Personalization is a word often lightly tossed around the fitness industry. At OPEX Fitness it’s a word we honor. Templates are a common practice for many instructors or trainers in the industry. Whether it be the latest blueprint for a competitive program or popular celebrity workout plan, templates are used to reduce workload and increase clients participation. The OPEX Fitness principles do not align with templating an individual’s training program.
We firmly believe that individually designed programs are the pinnacle of fitness programs and lead to long term success. However, we won’t deny that templates work, for at least the beginning. Templates work at first because of something called the Rate of Adaptation. James FitzGerald Explains:
That was an excerpt from a monthly Knowledge Series call in which James FitzGerald spoke for nearly an hour about the Rate of Adaptation, followed by a live Q&A with OPEX CCP Coaches. Learn the same concepts these coaches use daily with this course.
The Rate of Adaptation is the measure of how fast a client is able to adapt to a stimulus. There are two factors that influence the Rate of Adaptation: time, in this case, their training age (how long they have been training), and maximal physical potential (the maximum a client is capable of). At the beginning (when the time is low) the Rate of Adaptation will be high and as time goes on the Rate of Adaptation will slow.
There is no denying that some clients see results from templates. These clients see results because their low training age puts them in the beginning stages of adaptation. Since they are so new to training their bodies can adapt to anything, literally anything, hence why so many clients can have results from one template. The results are not because of the template, they are because the clients are in the best area to adapt. If they were to keep following that template for years, the Rate of Adaptation would slow and so would their results.
As the Rate of Adaptation slows so does client success. This is where individual design comes in. When clients aren’t able to adapt as easily they need a program specifically tailored to their needs. So go program your templates, they are a great way for clients to gain experience and up their training age. But, when their results taper it’s time to get down to business and create a real program, one designed specifically for your client’s needs and Rate of Adaptation.
The Rate of Adaptation was the topics of one of our monthly Knowledge Series calls where OPEX CCP Coaches and James FitzGerald himself come to together to discuss the latest in coaching education theory. Learn the theory discussed on these calls from the man himself, with the three-hour course Programming: Principles.
