The 7 Laws of Training

In discussing training, you will come across a number of often referred to “do’s and don’ts.” Nevertheless, in one way or another, every effective program boils down to seven basic training principles, or “Laws”, as they have withstood the test of time. These 7 principles are a guide post for the structure of the Firestorm Fitness System Fat Burning Fit Camps and should all be a consideration when constructing and engaging in any training program. These seven principles or “Laws” are:
1. The Principle of Individual Differences.
2. The Principle of Overcompensation.
3. The Principle of Overload.
4. The Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands (SAID) Principle.
5. The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) Principle.
6. The Use/Disuse Principle.
7. The Specificity Principle.

1. The Principle of Individual Differences.
No one’s training can and should be the same. Consider the following:
- Bigger muscles heal slower than smaller muscles.
- Fast movements require more recovery time than slow movements.
- Red fiber muscle tissue recovers quicker than White fiber muscle tissue.
- Women recover slower than men.
- Younger folks recover quicker than older folks.
- Heavier loads require more recovery than lower loads.
There are many more variables. But these points sum up the point. Furthermore, because not all athletic endeavors are the same, training must be specific (which will be covered later). It makes no sense for a football player, a power lifter and a marathon runner to train the same. Each is “strong” in his or her given sport, and will benefit only by training to enhance their particular “strength”.

2. The Principle of Overcompensation.
What happens when you rub the palm of your hand at the knuckles? If done enough -- but not too much – a calluses will form. Rub it too much and a blister will form. The calluses are good and the blister bad... The bottom line is that God designed the body so that it overcompensates and adapts to the stress it receives. Muscles and skill performance are no different. This leads to (among the other principles) to the Overload Principle.

3. The Overload Principle.
In order to force this “overcompensation”, or the stress placed upon the body, there must be an overload, or in other words a stimulus greater than what is generally placed upon the body. If you are content to squat the same weight with the same reps and sets without ever improving, your chances of improving in the squat are very small. Likewise, if you jump, run or move the same way without ever making it more difficult to do so or trying to do better, you will not make improvements in sport specific skills.

4. Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands or SAID.
The body will adapt in a highly specific way. To become better at squats, you must do squats. To gain more endurance, you must train enduringly. To become more explosive, you must train explosively. This principle further notes the points made under the Principle of Individual Differences. Training must be specific and it makes no sense to train for anything other than your sport specific skills. However, as we shall see, there are exceptions.

5. The General Adaptation Principle or GAS Principle.
This principle was presented by Dr. Hans Selye years ago and was originally applied to psychological stress. However, it has also been applied, and accepted, to physical stress in three phases:
1. The Alarm Phase. The body will not like the overloaded stress place upon it and begins to take drastic measures to combat it.
2. The Resistance Phase. The body will try to resist the stress.
3. The Exhaustion Phase. The body will inevitably become exhausted if it doesn’t receive rest from the stress.
This 3 phase principle leads to the belief that there must be periods of low or no intensity between those overloaded stresses which tax the body. You simply can’t train hard all the time! Doing so will lead to overtraining (generally over a period of several weeks) and dire consequences will follow. This is the main reason we take a week off from training between sessions of the Firestorm Fitness Systems Fat Burning Fit Camps as well as The 28 Day Miracle Fat Loss Program !

6. The Use/Disuse Principle with the GAS Principle.
The question of recovery becomes, “Low or no intensity?” The main problem is that it could take weeks to recover from explosive activity (recall what was said in the Principle of Individual Differences), yet there is still the matter of skill training to be considered. Furthermore, the body will never adapt unless it is taxed often enough. Therefore, there must be periods of low intensity (but periods of intensity, indeed!) between periods of high intensity.

7. The Specificity Principle.
Getting back to the SAID Principle, the body will adapt in a highly specific way to the training it receives. However, a strong athletic foundation is needed and the body may not be ready for such specific training. This is especially so given that:
1. The season many times causes injury or some breakdown of a solid foundation, and
2. Many sports are ballistic in nature and the body may not be ready to act or train in such a way.

The Specificity Principle simply states that for the reasons mentioned above, training must go from highly general training to highly specific training. As an example; if you are a shot putter, you might consider starting out with limited amount of strength training and light cardiovascular conditioning, perhaps in the form of sprints. You would later move on to general explosive training, perhaps performing Cleans or dumbbell cleans, and low impact plyometric training and then move on to shock training. If you try to do shock training before the other phases, you will run the risk of such training being ineffective and possibly dangerous and leading to injury.

Conclusion:
There may be other “laws” or principles of training. However, these seven usually (if not always) cover all aspects of athletic training. Once put together, the most logical training program involves a periodized approach, which cycles the intensity and training objectives. The training must be specific not only to your sport, but to your individual abilities, such as tolerance to training stress, recovery ability, outside obligations, etc. You must increase the training loads over time, allowing some workouts to be less intense than others, and you must train often enough not only to keep a “detraining effect” from happening, but to also force an adaptation.

God bless,
SP