KS3 · Physical education · Year 9
The FITT (frequency, intensity, time and type) principle
Athletics: fitness development of pace or power
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
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Your learning goal
I can apply the FITT principle to my training to help improve my fitness.
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The FITT (frequency, intensity, time and type) principle: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
What you’ll learn
I can apply the FITT principle to my training to help improve my fitness.
Key learning points
- Move: increasing overload on the body will ensure it continues to adapt and make progress.
- Think: planning for suitable increase in overload using the FITT principle reduces risk of injury or burn out.
- Feel: challenging yourself to work harder than you did previously gives you a sense of satisfaction.
- Connect: discussing how to safely increase training with others helps share ideas and encourages mutual support.
Words to know
- frequency
- how often you exercise, e.g. running 3 times a week to build endurance.
- intensity
- how hard you work out, e.g. sprinting at 80% of your maximum effort
- time
- the duration of your workout, e.g. running for 30 minutes
Common mistakes
Pupils often massively misjudge how much incremental overload can be achieved week on week.
Explain that small incremental increases in overload using the FITT principle will bring about results safely.
For parents, carers and teachers
- This lesson suggests using the running drills which featured in lesson 3 of this unit. However, you could choose to use the circuit (lesson 5), the interval training (lesson 7) or the plyometrics (lesson 7) to effectively allow pupils to make the same decisions on progressing overload.