These principles are a ISSA’s guide to gradual, long-lasting, injury-free fitness development.
- Train the way you want your body to change.
- Eat well-balanced, high performance meals.
- Establish realistic goals.
- Have a workout plan.
- Train all year round.
- Get in shape gradually.
- Don’t train when you are ill or seriously injured.
- Train first for volume (more reps) and only later for intensity (more weight or resistance).
- Listen to your body. Know when to rest and slow down.
- Vary volume and intensity of workouts.
- Work on weaknesses, not just strengths.
- Train systematically.
- Warm up and cool down.
- Train the mind. Learn to focus and delete extraneous “information” as you train.
- Listen to “Coach Pain”. Do not continue workouts when you know you should not.
- Become informed about the physiology of the body. Learn all you can about exercise and the effects of training.
- Have fun! Keep the exercise program in its proper perspective.
