A few weeks ago, one of my clients asked me if adding more weight is the best way to ensure that your strength training workout continues to deliver results. This is a great question! Have you ever finished a set of reps that felt difficult and thought to yourself, “Will I just have to keep adding more and more weight to make sure my body stays strong?”
The weight, or amount of resistance, used during a workout is only a small part of overall workout design. One of the best ways to think about fitness and prepare for the kinds of variety you will encounter in your training at the GH school is through the FITT principle. FITT is an acronym that stands for:
F: Frequency
I: Intensity
T: Time
T: Type
These four principles refer to the primary variables used in designing workouts that produce continued results. Frequency refers to how often a particular muscle is exercised, usually over the course of one week or one month. Intensity describes the overall difficulty level of the work performed. Time refers to the total length of time spend exercising, and type describes the wide range of lifting patterns or sequencing available in a workout. At GH, we manipulate these variables through the systems to ensure that your workouts remain challenging and effective, without resorting to a constant increase in resistance. This increases your overall fitness by addressing each aspect of human performance, which is why it is important you bring your “A-game” to each of your sessions.
Talk to your trainer about these variables and how they impact your cardio work outside of GH. Just like your workouts at GH, variety is key in maintaining results, focus, and having fun.
