Programme design

Programme design in personal fitness is the process of creating a structured plan of exercise and activity that targets an individual’s specific needs and objectives.

Goal Setting

Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). This approach helps structure the programme and provides motivation.
Goals should be both short-term (e.g. improving a certain technique after four weeks) and long-term (e.g. running a marathon within a year).

A personal analysis or fitness assessment is essential before designing a programme. This could include tests for strength, speed, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness.
Information obtained from the analysis should be utilised to tailor the programme specifically to the individual’s fitness level and capabilities.

Training variables are factors that can be adjusted to cater to an individual’s fitness level, goals, and progression. These include frequency, intensity, time, type, volume, and progression (FITT-VP).
Frequency refers to how often the individual will train, intensity is how hard they will work, time is the duration of the workout, type refers to the kind of exercise performed, volume relates to the total amount of work done, and progression is the increase in these variables over time.

Different training methods can be implemented to encourage varied and balanced workouts. Examples include continuous, interval, weight, circuit training and so on.
The choice of training method should be relevant to the individual’s goals. For instance, a person aiming to improve cardiovascular endurance may benefit from continuous or interval training.

Regular monitoring and adjusting of the programme is necessary to maintain effectiveness and relevance. This might involve re-evaluating fitness levels, adjusting training variables, or setting new goals.
If progress plateaus, variables should be adjusted to provide a new challenge. If injuries or other issues arise, the programme may need to be altered to accommodate these.

Rest and recovery sessions should be built into the programme design to avoid overtraining and grant the body time to repair and strengthen.
The importance of rest days should not be understated; they provide balance to the programme and help maintain consistent improvements over time.