What is the principle of progression?

The principle of progression is a training principle used to create a personal training program to improve physical fitness, skill and performance. The principle implies that for athletes to improve their fitness levels, they must continually increase the physical demands to reach an optimum level of overload.

If the demand is increased too slowly, improvement is unlikely and if the demand is increased too rapidly, it may result in muscle damage or injury. Other important principles of training include:

• Specificity - training must match a specific sporting activity
• Overload - fitness is improved by training harder
• Reversibility - any adaptation as a result of training is gradually reversed when training stops