Understanding stress and adaptation with John Kiely

I hate to break it to you, but the body is not a machine . You can give a machine an input and it produces an expected output. With the body you give it an input, and you can never precisely predict what will come out of it.

People aren’t machines

Our models to understand adaptation – such as the General Adaptation Syndrome and supercompensation – are built upon the machine model. Science and practical experience have advanced a lot in the decades since these models were created, and it is time for coaching practices to follow. John Kiely and I have written about and presented on the topic. In our latest member video lesson, we look in depth at the major factors that influence adaptive respond.

This is the lastest content related to this month’s theme of adaptation. How we respond to training is not as straightforward as we used to think it was, and we want to explore that complexity in more detail on HMMR Media, as well as look at potential solutions to the problem. I’ve written about adjusting time as a variable in training to account for individual response, Mike Tuchscherer explain his bottom-up approach, and Craig Pickering has looked at the science of adaptation. This video looks at the complexity of adaptation from both a theoretical and practical point of view.

Understanding complexity

The definition of a complex system is a system composed of many components which interact with each other. The more components, the more potential outcomes, and the more difficult it is to predict the result. With so much going on in the human body, a system cannot get much more complex than that. It is not just about the mind and the body, but about how the two interact in nearly infinite ways to produce an outcome.

With training, there are numerous components that come into play. In our lesson we dive deep into six major factors:

We look at each point in depth, summarize the latest research, and provide examples of how coaches can be aware of them in training and help bring a positive influence on their athletes. We will never truly know a complex system, but understanding the key factors can help us deal with it. So check out the video to learn more. And if you aren’t a member, sign up now so you don’t miss out.