What does the principle of specificity refer to give an example of an activity you engage in and what components of fitness it develops?

The Halcyon Days

Do you remember those days of your youth, when the world was a place of limitless possibility? Did you want to be an astronaut? A doctor? A professional athlete? Those early passions developed a level of intent. If you wanted to be a doctor, you played doctor. If you wanted to be an athlete, you played sports.

These desires led to specific learning actions. To play baseball, you need to learn how to throw. If you wanted to be Ken Griffey, Jr., you would need to learn how to hit left-handed.

Over time, the specifics of your activity led to ability. The books you read about being a doctor informed your schoolwork. The pick-up ballgames translated into time spent on the high school diamond.

These occurrences are no guarantee of future success, of course. We all have specific talents and our desire to become a professional baseball player does not mean we will become a professional baseball player. But specific actions do lead to better results — that’s why experience matters in the job market. The more you do something, the better you become at the specific tasks.

Be Specific

This principle applies to our training. It seems the further we move away from those days of playing in the yard, the more theoretical our training becomes. For example, you might run 5 miles a day, not because you want to be a runner, but because you want to connect with the idea of fitness. But specificity of training matters.

What is specificity of training? It is training that is relevant and appropriate to the sport or functional task in order to produce the best effect.

Specificity of training means taking the extra step from general training. It means you should continue to run 5 miles a day, but also include exercises that apply to your desired outcomes. In sports, it means if you want to be a good rock climber, you need to rock climb. But in everyday life, it also means if you want to climb the stairs in your office or at home, you need to climb stairs.

There are several key components of any training program. The most important are the volume (how much), the intensity of training (how hard), and the frequency (how often). These three variables determine the adaptive changes that either enhance fitness or decrease exercise capacity. We can further modify these components by altering the variables of motion, force and time. Motion can be modified to best mirror the motions needed for the activity or sport you wish to participate in. Motion can be further leveraged by altering the range of motion you work through.

Full range, partial range, end range…my exercises should mimic the motion demands of the task. Intensity is modified by altering the load or resistance utilized. The resistance can be heavy or light; it can be applied by different modalities and applied to different regions of the body. Finally, time can be altered. Exercises can be performed with high reps or low reps; it can be done fast or slow. It can be performed in short bursts of effort or in longer durations.

Interestingly enough, probably the most specific thing about exercise training is one the books and articles never mention. It has to do with what is most important to you in regard to exercise. In the end, the best exercise is the one you will do.

You may not be doing the kind of exercise that best suits you, according to the book The Eight Colors of Fitness by Suzanne Brue. Her research suggests that your personality affects how you think and feel about exercise. Knowing your likes and dislikes will help you choose the workouts and sports that are more likely to keep you interested and involved. Exercise should be specific to you particular wants and desires.

Finally, when looking at an exercise program, it is important to think about the end results. Exercise can vary on a spectrum from easy to hard, and from very generic to very specific. If your program is too generic and too easy, it will seem like a waste of time. If it is too generic and too hard, you may find it punishing. If it is too hard and too specific, it may become harmful. And if it is too easy and too specific, it becomes boring. The sweet spot is at the confluence of these parameters where it is “just right” for you.

Why Specific Matters

Why does specificity matter? Research suggests that the adaptations of your muscles are dependent upon the specific tasks employed. In other words, highly general training helps you in a highly general way. But specific training helps you in a specific way.

It means you should reconsider your training and to remember those days of your youth when learning to pitch meant throwing a baseball and learning to swim like the Olympians meant swimming in a pool.

Specificity of training does not mean a just-do-it attitude. Each person has unique movements and part of training means a conditioning toward the proper way of achieving your task. In other words, if you throw a baseball with bad mechanics and condition your muscles to those mechanics, your training might be more harmful than good. Specificity of training, instead, means to train well on your specifics tasks, so you can perform better when the time comes. Most of all we want you to be able to use and apply these new changes directly to the environments and tasks that you encounter on a daily basis.  That is what we mean by functional transfer.

What task are you trying to achieve? Let us help you work toward specificity in your training!