Experience Alters Adaptations

There is a double inference in the title of my blog.

I'll give you a second...

Okay.

Times up.

The first refers to the constant altering and adjusting of training styles, exercises, modalities etc that must be done with personal training clients based on their needs and improvements from one session to the next.

The second refers to me and how I'm always adapting my knowledge to better improve the programming for my clients. It's like a never ending cycle of adaptations, progressions and/or regressions, from both the client and trainer perspective.

I'll expand on the latter with the most recent experience I've had, at a lecture I attended a few days ago. You see, I follow several fitness professional on Facebook/Instagram and the good ol' interweb, that base what they share with the world on scientifically proven research ...

So last week I happened to scroll by a picture of the sun setting on the horizon of the Tel Aviv beach with a caption saying: 'The Israeli version of muscle beach'. I scrolled back up and saw that it was taken by one of the most world renowned fitness researchers....Brad Schoenfeld PhD... HE WAS IN TEL AVIV?!.. the stalking began. Turns out he was here for a lecture that he was giving at Wingate, where I studied four years ago... my jaw dropped and eyes opened wide. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! This brilliant man was going to be speaking in ENGLISH, about MUSCLES and his numerous research studies... HERE IN ISRAEL?!?!

I had to get in on this! Pronto!

And that I did. It was a spur of the moment, totally worth it expense, but all for the cause of furthering my education - knowledge is power! *Side note* In Israel, there is no governing body that regulates personal trainers and their qualifications- to ensure they are up to date with continuing education credits like they have in North America... so I've made it my own prerogative to stay up to date with the latest research in the fitness industry. My own continuing education credits if you may.

The lecture was so enlightening and a breath of fresh air to not be struggling with keeping up with the Hebrew translation etc. I never imagined I would get such a high from learning. I guess that's the feeling when you actually ENJOY what you're studying. I was like a kid in a candy store. There were about 100 fitness professionals in the lecture. Maybe 10 women, typical... and the rest were men, who OBVIOUSLY worked out. Hard. As seen through their shirts...

That aside, I felt like I met a celebrity. I was so smitten by his intelligence I fumbled for words when I approached him to introduce myself.

I learnt a tremendous amount, but all the technical and science stuff aside, the most impactful was the following line:

"There is no 'BEST' training program, only a best program for a given individual"

AKA: customization.

There is no one-size-fits-all, cookie cutter, run of the mill training program.

There just isn't.

There are also no two people alike, just like there is no such thing as a 'perfect' routine - because perfect means no tweaking or adjustments to modify exercises- either for regressions or progressions. You see, throughout a training program, your body adapts to the stimulus you load it with (which is why you can't just do the same thing over and over and expect to see results) UNLESS you are totally untrained when it is actually ideal to maintain a consistent program for the first 6 weeks or so to allow your neuromuscular system to adapt. After a certain point though, depending on the individual, different aspects of the training need to be changed to continue seeing results.

The more challenging a program -> the more your body adapts to the stimulus thus getting stronger with a greater capacity to push to failure -> leading to a greater capacity to perform exercises in higher volume without overtraining.

So back to the title: Experience Alters Adaptations - my first inference relates to the continuous cycle of adjustments that need to be made for the client. Hopefully they are progressions but sometimes regressions are needed - like strengthening a lagging muscle group, or movement. Herein lies the second inference- when the trainer needs to have the experience/knowledge base to know HOW to make these adaptations. The more the trainer knows, the better the adaptations, the better the session, the better the results.

I'm not saying all trainers, straight off the bat are going to have this vast knowledge. It takes years and YEARS of experience and man hours working with actual clients. Hell, I'm still learning, everyday. I've been at this for 6 years, but there is still SO MUCH to know! However, there is something to be said about gaining firsthand experience, which in my opinion can often times trump textbook knowledge. The interpersonal skills required to conduct a personal training session speaks volumes on the quality of the trainer and that knowledge doesn't come from a textbook - you either have it your don't.

But the experience of working with the human body - even if it's our own body- is so complex and intricate can only be advantageous in learning and understanding adaptations.

For example:

And this isn't even an exaggeration. Unfortunately.

The level of stupidity in the varieties of exercises that personal trainers make their clients perform is just mind boggling. Take for example the basic movement pattern of the squat- why would a trainer take their client on a bosu/medicine ball, hold a TRX and do a squat when they can't even perform a proper squat on flat, stable ground?!? I've seen it, far too many times. If it looks cool, people have a tendency to gravitate towards it more. But why? Sometimes the most basic of exercises, like the squat, can be made more challenging in so many ways, intelligently, and not with a chance of injuring the client so instead of taking 3 steps forward, the client takes 5 steps back because they have to recover from an injury caused by their trainer being an idiot.

Movement is medicine >>>> so the better your movements are and the more you perform them, the less chance of injury.

To wrap things up, the personal training industry is rampant with trainers who to quickly call themselves 'professionals' and equally moronic are the clients who haphazardly sign up for the first trainer and program offering immediate results, without even checking the trainer's credentials!

**anytime you see a promo offering: FAST RESULTS - run the other way. There's no such thing! You have to put in the work and be committed.

Changes don't happen overnight. **

Herein lies my attempt at ensuring, to the best to my abilities, my knowledge remains up to date, from professionals who are RECOGNIZED by their published research studies and experience. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I take my job VERY seriously and am extremely passionate about it - just as I am passionate about learning.

I left the lecture beaming with happiness and a level of confidence I only aspire in transferring to my clients when they are training with me. I am the first to admit I do NOT know everything (and anyone who says that is obviously a liar) and sometimes a higher sign of intelligence is admitting you don't know something instead of making stupid shit up.

And so, I have made a vow to myself to continue expanding my knowledge to provide my clients with the best training sessions of my abilities, based on their abilities.

Amen.