Most of us are familiar with the most common barrier to a regular physical activity routine -- the

lack of time. Work, family obligations and other realities of daily life often get in the way of our
best intentions to be more active. There are many additional barriers that vary by the person
and life circumstance.

If you're committed to a physical activity program and setting goals for yourself, it’s helpful to
first identify your personal barriers. By troubleshooting and developing tactics in advance, you’ll
have better success overcoming them.

Here are some of the more common barriers and solutions for
overcoming them:
 Barrier: Lack of time

Solutions: Monitor your activities for one week and identify at least three, 30-minute
slots you could use for physical activity. Select activities that you can fit into your home
or work routine so you’re not wasting time on transportation to another venue to
accomplish them. Walking in your neighborhood, climbing stairs at your office or
exercising while you watch TV are all good options.

 Barrier: Friends and family don’t share your interest in physical activity

Solutions: Explain your fitness and/or health improvement goals to friends and family
and ask for their support. Invite friends to participate in physical activity with you. Join a
local YMCA or walking club to find people with similar goals to offer support.

 Barrier: Lack of motivation and/or energy

Solutions: Plan ahead. Schedule physical activity for specific times/days and “check” it
off your list or calendar each time you complete it. Determine what time of day you feel
more energetic and try to fit activity into that time frame. Join an exercise group or class
and seek others in the group to help motivate you and keep you accountable to
attending.

 Barrier: Lack of resources/equipment

Solutions: Select activities that require minimal facilities or equipment, such as walking,
jogging, jumping rope or calisthenics. Identify inexpensive, convenient resources in your
community, such as parks and recreation programs, worksite wellness groups, walking
clubs, etc.

 Barrier: Family caregiving obligations

 Solutions: Exercise with your kids -- go for a walk together, play tag or other running
games, get an aerobic dance or exercise tape for kids. You can spend time together,
occupy the kids and ensure they're getting the daily physical activity they need to stay
healthy. If you have a specific class you like to attend, try alternating babysitting time
with a neighbor.

 Barrier: Frequent work or leisure travel

Solutions: Join a YMCA or YWCA and ask about reciprocal memberships that allow
access to facilities in other cities. Pack a jump rope and resistance bands in your
luggage. Book hotels that have a pool and/or fitness rooms.

The FITT Principle (or formula) is a great way of monitoring your exercise program.
The acronym FITT outlines the key components, or training guidelines, for an
effective exercise program, and the initials F, I, T, T, stand for: Frequency, Intensity,
Time and Type.

 Frequency: refers to the frequency of exercise undertaken or how often you

exercise.
 Intensity: refers to the intensity of exercise undertaken or how hard you exercise.
 Time: refers to the time you spend exercising or how long you exercise for.
 Type: refers to the type of exercise undertaken or what kind of exercise you do.
Let’s take a look at each of the components in a little more detail.

Frequency
Frequency is a key component of the FITT Principle. Remember that it’s important to
know why you’re exercising and what you want to achieve before rushing into any
exercise program.
Adjust the number of times you exercise per day/week/month to reflect: your current
fitness level; the time you realistically have available; your other commitments like
family and work; and the goals you’ve set for yourself.
Intensity
This is an extremely important aspect of the FITT Principle and is probably the
hardest factor to monitor. The best way to gauge the intensity of your exercise is to
monitor your heart rate.
There are a couple of ways to monitor your heart rate but the best way by far is to
purchase an exercise heart rate monitor. These can be purchased at most good
sports stores and retail from $50 to $400. They consist of an elastic belt that fits
 around your chest and a wrist watch that displays your exercise heart rate in beats
per minute.
If you don’t want to spend the money on a heart rate monitor, simply count your
heart rate over a 15 second period. All you need is a wrist watch that has a
“seconds” display. Feel for your heart beat by either placing your hand over your
heart or by feeling for your pulse in your neck or on your wrist. Count the beats over
a 15 second period and then multiply by 4. This will give you your exercise heart rate
in beats per minute.
Time
The time you spend exercising is also an important part of the FITT Principle. The
time dedicated to exercise usually depends on the type of exercise undertaken.
For example, it’s recommended that to improve cardio-vascular fitness you’ll need at
least 30 minutes of non stop exercise. For weight loss, more time is required; at
least 40 minutes of moderate weight bearing exercise. However, when talking about
the time required for muscular strength improvements, time is often measured as a
number of “sets” and “reps.” A typical recommendation would be 3 sets of 8 reps.
Type
The type of exercise you choose will have a big effect on the results you achieve.
That’s why it’s important to know what you want to gain from your efforts.
For example, if you’re looking to improve your cardio-vascular fitness, then
exercises like walking, jogging, swimming, bike riding, stair climbing, aerobics and
rowing are very effective. For weight loss, any exercise that using a majority of your
large muscle groups will be effective. To improve muscular strength the best
exercises include the use of free weights, machine weights and body weight
exercises like push-ups, chin-ups and dips.
FITT for Cardio and Weight Loss
The FITT Principle is most commonly used for cardiovascular (aerobic) training and
weight loss, although it’s also commonly used as part of strength training
recommendations (see below). The standard recommendation for cardio training is
as follows.
 Frequency – 5 to 6 times per week.
 Intensity – Easy to moderate, or about 60-75% of your maximum heart rate.
 Time – Anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes or more.
 Type – Any exercise you can do continually, like running, walking, cycling,
swimming, rowing, stair-climber, elliptical trainer, etc.
FITT for Strength
When the FITT Principle is used as part of strength training, the standard
recommendations are as follows.
 Frequency – 2 to 3 times per week, but NOT on consecutive days (leave 1 or 2
days rest between each strength session).
 Intensity – The intensity of your strength training depends on the amount of
weight lifted and the sets and reps you do. Basically, the heavier the weight, the
less sets and reps, while the lighter the weight, the more sets and reps you can
do.
 Time – The time you spend doing strength training will depend on the intensity of
the workout. If the intensity is extremely high, then reduce the time spent doing
strength training or include extra rest. If the intensity is low, the time spent doing
strength training can be a lot longer.
 Type – The best types of strength training exercises include free weights, machine
weights, hydraulic weight machines, resistance bands and body-weight exercises
like push-ups, chin-ups and dips, etc.
FITT for Stretching
Let’s take a look at how the FITT Principle can be applied to stretching as it relates
to improving flexibility and range of motion. Remember, stretching can be used for
other activities like warming up and cooling down, but for the purpose of this article
let’s stick with stretching for improving flexibility.
The FITT Principle for stretching would look like the following.

 Frequency – 5 to 7 times per week. Unlike other types of exercises, like cardio
and strength training, stretching (when done properly) is very relaxing and
therapeutic, and will help you recover from your other activities. So feel free to add
stretching to your exercise program every day.
 Intensity – Slow, easy and relaxed. When the goal is to improve flexibility and
range of motion you should do your stretching at a low intensity. Move into the
stretch position and as soon as you feel deep tension within the muscle group,
stop there. If it’s hurting or painful, you’ve gone too far. On a scale of 1 to 10 aim
for a tension of about 6 or 7 out of 10.
 Time – Anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes, and hold each stretch for 40 to 60
seconds.
 Type – Static, Passive and PNF. For improving range of motion and creating
permanent changes in your flexibility the best types of stretching to use are long-
hold static stretching, passive (or assisted) stretching and PNF stretching.
 How does all this relate to injury prevention?
The two biggest mistakes I see people make when designing an exercise program
are:

1. Training too hard, which often results in overtraining or injury; and

2. Not including enough variety. The problem, most commonly, is that people find an
exercise they like and very rarely do anything other than that exercise. This can
result in long term, repetitive strain to the same muscle groups, and neglect, or
weakening of other muscle groups. Leading to a very unbalanced muscular
system, which again is a sure-fire recipe for overtraining or injury.
When using the FITT Principle to design your exercise program keep the following in
mind.
Frequency
After you finish exercising your body goes through a process of rebuilding and
repair. It’s during this process that the benefits of your exercise are forthcoming.
However, if you’re exercising hard every day (or even 4 or 5 times a week) your
body never has a decent chance to realize the benefits and gains from the exercise.
What usually happens is that you end up getting tired or injured and just quit.
My frequency recommendation: Only perform intense or strenuous exercise 2 to 3
times a week MAXIMUM! The rest of the week’s training can be made up of a
combination of easy to moderate days and complete rest days.
This may sound strange and a little hard to do at first, (because most people have
been brainwashed into believing that they have to exercise “to the max” everyday)
but after a while exercising like this becomes very enjoyable and something that you
can look forward to. Sure beats dragging yourself out the door everyday because
you feel guilty about taking a day off every now and then, or just having an easy
training day.
It also dramatically reduces your likelihood of injury because you’re giving your body
more time to repair and heal. Many elite level athletes have seen big improvements
in performance when forced to take an extended break. Most never realize they’re
training too hard, too often.
Intensity, Time & Type
The key here is variety. Don’t let yourself get stuck in an exercise rut.
In regards to intensity and time, vary your effort. Dedicate some of your workouts to
long, easy sessions like long walks or light, repetitive weights. While other sessions
can be made up of short, high intensity exercises like stair climbing or interval
training. And remember, if you’re not feeling 100%; take the day off or schedule an
easy workout.
The type of exercise you do is also very important. Like I said earlier, many people
get into a routine of doing the same exercise over and over again. If you really want
to lower your risk of injury, do a variety of different exercises. This will help to
 improve all your major muscle groups and will make you a more versatile, well-
rounded athlete. Cross training is a great way of adding variety to your workout
schedule.
What else can you do?
While the recommendations on this page are a good starting point, you'll get a lot
more benefit when you add the right stretches to your training program. With the
Ultimate Guide to Stretching
& Flexibility (Handbook, DVD
& CD-ROM) you'll...
 Improve your sporting
performance;

 Do away with stiff, tight

muscles and joints;

 Improve your freedom of

movement and mobility;

 Get rid of injuries, aches

and pains; and

 Take your flexibility to the

next level...
You'll get 135 clear photographs and 44 video demonstrations of unique stretches
for every major muscle groups in your body. Plus, the DVD includes 3
customized sets of stretches (8 minutes each) for the Upper Body; the Lower Body;
and the Neck, Back & Core. And the Handbook will show you, step-by-step, how to
perform each stretch correctly and safely. Plus, you'll also learn the 7 critical rules
for safe stretching; the benefits of flexibility; and how to stretch properly.
If you want to improve your flexibility so you can to train harder, race faster, recover
quicker and move better, check out the Ultimate Guide to Stretching &
Flexibility for yourself.