The research regarding the specific processes that affect muscle growth and protein synthesis has produced an incredibly complex array of available information and there is much yet to be uncovered. Not only must the mechanisms themselves be considered but the individual genetic responses that occur from one person to the next as a result of various approaches to training, nutrition and supplementation.
Though one doesn’t need to understand the scientific minutiae in order to get results from training, I do believe they can benefit by understanding a practical three stage model that explains how human beings adapt to physiological stress. Hans Selye, back in the 1930s, called it The General Adaptation Syndrome.
Stage 1: Alarm Reaction: The initial reaction to a stressor that causes an activation of protective processes. Resistance training creates stress such as increased amounts of force on bones, joints, muscles, connective tissues, and the nervous system.
Stage 2: Adaptation (aka Resistance Development Stage): With continued exposure to the same stress the body eventually increases its ability to respond to the demands placed on it. This is actually where the body increases its functional capacity to adapt to stressor via supercompensation.
Stage 3: Exhaustion: If one is exposed to the same stress for too long they will enter the Exhaustion Stage. At this point the prolonged stress overwhelms the system. This can cause one’s strength to stagnate or even decline. Additionally it can cause a breakdown or injury. Overtraining would be an example of a situation where one has reached this point.
One way of continuing to make positive gains in one’s training program while also avoiding crossing over into the Exhaustion Stage is to vary one’s training via the use of different training cycles or phases called Periodization.
Though there are various forms of periodization that can be used depending on one’s training goal, the most important takeaway for the physique athlete is the necessity of periodically varying your training stress. This can be manipulated both from a loading/repetition standpoint as well as by varying the exercises themselves, the order of exercises, and angles of those exercises (among other variables).
In any case, periodized training will allow your body to yield the positive benefits of the first two stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome while avoiding a state of stagnation or chronic over-reaching found in the last stage.
It is also important to note that even if you have your training program all mapped out into specific phases, rep and loading schemes, that you must ultimately listen to your body on any given training day and respect the signals it is sending so you know when to back down and when to ramp things up.
Scott Fishkind is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer/NESTA Certified IMPACT instructor near Nashville TN
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