SAID PRINCIPLE and Progressive Overloading

I’ve had a number of students fall off the face of the earth during the pandemic. Folks who otherwise practiced regularly with me for years stopped doing classes. There are soooo many reasons for it, from childcare to work changes to mental health struggles…you name it. The pandemic has been a huge interruption to the way we live. I’ve gone through a lot myself, and hold no criticism of the way we each cope with it.

It cheers me to see some of these students begin to return, but I feel a little tug of caution. If you haven’t done yoga in 15 months…should you come to my most advanced level classes? If you’ve been hunched in front of a computer or a tv for more than a year, should your next step be a handstand?

There are many factors to determine how quickly you’ll lose the strength you’ve gained in any exercise habit, depending on age, health, and a zillion other factors. In general, conventional wisdom says it's anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months. Definitely shorter than a whole pandemic.

I think of two principles in physiology to guide our way through this.

SAID Principle

Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand is the idea that your strength and mobility adapt to what you do. Basically, you are constantly training your body. You may not be training for a marathon, instead, you’ve been training to sit in front of a screen.  You are how you train; your physical skills are the outcome of what you do. Yes, genetics and health factors are in the mix. But for most averagely healthy folks: you are how you move, and don’t move.

I purposefully teach moves and poses that are the opposite of what our bodies do daily in our society. I don’t offer a method to improve your hunching at your desk, you already have a routine for that! Instead, I aim to create a wider variety of skills for my students (backbends, weight-bearing on the hands or a single leg, inversions, etc). That’s why you think my classes are hard: you are encountering the limits of your SAID training.

Progressive overload principle

If you want to develop strength in a skill, you have to take a progressive approach. If I want to lift 35 pounds for a bicep curl, I don’t start at 35 pounds. I have to start just past my least-challenging weight, and keep nudging that further along. If 5 pounds is nothing, then I should start with 8 pounds, later 10 pounds, 12 pounds etc.

So, if you haven’t been doing downward dog, you will need to gain strength to do a downward dog. This strength training can look like smaller versions (like hand and knees), shorter durations (same pose, not held as long) or applicable weight work. I suggest taking a class that is a level lower than what you used to if you haven’t been practicing. And if that makes your ego sore, then you know it’s time to get back to yoga.