What principles of fitness training states that the body must work harder than what it is used to in order for it to adapt?

What's in it for you?

1. Overload is any training stimulus above what the body/individual is currently used to doing
2. Training overload can come in many forms such as reps, weight, sets, duration, intensity, and more
3. Progressive overload is the most useful form and must be applied incrementally

In order for an individual to adapt to their training, the body must be stressed more than it is accustomed to. Sounds simple right? Do more and get better. That is the basic premise of the Principle of Overload; however, there is much more going on with this than it seems at surface level.

The Principle of Overload is one of many theories and principles that a good strength and conditioning coach must remember to deliver optimal results. Let our team of expert Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists you and your athletes to the next level. Try a free training program or contact us to learn more!

What is the Overload Principle?

The Principle of Overload states that in order for an individual to achieve a training adaptation, the body must be stressed by working beyond what it is accustomed to doing. To break that down, a training adaptation is anything that you are trying to achieve; be it getting bigger muscles, stronger, faster, more explosive, or better at a certain sport skill.

The stress, or thing that you are doing to improve such as lifting weights, plyometrics, etc. must be greater than what the body is already used to. Many times, the Principle of Overload is referred to as the Overload Principle. This generally depends on the source you’re referring to.

Understanding and Using the Principle of Overload

Simply put, you won’t get any better doing the same thing that is already easy over and over. If you can already squat 100 kilos for 10 reps with ease, then doing that every training session may make you a bit better, but it will not make you bigger, stronger, or a bigger squat. Trying 120 kilos for ten reps will be difficult, but the adaptation you get will be much greater.

Principle of Overload Example:

Above, you’ll see an example of overload being applied to the weight in a training cycle. In this example, the weight increases incrementally each week, is reduced, and would be reapplied the following week in a cyclic process.

This chart is just an example of how the Principle of Overload is used in combination with the Principle of Periodization, as seen with the reduction in weight on Week 4. Applying periodization helps to maximize the effects of overloading. It always helps to learn more about periodization. 

Don’t forget, applying overload should be specific to your training objectives and can be done by adjusting any training variable. This includes:

• Weight
• Sets
• Reps
• Frequency
• Rest Intervals
• Tempo
• Distance
• Time

Overload can and should be used when working with any athlete or personal training client. Runners or other endurance athletes will likely rely more on overloading distance or time while strength and power athletes will overload resistance and overall training volume.

Does the Principle of Overload Apply to All Training?

This is one of those universal principles that should apply to everything you do to get better. There are only so many hours in a day and training time is usually limited, so pick and choose what you would like or need to improve on most and focus on overloading that.

This is why it’s important to integrate a variety of training principles into a training plan. This includes the Principle of Progression and the Principle of Specificity, for starters.

The body can only recover from so much at once. If you would like help with your programming one of our expert Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists can help with that.

Using the Overload Principle

The most important considerations to keep in mind are that the body can only recover from so much, check back soon for an article on maximum recoverable volume. As stated, focus on one or two things to strive to improve and a specific goal that you can point to and know when you have improved that area enough.

If you are a basketball player and want to improve your vertical jump and conditioning more to perform better in the later stages of games, then you would focus on that and set a specific goal of improving your vertical leap by two inches and reducing your 1.5 mile run time by 45 seconds.

By focusing on these two goals you can tailor the bulk of your training to things that are beneficial for these goals while still maintaining the rest of your skills. You can even apply this principle to the diaphragm muscle for better breathing, according to authors in The Journal of Physical Therapy Science.

When could the Overload Principle be a disadvantage? The principle itself is often presented with many challenges that could be considered disadvantages. Of utmost importance is the potential for overtraining in response to overload. Periodization and scheduled recovery can both help prevent adverse effects related to overtraining.

Another thing to keep in mind is that burying yourself under immense workloads to get maximum gains is not the best way to do it. Incremental improvements week by week are the best and there is another principle called the Principle of Diminishing Returns that we have an article on and is a must-read so you don’t run yourself into the ground.

The Overload Principle: Key Takeaways

Even though it is uncomfortable, difficult, and sometimes painful, the only way to get better is through hard work and dedication. This comes in the form of the Principle of Overload, emphasizing that to get better at something, you have to try harder at it. Add a little more each time and you will be that much better. Even 1% per week is 52% better every year!

Programming for overload can be difficult to keep everything in line, like we mentioned before, there is a team of certified experts waiting to help you and take the stress of so all you have to do is show up, do the training, and reap the rewards. Try one of our free training plans to help you improve in all aspects of fitness, athletic performance, and health.

References

• //www.nsca.com/contentassets/116c55d64e1343d2b264e05aaf158a91/basics_of_strength_and_conditioning_manual.pdf
• Hellebrandt, F. A. (1958). APPLICATION OF THE OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE TO MUSCLE TRAINING IN MAN1. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 37(5), 278-283.
• Lee, H. Y., Cheon, S. H., & Yong, M. S. (2017). Effect of diaphragm breathing exercise applied on the basis of overload principle. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 29(6), 1054-1056.

Related

The best way to achieve optimum results in exercise and fitness is to follow a plan. But not just any plan, such as “I’m going to run 5 miles every day” or “I’ll lift the heaviest weight I can every time I work out.” Your body is an amazing machine that responds to specific stimuli in distinct ways, and your brain is constantly working to protect the body from threats – like way too much stress on the muscles and tendons from continuous all-out hard exercise.

Principle (noun): 1. a basic truth or theory;  2. an idea that forms the basis of something;  3. a law or fact of nature that explains how something works or why something happens.

Fortunately, exercise science gives us five basic principles we can incorporate into a fitness program that will develop the changes, or “adaptations” we desire, in a safe and lasting way. These five principles are:

• The Overload Principle
• The F.I.T.T. Principle
• The Specificity Principle
• The Rest and Recovery Principle
• The Use It or Lose It Principle

The Overload Principle and the F.I.T.T. Principle work together, so let’s review these first.

The Overload Principle is considered the most important concept in exercise. In simple terms, it means that your body will adapt to the demand you impose on it. For example, when you lift a heavy weight you haven’t lifted before, or you complete a hard cardio workout that puts new demands on your heart and lungs, physiological changes will take place that will allow you to do this more easily next time.

Because the body is so adaptable, the demands we put on it must gradually and progressively increase over time in order to achieve long-term fitness gains. These demands must be applied slowly, because too much too fast causes the body to react negatively to excessive stress. (For more about this concept, read The Body’s Response to Stress – Understanding the General Adaptation Syndrome.)

So it’s important to strategically vary your mode of exercise, intensity and duration of training in order to get better, stronger or faster. This is where the F.I.T.T. Principle comes in.

F.I.T.T. stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type. These are the four areas where increases in workload or demand can be made in order to progressively overload the body so it adapts in the desired way.

Frequency means how often an exercise is performed. After any kind of exercise, your body begins a process of repairing and rebuilding stressed tissues. It’s important to find the right balance of work and recovery that provides just enough stress for the body to adapt as well as recover for the next session.

Intensity is the amount of effort or work completed in a specific exercise. For example, walking at a conversational pace is low intensity, whereas sprinting for 400 yards is high intensity. In strength training, factors that influence intensity are the weight itself (load), the number of sets and repetitions, the tempo of the repetitions, and whether a level of instability has been added (such as standing on one leg while doing shoulder presses.) Once again, just enough intensity to overload without overtraining, injury or burnout is what’s important here.

Time is simply the duration of the exercise session. It’s a function of intensity and type.

Type means the type of exercise performed – strength training, cardio, or a combination of both. The type of exercise is tied to the Specificity Principle, discussed next.

This table illustrates how to combine the Overload Principle and the F.I.T.T. Principle for strength training or cardiovascular training:

The Specificity Principle is, quite simply, that the exercise you do should be specific to your goals. For example, if your goal is simply health and weight management, focus on total body strength, cardio and a healthy diet. If you are a runner wanting to improve your race times, include speed workouts in your training. If you’re a cyclist training for a 100-mile ride, focus on building up longer distance training rides at an endurance pace.

The Rest and Recovery Principle is critical to achieving gains in fitness. The body simply cannot tolerate too much stress, and over time will instead “shut down” in order to protect itself. This results in overtraining syndrome, burnout, excess fatigue, and a weakened immune system. (Read The Body’s Response to Stress – Understanding the General Adaptation Syndrome.) Exercising every day is perfectly fine – just not the same exercise at the same intensity. Especially with strength training, it’s important to allow at least a day between sessions to allow muscles to repair and rebuild. However, working different muscle groups on different days (what’s called a “split routine”) will allow for this recovery period for one muscle group while working another. Low intensity cardio can be done every day, but rest between intense sessions. Rest and recovery are important for your mental state too!

The fifth principle, while not specifically targeted to fitness adaptations, is still important to be aware of – Use It or Lose It. Most everyone is aware of this concept at some level, as it applies to many things in life. With respect to the body, muscles build strength (called “hypertrophy”) with use, and lose strength (“atrophy”) with lack of use. This includes not only the skeletal muscles, but also the heart and even the brain (although it’s not technically a muscle.) How quickly atrophy occurs is dependent on many factors, and will be the subject of a future blog post.

Incorporating these principles into your fitness routine will ensure you get the best results in the most efficient way, while preventing injury and overtraining.  But it can be complicated. As a virtual fitness coach and personal trainer certified through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), I have the knowledge and experience to develop a progressive program specifically designed for you and your fitness goal. We’ll work together, on your schedule, to get you where you want to be, safely and effectively. Contact me today for a free consultation!