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The Overload Principle

This is probably the most important principle of exercise and training. Simply stated, the Overload Principle means that the body will adapt to the stresses placed upon it. The more you do, the more you are capable of doing.  This is how all the training adaptations occur in exercise and training.  The human body is an amazing machine. When you stress the body through lifting a weight that the body is unaccustomed to lifting, the body will react by causing physiologic changes to be able to handle that stress the next time it occurs.  This concept is similar in cardiovascular training.  If you ask the heart, lungs and endurance muscles to do work not previously done, it will make changes to the body to be able to handle that task better the next time. This is how people get stronger, bigger, faster and increase their physical fitness level.

When you are working out, you want to strive to somehow increase the workload you are doing above what you did on your previous workout so you have overloaded your body to create a training adaptation.  This increase in workout stress can be a very small increase, as many small increases over time will eventually be a large increase or adaptation. 

The stress placed upon the body in a workout relates to numerous factors such as:

Some ways to increase the workload of a training session over a previous workout session include:

Decrease Workout Time

If you perform the same exact workout on two days, but on one day it took less time, you have increased the workload on the day that it took less time for the workout.  This is due to the fact that time is a component of determining workload, therefore; you have increased the intensity of the workout by decreasing the amount of time to complete it.

 

Increase Force Generated During an Exercise

This can be as simple as adding more weight or resistance to an exercise or to the body as in cycling, running or stair climbing. Adding just a small increase in weight, resistance or incline, whenever possible, to an exercise will soon accumulate to large gains in workload performed. Other methods to increase force include performing exercises with accelerating speed and a greater range of motion.

 

Increase Total Workload

Some examples of increasing a training session workload include doing more exercises, doing more sets, going farther or going faster. Some of these benefits can be offset by a corresponding substantial increase in time to perform the increased workload as time is a component in work performed. The goal is to increase work while decreasing time to a point that determines a maximum workload for a training session.   This provides for maximum intensity and efficient, productive training.

Remember, if you do not stress the body enough it will atrophy (deteriorate) to the point it needs to perform normal daily functioning and nothing more.  Hence the aging process!

Healthgoods Staff

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