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Coach Abhi’s disclaimer : The content written in this blog post is only for general information purpose, and not to be taken as medical advise. The reader is expected to use his or her common sense before using any of this information. I disclaim all responsiblity for any liability, loss or risk, which is incurred as a consequence of the use and application of any of the contents of this blog post.

Have you ever wondered, “Can a weightlifter (professional) run a marathon under six hours?” or “Why can’t an endurance athlete (professional) perform two times bodyweight clean and jerk?” Is it really necessary for these athletes to perform at an average in a sport other than their chosen career sport? How should a non sportsperson go about physical training? These are the questions that I intend to answer in this blog post by explaining some of the fundamental concepts of sports training.

The human body in a state of good health has a stable internal environment called homeostasis. Whenever there is a disturbance to this steady internal environment (homeostasis), the human body can adapt to the changes by restoring the state of homeostasis. The adaptation process modify the metabolic and physiologic functions upgrading from previous state of homeostasis to a better or more efficient one. In sport training, the training load (demands of the sport like strength, endurance, speed) in form of exercises cause adaptation in the body of an athlete. These adaptations can happen only under a highly structured and carefully planned exercise regimen in order to regulate the training load (optimum load). So this is where coaches come in to the picture as they understand the complex training programs and their specificity.

In his hypothesis ‘Specificity of motor learning’, Dr. Franklin Henry proposed the concept of SAID principle. SAID stands for ‘Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands’. This concept explains as to why a lifters needs to lift more, and an endurance runner needs to run more. If the coach finds that his/her athlete is lagging in a specific motor ability then the goal is to improve that particular motor ability with specific exercises, with specific intensity, volume, and other parameters so that the athlete’s body adapts progressively in that particular motor ability.

In general every sport has a high level of fitness requirements (including high level of skills). Specific sports have specific fitness requirements in addition to the general fitness requirements. Skill is equally important, in fact without a high level of sport-skill (competition standard) one cannot be called an athlete but this topic (skill) is out of scope in this post. In sport sciences we define physical fitness as the sum total of five parameters (motor abilities) namely strength, endurance, flexibility, speed, and coordinative abilities. To this list we can add more complex parameters like strength endurance, maximum strength, explosive strength, balance, agility, power, and reaction time which are a by-product of two or more motor abilities.

Coaches spend time or the correct amount of time in conditioning and skill training for a particular sport, hence you see an athlete tailor made for their sport, and their physique too has a signature of the conditioning that they undergo. A trained eye can predict the sport of an athlete by the physique of an athlete. A weight lifter is expected to train (lift) specific to the event of weightlifting whose training does not even remotely look like bodybuilding or powerlifting. The demands of sport (weight lifting) requires little endurance so it makes sense if a weight lifter (active or retired) is unable to run a full marathon under six hours. (Never trained for it!) Should an endurance athlete be lifting really heavy weights often? Is it really necessary to clean and jerk two times body weight for a marathoner?The same logic applies to an endurance athlete who uses the barbell to cross train once a week and prioritizes building up on the weekly mileage of clocking distances exceeding the race distance.

Each and every sport has its own set of demands of motor abilities, some greater than the other. Think about this example, does a shooter (sport and not military) need a high level of physical fitness compared to that of a boxer. If a shooter is as fit as a boxer (don’t take this quite literally), then he is better off boxing because he/she probably has spent more time in conditioning (physical fitness) than technical skill of the sport. (On a lighter note – it is more dangerous for a boxer to be as conditioned as a shooter!) Adaptation is not limited to regular athletes in a particular sport, the Paralympics is a proof that the special population can be trained to perform at world class level.  By training adaptation, anyone can train to be better at particular motor ability as long as they adhere to a training program designed to bring out the specific performance. That’s why the domain of recreational sports even exist giving the opportunity of sports training to the masses. The only exception of adaptation would be in a small percentage of population with rare medical/genetic condition.

When it comes to physical fitness (motor abilities) for general population, I personally have come across CrossFit as something close to athlete preparation. It has become a sport in itself with its own hybrid training model of integrating elements of gymnastics, weightlifting and track events. The style of training is high intensity intervals with a lot of smart variations of compound movements. This can get as good as the CrossFit Coach incharge of the program design. CrossFit has got the general population into training methods of elite sports and do away with the common notion of gyms with typical bodybuilding and cardio programs. With their own ‘Fittest on Earth’ title which has grown in popularity, their athletes have shown tremendous potential. An average person (non sporting background) looking forward to train for performance versus looks can adopt CrossFit style of training.

Now that you have understood the basic concept of adaptation (SAID), all you need is a simple combination of basic endurance and weight training to to take your first step to fitness. Once the body acquires basic motor abilities, then you can set a goal of becoming an all round performer with abilities like lifting two times your body weight, have an aerobic capacity to run continuously for sixty minutes, ability to perform advanced bodyweight strength exercises like muscle ups, pistol squats and be flexible enough to perform middle splits. It is important here to know that the fitness once gained can get stagnated after a point of time, or even deteriorate if the principles of periodization are not followed. Specific goals like running a full marathon or completing an Ironman takes a lot of time, effort and high quality coaching as it demands careful planning, and adherence to a specific training program. These goals can be pursued by an untrained individual as well, as long as they have the correct coaching and discipline to achieve their goal.

The lifter did not buy running shoes. He/she never ran!

Here is a video of mine demonstrating ring muscle up after a specific training program to achieve the same.

QUOTE THAT INSPIRED ME TO WRITE THIS BLOG POST
“True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.” – Socrates.

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