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For some people, exercise seems like a very complex subject.
But like any complex subject, it can be made simple... at least
exercise theory is fairly simple, whereas what you do with that
knowledge (how you decide to apply exercise) can be quite varied
and different from how other people apply exercise. This is true
because of your “individuality” and what works for someone else
may not work for you or, at least, not to the same extent.
We begin our journey with a brief look at philosophy. This step is
necessary since the principles of exercise are part of a larger
picture, and this larger picture is governed by certain Laws that
guide everything and every subject. The first law is the Law of
Identity. This means that everything in the Universe (all that
which exists) has an identity. For example, you are who you are,
and the things in your home are what they are. This should seem
common sense.
You are unique!
Exercise is no different in that it is
something specific and the “nature” of
exercise and the rules you must follow
in order to make exercise productive are
established and very clear. We’ll be
speaking about these principles shortly.
by Brian D. Johnston
Exercise Science
Made Simple
The Universe
(everything)
Exercise
2
The second logical law that you should be aware of is the
Law of Non-Contradiction. This means that there cannot
be any contradiction in what a thing is or what a statement
says. A statement cannot both be true and false, and you
cannot be someone else other than yourself. Although you
can “pretend to be ” or “act” like someone else, you cannot
escape your identity... of who you are.
How the Laws of Identity and Non-Contradiction fit into exercise science and its
theory (a description of rules or a set of principles to follow) will become clear as we
proceed. For now, what you need to remember are two things:
1. To identify something mentally we need to define that “something.” A
definition is a description of the essential characteristics of a thing
that exists. You could say that a definition describes what we perceive
through our senses, i.e., sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
For example, to describe or define an automobile you would say it
is a self-propelled passenger vehicle with wheels designed for
operation on roadways. You would not describe the color, since it
could be any colour, and the same is true of how many passengers
the car holds, how fast it could move, its length, weight, model
and manufacturer, etc... these things vary from one automobile
to the next, but the essential characteristics described in the
definition above hold true in all cases.
Exercise science is similar, in that there are certain definitions
to describe its principles or rules that you need to follow.
The definition of a “thing” is how we describe
and communicate identity.
An important logical point to remember is that there must be a limited
number of rules to know about exercise, or any other science. If the
rules we had to follow were infinite, then there would be no way we
could learn and apply any science. However, although the number of
rules are limited, the combinations that can come about from these
rules (how we apply exercise) can be almost limitless.
3
2. A thing can only be what it is and nothing else (at the same time). Neither can you say “I can
lift 100 pounds” and “I cannot lift 100 pounds.” Either you can or you cannot.
An automobile cannot be a scooter at the same time. A person
can take an automobile apart and create a new thing, such as
a scooter from the parts, but it no longer is an automobile.
Once you understand the “nature” or identity of exercise
principles, and what they mean, you will discover that
you cannot contradict the nature of those principles. This
means that the rules you must follow need to coordinate
to create a balanced “synergy” so that you do not do too
much exercise nor too little exercise, but the right
amount and type of exercise.
Next, all the sciences connect in some manner.
Different sciences include physics, chemistry, biology,
anatomy, and genetics. All these studies influence or
make up exercise.
For example, when we talk about developing our
muscles, we refer to anatomy, which is the biological
science dealing with the structure of organisms,
including our bodies.
And how our bodies respond to exercise, such as the
building of muscle and strength, speaks of physiology,
or the science of the functions of living organisms
and the chemical and physical processes involved.
How well you respond to exercise depends on the
quality of the exercise program and your genetics.
Exercise Does Not Exist Within a Vacuum!
Physics
Chemistry Biology
Physiology Anatomy
Genetics
Exercise Science
4
Genetics is an important consideration. We all come in
different shapes and sizes. Some people are thin, whereas
others carry more body fat. Some people are short, whereas
others are tall.
The first principle of exercise is Intensity, which is the possible percentage of
momentary effort exerted.
Some people respond very well to exercise, such as building a lot
of muscle or they are able to run marathons, whereas other
people have to work very hard to make only slight changes.
Sometimes a person can have some muscle groups that respond
very well to exercise, whereas other muscle groups do not seem
to develop very much at all, like large arms and small calves.
Chances are you will notice this too.
To break this down, if you try as hard as possible to lift a weight,
mentally and physically, you demonstrate 100% of your ability. Now,
the only times this occurs would be if you were to lift a maximum
weight in an exercise, or if it happens to be the last repetition
possible, such as lifting a weight ten times and an eleventh repetition
is impossible.
At any other time (or moment) you exert a
percentage of what is possible but not 100%.
A key to productive exercise is that the harder
or more intense you exercise, the better your
chances of developing muscle and strength because
the exercise “stimulus” was so strong.
5
The nature of intensity states a specific rule: it is inversely proportionate to volume
and frequency. In other words, the more exercise you perform in a workout (volume),
and the more often you exercise (frequency), the less intense you can or should
exercise.
It’s a little more complex than this and how these three factors fit together will be
explained later. First, let’s look at those other two principles of exercise science:
This can be compared to getting a suntan when it is cloudy and the
temperature is cool as opposed to when the sky is clear and the
temperature is hot. The stimulus to produce tanned skin, which is
a response of our bodies to the stress of the Sun’s light rays,
obviously is greater when it is hot and the sky is clear.
Just remember, you do not have to lift heavy weights to exercise intensely. Rather, it is
the quality of effort that makes the difference, such as moving slowly and continuing the
set until the repetitions become difficult or challenging... regardless of the number of
repetitions performed or how heavy the weight may be. And if you lift a moderate weight
for ten repetitions, the last repetition will feel very heavy, only because you lost so much
strength (function) in order to reach that tenth and final repetition.
Being unable to lift for another repetition means you trained to “muscular failure”; in
other words, your muscles fail to continue to move the weight. You either will need to
reduce the weight so that you can perform more repetitions, or you will need to rest for a
minute or two before performing another “set” of repetitions with the same or different
weight.
Also, a person does not have to exercise this hard all the time or at all to produce results,
but the effort must be high enough if you want to improve your fitness level, whether it is
to run faster, to become stronger, to build more muscle, or any other goal. In fact, there
must be enough effort when we exercise just to maintain what fitness was developed from
prevoius exercise, or to slow down the normal loss of muscle and strength as we age.
Volume is the amount of exercise performed in a
workout, such as the number of repetitions
performed in each set and how long each set lasts (in
seconds and minutes) but, more particularly, the
number of sets performed.
The nature of volume states a specific rule: it is
inversely proportionate to intensity and frequency.
In other words, the more volume (sets) you perform
in a workout, the less frequently and the less intensely
you can or should workout.
Most people exercise too much and too
often while not exercising intensely enough
6
The nature of frequency states a specific rule: it is inversely proportionate
to intensity and volume. In other words, the harder you exercise and the
more you perform in a workout, the less often you can or should train each
muscle specifically or any muscle in general.
Here is where it gets a bit complex. It is wrong to say that volume, frequency, or intensity must
decrease if one of the other things increases. That may be the case, but not always. Check out the
graph below. Each person has his or her tolerance to exercise stress, and the ability to respond to
exercise. We can do too much and still produce positive results, although it is ideal to discover
how much exercise each of us needs to produce the best results relative to what we are attempting
to achieve, such as losing fat, or gaining muscle or strength... or even all three.
If a person does not exercise very hard, and intensity, volume and frequency are not that high,
then all three factors actually can increase and still be within the “blue zone”. It is only once a
person begins doing too much (beyond what is “ideal”) that intensity, volume and frequency need to
be coordinated or balanced more carefully.
Frequency refers to the rate of occurrence of exercise
sessions. For example, if you exercise every second day,
then that would be your general frequency. And if you
exercise different muscles on different days, but
exercise each muscle once a week, then “once a week”
would be your specific frequency.
What you must remember is that exercise is a form of
stress on the body and mind, just like work, school, or
experiencing an accident or injury. How often you
exercise in general is just as important as how often
you exercise each body part specifically. Doing too much
in either case is not good for you.
Exercise Demands
Too Much Exercise
(Overtraining)
Too Little Exercise
(Undertraining)
Ideal Amount of Exercise
(Least Amount to Produce the Best Results)
Results Produced
(Excess Exercise to Produce the Same or Lesser Results)
7
Doing far too much exercise is not a good thing since it leads to overtraining, such as a general
feeling of fatigue, no motivation to exercise, a loss of strength and muscle, and a weakened system
that can result in repeated colds and flus.
Not exercising enough can cause similar things to happen, such as reduced strength and muscle, a
general feeling of fatigue, and a weakened system. This is obvious in people who do not exercise,
since their functions and overall health are not as good as those who do exercise, but it also is
obvious in people who do exercise.
To explain, if a person has a certain amount of strength and muscle, and that strength and muscle
were developed by exercising with a particular amount of intensity, volume and frequency, then a
person can lose some of that strength and muscle if less exercise is performed. After all, by doing
less there is no reason for the body to keep what you developed by doing more.
Take a look again at our graph, and you will notice
that there is a range for an individual’s tolerance
to exercise, up until a critical point before a
person overtrains, i.e., doing too much exercise.
However, how much exercise is too much
depends on the “time factor”, or how long a
certain amount of exercise demands is
maintained.
For example, suppose that 5 sets for each
muscle every 7 days seems to be ideal, and you
could do that much exercise all the time without
overtraining. Then you decide to try a lot more
exercise, such as 12 sets for each muscle every
5 days. Although you can handle that much, the
ability to keep up that pace would not last very
long before you overtrain. Eventually you would have to reduce your exercise demands to something
more tolerable over the long-term, such as the 5 sets every 7 days.
Exercise Demands
Too Much Exercise
(Overtraining)
Too Little Exercise
(Undertraining)
Ideal Amount of Exercise
(Least Amount to Produce the Best Results)
Results Produced
(Excess Exercise to Produce the Same or Lesser Results)
Time
Sometimes we can maintain what we develop by doing a bit less, but not
a lot less. Other times we will lose strength and muscle no matter how
hard we exercise simply because it is part of the aging process, although
we can slow down the loss we normally experience by exercising regularly
and within our means.
The key to all of this is that each of us needs to discover how much is necessary to
produce the results we want (so long as those results are within our means) and without
doing more than is necessary. This introduces us to our fourth principle of Diminishing
Returns, a rule that states: exercise that exceeds the minimum necessary to produce
the best results possible has no value.
This should be fairly common sense; after all, why do more if the results are no
better? But, again, it’s not that simple.
8
What you may notice is that the
results produced (e.g., muscle and
strength) when exercise demands
are increased to more than you are
used to are greater per unit of time,
so long as you do not cross that fine
line of overtraining.
However, when the demands are
very high, and to avoid overtraining,
you eventually have to reduce the
exercise demands and return to a
program that is more ideal longterm.
This is what frustrates some people;
they want to make the best results
possible, but when they put their
bodies into “overdrive” they can’t sustain it for very long. What sometimes happens is that they
try to sustain a lot of exercise and they become overtrained or injured.
Exercise Demands
Time
etc.
For example...
To avoid this from happening, and if you
try to maximize your physical results, a
program needs to have ups and downs in
how hard you can exercise and for how
long you can maintain certain amounts of
exercise. This is what athletes do to
prepare for the Olympics. They are not
in their best conditions all the time, but
build up their conditions over several
months, then return to easier exercise
training once the competition is over.
All this is similar to anything else in life; you cannot work at a
job or study at school as hard as possible all the time without
burning out. This is why, for example, school exams do not occur
every week, a pattern that explains the relationship between
intensity, volume, and frequency. When there are no exams
students’ rate of frequency to learn is high (every day); the
volume is high (new things learned every day), but the intensity
of “memorizing” or remembering the information is low. Once
exam time kicks in, the volume of new information to learn or
know drops significantly while the intensity of knowing the
information increases at a frequency that lasts for a brief period
of weeks.
9
The fifth principle is an obvious one: In order to exercise, there must be a resistance in which
to exercise against, such as your body weight, barbells and dumbbells, or exercise machines.
If there is no “load”, then the muscles cannot work. Consequently, the Load Principle refers
to the amount of resistance imposed upon the muscles and that:
A load must exist for exercise to exist.
Not everyone will want to “maximize” his or her body’s potential, and so altering
exercise demands is not for everyone or necessary for everyone (although it helps
to add variety to maintain motivation).
The need to “cycle” or alter exercise demands will depend on how far you will want
to take your body. Also, the overall structure of the program eventually will depend
on your goals and lifestyle.
If you work hard to increase both the
load and the number of repetitions from
one workout to the next, then this would
be called “double progression” (see
workouts 3 & 4 in the example).
WORKOUT LOAD REPS
1
2
3
4
etc.
25
28
33
35
etc.
6
6
8
9
etc.
Also, a key to increase results is the ability to
overload the muscles with progressively heavier
weights (or through some other factor). If you
always perform 10 repetitions with 25 pounds, you
will not improve beyond that point; you have to use
30 pounds, then 35 pounds, etc. This increase in
weights used refers to “progression” and often is
termed the Progression Principle.
The sixth principle is called SAID, which is short for
“specific adaptations to imposed demands.” This means
that the body will adapt, or change, relative to the
demands of exercise imposed upon it. As a very
specific example, to become good at tennis or any other
sport requires specific practice of that sport. You do
not become good at tennis by playing badminton;
although one activity is “similar” to the other, they
are not “exact.”
10
This should seem straight forward. However:
In order to make specific physical changes such as muscle size, particulary if you
want to “maximize” that aspect of your body, the program must be designed
specifically relative to your individualism or how you respond to exercise.
The same is true when we exercise to produce certain changes in our
bodies, the exercise program must be designed in such as way that
specific results are produced.
You cannot perform a yoga program and expect to build large muscles
or a lot of strength. And if you want to develop your arm muscles you
would not work your leg muscles.
This brings us to our seventh and final principle, the Principle of Individualism,
which states: exercise must be prescribed in accordance to the needs, goals,
abilities, limitations and psychology of the individual.
Some people respond very well to exercise and
make great progress on nearly any exercise
program because of their genetics.
Most people, however, need to customize their exercise programs carefully in
order to make worthwhile changes in their bodies. A “one size fits all” exercise
program can work only so well for most people, and this is no different than if we
were to consider that everyone has specific nutritional or medical requirements;
we can make general recommendations in regard to nutrition and medicine but,
eventually, we have to fine-tune those recommendations so that they fit the
individual much better.
It’s like buying a suit off the rack as opposed to a tailor-made
suit that is designed specifically for you, regardless of your
genetics. Both serve the same purpose, to clothe you, but the
quality and individuality between the two is much different.
11
For example, a person may have the goal to lose 10 pounds of fat in one month, but he or she
may have the “need” to increase motivation to sustain an exercise and diet program in order
to achieve that goal.
Also, we have to look at a person’s trainability (how well he or she responds to exercise) to
determine if that much fat loss in a month is possible: is the person able to achieve that
goal, or are there certain physical or mental limitations keeping the person from that goal?
Lastly, we have to look at the person’s psychology, a much neglected
aspect of a fitness lifestyle. This has a lot to do with motivation and
preference for certain types of exercise. A person could have the goal
and genetic potential to become very strong, but if that person does not
like weight training or can’t bring himself to lift progressively heavier
weights, then the goal never will be realized.
As stated, how much exercise that is “ideal” is an individual matter
and the amount can change regularly, with the “ups and downs” of
exercise demands and relative to the goals a person has and even
as a person ages.
Consider someone who simply wants to get in shape and make a
little improvement in fat loss (10 pounds) and muscle gain (5
pounds). The exercise program to achieve that goal is much
different than if that person decides to maxmize his or her
genetic potential, to lose as much fat and gain as much muscle
as possible.
The program is still different yet if the goal is
to rehabilitate an injury, or whether to become
good at a one mile run or a 25 mile marathon.
It’s now time for a bit of an overview as we work backward. The prime factor
in determining an exercise program is the individual. It doesn’t matter what
works for any other person, including the bodybuilding, athletic, and fitness
models in magazines and books. Rather, what counts is what works for YOU and
what is ideal for you.
12
Because goals are so diverse and individualized, and because what we want to achieve
may not correspond to what we actually can achieve (or sometimes we can do better
than we realize), then it is difficult to determine exactly how much exercise is
ideal unless we experiment and pay close attention to our “patterns.”
This means that certain types of programs and certain amounts of exercise will
produce different responses, some better than others. It is important to pay
attention to your body responses to try and figure out how much exercise is ideal
(relative to the “time factor”) and the methods and strategies that seem to work
best.
Consider for a moment that all exercise programs are, in fact, the same in regard to what they
consist of, such as exercise movements, repetitions, sets, etc. Below is an example of how a
workout can be different, yet still contain the same things.
What makes an exercise program “unique” and most effective for your individuality is the
measurement of all those elements, together with how we arrange them ( the “stategy” or “method”).
Common Elements Workout One Workout Two
Muscle Group
Exercise Movement
Intensity of Effort
Number of Sets
Repetitions
Load
Rest Between Sets
Frequency
Chest
Bench Press
To-Failure
2
8-6
100 pounds both sets
60 seconds
Every 7 days
Chest
Bar Dips
Sub-Failure
3
10-8-6
Body weight
45 seconds
Every 8 days
All this should tell you two things:
One, the goal is to perform the right amount of exercise, and so we must take
into consideration the Principle of Diminishing Returns. Doing too much has no
value and it can cause overtraining, which leads to muscle weakness and other
health-related problems.
Second, the specific “nature” of the exercise program (the measure and
arrangement of the “elements” in accordance to the SAID Principle) must be
considered, and that it needs to match the “trainability” and goals of the
individual.
13
]
The Principle of Diminishing Returns helps guide us as to how
much intensity, volume, and frequency is required. We have
to experiment with those three factors to find out what works
best, while making certain we discover the least amount
exercise overall that is necessary to produce the best response
relative to the goals we are attempting to achieve.
No easy task! That takes time and patience, besides some
careful thinking.
The SAID Principle likewise helps us determine how much intensity, volume, and
frequency is needed. There are some basic guidelines, such as “to build endurance
practice endurance training” and to build muscle and strength, the intensity of
effort has to be rather high and balanced with an appropriate amount of volume
and frequency as we attempt to overload progressively in the weights we use.
Again, it takes experimentation to know exactly how much exercise is necessary
to achieve certain results since we all respond to exercise differently.
Also, the SAID Principle determines the load or resistance to use when
exercising. If the goal is to build strength and muscle, the weight must
be heavy enough to challenge the muscles in under two minutes... more
than two minutes of steady activity is more of an endurance or aerobic
challenge. However, the weight must not be too heavy as to increase the
risk of injury.
How much load is used has an effect on intensity. For example, if you trained “subfailure”
for 8 repetitions with 25 pounds, then next workout you attempted 8 repetitions
with 35 pounds, the added weight may cause you to train “to-failure”, and both the
increase in load and intensity place greater demands and strain on the body, i.e., it is
harder.
Because of this relationship, using progressively heavier weights can affect how much
workout volume and frequency you can or should perform as you become more muscular
and stronger and learn to exercise more intensely.
14
To summarize, an Individual must
take into consideration his or her
genetics and motivation when
determining fitness goals (often this
is not known until after some
experimentation with the fitness
lifestyle).
Diminishing Returns
determines the “measure” of
ideal exercise demands relative
to the “nature” of the exercise
program. This needs to be
discovered through
experimentation.
Individually-based goals must
reflect the SAID Principle (the
“nature” of the program), in that
you must exercise in a particular
manner (how and how much you
exercise) to achieve particular
results relative to your specific
genetics and goals.
How much exercise to be performed is
dependent on individual exercise tolerance
and motivation, which takes into consideration
the Principle of Diminishing Returns; you don’t
want to do more than is necessary, and you
particulary do not want to overtrain... yet you
need to do enough to produce the results you
want to achieve or can achieve.
The measure of Intensity, Volume, Frequency, and
(over)Load reflect the “nature” of the exercise program
(SAID Principle), relative to an individual’s exercise
trainability (genetics) and motivation to achieve what
is possible as determined through Diminishing Returns
and individual goals.
We hope you have enjoyed this overview of the exercise principles. For
further reading, and to learn about data collection and individualized
program analysis/prescription methods, check out the I.A.R.T. book
Prescribed Exercise: Exercise Science Made Simple at:
or speak with your I.A.R.T. fitness professional.
But like any complex subject, it can be made simple... at least
exercise theory is fairly simple, whereas what you do with that
knowledge (how you decide to apply exercise) can be quite varied
and different from how other people apply exercise. This is true
because of your “individuality” and what works for someone else
may not work for you or, at least, not to the same extent.
We begin our journey with a brief look at philosophy. This step is
necessary since the principles of exercise are part of a larger
picture, and this larger picture is governed by certain Laws that
guide everything and every subject. The first law is the Law of
Identity. This means that everything in the Universe (all that
which exists) has an identity. For example, you are who you are,
and the things in your home are what they are. This should seem
common sense.
You are unique!
Exercise is no different in that it is
something specific and the “nature” of
exercise and the rules you must follow
in order to make exercise productive are
established and very clear. We’ll be
speaking about these principles shortly.
by Brian D. Johnston
Exercise Science
Made Simple
The Universe
(everything)
Exercise
2
The second logical law that you should be aware of is the
Law of Non-Contradiction. This means that there cannot
be any contradiction in what a thing is or what a statement
says. A statement cannot both be true and false, and you
cannot be someone else other than yourself. Although you
can “pretend to be ” or “act” like someone else, you cannot
escape your identity... of who you are.
How the Laws of Identity and Non-Contradiction fit into exercise science and its
theory (a description of rules or a set of principles to follow) will become clear as we
proceed. For now, what you need to remember are two things:
1. To identify something mentally we need to define that “something.” A
definition is a description of the essential characteristics of a thing
that exists. You could say that a definition describes what we perceive
through our senses, i.e., sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
For example, to describe or define an automobile you would say it
is a self-propelled passenger vehicle with wheels designed for
operation on roadways. You would not describe the color, since it
could be any colour, and the same is true of how many passengers
the car holds, how fast it could move, its length, weight, model
and manufacturer, etc... these things vary from one automobile
to the next, but the essential characteristics described in the
definition above hold true in all cases.
Exercise science is similar, in that there are certain definitions
to describe its principles or rules that you need to follow.
The definition of a “thing” is how we describe
and communicate identity.
An important logical point to remember is that there must be a limited
number of rules to know about exercise, or any other science. If the
rules we had to follow were infinite, then there would be no way we
could learn and apply any science. However, although the number of
rules are limited, the combinations that can come about from these
rules (how we apply exercise) can be almost limitless.
3
2. A thing can only be what it is and nothing else (at the same time). Neither can you say “I can
lift 100 pounds” and “I cannot lift 100 pounds.” Either you can or you cannot.
An automobile cannot be a scooter at the same time. A person
can take an automobile apart and create a new thing, such as
a scooter from the parts, but it no longer is an automobile.
Once you understand the “nature” or identity of exercise
principles, and what they mean, you will discover that
you cannot contradict the nature of those principles. This
means that the rules you must follow need to coordinate
to create a balanced “synergy” so that you do not do too
much exercise nor too little exercise, but the right
amount and type of exercise.
Next, all the sciences connect in some manner.
Different sciences include physics, chemistry, biology,
anatomy, and genetics. All these studies influence or
make up exercise.
For example, when we talk about developing our
muscles, we refer to anatomy, which is the biological
science dealing with the structure of organisms,
including our bodies.
And how our bodies respond to exercise, such as the
building of muscle and strength, speaks of physiology,
or the science of the functions of living organisms
and the chemical and physical processes involved.
How well you respond to exercise depends on the
quality of the exercise program and your genetics.
Exercise Does Not Exist Within a Vacuum!
Physics
Chemistry Biology
Physiology Anatomy
Genetics
Exercise Science
4
Genetics is an important consideration. We all come in
different shapes and sizes. Some people are thin, whereas
others carry more body fat. Some people are short, whereas
others are tall.
The first principle of exercise is Intensity, which is the possible percentage of
momentary effort exerted.
Some people respond very well to exercise, such as building a lot
of muscle or they are able to run marathons, whereas other
people have to work very hard to make only slight changes.
Sometimes a person can have some muscle groups that respond
very well to exercise, whereas other muscle groups do not seem
to develop very much at all, like large arms and small calves.
Chances are you will notice this too.
To break this down, if you try as hard as possible to lift a weight,
mentally and physically, you demonstrate 100% of your ability. Now,
the only times this occurs would be if you were to lift a maximum
weight in an exercise, or if it happens to be the last repetition
possible, such as lifting a weight ten times and an eleventh repetition
is impossible.
At any other time (or moment) you exert a
percentage of what is possible but not 100%.
A key to productive exercise is that the harder
or more intense you exercise, the better your
chances of developing muscle and strength because
the exercise “stimulus” was so strong.
5
The nature of intensity states a specific rule: it is inversely proportionate to volume
and frequency. In other words, the more exercise you perform in a workout (volume),
and the more often you exercise (frequency), the less intense you can or should
exercise.
It’s a little more complex than this and how these three factors fit together will be
explained later. First, let’s look at those other two principles of exercise science:
This can be compared to getting a suntan when it is cloudy and the
temperature is cool as opposed to when the sky is clear and the
temperature is hot. The stimulus to produce tanned skin, which is
a response of our bodies to the stress of the Sun’s light rays,
obviously is greater when it is hot and the sky is clear.
Just remember, you do not have to lift heavy weights to exercise intensely. Rather, it is
the quality of effort that makes the difference, such as moving slowly and continuing the
set until the repetitions become difficult or challenging... regardless of the number of
repetitions performed or how heavy the weight may be. And if you lift a moderate weight
for ten repetitions, the last repetition will feel very heavy, only because you lost so much
strength (function) in order to reach that tenth and final repetition.
Being unable to lift for another repetition means you trained to “muscular failure”; in
other words, your muscles fail to continue to move the weight. You either will need to
reduce the weight so that you can perform more repetitions, or you will need to rest for a
minute or two before performing another “set” of repetitions with the same or different
weight.
Also, a person does not have to exercise this hard all the time or at all to produce results,
but the effort must be high enough if you want to improve your fitness level, whether it is
to run faster, to become stronger, to build more muscle, or any other goal. In fact, there
must be enough effort when we exercise just to maintain what fitness was developed from
prevoius exercise, or to slow down the normal loss of muscle and strength as we age.
Volume is the amount of exercise performed in a
workout, such as the number of repetitions
performed in each set and how long each set lasts (in
seconds and minutes) but, more particularly, the
number of sets performed.
The nature of volume states a specific rule: it is
inversely proportionate to intensity and frequency.
In other words, the more volume (sets) you perform
in a workout, the less frequently and the less intensely
you can or should workout.
Most people exercise too much and too
often while not exercising intensely enough
6
The nature of frequency states a specific rule: it is inversely proportionate
to intensity and volume. In other words, the harder you exercise and the
more you perform in a workout, the less often you can or should train each
muscle specifically or any muscle in general.
Here is where it gets a bit complex. It is wrong to say that volume, frequency, or intensity must
decrease if one of the other things increases. That may be the case, but not always. Check out the
graph below. Each person has his or her tolerance to exercise stress, and the ability to respond to
exercise. We can do too much and still produce positive results, although it is ideal to discover
how much exercise each of us needs to produce the best results relative to what we are attempting
to achieve, such as losing fat, or gaining muscle or strength... or even all three.
If a person does not exercise very hard, and intensity, volume and frequency are not that high,
then all three factors actually can increase and still be within the “blue zone”. It is only once a
person begins doing too much (beyond what is “ideal”) that intensity, volume and frequency need to
be coordinated or balanced more carefully.
Frequency refers to the rate of occurrence of exercise
sessions. For example, if you exercise every second day,
then that would be your general frequency. And if you
exercise different muscles on different days, but
exercise each muscle once a week, then “once a week”
would be your specific frequency.
What you must remember is that exercise is a form of
stress on the body and mind, just like work, school, or
experiencing an accident or injury. How often you
exercise in general is just as important as how often
you exercise each body part specifically. Doing too much
in either case is not good for you.
Exercise Demands
Too Much Exercise
(Overtraining)
Too Little Exercise
(Undertraining)
Ideal Amount of Exercise
(Least Amount to Produce the Best Results)
Results Produced
(Excess Exercise to Produce the Same or Lesser Results)
7
Doing far too much exercise is not a good thing since it leads to overtraining, such as a general
feeling of fatigue, no motivation to exercise, a loss of strength and muscle, and a weakened system
that can result in repeated colds and flus.
Not exercising enough can cause similar things to happen, such as reduced strength and muscle, a
general feeling of fatigue, and a weakened system. This is obvious in people who do not exercise,
since their functions and overall health are not as good as those who do exercise, but it also is
obvious in people who do exercise.
To explain, if a person has a certain amount of strength and muscle, and that strength and muscle
were developed by exercising with a particular amount of intensity, volume and frequency, then a
person can lose some of that strength and muscle if less exercise is performed. After all, by doing
less there is no reason for the body to keep what you developed by doing more.
Take a look again at our graph, and you will notice
that there is a range for an individual’s tolerance
to exercise, up until a critical point before a
person overtrains, i.e., doing too much exercise.
However, how much exercise is too much
depends on the “time factor”, or how long a
certain amount of exercise demands is
maintained.
For example, suppose that 5 sets for each
muscle every 7 days seems to be ideal, and you
could do that much exercise all the time without
overtraining. Then you decide to try a lot more
exercise, such as 12 sets for each muscle every
5 days. Although you can handle that much, the
ability to keep up that pace would not last very
long before you overtrain. Eventually you would have to reduce your exercise demands to something
more tolerable over the long-term, such as the 5 sets every 7 days.
Exercise Demands
Too Much Exercise
(Overtraining)
Too Little Exercise
(Undertraining)
Ideal Amount of Exercise
(Least Amount to Produce the Best Results)
Results Produced
(Excess Exercise to Produce the Same or Lesser Results)
Time
Sometimes we can maintain what we develop by doing a bit less, but not
a lot less. Other times we will lose strength and muscle no matter how
hard we exercise simply because it is part of the aging process, although
we can slow down the loss we normally experience by exercising regularly
and within our means.
The key to all of this is that each of us needs to discover how much is necessary to
produce the results we want (so long as those results are within our means) and without
doing more than is necessary. This introduces us to our fourth principle of Diminishing
Returns, a rule that states: exercise that exceeds the minimum necessary to produce
the best results possible has no value.
This should be fairly common sense; after all, why do more if the results are no
better? But, again, it’s not that simple.
8
What you may notice is that the
results produced (e.g., muscle and
strength) when exercise demands
are increased to more than you are
used to are greater per unit of time,
so long as you do not cross that fine
line of overtraining.
However, when the demands are
very high, and to avoid overtraining,
you eventually have to reduce the
exercise demands and return to a
program that is more ideal longterm.
This is what frustrates some people;
they want to make the best results
possible, but when they put their
bodies into “overdrive” they can’t sustain it for very long. What sometimes happens is that they
try to sustain a lot of exercise and they become overtrained or injured.
Exercise Demands
Time
etc.
For example...
To avoid this from happening, and if you
try to maximize your physical results, a
program needs to have ups and downs in
how hard you can exercise and for how
long you can maintain certain amounts of
exercise. This is what athletes do to
prepare for the Olympics. They are not
in their best conditions all the time, but
build up their conditions over several
months, then return to easier exercise
training once the competition is over.
All this is similar to anything else in life; you cannot work at a
job or study at school as hard as possible all the time without
burning out. This is why, for example, school exams do not occur
every week, a pattern that explains the relationship between
intensity, volume, and frequency. When there are no exams
students’ rate of frequency to learn is high (every day); the
volume is high (new things learned every day), but the intensity
of “memorizing” or remembering the information is low. Once
exam time kicks in, the volume of new information to learn or
know drops significantly while the intensity of knowing the
information increases at a frequency that lasts for a brief period
of weeks.
9
The fifth principle is an obvious one: In order to exercise, there must be a resistance in which
to exercise against, such as your body weight, barbells and dumbbells, or exercise machines.
If there is no “load”, then the muscles cannot work. Consequently, the Load Principle refers
to the amount of resistance imposed upon the muscles and that:
A load must exist for exercise to exist.
Not everyone will want to “maximize” his or her body’s potential, and so altering
exercise demands is not for everyone or necessary for everyone (although it helps
to add variety to maintain motivation).
The need to “cycle” or alter exercise demands will depend on how far you will want
to take your body. Also, the overall structure of the program eventually will depend
on your goals and lifestyle.
If you work hard to increase both the
load and the number of repetitions from
one workout to the next, then this would
be called “double progression” (see
workouts 3 & 4 in the example).
WORKOUT LOAD REPS
1
2
3
4
etc.
25
28
33
35
etc.
6
6
8
9
etc.
Also, a key to increase results is the ability to
overload the muscles with progressively heavier
weights (or through some other factor). If you
always perform 10 repetitions with 25 pounds, you
will not improve beyond that point; you have to use
30 pounds, then 35 pounds, etc. This increase in
weights used refers to “progression” and often is
termed the Progression Principle.
The sixth principle is called SAID, which is short for
“specific adaptations to imposed demands.” This means
that the body will adapt, or change, relative to the
demands of exercise imposed upon it. As a very
specific example, to become good at tennis or any other
sport requires specific practice of that sport. You do
not become good at tennis by playing badminton;
although one activity is “similar” to the other, they
are not “exact.”
10
This should seem straight forward. However:
In order to make specific physical changes such as muscle size, particulary if you
want to “maximize” that aspect of your body, the program must be designed
specifically relative to your individualism or how you respond to exercise.
The same is true when we exercise to produce certain changes in our
bodies, the exercise program must be designed in such as way that
specific results are produced.
You cannot perform a yoga program and expect to build large muscles
or a lot of strength. And if you want to develop your arm muscles you
would not work your leg muscles.
This brings us to our seventh and final principle, the Principle of Individualism,
which states: exercise must be prescribed in accordance to the needs, goals,
abilities, limitations and psychology of the individual.
Some people respond very well to exercise and
make great progress on nearly any exercise
program because of their genetics.
Most people, however, need to customize their exercise programs carefully in
order to make worthwhile changes in their bodies. A “one size fits all” exercise
program can work only so well for most people, and this is no different than if we
were to consider that everyone has specific nutritional or medical requirements;
we can make general recommendations in regard to nutrition and medicine but,
eventually, we have to fine-tune those recommendations so that they fit the
individual much better.
It’s like buying a suit off the rack as opposed to a tailor-made
suit that is designed specifically for you, regardless of your
genetics. Both serve the same purpose, to clothe you, but the
quality and individuality between the two is much different.
11
For example, a person may have the goal to lose 10 pounds of fat in one month, but he or she
may have the “need” to increase motivation to sustain an exercise and diet program in order
to achieve that goal.
Also, we have to look at a person’s trainability (how well he or she responds to exercise) to
determine if that much fat loss in a month is possible: is the person able to achieve that
goal, or are there certain physical or mental limitations keeping the person from that goal?
Lastly, we have to look at the person’s psychology, a much neglected
aspect of a fitness lifestyle. This has a lot to do with motivation and
preference for certain types of exercise. A person could have the goal
and genetic potential to become very strong, but if that person does not
like weight training or can’t bring himself to lift progressively heavier
weights, then the goal never will be realized.
As stated, how much exercise that is “ideal” is an individual matter
and the amount can change regularly, with the “ups and downs” of
exercise demands and relative to the goals a person has and even
as a person ages.
Consider someone who simply wants to get in shape and make a
little improvement in fat loss (10 pounds) and muscle gain (5
pounds). The exercise program to achieve that goal is much
different than if that person decides to maxmize his or her
genetic potential, to lose as much fat and gain as much muscle
as possible.
The program is still different yet if the goal is
to rehabilitate an injury, or whether to become
good at a one mile run or a 25 mile marathon.
It’s now time for a bit of an overview as we work backward. The prime factor
in determining an exercise program is the individual. It doesn’t matter what
works for any other person, including the bodybuilding, athletic, and fitness
models in magazines and books. Rather, what counts is what works for YOU and
what is ideal for you.
12
Because goals are so diverse and individualized, and because what we want to achieve
may not correspond to what we actually can achieve (or sometimes we can do better
than we realize), then it is difficult to determine exactly how much exercise is
ideal unless we experiment and pay close attention to our “patterns.”
This means that certain types of programs and certain amounts of exercise will
produce different responses, some better than others. It is important to pay
attention to your body responses to try and figure out how much exercise is ideal
(relative to the “time factor”) and the methods and strategies that seem to work
best.
Consider for a moment that all exercise programs are, in fact, the same in regard to what they
consist of, such as exercise movements, repetitions, sets, etc. Below is an example of how a
workout can be different, yet still contain the same things.
What makes an exercise program “unique” and most effective for your individuality is the
measurement of all those elements, together with how we arrange them ( the “stategy” or “method”).
Common Elements Workout One Workout Two
Muscle Group
Exercise Movement
Intensity of Effort
Number of Sets
Repetitions
Load
Rest Between Sets
Frequency
Chest
Bench Press
To-Failure
2
8-6
100 pounds both sets
60 seconds
Every 7 days
Chest
Bar Dips
Sub-Failure
3
10-8-6
Body weight
45 seconds
Every 8 days
All this should tell you two things:
One, the goal is to perform the right amount of exercise, and so we must take
into consideration the Principle of Diminishing Returns. Doing too much has no
value and it can cause overtraining, which leads to muscle weakness and other
health-related problems.
Second, the specific “nature” of the exercise program (the measure and
arrangement of the “elements” in accordance to the SAID Principle) must be
considered, and that it needs to match the “trainability” and goals of the
individual.
13
]
The Principle of Diminishing Returns helps guide us as to how
much intensity, volume, and frequency is required. We have
to experiment with those three factors to find out what works
best, while making certain we discover the least amount
exercise overall that is necessary to produce the best response
relative to the goals we are attempting to achieve.
No easy task! That takes time and patience, besides some
careful thinking.
The SAID Principle likewise helps us determine how much intensity, volume, and
frequency is needed. There are some basic guidelines, such as “to build endurance
practice endurance training” and to build muscle and strength, the intensity of
effort has to be rather high and balanced with an appropriate amount of volume
and frequency as we attempt to overload progressively in the weights we use.
Again, it takes experimentation to know exactly how much exercise is necessary
to achieve certain results since we all respond to exercise differently.
Also, the SAID Principle determines the load or resistance to use when
exercising. If the goal is to build strength and muscle, the weight must
be heavy enough to challenge the muscles in under two minutes... more
than two minutes of steady activity is more of an endurance or aerobic
challenge. However, the weight must not be too heavy as to increase the
risk of injury.
How much load is used has an effect on intensity. For example, if you trained “subfailure”
for 8 repetitions with 25 pounds, then next workout you attempted 8 repetitions
with 35 pounds, the added weight may cause you to train “to-failure”, and both the
increase in load and intensity place greater demands and strain on the body, i.e., it is
harder.
Because of this relationship, using progressively heavier weights can affect how much
workout volume and frequency you can or should perform as you become more muscular
and stronger and learn to exercise more intensely.
14
To summarize, an Individual must
take into consideration his or her
genetics and motivation when
determining fitness goals (often this
is not known until after some
experimentation with the fitness
lifestyle).
Diminishing Returns
determines the “measure” of
ideal exercise demands relative
to the “nature” of the exercise
program. This needs to be
discovered through
experimentation.
Individually-based goals must
reflect the SAID Principle (the
“nature” of the program), in that
you must exercise in a particular
manner (how and how much you
exercise) to achieve particular
results relative to your specific
genetics and goals.
How much exercise to be performed is
dependent on individual exercise tolerance
and motivation, which takes into consideration
the Principle of Diminishing Returns; you don’t
want to do more than is necessary, and you
particulary do not want to overtrain... yet you
need to do enough to produce the results you
want to achieve or can achieve.
The measure of Intensity, Volume, Frequency, and
(over)Load reflect the “nature” of the exercise program
(SAID Principle), relative to an individual’s exercise
trainability (genetics) and motivation to achieve what
is possible as determined through Diminishing Returns
and individual goals.
We hope you have enjoyed this overview of the exercise principles. For
further reading, and to learn about data collection and individualized
program analysis/prescription methods, check out the I.A.R.T. book
Prescribed Exercise: Exercise Science Made Simple at:
or speak with your I.A.R.T. fitness professional.