7 Laws of Training

MT1134

A lot of people have questions regarding their progress and why it's stalled or just hasn't taken off. Use this as a checklist and ask yourself if you're training meets this criteria.

This list has been debated, rewritten, and interpreted 100x over-I'm not saying this is a fail proof system but these principles are a good starting place for those who are looking to understand their own program whether written by yourself or following a well known training program written by a professional. Take each with a grain of salt as they don't equally apply.

Obviously there are many other factors that go into why a program works or does not but without going into every set and rep, this is something worth understanding.

7 Laws Of Training-Dr. Fred Hatfield
1)The Law of Individual Differences: We all have different abilities, bodies and weaknesses, and we all respond differently (to a degree) to any given system of training. These differences should be taken into consideration when designing your training program.
2)The Overcompensation Principle: Mother Nature overcompensates for training stress by giving you bigger and stronger muscles.
3)The Overload Principle: To make Mother Nature overcompensate, you must stress your muscles beyond what they're already used to.
4)The SAID Principle: The acronym for "Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands." Each organ and organelle responds to a different form of stress.
5)The Use/Disuse Principle: "Use it or lose it" means that your muscles hypertrophy with use and atrophy with disuse.
6)The GAS Principle: The acronym for General Adaptation Syndrome, this law states that there must be a period of low intensity training or complete rest following periods of high intensity training.
7)The Specificity Principle: You'll get stronger at squats by doing squats as opposed to leg presses, and you'll get greater endurance for the marathon by running long distances than you will by (say) cycling long distances.

allother94

I disagree with #7. One exercise can often help with another if the same muscles are used. Can I get an amen!

MT1134

allother94 wrote: »

I disagree with #7. One exercise can often help with another if the same muscles are used. Can I get an amen!

I understand where you're coming from and agree with you in part. As I said, it's to be taken with a grain of salt.

I don't disagree with the principle though. I can see why you would considering it doesn't go into great detail but you do have to consider that at some point, if you want to become better or even elite at a specific task, you're going to have to put in the work at that specific task. That's not to say that other things that may closely mimic the specific activity aren't helpful but it's unreasonable to expect one to be great at a task that they rarely do-even if they are supplementing it with other training.

For example:
It's not unknown that elite sprinters, squat heavy weights to add power to their legs but they still spend more time running sprints than they do lifting weights or running marathons so that they can perfect technique. They are professional runners and not professional weight lifters.

I think the same can be said for most if not all tasks in life. I don't think it's to be applied in a black and white fashion, it's just illustrating that we should spend time on specific activities to get the specific results.

Squats are a great help in releasing key hormones to grow muscles but squats don't necessarily make your biceps bigger...

Cherimoose

allother94 wrote: »

I disagree with #7. One exercise can often help with another if the same muscles are used.

They're not saying there are no carryover benefits, they're saying one exercise makes better improvements than another. For example, you'll get better at running by actually running than from biking.. so one's training program should include more running than biking.

allother94

They should change the wording. As it is, it does not mean what they want. If I was a lawyer, I would have a field day with it.

Regardless, I still disagree. For example, being stronger can make you a better basketball player. Just playing basketball won’t make you strong. So there exists certain times when your total basketball talent will be improved more by lifting weights than playing basketball. This is why winning teams have weight lifting programs. If rule 7 were always correct, it would suggest you never lift weights since playing basketball always is better.

That being said, I use the term “law” like in the “law of physics” where a law must be true in all cases to be a law. I do not use “law” like in the “laws of the English language” where phrases like “the exception that proves the rule” exist. If the laws above are only required to be true most of the time, then the list makes sense.