific fitness.
training week to week. The following
weekly structure may assist you:
Reversibility – Training is reversible.
De-conditioning occurs when regular
activity stops and a loss of fitness is
the result. The rate of de-conditioning
is dependant on your current level of
fitness, training background and length
of inactivity. It is easier to maintain
your fitness then to have to improve
your fitness again and again, so try
and avoid extended periods of
inactivity.
Likewise, it is also important to
fluctuate your training day to day by
using the FITT principles. This is
shown in the following diagram:
Week 1 – easy training load;
Week 2 – moderate training load;
Week 3 – heavy training load
(overload);
Week 4 – recovery or very easy.
Training Program Design
It is important to have a structured
training program incorporating the
training principles outlined here. Follow
these steps in designing your program:
Establish SMART goals for your
training;
Mark down fixed commitments and
available training times (AM,
lunchtime and PM);
Consider your lifestyle to ensure
the program is realistic;
Plan blocks of 4 weeks of training
at a time; and
Detail each training session in your
program.
You can apply these steps by
completing activity 3 in the self directed
activities section.
Run
Swim
Weights
Ride
Weights
Run
Day Off
Self Directed Activity
1. List one of your exercise SMART
goals:
…………………………………………….
2. Identify the SMART aspects of
your goal:
Specific ………………………………….
Measurable ……………………………..
Achievable ……………………………...
Realistic …………………………………
Time Framed …………………………...
3. Fill out the blank weekly training
Periodisation
program attached as discussed in
As previously stated, overload and
recovery is vital to effective adaptation.
Therefore you need to fluctuate your
the presentation.
FitSense Australia
Ph: 1300 88 58 40
www.fitsense.com.au