Training principles
What each training principle means, how research measures it, what studies found, and what is disputed.
- Detraining
What is lost when training stops or is cut back, and how fast. How research defines and measures it, what studies found for strength, muscle size, endurance, tendon and bone, and what is disputed about regaining.
- Listening to your body
What research measures when training is guided by how it feels. Perceived exertion, repetitions in reserve, autoregulation, pain during exercise and training to failure, what studies found, and where they disagree.
- Overtraining
What research says happens when recovery falls short of training. How consensus statements define overreaching and overtraining syndrome, how studies try to spot them, and where the evidence is thin.
- Progressive overload
Raising the training stimulus over a programme. How position stands define it, the routes it can take, how studies progressed load, and what reviews found about periodisation.
- Rest
Rest between sets, rest days, deloads and planned time off. How research defines and measures each, what trials and reviews found for strength, muscle growth and injury, and where the evidence is thin or split.
- Sleep
What studies found on sleep and training. How research measures sleep in athletes, what sleep loss did to performance and muscle, how sleep relates to injury, and where the evidence is thin or split.
- Specificity
The principle that the body adapts to the kind of training it does. How reviews define it, how the choice of test shapes the results, what trials found, and what happens when strength and endurance training are combined.
- Training volume
How much training is done, and how often. How research defines and counts volume, what reviews and trials found as weekly sets and sessions rose, and where the evidence is thin or disputed.