Today we are gonna get hella nerdy about training… like, more than you’ll ever probably need to know, but it’s going to help you get a lot more out of your gym sessions, and that my friend, kicks all the asses. We’re gonna talk about the at least seven laws of training (there are more depending on who you ask, and they’re valid, but we are only covering the main seven today)… these laws overlap and rely on each other to give you the best effect of working out. What makes them work? How they’re used to your best advantage… and nobody knows that but you. Knowledge is power, right? So let’s do this shit.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

1. Everyone has a different genetic blueprint, but we all have similar responses.
   • When we say “your mileage may vary,” this is why. We are all humans so we all kind of have the same responses to physical stimuli, but it won’t be exactly the same across the board.
2. Some people adapt faster than others. That’s important to remember for two reasons: 
   • It helps you set realistic goals.
   • Helps you from getting frustrated because you aren’t seeing earth-shattering results in x-timeframe. (Visible abs in 60 days, yadda yadda.)

OVERCOMPENSATION

1. Overcompensation is a survival mechanism of our body… it’s something we all have, and we don’t ever have to think about actually putting the process into motion, our bodies just do it for us.
   • Calluses are a really good example of overcompensation… they build up on your hands in response to friction… be that from weight lifting, playing guitar, whatever.
   • So with that in mind, your muscles do kind of the same thing. They grow in size and strength in response to training.

OVERLOAD

1. This law says that to get stronger, you need to use resistance greater than normally encountered.
2. That’s all well and good, yeah? But there’s a problem that comes with overloading – as you get stronger and stronger, your body hits a point where it will no longer be challenged… and you have no other option but to switch to a split scheme with your training plan.
   • The only other alternative is to hit a training plateau, or worse, you’ll overtrain. So if that’s where you’re at right now, periodization is your new friend… check out episode 50, we talk alllllll about it.

SAID PRINCIPLE

1. SAID stands for “specific adaptation to imposed demands”.
   • Say you want to train to be more explosive, you’ll have to train explosively – plyo, compound barbell movements, sprinting, that kinda stuff.
   • Want more limit strength? Neat! But you need to use heavier loads than if you were training to maintain mass.
   • If you want to run or bike long distances, guess what? You need to tax your heart as well as the muscles you use to propel yourself forward.

USE/DISUSE

1. Use it or lose it is the mantra here, if you stress your body enough, it will adapt to meet the demands you’re placing on it. On the flip side, if you stop stressing your body, it will adapt to meet the lower demands… ladies and gentlemen meet our enemy, disuse/detraining.
2. It takes less time to detrain your body than it does to train… so this is why it behooves you to just never quit lifting heavy shit.

SPECIFICITY

1. After a period of time you must move from a general training plan to a more specialized training method.
   • You have to build a base before you can get into the fancy shit.
     • If you want to squat big weight, you’re going to start with air squats, then move to DBs, then to the barbell.
     • If you want to run a marathon, you’re obviously going to build your endurance via running and not riding a bike or rowing.
2. There are two bits involved in the law of specificity – neuromuscular adaptation and technique functionality.
   • neuromuscular adaptation is a group of factors that enhance your health, fitness, and athletic performance.
     • increased central nervous system activation
     • increased motor unit organization
     • increased activation of contractile apparatuses
     • lowered neural inhibitory reflexes
   • Sports science research has found that gray matter tissue, which is tissue found in the brain and spinal cord that is responsible for muscle control and sensory perception, becomes denser with resistance training.
     • This density is highly connected to the motor control and cognition in the elderly. So by increasing gray matter, you can effectively combat aging and improve quality of life

GAS PRINCIPLE

1. GAS stands for General Adaptation Syndrome and it occurs in three stages:
   • Alarm stage – caused by the application of intense training stress (overload principle)
   • Resistance stage – when our muscles adapt in order to resist greater weights more efficiently (overcompensation, SAID, use/disuse)
   • Exhaustion stage – if you persist in stressing your body too much, you will exhaust its reserves and will be forced to stop training.
2. Baaaaasically, the GAS law says that there has to be a period of low-intensity training or complete rest following period of high-intensity training.
   • The reason behind this? The training stress you’ve put your body under is received as trauma… you’ve “injured” your muscles and you need to give them a chance to rest and rebuild — THIS IS WHY REST DAYS ARE SO GD IMPORTANT JELOU

And there you go, now you can dissect and understand why your coach or trainer plans things out the way they do. And remember, if you ever ask your trainer or coach “Why am I doing this?” and they don’t answer you, find a new coach.