Is It a Training Effect?

By Dr. Michael Yessis

For www.EliteFTS.com

In order to get a true training effect, you must adapt to the workout or workout routine that you’re using. However, you don’t want to fully adapt because this is a detriment to future progress. At first glance, these statements appear to be contradictory, but they aren’t. You want (and need) to adapt, but you don’t want to fully adapt to the workout. To understand this, we must examine what happens in adaptation.

Adaptation is the process by which your body restructures itself from a particular kind of training. An example of restructuring is when your muscles undergo hypertrophy (grow bigger) because of an increase in the number of myofibrils. There may also be an increase in capillarization, or in other words, your body develops more capillaries to handle the increased blood supply going into the muscle.

So when working out, you want your body to begin restructuring itself (which is the key to getting a training effect) and adapt to the workload. However, when you reach full adaptation, you hit a plateau in your training. This means that your body has undergone all of the possible changes and is now accustomed to what you’re doing. The particular workout is no longer a stimulus for greater restructuring of your body.

When you hit a plateau, there are no more gains. This is why so many athletes become frustrated from being on a particular workout routine. They may achieve great gains in the initial stages, but then the gains level off after adaptation becomes complete. Further increases are practically nonexistent. The key to prevent leveling off is to change the training before full adaptation. You must provide a new stimulus to the body so that it can respond with greater energy and develop accordingly to provide additional gains.

The difficult part is to know exactly when you’ve reached the maximum adaptation possible before it’s time to change the training. If you go too long, you hit a plateau and there are no gains. If you change the training too soon, you don’t get the full benefit (restructuring) of the training that you were doing.

The Russians determined from practical experience and research that a 3–4 week cycle is most often best for elite athletes. This means that you do the same workout (taking into consideration heavy and light days during the week) by doing the same program with the same exercises and the same type of execution for 3–4 weeks. Then you change to new exercises, a different method of execution, or a change in repetitions. However, novice athletes stay on the same program for 8–12 weeks. All other athletes fall in between these two ranges.

If you keep daily records of your progress and your body’s reaction to specific training stimuli, you’ll get a good idea of how your body best reacts to a particular workload. You’ll then be able to make timely corrections by initiating the needed changes at the right time. Adaptation is needed as long as you’re making good gains. Full adaptation should be the objective only when you peak for major competition.

To learn more about adaptation and when to change your workout programs and exercises, see back issues of the Soviet Sports Review (Fitness and Sports Review International) and Build a Better Athlete.

More about Dr. Yessis.

Dr. Michael Yessis is a professor emeritus in biomechanics and kinesiology and president of Sports Training Inc., a diversified company that does specialized work with athletes and develops specialized training equipment. He is considered the foremost U.S. expert on Russian training methods. He has traveled to Russia multiple times, has worked with Russian coaches including Yuri Verkhoshansky, and has translated and published Russian training articles in the Fitness and Sports Review International for over 29 years. Dr. Yessis also wrote the number one article read in Muscle and Fitness (Kinesiology—Training Notebook) for over 25 years. For more information, visit his website at www.dryessis.com.

Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.