"Adaptation”
(orginally published at mmaweekly.com) A good friend
of mine recently sent me a discussion topic that we traded some
emails on. The topic was adaptation, how our bodies adapt to
certain stimuli, and how adaptation makes us better at whatever
we're trying to achieve.
Adaptation is one of the most basic instincts in all living
creatures. It is the ability to adapt to surroundings and environment
that allows a creature to survive. Adaptation can be looked
at in many ways – long term, short term, individual, an
entire species, etc. What we're going to look at is how adaptation
to strength and conditioning can help make us better fighters,
and how to manipulate adaptation to benefit us most.
Adaptation, to give it a simple definition for us humans, is
the ability of the body to deal with uncomfortability.
The human body is a naturally very lazy creature. Whether or
consciously or unconsciously, our body is always trying to find
the easiest way to do things – the “path of least
resistance” if you will. Why? Because this is (usually)
what will ultimately lead to an easier, safer time and in turn
a longer life.
When we want to excel in something, we have to train. Training
puts our bodies in a state of uncomfortability, and thus our
bodies get into better shape so that training isn't as uncomfortable.
Easy example – you curl a 100-lb barbell for 10 reps.
You continue to practice this barbell curling. This is hard
to you, so you body goes through whatever steps necessary to
make it easier. It might try to incorporate other muscles than
the biceps (you allowing your form to break down), increase
neurological efficiency, simply build more biceps muscle, or
maybe even a combination. Whatever it does, at some point in
the future, curling the 100-lb barbell for 10 reps is now easy.
Your body adapted. This is why you would now need to add weight.
When asked why an MMAist would do strength and conditioning
work, he/she might say “To become a better fighter.”
How does S&C work help him/her do this? By being stronger,
quicker, having better endurance, etc., an MMAist can have an
easier time in the ring or cage. When he/she has an easier time
in the ring or cage, he/she can more easily find a way to dominate
the opponent, and win the fight.
Once again, it's about making the body uncomfortable. However,
in this instance, making the body uncomfortable in one training
modality helps the body be more comfortable in another.
This brings us to the idea of adaptation as it relates to S&C
training.
Going back to the example of curling the 100-lb barbell. If
a 100-lb barbell is all you ever curl, you're never going to
get much better than being able to curl a 100-lb barbell. Your
body will adapt to that 100-lb barbell for 10 reps, but after
that, the adaptation becomes “hit or miss.” Sure,
you might be able to curl a 115-lb barbell, but probably not
for 10 reps. And you might be even able to curl the 100-lb barbell
for 12 or even 15 reps, but surely not 20.
Your body adapted to curling the 100-lb barbell for the 10
reps, and that is where it stopped. Why? Because no additional
adaptation was necessary.
Now, let's look at the other end of the spectrum. Let's say
that you were curling the 100-lb barbell for 10 reps, but you
only did it every few months or so. Along the lines, you might
do some other exercises similar – say chins or row or
reverse curls – but never the barbell curls. You might
get into better shape some, and you might even get better at
curling the 100-lb barbell some, but not as much as if you were
to simply curl the barbell.
You see, there is a line between too much adaptation and not
enough. If you have too much adaptation, you quit progressing.
If you don't have enough, you never actually get better at anything.
There are a lot of different workout protocols out there that
are based on, more or less, confusion. By keeping the body constantly
guessing, the idea goes, it never completely adapts, and is
constantly progressing. This can be as little or as much random
activity as you like – everywhere from just picking different
exercises every time you work a bodypart, to doing completely
random workouts, with no set protocol to it.
There is a certain amount of validity to this. However, I feel
it can be taken too far. At some point, you go from “keeping
the body guessing” to “keeping the body confused.”
Think of it like this – say you were studying for a test.
You could re-write your notes, re-listen to lectures, make flash-cards,
etc. Now, if you were to mix and match all these different learning
styles, that might work if you were studying for one test in
one subject. However, apply it to a different test in a different
subject everyday, and you never really study enough to retain
like you should. Sure, you'll retain and remember some of the
info, but not nearly enough as another method of studying might
let you do.
Well, random training treats the body the same way. You need
a certain amount of adaptation, so that you can progress on
your training. Sure, the S&C is always hard, but are you
getting better at it?
I once read a professional strength coach (I'm not sure who
it was) write that (and I'm paraphrasing here) “Anybody
could beat the hell out of their trainees. It takes an intelligent
coach to make them better.”
I agree.
Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.
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