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Using FITT to Get (or Stay) Fit

By Coach Brett Daniels

I am often asked “What kind of training program should I follow to get into shape?” or “How can I improve on my fitness?” By simply following the FITT principle you can do both. FITT stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type.

FREQUENCY, or how often you train, is an important factor in building or improving fitness. Consistency, regardless of how long or how hard you train, will lead to improvements. For example, someone coming from a sedentary background should strive to exercise three times per week at a minimum. Conversely, someone with an athletic background or that has already been training for a period of time would look to train more often.

INTENSITY, or how hard or easy you train, is another key component to training. Intensity and time go hand in hand during training. Generally as intensity increases, time decreases. The opposite is also true where less intense workouts go for a longer period of time. If you are just starting out, keep the intensity low in order to let your body adapt to training and to prevent injury.

TIME is the next element in training. As mentioned previously, time and intensity depend directly on one another. In order to engage the fat burning systems of the body you would want to train at a low intensity over a longer period of time.  Newer athletes should shoot for a minimum of 30 minutes per exercise period.

TYPE is perhaps the trickiest of the four principles. The type of workout should reflect the goals that you are trying to accomplish for that particular workout. For example if your goal is to increase Aerobic Capacity, then the type of workout you would to achieve this goal is a high intensity, short time frame workout (95-105% VO2Max for 2-6 minutes). Type also refers to what kind of workout is performed, an athlete with a hilly course for an A race would benefit from a workout that includes hill repeats or a ride/run on a hilly route versus a workout on a flat course.

Keeping these four principles in mind when you train will help you to get (or stay) fit in 2010.

Brett Daniels is a USA Triathlon and USA Cycling Level II coach. He is a regular speaker at USA Triathlon clinics on the local and regional level. Brett coaches athletes of all experience levels and distances, but primarily coaches Ironman athletes, where he has a 100% finisher rate for first time Ironman athletes. Brett is a coach for The Sport Factory\of Roswell, GA, and he can be contacted via email at coachbrett@sportfactory.com.