principles is important for developing
an effective program. The principles
of exercise apply to everyone at all
levels of physical training, from the
Olympic-caliber athlete to the weekend
jogger. They also apply to fitness
training for military personnel.
These basic principles of exercise
must be followed:
Regularity. To achieve a training
effect, a person must exercise of
ten. One should strive to exercise
each of the first four fitness components
at least three times a week.
Infrequent exercise can do more
harm than good. Regularity is
also important in resting, sleeping,
and following a good diet.
Progression. The intensity (how
hard) and/or duration (how long)
of exercise must gradually increase
to improve the level of fitness
Balance. To be effective, a program
should include activities that
address all the fitness components,
since overemphasizing any
one of them may hurt the others.
Variety. Providing a variety of activities
reduces boredom and increases
motivation and progress.
Specificity. Training must be
geared toward specific goals. For
example, soldiers become better
runners if their training emphasizes
running. Although swimming
is great exercise, it does not
improve a 2-mile-run time as
much as a running program does.
Recovery. A hard day of training
for a given component of fitness
should be followed by an easier
training day or rest day for that
component and/or muscle group(s)
to help permit recovery. Another
way to allow recovery is to alternate
the muscle groups exercised every
other day, especially when training
for strength and/or muscle endurance.
Overload. The work load of each
exercise session must exceed the
normal demands placed on the body
in order to bring about a training
effect.
FITT Factors
Certain factors must be part of any
fitness training program for it to be
successful. These factors are Frequency,
Intensity, Time, and Type.
The acronym FITT makes it easier to
remember them. (See Figure 1- 1.)
FREQUENCY
Army Regulation 350-15 specifies
that vigorous physical fitness training
will be conducted 3 to 5 times per
week. For optimal results, commanders
must strive to conduct 5 days of
physical training per week. Ideally, at
least three exercise sessions for CR
fitness, muscle endurance, muscle
strength, and flexibility should be
performed each week to improve fitness
levels. Thus, for example, to
obtain maximum gains in muscular
strength, soldiers should have at least
three strength-training sessions per
week. Three physical activity periods
a week, however, with only one session
each of cardiorespiratory, strength,
and flexibility training will not improve
any of these three components.
With some planning, a training program
for the average soldier can be
developed which provides fairly equal
emphasis on all the components of
physical fitness. The following training
program serves as an example.
In the first week, Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday are devoted to CR
fitness, and Tuesday and Thursday are
devoted to muscle endurance and
strength. During the second week, the
training days are flip-flopped: muscle
endurance and strength are trained on
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and
CR fitness is trained on Tuesday and
Thursday. Stretching exercises are
done in every training session to enhance
flexibility. By training continuously
in this manner, equal emphasis
can be given to developing muscular
endurance and strength and to CR
fitness while training five days per
week.
T o be continue...
Army Fitness Physical Training
