Liam is an international mountain biker. His coach would most likely recognise the need for him to train for a particular number of sessions a week, for a particular duration of time, at particular levels of intensity depending on what he is objective trying to achieve. In summary, he will take into account "frequency, intensity, time and type" of training which is shortened to FITT. He would also need to take into account the other Principles of Training which are: individual needs overload progression reversibility specificity systematic   There are variations on the words used to describe these principles but whatever they are called, the "principles" remain the same!

Can you identify the principles of training from the examples below?
1) It is important that he improves upon performances. In order to do this Liam increases the intensity of exercise during training.

Principle of Training: [?] .

2) Part of Liam's training involves weight training. over a period of time, he gradually increases the weight rather than trying to do too much too soon.

The principle of training referred to above is linked to "overload" and is called: [?] .

3) Over a period of 2 years, he is training to peak for a major competition and therefore has to plan his training sessions on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis in phases.

Principle of training: [?] .

4) It is also important that he tries to avoid injury, otherwise he may decrease in fitness and / or performance. Principle of training: [?] .

5) Because Liam is a unique person, his training session needs to be tailored personally to him, his abilities, his body type, his time available, his psychological state, his background etc.
Principle of training: [?]

6) Liam also needs to train specifically for his event. There is little point in dribbling around football cones every session in order to improve his mountain biking! Cycling up and down hills, leg weight training and sprints is more likely to help.
Principle of training: [?]

One way of remembering ALL of these principles is...........

SPORFITTSI

S pecificity
P rogression
O verload
R eversibility
F requency, I ntensity, T ime and T ype
S ystematic
Another principle you may come across is "variety" or "variance". This essentially means ensuring that training is varied and interesting and provides motivation as well as an all round development.