FITT
What does FITT stand for?
Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type.
Name three of the six training methods.
What is specificity?
Tailoring a training program to meet the specific needs of an athlete’s sport, position and other physiological requirements
A gymnast wants to improve flexibility. Which training method would be most appropriate?
Flexibility training
Why is specificity important when designing a training program?
It meets the specific needs of an athlete’s sport, position and other physiological requirements.
What does the I in FITT represent?
Intensity
Name all 6 training methods
What is detraining?
This refers to the termination of training and the corresponding and rapid return to pre-training levels.
A long-distance runner wants to improve aerobic endurance. Which training method could they use?
Continuous training
Give one reason why an athlete needs recovery between training sessions.
To allow the body to recover and reduce the risk of overtraining/fatigue.
Give an example of how an athlete could change the Frequency of their training.
Increase or decrease how often they train (e.g. from 2 sessions per week to 3).
Which training method involves changes in speed and/or resistance?
Fartlek training
What is overtraining?
Overtraining is a result of insufficient recovery, which leads to a decrease in motivation and a decline in performance; can be exacerbated by excessive training volume.
A weightlifter wants to improve muscular strength. Which training method would be most appropriate?
Resistance training
Identify two problems with this training plan:
An athlete wants to make their training more challenging. Name two components of FITT they could change and explain how they could change them.
Interval training
An athlete stops training for six weeks and their fitness decreases. What concept does this demonstrate?
Detraining/reversibility.
A soccer player needs to improve their changing speeds throughout a game. Which training method could help?
Fartlek training
An athlete trains every day at maximum intensity with no rest days. Their performance begins to decrease. Identify the problem and give two changes they could make.
Overtraining. They could reduce training frequency/intensity and include adequate rest/recovery.
An athlete wants to improve their aerobic endurance. Explain how you could use all four components of FITT to design their training.
They should specify how often they train (frequency), how hard they train (intensity), how long they train (time), and the type of activity they complete (type), with each appropriate to improving aerobic endurance.
Explain the difference between continuous training and interval training.
Continuous training involves exercising continuously without rest periods, whereas interval training involves periods of work followed by periods of rest/recovery.
An athlete trains very frequently without enough recovery. Their performance begins to decrease. What is happening and how could they improve their training?
They are experiencing overtraining. They could include more rest/recovery and reduce the frequency and/or intensity of training.
A basketballer wants to improve their ability to repeatedly perform high-intensity efforts. Which training method would you choose and why?
Interval training, because it involves repeated periods of work and recovery and can replicate the repeated high-intensity efforts required in a game.
Design a training approach for a basketballer who wants to improve aerobic endurance. Include the training method, FITT and specificity.