Module III

Exercise principles

Principles of Exercise Programme

Exercise is often only associated with losing weight, but it is more than just
working to lose a few pounds. Exercising a few times a week can improve your
overall health and well-being. Not all exercises give the same results because
certain exercises focus on different parts of the body.

Exercise program is basically divided into three: beginner workout or exercise

program, Intermediate workout or exercise program and advanced workout or
exercise program. According to the ability and performance of the client the
exercise program varies. An exercise program compulsory includes a starting
warm-up session and ending warm-down or cool down session.

A good warm-up before a workout dilates your blood vessels, ensuring that
your muscles are well supplied with oxygen. It also raises your muscle’s
temperature for optimal flexibility and efficiency. By slowly raising your heart
rate, the warm-up also helps minimize stress on your heart. Warm-down or
cool down after your workout allows for a gradual recovery of pre-exercise
heart rate and blood pressure.

Understanding exercise principles allows trainers to monitor the stress

(exercise load) placed upon their client in order to make the training safe and
effective, helping the client to achieve their goals.
So let’s take a look at the principles, their definitions and what they actually
mean in lay terms.

1. Regularity
The benefits of exercise only last when you exercise regularly. This makes your
body to adapt muscle stimulation, to maintain effective results you must
exercise persistently. Infrequent exercise can do more harm to your body than
good.

2. Individualisation
Exercise should be specific to the individual completing the training. People
respond differently to exercise so in order to maximise the benefits, therefore
training programmes should be built around the person’s needs and
capabilities.

3. Specificity
Exercise should be specific to the client’s goals, needs and capabilities.
Our bodies response to training is based on the specific stimulus (training)
applied. So, to increase adaptation (results) exercise should be specific to an
individual’s goals, tasks, movements and capabilities.

4. Overload
Exercise should overload the body in order for a positive adaptation to occur.
In order to improve your physical fitness and health ensure that the amount of
work you perform during any exercise exceeds the normal demands that you
place on the body.

5. Planning
A workout plan not only provides a layout for the day, but it also sets up the
big picture for weeks or months to come. In other words, an established
plan dictates the work that must be done in order to reach the goal.

6. Progressive Overload
Exercise needs to continually overload the body if positive adaptations
(change) are to continue to take place.
For the body to keep adapting to exercise the stress it is placed under should
progressively increase. Therefore, the intensity and loads should continually
increase over time.

7. Variety
Exercise needs to be varied for optimal adaptation to occur, avoiding boredom,
overuse, injury or hitting a plateau.
For optimal change to occur and to decrease the risk of an individual getting
bored, overtraining, getting injured or reaching a plateau, the training must
constantly be varied.

8. Rest and Recovery

Rest and recovery are required to allow the body time to adapt to exercise.
Optimal adaptation requires recovery time. It is only during the recovery
phase (days between workouts) that the body is able to change and adapt to
the stress of the workout.

9. Reversibility
If you don’t use it you lose it.
Adaptations which occur through exercise are reversible, so when training is
stopped for prolonged periods the adaptations from previous exercise will be
lost.
10. Ceiling
Room for positive development decreases the fitter you become.
As we get fitter, the amount of improvement possible decreases based on the
client getting closer to their genetic potential (ceiling).
Each principle allows us to assess some element of a person’s training. When
you adopt the principles properly, you are most likely to be successful. If you
want to improve any aspect of your physical performance, you need to adhere
to the exercise principles. These principles can be thought of as a catalogue to
success.

TYPES OF EXERCISE

 On the basis of muscle contraction.

There are two types of muscle contraction: isotonic and isometric. Isotonic
contractions occur when muscles become shorter or longer against resistance,
and tension remains the same. Isometric contractions occur when tension
increases but the muscle remains at a constant length.

Isometric exercises; Isometric exercise involves remaining in a static position

while engaging the muscles. The joint doesn’t move, and the muscle neither
lengthens nor shortens, but the muscle’s tendon is activated. (do not involve the
muscles shortening or lengthening. During isometric exercises, the joints are
still, and the muscles do not change shape or size. People will typically hold the
isometric contraction for several seconds or minutes.)

Examples: Plank Wall Sit

Isotonic Exercise

Isotonic muscle contraction is the force generated by a muscle while

contracting, when the muscle lengthens and shortens during movement. The
amount of force typically remains constant during this type of contraction.

Isotonic muscle contraction can be further divided into two types: concentric
and eccentric. During concentric movement, a muscle gets shorter as it
contracts. For example, the biceps muscle shortens as you bend your elbow
during a bicep curl.

Eccentric muscle contraction means that a muscle is getting longer while it is

contracting. This movement typically occurs when an object or your body is
being lowered down to the ground, with the pull of gravity. Because gravity is
pulling on you, your muscles must fight to control the speed of movement.

For example, during the lowering phase of a bicep curl, your biceps muscle is
still contracting, but is getting longer as you return to the starting position to
keep your elbow from straightening too quickly.

Isokinetic Exercises

Isokinetic exercise is a type of workout that involves specialized machines and

is not often used by the average person. It is mostly used to train athletes to
improve their running or throwing by improving the speed at which they can
move their limb/body or a weight. The equipment used for isokinetic exercise,
known as an isokinetic dynamometer, keeps your muscles moving at a
consistent speed, which can then be raised with ongoing training.

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise aims to improve how the body uses oxygen. Most aerobic
exercise takes place at average levels of intensity over longer periods.

An aerobic exercise session involves warming up, exercising for at least 20

minutes, and then cooling down. Aerobic exercise mostly uses large muscle
groups.

Aerobic exercise provides the following benefits:

·improves muscle strength in the lungs, heart, and whole body

·lowers blood pressure

·improves circulation and blood flow in the muscles

·increases the red blood cell count to enhance oxygen transportation

·reduces the risk of diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD)

·stimulates bone growth and reduces the risk of osteoporosis when at high
intensity

·improves sleep hygiene enhances stamina by increasing the body’s ability to

store energy molecules, such as fats and carbohydrates, within muscle

Anaerobic exercise

Anaerobic exercise does not use oxygen for energy. People use this type of
exercise to build power, strength, and muscle mass.
These exercises are high-intensity activities that should last no longer than
around 2 minutes. Anaerobic exercises include:

·weightlifting

·sprinting

·intensive and fast skipping with a rope

·interval training

While all exercise benefits the heart and lungs, anaerobic exercise provides
fewer benefits for cardiovascular health than aerobic exercise and uses fewer
calories. However, it is more effective than aerobic exercise for building muscle
and improving strength.

BENEFITS OF EXERCISE

We have all heard it many times before - regular exercise is good for you, and it
can help you lose weight. But if, you are busy, you have a sedentary job, and
you haven't yet changed your exercise habits. The good news is that it's never
too late to start. You can start slowly, and find ways to fit more physical activity
into your life. To get the most benefit, you should try to get the recommended
amount of exercise for your age. If you can do it, the payoff is that you will feel
better, help prevent or control many diseases, and likely even live longer.

Regular exercise and physical activity may

Help you control your weight. Along with diet, exercise plays an important
role in controlling your weight and preventing obesity. To maintain your
weight, the calories you eat and drink must equal the energy you burn. To lose
weight, you must use more calories than you eat and drink.

Reduce your risk of heart diseases. Exercise strengthens your heart and
improves your circulation. The increased blood flow raises the oxygen levels in
your body. This helps lower your risk of heart diseases such as high cholesterol,
coronary artery disease, and heart attack. Regular exercise can also lower your
blood pressure and triglyceride levels.

Help your body manage blood sugar and insulin levels. Exercise can lower
your blood sugar level and help your insulin work better. This can cut down
your risk for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. And if you already have
one of those diseases, exercise can help you to manage it.

Help you quit smoking. Exercise may make it easier to quit smoking by
reducing your cravings and withdrawal symptoms. It can also help limit the
weight you might gain when you stop smoking.

Improve your mental health and mood. During exercise, your body releases
chemicals that can improve your mood and make you feel more relaxed. This
can help you deal with stress and reduce your risk of depression.

Help keep your thinking, learning, and judgment skills sharp as you age.
Exercise stimulates your body to release proteins and other chemicals that
improve the structure and function of your brain.

Strengthen your bones and muscles. Regular exercise can help kids and teens
build strong bones. Later in life, it can also slow the loss of bone density that
comes with age. Doing muscle-strengthening activities can help you increase or
maintain your muscle mass and strength.

Reduce your risk of some cancers, including colon, breast , uterine, and lung
cancer.
Reduce your risk of falls. For older adults, research shows that doing balance
and muscle-strengthening activities in addition to moderate-intensity aerobic
activity can help reduce your risk of falling.

Improve your sleep. Exercise can help you to fall asleep faster and stay asleep
longer.

Improve your sexual health. Regular exercise may lower the risk of erectile
dysfunction (ED) in men. For those who already have ED, exercise may help
improve their sexual function. In women, exercise may increase sexual arousal.

Increase your chances of living longer. Studies show that physical activity can
reduce your risk of dying early from the leading causes of death, like heart
disease and some cancers.

EXERCISE AND HEART RATE ZONE

Heart rate is the number of heart beats per unit of time, typically expressed as

beats per minute (bpm).Heart rate may vary during physical exercise, sleep,

illness, or as a result of injucting drugs. Heart rate is measured by finding the

pulse of the heart. The measurement of heart rate is used by medical

professionals to assist in the diagnosis and tracking of medical conditions. It is

also used by individuals, such as athletes, who are interested in monitoring

their heart rate to gain maximum efficiency from their training.

Resting Heart Rate: Heart rate while the person is on rest is called basal or

resting hear rate. The basal or resting heart rate is measured while the subject

is relaxed but awake, in a neutrally temperate environment, and not having

recently exerted himself or herself nor having been subject to a stressor even a
surprise (for example the simple noise of a door bell can augment the heart

rate and blood pressure). The typical resting heart rate in adults is 60 -80 beats

per minute (bpm) and for athletes 40-60 bpm.

Maximum heart rate: It is the highest heart rate an individual can achieve

without severe problems through exercise stress, and depends on age. The

most accurate way of measuring Maximum Heart Rate is viaa cardiac stress

test. In such a test, the subject exercises while being monitored by an ECG.

Usually the test is carried out on a [Link] subject runs on it while the

intensity of exercise is periodically increased through increasing speed or slope

of the treadmill until certain changes in heart function are detected in the ECG,

and the subject stop running. Another simple formula to get the maximum

heart rate is to subtract age of the person from [Link] is the maximum

heartrate. For example, the maximum heart rate for a 34-year-old would be:

220-34=[Link] heart rate: Target heart rate is the 50% to 85% of a

person’s maximum

heart rate. It is the level at which the heart is beating with moderate to high

intensity. Sustaining

a workout

at this pace improves cardio respiratory

endurance. Knowing

the target
heart rate helps to pace the workouts

accordingly and avoid burning out, or wasting time by exercising at a level of

intensity that is too low. There are different ways to calculate the target heart

rate zone, but the Karvonen Method is one of the most effective. Here's how

to calculate your target heart rate zone using the Karvonen Method. The

formula to determine the target heart trate:

THR= [(Maximum Heart Rate–Resting Heart Rate) ×% Intensity]+Resting

Heart

Rate

So, the target heart zone for a 34-year-old who has a Maximum Heart Rate of

186 and a Resting Heart Rate of 72:

For a 50% Target Heart Rate: *(186−72)×0.50++72=129bpm

For a 85% Target Heart Rate:[(186−72)×0.85++72=168.9bpm

So the target heart rate zone is 129-168.9 bpm