Before you just rush into a random workout routine, it’s important to think about why you are exercising, what your current fitness level is, and what you are trying to achieve by doing so. All of this is going to depend on and revolve around your general lifestyle, so this will need to be planned (and scheduled) to fit into your life. This is more easily accomplished by using the FITT Principle to hit all of your fitness goals and needs.
The FITT Principle is a set of training guidelines that provides a way to monitor the effectiveness of your personal exercise program, as well as providing an easy-to-remember way of ensuring that you are hitting your goals through the four key components that the FITT Principle is comprised of: Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type. Understanding and incorporating the four elements of the FITT Principle into your fitness routine will help you to create a personalized workout plan that is effective in meeting your physical fitness needs, ensures you steadily reach your goals, and keeps you motivated.
When setting up your workout plan (which should be comprised of both cardio and strength training for all-around fitness) begin with the first component: the “F” in FITT stands for Frequency – this is simply how often (frequently) you exercise. The frequency of your workouts will depend on personal factors such as your specific fitness level, the type of workout you are doing and how hard you are working at it, and what goal you are trying to hit overall.
How often should you exercise? Verywellfit.com suggests that if you are just wanting to maintain your weight and stay generally fit, you’ll want to do moderate cardio exercise (get your body moving, your heart beating, and the blood and oxygen pumping) at least five days a week. If you want to shorten that frequency, then doing a more intense cardio workout three days a week is optimal. And if you are actively trying to lose weight, you need to do your workouts more intensely and more often. For strength training that works and maintains your muscles, improves balance, and increases bone health (among various other benefits), it’s advised to complete two to three days a week non-consecutively, with one day of resting your muscles in between each session so that your muscles can relax and repair. “After you finish exercising,” writes Brad Walker, from stretchcoach.com, “your body goes through a process of rebuilding and repair. It’s during this process that the benefits of your exercise are forthcoming.” Good advice to follow – after all, that is the whole point – the benefits we get from following the FITT principles and finding our unique routines!
The “I” in FITT stands for Intensity – this is how hard you are working – the effort and exertion you are putting out during your workout. The intensity depends on the type of workout you are doing – it will tell you how fast or far you should do any one activity, how many repetitions you should complete, how much resistance you should be using. The intensity of your workouts should be varied by changing speed, distance and difficulty levels to maximize the unique results you are going after, and to give you more balanced workouts in general. The best way to gauge your intensity is to monitor your heart rate, which can be accomplished by either manually counting your heart beats for a specified time, or by purchasing a heart rate monitor.  
