Fitness Fundamentals: Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand
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Fitness Fundamentals: The Principle of Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand
Date
Mar 07, 2019
Posted by
K11 School of Fitness Sciences
Personal Trainer Keleven

What Is the Specific Adaption to Imposed Demand principle?

Fitness fundamentals are important to know as a fitness professional (aspiring fitness professionals too!): the Specific Adaption to Imposed Demand (SAID) principle asserts that the human body adapts to imposed demands. What does this mean? Let’s understand with the help of an example.

For a movement like the squat, the demand is in the form of poundages (barbells, dumbbells, or body weight). Your muscles need to supply enough energy to help you perform the movement. If supply meets demand in this case, awesome, you would sit, stand, and perform a clean repetition.

But if it doesn’t, the movement would fail, or it would take all the strength in your body to stand without tipping over, so much strength that you would end your set after 2 reps. Suppose you fail. You decide to squat with the same poundage every week for a month. Then you notice a change at the end of that month. You can squat 10 times without breaking a sweat! How?

Your Body Starts Getting Used To the Stress: You Adapt To Overcome

A fundamental aspect of fitness is the improvement of skill, ability, and performance: sitting deeper in a squat than you could in your first week of exercising, running faster than you could in your first week of cardio training, or squatting with heavier poundage than you could at the start of the month are all examples of improvement. In other words, given the stressors on the human system, whether biomechanical or neurological, there will be a SAID.

Is There An Unsaid Answer? What’s The Key to Improving After Every Workout?

Progressive Overload is the key to getting results from a workout routine. This principle is the most important principle in strength, aerobic, and even flexibility training. If there is no overload, the body will adapt and no further progress will be made: this means staying the same.

Fitness Fundamentals: What Is Progressive Overload?

Simply put, it’s an increase over a period of time! Progressive overload can be achieved by increasing the effort, frequency, duration, or volume of exercise in a graded manner. A load too light will fail to ignite adaptations, or a load too heavy big may pose a risk of injury.

Fitness Fundamentals: Is This Suitable for Beginners?

Yes! As a beginner, you should work out at a low level of effort with an intent to proceed to the next level—applying a moderate level of training stress and so on. This training principle ensures a faster, fitter, and stronger you when you compare the progress with training without progressive overload. So go ahead. Challenge yourself continually!

Author

Lata Rajan
Senior Faculty & Counsellor
K11 School of Fitness Sciences


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Fitness Fundamentals: The Principle of Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand
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Fitness Fundamentals: The Principle of Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand
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Fitness fundamentals: improve strength, stamina, or flexibility. Here's the principle that ensures a fitter and stronger you: the SAID principle.
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