Sarah has been doing the same physical activity routine for three years now, and it is as follows: Walking 5 days per week for 35 minutes at 4mph, performing strength exercises 2 times per week that use her body weight for resistance such as push-ups, sit-ups, and stretching during her cool down of each workout. Give three examples of how she might apply the progressive overload principle to

Question

improve her physical fitness.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary among students but should be specific suggestions that do the following:
• Increase the type, duration, intensity, and/or frequency of her current cardiorespiratory activities;
• Incorporate new types of resistance training and/or use weights in combination with body weight resistance;
• Incorporate new types of stretching exercises.
The muscles adapt and build only the proteins they need to cope with the work performed. Muscles engaged in activities that require strength develop more of the proteins needed for greater muscle mass; body builders have large, well-developed muscles. By comparison, those engaged in endurance activities develop more of the proteins needed to combat muscle fatigue; distance cyclists can pedal for many hours before fatigue sets in.