There Is A Method to the Madness
This is a podcast where I will be discussing all aspects of physical fitness. I am an exercise physiologist and personal trainer and owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs for the last 25 years. My passion is health and fitness and I am excited to share my views, some stories, interviews and much more with you.
There Is A Method to the Madness
Train Smarter, Not Random: System-Specific Adaptations
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Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell and I'm an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. I am the owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really works and, most importantly, why things work. Hence the name. There is a a method to the madness. Before I get to today's show, I want to thank Jonathan and Lynn Gildan of the Gildan Group at Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales. Why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412. Welcome to the show everybody.
Speaker 1:So I had a conversation the other day, and oftentimes that's how I decide what podcast I'm going to do. What I'm going to talk about is the questions that come up at the gym, and a question came up that was basically about specificity, and one did, I don't know, a month ago or so as well, and it sparked a conversation with a client, and you know. So I know I talked about specificity recently and that's why. But I'm going to talk about it again, but in more detail this time, because not that the other podcast wasn't thorough. I think they all are. But I really want to dive into this specificity topic a little bit more because I do think it is so important and in the podcast about a month ago it was really about like watching out for what other people do and then trying to copy them at the gym. You know it was more in that regard when I talked about specificity. But this is going to be more of a deeper dive really into what we need to be specific about in our workout and basically, like the heart of the matter, of the method, to the madness, like why things work. So this is going to be broken up into a couple episodes because it's a lot of information and I don't want you to get too bored because you know, when we hear a lot of information, we can only take so much right About 20 minutes or so, the research says, and then after that we start to kind of tune out a little bit. So I don't want to jam in too much in a short period of time and I don't want to devalue it. So I want to make sure that I cover it well. So I'm going to break it up. So let's get after it.
Speaker 1:I'm going to talk about specificity. That, essentially, is one of the seven principles of physical fitness and it's the one that says, in short, that if you want to improve something, then you have to train specifically for it, specifically for it. And it comes from the SEDS principle, which is specific adaptations, to impose demands, which means that if you want specific changes which is what adaptations are then you have to demand specifically what you want. When you break it down that way, that only makes sense, right? So let's get deeply into it today. So specificity means that you really have to target everything.
Speaker 1:Like too often we think of only a couple things. When we think about training, for example, we might think about. A simple example would be well, if I want to bench press more weight, then I need to bench press with more weight. I mean, that is very, very true, but why so? In that example, you might only take the load part, or you might only take the exercise part. That's probably a better example. In that example, you might only take the fact that it's bench press, but there is a lot of different things we have to think about.
Speaker 1:So I want to start out like I said, it's going to be a pretty deep dive. So I want to start out into the different body systems. There's a lot of systems to the body, like it's not just muscles, it's not just heart. There's a lot of systems. Now, not all of them do we need to necessarily worry about when we're talking about specific training, but there are a lot of systems. Skeletal system is exactly what you think it is. It is your bones and your connective tissue. I'm going to go back through and talk about the ones that we need to worry about with specificity and, yes, the skeletal system we do.
Speaker 1:There is the muscular system, so that is the skeletal muscle. There is the muscular system, so that is the skeletal muscle. There is the nervous system. There is the endocrine system, which is basically all of the hormonal system, which is really, really critical. There is the integumentary system, which is your skin and nails. There is your cardiovascular system, which is the heart and everything makes up, making up the cardiovascular system, so the blood vessels, the veins. There's the lymphatic system, so that helps with the drainage and recovery. There's the respiratory system, so the lungs and alveoli. There is the digestive system, which is how we basically absorb and eliminate food. There is the urinary system, which is how we excrete a lot of our fluids. There is the reproductive system, the system so we can reproduce.
Speaker 1:Pretty sure I said the nervous system, but I can't remember if I did so. The nervous system makes up the brain and spinal column. So when it comes to fitness, like, are we training all of those systems? No, but we're training more than just the big two that we often think of when we think about physical fitness. So the big two in this case would be the muscular system and the cardiovascular system. So yes, those two we are training and we do have to think about specificity.
Speaker 1:For example, in the muscular system alone, you have either slow twitch or fast twitch muscle fibers and we have type 2a muscle fibers which are the intermediate fibers which kind of go either way. They can act like slow twitch if you train predominantly slow twitch, or they could act like fast twitch if we train predominantly in a fast twitch manner. And that means that they are very, very important. When we're talking about specificity, because, let's say, we go back to the bench press example and you want to bench press more weight, that means that you want to strength train, to have the fast twitch muscle fibers most activated. So if you do a lot of slow twitch activity, for example jogging, power walking or cycling, then you're taking those type 2a muscle fibers more towards the cardiac side or more towards the slow twitch side. So specificity is very important in the muscular system. They are going to go in the direction that you train them. So, no, you can't make a fast twitch muscle fiber slow twitch and you can't make a slow twitch muscle fiber fast twitch. But the type 2a fibers, the intermediate fibers, you can switch based on your training. Now they can be good at both.
Speaker 1:So if you do strength training and cardio, they're going to kind of stay in the middle or kind of kind of whatever you want to say. All right, you know what I meant, but then you're not going to be great or your best at one of them. So specificity matters. If you want to go to Hawaii, like you want to win or whatever, go to the Hawaiian Ironman I mean most likely not anybody I know is going to win the Hawaiian Ironman. But if you want to go to the Hawaiian Ironman, which I guess they consider the grand poobah of all the Ironman events, you're going to have to train very specifically for that, which means you're going to have to train those slow twitch muscle fibers more because you want your muscular system to bend more towards endurance, all right. So that's just an example in the muscular system alone and that's only part of it. I'm just really kind of getting warmed up here, all right.
Speaker 1:And in the cardiovascular system? So once again, the cardiovascular system is considered kind of one of the big two that we think of. That's also going to have to be trained specifically, all right. So let's just take time. Endurance and cardio alone. If your goal is to be, say, the strongest guy in the world or a bodybuilder, well, your cardiovascular system isn't going to need the priority of your muscular system and your nervous system and your endocrine system. But we still have to think about it, right.
Speaker 1:So the cardiovascular system, in other words, how your heart responds to exercise, whether it hypertrophies or not, because that's what happens when we strength, train our heart. The heart is actually a muscle. So when we do cardio, respiratory endurance, the heart, specifically the left ventricle, is actually getting stronger, a little bit bigger, in a healthy way, not in an unhealthy way, not like cardiac myopathy, but left ventricular hypertrophy means that the left ventricle is actually getting a little bit bigger and stronger and when it does that, it improves the cardiac output and it improves the stroke volume, which means that your heart can now pump more blood per single beat. All right, we want that. If we want to be more respiratory, cardio-respiratorily fit, more aerobically fit, right. If you're training for a marathon, if you're training for a 5K, you want that ejection fraction to be greater. You want the heart to pump more blood per beat, because that means you have a stronger heart. So, therefore, the cardiovascular system needs to be trained. If that is your goal, if your goal is, say, a better physique, like you only care about muscular fitness or strength, then you don't have to worry about the cardiovascular system.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying that's a good thing. I think we should all strive for balanced fitness. I'm just trying to say that that's where specificity comes in in that system. But it doesn't end there. And today we are just talking about the systems. All right. Now the skeletal system. We have to consider as well. That does need to be thought about when we talk about the specificity principle, like well, what does the skeletal system have to do with that? Well, think of it this way Now, number one bones do get stronger via exercise.
Speaker 1:They get stronger, and they get stronger by adding bone density via exercise. I think everybody knows especially women who have been talked to from their physicians, thank goodness, about their bone density and making sure that they are trying to do the best they can to prevent osteoporosis. So they know, women know, and men should know too, that we need to exercise to strengthen our bones. So that's what happens when we do both strength training and weight-bearing exercise, specifically walking, jogging, whatever that is going to build up the bones. So we know that right. But that's not what this is about. If we have a very specific goal in fitness exercise, sport we need to think about the skeletal system. Now I've heard people say this. So this is kind of where we start to get into the nitty-gritty, where you're going to have some aha moments and think about this a little bit.
Speaker 1:I've heard people say well, you know, I have a really good cardiovascular system, like I've had my VO2 max tested and it's pretty high. I know that. Or maybe they're going by what their watch tells them, which is decent. But let's just say in this example that they know their VO2 max is pretty good, all right, and they know they have pretty good joints, like they haven't had any issues and they know they're mentally tough and they'll say so I think I can just go out and do a marathon without much training. Now, from that perspective they might be right. For example, if you have a really high VO2 max and you have a good aerobic system in general just talking about, say, the endocrine system alone and talking about the cardiovascular system alone, and then let's just say, talking about the muscular system alone, so let's say those three systems are really good. So that argument makes sense. Well, yeah, if you pace yourself, if you slow down and you've never run more than three miles or whatever, if you slow down and you've never run more than three miles or whatever, yeah, you probably, based on those three systems, can finish a marathon in decent time.
Speaker 1:But here's the problem what about the skeletal system? If the skeletal system has never been on its feet with that kind of pounding for that duration and it takes fast runners to run it in three hours, like that's really fast, elite runners do a marathon in, you know, two hours and three minutes to three hours. Basically that's elite, that's super, super, super, super fast. All right, really fast runners in three hours. You know more. Normal people get in the four-hour range and beyond, like that's normal. That's great. You know, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying a faster marathon is better. I'm just trying to give you an idea of how long these things actually take, which means how long you're actually on your feet. That's a long time to be on your feet, moving for four hours If your skeletal system hasn't gotten the reps.
Speaker 1:I don't care what kind of shoes you have, I don't care how the best hoke is in the world, if your skeletal system hasn't put in the reps day in and day out, using the overload principle of getting more time on your feet. That's the value of the long run People think well, it builds my fitness and I'll say well, not really. Like. Your aerobic system has gotten all it really really needs around an hour maximum Most of the time. Your muscular system even less than that. Your endocrine system isn't really wired that way. Where duration is a big deal, it's more about intensity. But your skeletal system hasn't even gotten warmed up yet. It's used to what it's used to. So if your skeletal system is used to a two or three mile run, that's where I like to run these days in that range, two to four miles somewhere in there.
Speaker 1:Then have I done a marathon before? Yes, I've done five. Could I go out and do one next week based on my level of cardiovascular conditioning? Yup, could I do it based on my skeletal system right now? Absolutely not. I mean, I might do real damage or I just might get to the point where I can't finish it because my skeletal system is too banged up. We'll get shin splints, we'll get all kinds of issues, we could get stress fractures. It's just not ready for it.
Speaker 1:And the bones are like every other system, and that's what this podcast is about. The bones need the reps. That's why the long run for people who do long races is critical. It's not about building their fitness. It's literally about building up their skeletal system slowly but surely until they can handle that kind of distance. And you know, it's also the thing that holds people back. Sometimes, as they train, they over-train and they find out that their skeletal system starts to break down a little bit, and that's what does their training in. So that shows you how important that skeletal system is. Now, the endocrine system is also a system that we do have to think about. When it comes to specificity of training.
Speaker 1:Now this one gets talked about quite a bit in strength training circles, because there is a difference between somebody who wants maximal strength and somebody who wants maximal size, hypertrophy. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, there are those people out there that think about it that way. Some guys and gals just want to be strong. They don't care about the aesthetics, so much, about how they look, their tonicity, they just want to be strong. They don't care about the aesthetics, so much, about how they look, their tonicity, they just want to be strong. Some people and I would say more especially in the male area, you know, maybe younger. I'm just trying to think because a lot of people I knew growing up were like this want to look bigger and don't necessarily care about their strength, they just want big muscles. They want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, they could care less what that does in the gym, and you know, to get there, yes, they have to lift heavier weights, but they also don't care so much about that.
Speaker 1:So that is where the endocrine system really comes in, about that. So that is where the endocrine system really comes in. So those two things, hypertrophy and strength, do go hand in hand very much a lot of the time. So to get bigger you have to lift heavier weights, and when you lift heavier weights you get bigger. This is true. But where it does get a little bit dicey is when we factor in the endocrine system. So you can get stronger and not maximize your muscle mass. And you can maximize your muscle mass without being brutally strong. You'll get stronger. But there are differences and that's because of the endocrine system. So when you do strong, heavy sets that basically are like five reps and lower, they typically take less than 20 seconds. When that happens you are in what is called the intermediate energy system. In the intermediate energy system there is no hormonal production per se. It basically all happens at the moment. It's very brief, it's a central nervous system driven action that basically recruits the most amount of muscle fibers it can in a short period of time and you will get stronger by doing that.
Speaker 1:But the endocrine system does not secrete a lot, or if any, testosterone, human growth hormone or insulin, growth factor F, and those are the three hormones that are related to hypertrophy. The set needs to last at least longer than 20 seconds, closer to 30 seconds up to 90 seconds. So 30 seconds up to 90 seconds for maximal amount of acute levels, meaning at the time, levels of human growth hormone, testosterone and insulin, growth factor F, which are your anabolic hormones that promote growth. To get muscle growth and hypertrophy maximal hypertrophy those have to be present and get involved, flowing through your bloodstream as part of the instant recovery process. If it's shorter than 20 seconds, by doing very heavy loads, they are not going to come out and play, they're going to stay dormant. So you're not maximizing your ability to increase muscle mass when the set isn't long enough.
Speaker 1:So that is an example of the endocrine system specificity that is necessary. That will change one person's goal or goal reaching from getting stronger to getting bigger. So specificity in the endocrine system is really, really important. And that is the case as well when we are talking about different types of distances in running too. So shorter events will require more testosterone and those types of hormones flowing through the blood system. It's going to change versus longer distance events. So, yes, we do have to think about specificity in the endocrine system, all right. So those are the systems we have to think about regarding specificity, all right. The skeletal system yes, Check it on your box. The muscular system yes, check it on the box.
Speaker 1:The nervous system, which I touched on briefly, but yes, it's very important. The nervous system has to know are we moving quickly or are we moving slowly? And that is very, very important. So if you want to bench press a lot of weight, you need to get your muscular system and your central nervous system ready to react to very heavy loads. You can get stronger, but then not practice these heavy lifts and unrack it and all of a sudden the brain goes. I'm not ready for this. It almost goes into a type of shock. So you have to specifically train the central nervous system to carry out and handle very heavy loads. If you are more interested in hypertrophy or general strength, like the general population, then the central nervous system training doesn't matter as much. But we do have to think about the speed of movement for that very big reason. Endocrine system I already told you why. Cardiovascular system I already told you why we have to train it very specifically. All right. So those are the systems we have to think about and I know I'm leaving you hanging right now, but there's a reason for it.
Speaker 1:In part two I'm going to get into the movements and the way we have to think about this, to train specifically, because what this all boils down to is you have specific goals. You want to get there specifically. There is a more direct path. We're going to get advice all the time on what people tell us to do. Unfortunately, it just happens in my industry all the time. All I can say is there's pros out there that really know this stuff that can steer you in the right direction.
Speaker 1:I'm not trying to say it's overly complicated. It's really really not. I'm giving you the whys behind it. Specificity is an easy concept, right, but I'm giving you the whys because I do think why matters. I think once you hear it you'll go oh well, that person really doesn't know what they're talking about. All right, so in part two we will pick it up and I will see you then. Thank you for listening to today's program. I ask you to please follow the show wherever you get your podcasts and please select automatic download, because that really helps the show. Now I want to thank overhead door of daytona beach, the area's premier garage door company. They have the best product. They have the best service. I personally vouch for jeff and zach hawk, the owners. They are great people with a great company. If you have any door needs, please give them a shout at 386-222-3165.
