The Seven Principles of Exercise
The Seven Principles of Exercise came to me when I stumbled across them during my research of training principles. I have never heard of the Seven Principles of Exercise although intuitively they are incorporated into my training. After reading about the Seven Principles of Exercise as an ultra runner I can see how these overlapping principles, if utilized correctly; can be effective at optimizing your training outcomes. Although the Seven Principles of Exercise apply to weight lifting, there principles are so sound that they can also be applied to any other sport.
There is a ton of training philosophies and workout systems on the market today. Search the web and you can find numerous training plans for whatever sport or activity you participate in. You may have even developed your own training system. Are they working for you? Are you reaching your goals? To judge the merit of any training system you need to stack it up against the Seven Principles of Exercise to see if the system obeys the principles.
If your current (or future) training system does not obey the Seven Principles of Exercise you might want to revisit why you are following the program. And just because a training program may not follow every principle there can be redeeming qualities that you might want to “cherry-pick” from your training program. Designing a program that adheres to all of the Seven Principles of Exercise can be challenging, so it’s not a surprise that many athletes turn to a coach or trainer for help with the details so they can focus on the workouts. Following the Seven Principles of Exercise will help guide you through your training and keep you injury free, help prevent over training, and lay out a blueprint on how to become a better you.
Seven Principles of Exercise – Explained
1 Principle of Individual Differences
The first of the Seven Principles of Exercise is the Principle of Individual Differences. There is a tendency for people when they start working out to try to emulate the physically fittest people or elite athletes. They discover what type of training program the elite athlete is on and then try to copy it for themselves. They start working out expecting to have the same results and to look and compete like them. Unfortunately, after they start their training program they do not see the fruits of their labors reaching the elite status. Then after a period of time, they get more and more depressed because of the lack of results.
Basically the Principle of Individual Differences states: Not all people will respond the same to the same type of training. We all respond similarly in response and adaptation to the stimulus of exercise. However, we all have different genetic blueprints which determines the rate and magnitude of the change will can expect. Give a group of people the exact same exercise program and everyone will have different results.
It is important to note that your genetics do not doom you to failure or success. Rather hard work and time will have their payoff. Strength training is about learning in how to listen to your body, how to feel your body; and how to get most out of your genetic blueprint. You need to set realistic goals so you don’t get frustrated and end up quitting your training program. We are all born with our differences, for some people its very easy to run fast, to build big muscles, to swim fast, etc; while for others it is very difficult.
2 Overcompensation Principle
The second of the Seven Principles of Exercise is the Overcompensation Principle. Muscle fibers grow in size in response to training. So, if you work your muscles harder than “normal” your body will build respond in order to handle the load. This principle is Mother Nature’s law of overcompensating for a stress response, it is the survival trait built into your DNA.
You must train your body to use your muscle more effectively and efficiently. You accomplish this by stressing your muscles to handle heavier loads or to accelerate faster. This results in that you are not just stressing your physical systems, but you are also stressing your central nervous system as well. What this means is that your body will overcompensate by improving how it coordinates muscle contractions. With this improvement come efficiencies in energy usage and less damage to the muscle tissues. This results in improved strength.
Overcompensation not only is a factor in training, but it is also a factor in “dieting” and the reason diets don’t work (I do not believe in diets, but rather adopting a health fitness lifestyle). Overcompensation affects your metabolism based on the foods that you eat. The body is constantly trying to remain in a state of balance (homeostasis), and when you consume fewer calories than your body requires, the body responds by slowing your metabolism. This is in an effort to expend less energy and adapt to the lower caloric intake which results in your metabolism slowing and can in fact make it harder to lose fat in the long run. The reason diets do not work!
3 Overload Principle
The third of the Seven Principles of Exercise is the Overload Principle. Simple put the Overload Principle states that in order to gain strength, muscle size, or endurance from any training you must exercise against resistance greater than normally encountered. If you always train against the same amount of resistance and use the same amount of intensity in your exercises, your improvement will stop according to your body’s adaption. Once the body has adapted then a different stimulus is required to continue the change and to improve further. You have to go beyond the point which your body already has adapted to.
One way is to add more and more weight for each time you work out, and thereby put more stress to your muscles and body. For endurance athletes, muscles must work for a longer period of time than they are used to or at a higher intensity.
Unfortunately, the overload principle has a built-in problem. The problem is that as you get stronger and stronger, the amount of stress needed to have the body adapt rises to a height where the body just does not have enough time to recover. When you reach this level of training you must go to a split system of training. If you continue on your same training routine you will plateau and become overtrained, or even worse injured.
4 SAID Principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands)
The forth of the Seven Principles of Exercise is the SAID Principle. The body will adapt in a highly specific manner to the stress it receives. If you are training for a particular sport or activity you need to train specific to that sport or activity. Simply put, it means that the body is always trying to get better at exactly what you practice. If you want to go for increased muscle mass, you lift weights and train for increased muscle mass. If you want greater endurance you train specifically for endurance.
The SAID principle also refers to adaptations that are far more sophisticated and complex, such as learning new motor skills. As you practice physical skills, there are numerous physical changes to the structure of the brain as a result. The principle is not just specific to the sport and athletic fields. If you are learning to play an instrument an spend hours practicing, the part of your brain that controls hand coordination will actually grow larger.
The big question that need to be looked at is “How much stress do I need for improvement?” Not enough and there will be no gains. Too much and it can lead to fatigue, overtraining, or injury. The basic rule about getting better at anything is to keep progressing the level of difficulty of the training without getting hurt or overtired. Easier said than done.
5 Use/Disuse Principle
The fifth of the Seven Principles of Exercise is the Use/Disuse Principle. This principle can be stated by the phrase: “Use or loose it”. This simply means that your muscles hypertrophy (growth) with use and atrophy (deteriorate) with disuse. This also explains why we decondition or lose fitness when we stop exercise. Unfortunately, we decondition much at a much faster rate than it takes us to get conditioned. The bright side is that once you have become conditioned and then become unconditioned, it is easier to acquire back the gains that you have lost.
6 Specificity Principle
The sixth of the Seven Principles of Exercise is the Specificity Principle. The Specificity Principle means you start out with fundamental training (a general workout routine) and move on to more specific work out with the final phase being a specialized training program to reach your final objective. The Specificity Principle implies that, to become better at a particular exercise or skill, you must perform that exercise or skill. A runner should train by running, a swimmer by swimming and a cyclist by cycling. While it is beneficial to have a general overall fitness level, to become better at your sport you must train specifically for that sport.
7 GAS Principle (General Adaptation Syndrome)
The seventh of the Seven Principles of Exercise is the GAS Principle. This principle is comprised of three stages:
1) The alarm reaction: A physical trauma will trigger an immediate set of reactions that combat the stress. The body releases adrenaline and a variety of other psychological mechanisms to combat the stress and to stay in control. This is called fight or flight response. If the stress is not removed we move into stage 2.
2) Resistance/Adaption: If this adaptation phase continues for a prolonged period of time without periods of relaxation and rest to counterbalance the stress response our system works overtime for us during this period, trying to keep up with the demands placed upon it. If adaption does not occur sufferers become fatigued, have concentration lapses, become irritable and lethargic.
3) Exhaustion: Because our body is not able to maintain homeostasis and the long-term resistance needed to combat stress, we invariably develop a sudden drop in our resistance level. Mental, physical and emotional resources suffer heavily.
To combat the inevitable exhaustion stage the principle states that after a period of hard high intensity training there must be a period of low intensity training or a complete rest period in order for your body to recover. This is very important in order for the muscles to heal and recover and to be fully strong and recovered for the next period of high hard intensity training.
