Breaking Down Overall Fitness (Part 1)
Jan 3, 2008 by Jean-Luc Boissonneault
Breaking Down Overall Fitness Part 1
The average person that steps foot in our club here has the goal of getting in better overall shape. In return, our goal is to provide each and every person with the most complete overall training possible. What I’ve learned is that most people do not understand what overall fitness really is.
People generally like to get an adrenaline high. They join a running group or a light weight circuit class and think “wow I feel good”. What they don’t know is that they are actually making themselves weaker by not lifting heavy weight.
What is the meaning of overall fitness? It means we train you in a way to progress in all areas of fitness, not simply getting stronger in one area like most of the programs out there.
I will attempt to breakdown the 6 different areas of fitness and give you some guidelines for how to incorporate them into your program.
There are 3 Major Areas of Fitness
• Speed
• Maximum Strength
• Endurance
Speed is a movement that is done anywhere between 1 to 45 seconds and it is done with bodyweight or very light resistance. The primary fuel for speed is ATP. Its limiting factor is not being able to go any faster.
Maximum strength is a movement that is done between 1 and 45 seconds and it is done with a weight that you can only lift for a maximum of 4 repetitions. The primary fuel for maximum strength is ATP as well. Its limiting factor is not being able to lift the weight.
Endurance is a movement that is done anywhere from 10 minutes to unlimited time and it is done with bodyweight or low resistance. The primary fuel is Oxygen. Its limiting factor is loss of consciousness.
The only exception to increasing all these strengths is endurance because the goal of running as long as you can only causes you to get weaker. This is because of the change in fibre types and the loss of muscle. For this reason I have chosen to limit endurance exercises to 45min, which is the time where your testosterone level starts to drop and your cortisol increases.
Now between maximum strength and speed we get;
• Power
Between maximum strength and endurance we get;
• Strength endurance
Between endurance and speed we get;
• Explosive endurance
Power is a movement that is done between 1 and 45 seconds and it is done with a weight that is no more than 90% of your maximum with the attention on speed of movement. The primary fuel for power is ATP. Its limiting factor is not being able to lift a certain speed for a chosen weight or vice versa.
Strength endurance is a movement that is done between 45 seconds to 10 minutes and it is done with a chosen weight for a chosen time. The weight used must be between 30-70% of your maximum weight. The primary fuel source for strength endurance is glycogen. Its limiting factor is not being able to complete the repetitions in the chosen time or vice versa.
Explosive endurance is a movement that is done between 45 seconds to 10 minutes and it is done with a chosen speed for a chosen time. The weight used must be between 30-70% of your maximum weight. The primary fuel source for strength endurance is glycogen. Its limiting factor is not being able to complete the speed at a chosen time or vice versa.
Now all that’s left is finding the right exercises and prescriptions for each one of these strengths and how to combine them into one structured program.
