Specificity in Fitness page

[Coach Palfrey]

Just posted a new article about specificity and why it is important for your results. Check it out here:

Sandbag Fitness: The Concept of Specificity in Fitness

[Digby]

Start to take a look at your daily schedule and compare this to your current gym routine - are there any parallels? If not, start to add in some exercises that will work towards improving some basic skills e.g.

* Deadlifts (and especially suitcase variations) will assist in picking things up from the floor such as shopping bags or children
* Lunges and their variations will improve Gait (walking)
* Cleans and Presses will improve your ability to lift things above your head such as putting objects onto a high shelf
* Step Ups will improve your ability to walk up stairs
* Squats will improve your ability to stand up and sit down

These are some very basic examples but hopefully you can see how you might start to analyse your programme in a slightly different way.

Thank you for this! So often exercise seems geared to the high end of fitness, and I found this very helpful way to think about doing some of these exercises that I tend to avoid, like lunges.

[Coach Palfrey]

Start to take a look at your daily schedule and compare this to your current gym routine - are there any parallels? If not, start to add in some exercises that will work towards improving some basic skills e.g.

* Deadlifts (and especially suitcase variations) will assist in picking things up from the floor such as shopping bags or children
* Lunges and their variations will improve Gait (walking)
* Cleans and Presses will improve your ability to lift things above your head such as putting objects onto a high shelf
* Step Ups will improve your ability to walk up stairs
* Squats will improve your ability to stand up and sit down

These are some very basic examples but hopefully you can see how you might start to analyse your programme in a slightly different way.

Thank you for this! So often exercise seems geared to the high end of fitness, and I found this very helpful way to think about doing some of these exercises that I tend to avoid, like lunges.

Completely agree. Everything is scalable and there is no reason why we can't achieve at every level.

[iniQuity]

I commented on the page itself but I guess it needs to be moderated first, it didn't go up right away.

Anyway I certainly agree with what you said. In my personal life it's become a bit of a divide though because currently there's many things I'm interested in and excited about doing or incorporating into my training, to name just a few:

- Gymnastics skills: Hand balancing and some mild/very amateur and space-limited ring work, floor work.
- calisthenics: I love pull ups, dips and all things in between and will like to someday (soon) complete The Bar-Barian requirements (So you think you've got what it takes?) which would require a lot of specific training.
- General strength and conditioning work, especially now that I built my sandbag.

The "problem" then becomes how to go about satisfying my desire to become good at all these somewhat simultaneously, it seems as though there's not enough time given the pressures all these different regiments impose on the body. I'd also not like to be one of those people that do everything but aren't particularly good at any of them because so little time is devoted to progressing in all of them. For now though and since I'm not competitive in either I just take it one day at a time and practice what I feel like practicing at any given day, some days I'm more into the calisthenics, other days I want to do more balancing, etc. I figure as long as I never "cheat" my workouts by going light on them I'm always going to be doing a service to my body and my health.

Sometimes though I do wish I had more of a one-track mind and could focus on for instance increasing my reps in all of the Bar-Barian required movements which to me would mean putting the rest aside for a bit to allow my body to rest and adjust to the training.

Anyway, good article, points that need to be raised.

[Alex Good]

I'm sorry but I really can't take you seriously after the power sugar post.

[Coach Palfrey]

I'm sorry but I really can't take you seriously after the power sugar post.

You know it was a joke, right?

[Al_Kavadlo]

Nice post, Coach! I especially love this part: "Would an increased skill level in using the elliptical, the chest press or performing a crunch really help in daily life?" Elliptical trainers are about as un-functional as it gets.

Btw, I actually blogged about the specificity principle a little while back, with a slightly different take on the subject.

[Coach Palfrey]

Nice post, Coach! I especially love this part: "Would an increased skill level in using the elliptical, the chest press or performing a crunch really help in daily life?" Elliptical trainers are about as un-functional as it gets.

Btw, I actually blogged about the specificity principle a little while back, with a slightly different take on the subject.

Good article too!

[Digby]

[QUOTE=Al_Kavadlo;388685]Nice post, Coach! I especially love this part: "Would an increased skill level in using the elliptical, the chest press or performing a crunch really help in daily life?" Elliptical trainers are about as un-functional as it gets.

Why are ellipticals unfunctional? I thought they were supposed to be a good option to running if you had knee/hip problems. Was thinking about giving one to my daughter and sil; his ankles are bad.

[Al_Kavadlo]

Good article too!

Thanks!

Why are ellipticals unfunctional? I thought they were supposed to be a good option to running if you had knee/hip problems. Was thinking about giving one to my daughter and sil; his ankles are bad.

The elliptical trainer is not functional because the only time you perform that movement pattern is, well, when you're on an elliptical trainer.

There is no substitute for running. Not even treadmills.