• As well as humanly possible, the exercise exposure should provide the highest return for time and effort expended in a safe manner.
• Most exercisers waste MOST of their time exercising.
• Even the most efficient form of exercise has a major component of preparation and only a minor portion of that which is actually productive.
• The F.I.R.S.T. Exercise System has a thirty-year proven history of productivity with an average of less than 40 minutes of exposure per week

1. Basic Physiology, Anatomy and Physics can NOT be eluded or ignored if an exercise system is to be considered legitimate.
2. Once the scientific basis is reasonably established, the efficacy of that basis must be practically reproducible.   Simply stated, “The proof is in the pudding”.
3. Does it work?  Why does it work?  What is the safest and most consistent way to make it work?
4. The specific techniques and observations incorporated in the F.I.R.S.T. system are all based on the answers to these questions

1. The manner in which the muscle system is recruited dictates the response.
2. By the manipulation of frequency, duration, intensity and style of muscle activity, the trainer and the exerciser can direct the normal metabolic result or response. 
3. In order to manipulate the muscle system intelligently muscle fiber recruitment must be understood.
4. The following chart represents the entire basis of exercise and exercise physiology

GLYCOLYTIC* = SUGAR BURNING
OXIDATIVE** = FAT BURNING

1. Whenever the higher strata (Faster twitch) muscle fibers are working, the lower strata (Slower twitch) fibers MUST be working as hard as they can or else the stronger fibers wouldn’t be recruited or called upon.
2. In simple terms and in defense of any high intensity exercise system, AEROBIC Exercise MUST be encountered whenever ANAEROBIC exercise is sustained.
3. WHENEVER YOU ARE EXERCISING INTENSELY YOU ARE USING FAT AND SUGAR FOR FUEL!!

1. All of our physiological systems have evolved in a manner that indicates that they thrive on considerable physical stimuli in the form of muscle activity.         
2. Exercise should be considered a prescription for good health.
3. As with the case of any potent medicine the dosage must be specifically determined.
4. The expert trainer or practitioner must become familiar with the healthy and appropriate prescription of exercise for each of his/her client.

1. Exercise is incorporated either to produce an immediate response or a long-term effect or both.
2. In order for the healthy body to change it must be exposed to something that it is NOT used to.
3. If the body can handle the imposition (of the exercise) readily there is no need to change or adapt.
4. Therefore the manipulation of the exercise exposure must be targeted to impose some unusual demand on the systems targeted for stimulation.
5. That stimulation is directly derived from the taxation of the muscle system.

1. Most conventional resistance training protocols are highly inefficient
2. Even the best ones are relatively inefficient.
3. The F.I.R.S.T. Exercise System attempts to maximize the efficiency of the exercise effort and time.
4. Even with those earnest attempts the actual productive component of the exercise is still small

1. We KNOW that the amount of resistance training required to produce significant and steady progress is small relative to that which has been conventionally accepted.
2. We KNOW that NO amount of resistance exercise can substitute for the intensity of taxation necessary to stimulate the necessary fiber recruitment.
3. We KNOW that the required intensity of effort requires relatively brief and infrequent exposure to such effort.
4. We KNOW that certain elements of exercise style and performance lend themselves positively to productivity.

1. Both the trainer and the trainee reap significant benefits from the incorporation of the F.I.R.S.T. Exercise System.
2. Training time is reduced to an average of 40 minutes weekly.
3. Joint complications are reduced to an absolute minimum.
4. Results are substantially quicker to attain and continue past the initial stages of the incorporation of any new regimen.