Last post, we covered expanding your capacity or progression.  This post will focus on specificity. Specificity in accurate heart rate monitoring for fitness means you need to invest in the best wearable with a focus on accuracy and results. 

In the realm of fitness, specificity involves a precise concentration and effort on the component or mode of fitness you are seeking to improve.  A parallel principle is the S.A.I.D. principle.  The acronym S.A.I.D. stands for specific adaptations to imposed demands.  The human body is an amazing organism and will adapt to a particular stimulus that is placed upon it.  You may have experienced the phenomenon of specificity in your own training.  For example, you decided to take a cycling class for the first time in six months after your primary mode of exercise had been running.  You could run for 30 to 60 minutes no problem, but by minute 15 of the cycling class, you were looking at the clock, legs screaming at you, wondering if you were going to be able to finish the song.  If you are more of a resistance training type of person, you might have been humbled by trying to complete 15 to 20 reps of a light-to-moderate weight for 3 sets after you had easily been training a heavy weight for 2 sets of 4 to 6 reps. Because your body had adapted to a specific type or mode of training, you experienced fatigue (usually muscular) when you introduced a new stimulus. 

If you have a particular fitness goal, you can use the principle of specificity to your advantage.  Let’s say you would like to run a 5k in 30 minutes.   The best modality of training is running, more specifically, running at your race pace (please review the tempo or pace training information from several months ago).  Make note of the intensity required to maintain your pace.  Which zones are you spending the most time in throughout your training (green, yellow, red?)  You can then establish another layer of specificity in terms of the specific intensity necessary to maintain your race pace. 

Although training in the specific modality you would like to improve is critical to your performance, cross-training in other modalities is recommended once or twice per week to provide active recovery, reduce overuse injuries, and add variety.

Each time you make a move using the MYZONE system, enter the modality of your training into your activity report so that you can monitor your training patterns over time.  Observe how your heart rate responds to different modes of activity and take note of your caloric expenditure.

What are you focusing on for your fitness? Post to Facebook or Twitter and use the hashtags: #myzonemoves #specificity.  Next post, gratitude is the topic.  Keep moving forward!