Principles of training and designing a programme
Training only works when the body is asked to do slightly more than it is comfortable with — then given time to rebuild stronger than before.
Part of your national curriculum
- Health and fitness: Take part in competitive sports and activities outside school through community links or sports clubs, and lead healthy, active lives
- Health and fitness: Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body
Key learning points
- • Overload, progression, specificity, reversibility
- • FITT: the four dials
- • Training methods
- • Intensity you can control
This lesson at a glance
- 25 minutes
- 21 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 21
Watch first
Principles of training and designing a programme
Watch how overload, progression and recovery are built into a training block.
In a nutshell
Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 21
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Overload, progression, specificity, reversibility
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 21
Learn
Overload, progression, specificity, reversibility
Overload: work beyond normal demands so the body adapts. Progression: raise that demand gradually as fitness improves. Specificity: train the components, muscles and energy systems your activity actually uses — long slow runs will not make a sprinter faster. Reversibility: adaptations are lost roughly three times faster than they are gained, so a month off costs more than a month of training gains.
Reset break
Part 4 of 21
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 21
Learn
FITT: the four dials
Frequency (sessions per week), Intensity (how hard), Time (how long) and Type (which method). Change one dial at a time — raising intensity and time together is the fastest route to injury. A safe progression for a runner is 10% more weekly distance, or the same distance at a slightly higher intensity, not both.
Quick check
Part 6 of 21
Quick check
Part 7 of 21
Reset break
Part 8 of 21
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 21
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Training methods
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 21
Learn
Training methods
Continuous training: 20+ minutes at a steady pace, best for cardiovascular endurance. Interval training: hard efforts with planned recovery, best for speed and anaerobic capacity. Fartlek: continuous work with varied pace, close to the demands of a game. Circuit training: stations mixing strength, endurance and skill. Plyometrics: bounding, hopping and depth jumps for power. Weight training: high load and low reps for strength, low load and high reps for muscular endurance. Static and dynamic stretching for flexibility.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 21
Learn
Intensity you can control
Estimate maximum heart rate as 220 minus age. A 13-year-old has an estimated max of 207bpm; the aerobic training zone of 60-80% is roughly 124-166bpm. Recreational activity sits lower; anaerobic interval work sits above 80%. Where a heart rate monitor is unavailable, the talk test works: aerobic means you can speak in short sentences, anaerobic means you cannot.
Reset break
Part 12 of 21
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 13 of 21
Quick check
Estimate the 60% aerobic threshold for a 13-year-old using the standard formula.
Quick check
Part 14 of 21
Explore the idea
Part 15 of 21
Worked example
A six-week block written properly
Goal: improve cardiovascular endurance for hockey. Frequency 3 sessions per week. Intensity 70-80% max HR. Time 25 minutes rising to 35 by week six. Type: one continuous run, one fartlek, one interval session of 6 x 400m. Progression: add 5 minutes or one interval every two weeks, never both in the same week. Retest with the multi-stage fitness test in week seven under the original conditions.
Reset break
Part 16 of 21
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 17 of 21
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 18 of 21
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Progression: raise that demand gradually as ____ improves.
Specificity: train the ____, muscles and energy systems your activity actually uses — long slow runs will not make a sprinter faster.
Recreational ____ sits lower; anaerobic interval work sits above 80%.
Challenge round
Part 19 of 21
Game · Recall cards
A footballer trains only by cycling. Which principle is being broken?
Card 1 of 4
Mastery quiz
Part 20 of 21
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Principles of training and designing a programme
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. A footballer trains only by cycling. Which principle is being broken?
2. What does the second T in FITT stand for?
3. Estimate the 60% aerobic threshold for a 13-year-old using the standard formula.
4. Which method best develops explosive power for a high jumper?
Lesson round-up
Part 21 of 21
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
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Best run
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Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaPart 1 of 21 · Watch & discover
How this is going
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Take part in competitive sports and activities outside school through community links or sports clubs, and lead healthy, active lives
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Develop components of fitness through sustained physical activity, understanding the effects of exercise on the body