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September Article #1: Specificity of Training
By Ryan Riell, MS
For any training program, whether it be running, cycling or triathlon, there are three main components to take into consideration: volume (how much work, how many hours or miles), intensity (how hard you are going; interval sessions) and frequency (how often your are training). If you are paying a coach or training group to get you into the best shape possible for you upcoming race(s) and season, they should be using these principles to develop your training plan, and should be able to answer you questions about these topics.
For a long time, is has been thought that the response to training/adaptation is directly related to the athletes training volume. It must be understood that there is a limit to the volume in which you will have positive increases in your functional capacity. High-level age-group athletes and professionals are very well aware of this: they walk a tightrope between chronic intensive training and inadequate recovery that can culminate in decrements in performance and overtraining.
One of the key tenants of exercise physiology is the principle of training specificity, which holds that training responses/adaptations are tightly coupled to the mode, frequency and duration of exercise performed. This means that the majority of adaptations that occur due to training occur in the muscles that are trained. The principle of specificity states that the closer a training session is to the requirements of a sport, the better the outcome.
A recent study by Burgomaster, we are forced to reexamine some of the long held theories regarding training specificity and the response/adaptation. It also reinforces that for certain individuals, a very intense training regimen can be a time-effective and potent stimulus for inducing many of the benefits normally associated with more prolonged, submaximal endurance-type workouts.
Burgomaster reported that a 6 week, low-volume, high intensity sprint cycling intervention produced similar changes as a traditional high-volume, low-intensity endurance workouts. It was found that 4-6 30 second sprints with 4-5 minutes of active recovery, 3 days a week result in the same basic physiological adaptations (carbohydrate metabolism, lipid oxidation and mitochondrial biogenesis) as when athletes underwent 40-60 minutes of continuous submaximal cycling a day for 5 days per week. What makes these findings most interesting is the roughly 90% reduction in training volume (roughly 1.5 hours versus 4.5 hours per week).
The study presented by Burgomaster did not include a functional outcome measure of exercise capacity or performance. A study similar, yet shorter (14 day) study by Gibala reported no differences in the time to complete two different exercise tests: one high-intensity test lasting about 2 minutes and a longer test of 55-60 minutes.
When looking at these two studies, the ‘lack of time’ is very promising. As with all studies, one should use caution when extrapolating the results beyond the specific conditions of the investigation. With regard to the time course of training-induced responses, it may be that high-intensity sprint training stimulates a more rapid up-regulation of selected physiological/metabolic markers than traditional low-intensity endurance training, but that over a longer period, the two training regimens elicit similar adaptations.
Now that you have been armed with the details of specificity of training, take a look at your current program and make sure it make sense.
1. Hawley JA (2002). Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 29, 218–222.
2. Fitts RH, et al. (1975). Am J Physiol 228, 1029–1033.
3. Hawley, JA. J Physiol 586. 1 (2008) pp1-2
4. Burgomaster KA, et al. (2008). J Physiol 586, 151–160.
5. Gibala MJ, et al. (2006). J Physiol 575, 901–911.
Ryan Riell is recognized as one of the top triathlon, fitness and nutrition experts in the nation. Ryan has been selected by USA Triathlon to give multiple continuing education lectures to USA Triathlon certified coaches on the topic of time trialing and pacing. He was selected by USA Triathlon to attend multiple Elite Coaching Mentorship Programs at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO and the year-long webinar based program. Ryan is the Head Coach of Break Through Multisport Inc., a national triathlon and endurance sports coaching company that has locations in Chicago, IL, Tucson, AZ and Phoenix, AZ, that provides professional coaching for triathletes, swimmers, cyclists and runners of all levels and abilities. Ryan also hosts a free triathlon and endurance sports training blog (http://breakthroughmultisport.blogspot.com) that is packed full of training tips, nutritional advice and racing tactics. Ryan holds two master’s degrees, one in exercise physiology and biomechanics and the second in organic and biological chemistry. For more information, please contact Ryan Riell at (931) 220-7050 or at Ryan@BreakThroughMultisport.com.
These articles have been written by the professional coaches at Break Through Multisport and are packed full of useful training and racing information. For more information and articles similar to this, please feel free to visit the 100% FREE Break Through Multisport training and racing blog!
