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Physical Education - The principle of specificity
The specificity principle
I think it is safe to say that the media and shoemakers have combined to
confuse many young and older athletes about the principle of specificity.
Nike and all the folks who sell exercise equipment would like you to
believe that "cross training" is a key to peak performance. The concept
sells more sports shoes and exercise machines, but is it true? Well, no.
Any sport you pursue places highly specific demands on your body in at
least two major ways. First, the exercise will have a very specific pattern
of joint and muscle coordination. For a rower, there is absolutely no
substitute for rowing. Ditto for swimming. Even when we try to duplicate
the basic movement of a sports skill with strength training exercises, the
transfer of increased strength to the actual sports movement is often small
or absent. In the worst case, this type of training can detract from
performance of the real skill due to disruption of technique.
Second, the exercise will place high metabolic demands on a very specific
group of muscles. For example, running and cross-country skiing appear to
involve many of the same muscles, used in a similar movement pattern. Yet
several research studies have demonstrated that there is _no_ relationship
between VO2 max. measured by treadmill running and VO2 max. measured by
cross-country skiing in a group of elite trained skiers. In contrast, there
is a strong relationship between snow skiing and performance on a
skiing-specific test, such as the double poling test.
A high endurance capacity in a specific sport requires both high oxygen
delivery (cardiac output) and high local blood flow and mitochondrial
density in the precise muscles used. The only way to optimally develop the
second component of endurance is to train those exact muscles by doing your
sport!
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Specificity is the principle of training that states what you do in the gym should be relevant and appropriate to your desired outcome. Training must go from general (at the beginning) to specific (as the program progresses). Specificity is the principle of training that states that sports training should be relevant and appropriate to the sport for which the individual is training in order to produce a training effect. The Specificity Principle simply states that training must go from highly general training to highly specific training. The principle of Specificity also implies that to become better at a particular exercise or skill, you must perform that exercise or skill. To be a good cyclist, you must cycle. The point to take away is that a runner should train by running and a swimmer should train by swimming. While there may be other 'principles' of training you will find on the web and in text books, these 6 are the cornerstone of all other effective training methods. These cover all aspects of a solid foundation of athletic training. Once put together, the most logical training program involves a periodized approach which cycles the intensity and training objectives. The training must be specific not only to your sport, but to your individual abilities (tolerance to training stress, recoverability, outside obligations, etc). You must increase the training loads over time (allowing some workouts to be less intense than others) and you must train often enough not only to keep a detraining effect from happening, but to also force an adaptation.
Wt is the principle of specificity?ha
The specificity principle:- The concept sells more sports shoes and exercise machines, but is it true? Well, no. Any sport you pursue places highly specific demands on your body in at least two major ways. First, the exercise will have a very specific pattern of joint and muscle coordination. For a rower, there is absolutely no substitute for rowing. Ditto for swimming. Even when we try to duplicate the basic movement of a sports skill with strength training exercises, the transfer of increased strength to the actual sports movement is often small or absent. In the worst case, this type of training can detract from performance of the real skill due to disruption of technique.
What is the principle of specificity?