Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome
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By Sal | May 19, 2010
Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (SGAS) accounts for, or maybe more accurately describes, how the body responds to training. A client’s performance will eventually level-off, or even decrease – whether or not they are a competitive athlete - if a personal trainer does not inject variety into a client’s training routine. In the case of athletes and clients who train at a high level of intensity or volume, this lack of variety in training stimulus can also lead to Overtraining Syndrome, which carries with it a whole host of problems.
There are three stages of adaptation to a strength training program.
- Alarm Stage – During the first 2-3 weeks of a training program muscles are in a mild state of shock and soreness. There is a temporary decrease in strength as the muscles must adapt as a result of the training stimulus. For this reason, lighter weights should be used during the Alarm Stage so as to minimize the amount of adaptation muscles must contend with.
- Resistance Stage – The body overcomes the shock of the Alarm Stage and better adapts to the stimulus provided by the training program. Performance improves across the board, strength gains are realized and muscle soreness decreases substantially.
- Exhaustion Stage – Over an extended period of time, without a change in the stimulus represented by the training program, performance plateaus and then decreases. Regardless of the technical proficiency of the client or the trainer, if the training program isn’t varied, this plateau and drop off is inevitable. The neuromuscular system becomes used to the sameness of the training program, thus the workouts become ineffective and the clients stops making progress.
Personal trainers and strength coaches alike need to vary the training load of clients, whether or not they are competitive athletes. Fitness professionals need to design and implement training programs that use different combinations of volume and intensity in order to constantly challenge the body and minimize the likelihood of encountering the negative effects of Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome and ultimately, Overtraining Syndrome.
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