Don’t forget about the basics!

My friend (an MMA fighter) who’s looking to become stronger and increase his conditioning asked me tonight what I thought of a popular gym whose whole training philosophy is built around randomness.  I’m always hesitant to say something negative about those I don’t agree with, but I explained it this way.  One of the oldest principles in strength and conditioning is the SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands).  In the context of his sport, if you want to get better at jiu jitsu, do you practice to five minutes, then move on to kick boxing for 5 minutes, then wrestling for five, etc?  No.  You spend countless hours practicing these skills individually to master them.  So when the time comes, the athlete is able to react because their body has adapted specifically to the demand they have placed on it. 

The same goes for strength and conditioning.  If a client is going to pay personal trainer money, the odds are they have specific goals they wish to achieve; I’m guessing their goal is not random results.  It’s probably to become stronger, rehab an injury, lose weight, etc; these results can’t happen randomly.  As fitness professionals, we must be able to design a program with a logical progression to best serve your clients “specific adaptation” goals using exercises that are both safe and effective.