The SAID Principle: The Simplest Yet Most Important Rule In S&C

The SAID Principle: The simplest yet most important rule in S&C

It’s one of the first things you learn as a fitness professional – the principle of Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. Essentially, the SAID principle asserts that our body will adapt to the stresses placed on it. Therefore, the body becomes better at handling that specific stress over time.

The key word here is ‘specific’. Our bodies adapt only to that stimulus. We can see real-life examples of this in many sports; for example, tennis players have racquet arms that are stronger, more muscular, and have greater bone density than the other arm. This is because their racquet arm has been forced to adapt to the stimulus of being used to hit hundred of tennis balls during each session, while the other arm hasn’t. This is the SAID Principle in action.

With regards to our training, this is critical to remember and has a couple of important implications for the following:

1) How we achieve better sports performance

2) How we choose to program our exercise

Firstly, it tells us that the very best way to get better at any sport is to do as much of that activity as possible without becoming excessively fatigued or overtrained.

Keeping this in mind gives us a clue as to how strength and conditioning fits into improving overall sports performance. If getting better at a something requires you to do a lot of it, strength and conditioning should be used to build a body that is better able to handle the specific stresses of the sport. By making a body that is stronger, more robust, and more resistant to injury, the athlete can better handle sport-specific training and skill acquisition that will actually improve their performance.

To give a hypothetical example, an athlete who is only able to perform 10 drills of a movement before their form breaks down from fatigue will not acquire those skills as quickly as another who can perform 50 reps of the same exercise. If repetition breeds skill, then building a body that can perform quality repetitions for longer will reap benefits over time.

This principle gives us a solid foundation from which to build a well-rounded S&C program, regardless of the sport. What is most important is to identify the movement patterns that the athlete will undertake within the sport, and to improve their ability to do them for longer and under greater load. Movements over muscles are important in S&C.

Finally, the SAID principle also applies to our strength training itself. If we are looking to elicit a particular change, then our training needs to operate within the parameters that will cause it. For example, if we are trying to improve an athlete’s absolute strength, we need to ensure that they are moving near-maximal loads for low reps (85%+ 1RM). Doing lots of reps of a low weight will not elicit the correct adaption. (It’s important to note that very few things in the human body are absolute, so training this way may mean you may get slightly stronger. However, it’s not the most efficient way of reaching your goal.)

Keeping this in mind will help you to plan your strength and conditioning efficiently. Use this 6-step process and work backwards from the end goal to give you a blueprint for your S&C:

1) Set out what you’re trying to achieve – is it to improve your double-leg takedown? To run a 5k in under 20 min? To increase the power of your smash? This goal will motivate you and inform how you train.

2) Identify the movement patterns you’ll undertake in the sport/technique.

For example, in the double leg takedown, this would involve being strong in the penetration step and level change downwards, followed by explosive triple extension as you make contact and drive upwards to lift the opponent.

You’ll need good isometric strength to wrap the arms and prevent sprawling or defensive movements, and a strong core to follow through and transition into a dominant position once you’ve taken your opponent to the ground.

3) Select exercises that can benefit those movement patterns and build a body that can handle those stressors. In this case, unilateral work for the legs, as well as lunging, hinging and squatting patterns would work well, along with isometric holds to increase ‘squeezing strength’.
4) Ensure that you’re operating within the right weight parameters to meet your overarching goal. For example, if we are aiming to increase the absolute strength of the athlete, low reps at a weight close to his/her 1RM will work well.

5) Get to work! Add those exercises into your S&C plan and try to improve week on week, following the principles of progressive overload.

6) Don’t forget that the number one activity you can do to improve your double leg is… a lot of double legs. Perform the movement regularly in training, and do plenty of good quality reps, paying attention to your form.

Strength and conditioning is an important part of your overall training and can bring huge benefit to your sports performance – if it is implemented correctly. If you’re struggling to work out how to reach your goal, feel free to get in touch. We’ll jump on a call, troubleshoot your training, and get you on the right track.