This week, I decided to talk about an essential aspect of training called “Transference”. Transference is the degree to which your workouts stimulate adaptations that transfer towards your goals. This is commonly heard in sports training because it is the job of the strength coach to ensure that their gains in the gym are directly transferring to their performance on the field, but this applies to any goal.
Tracking transference requires the use of regularly scheduled testing. The testing needs to be a specified activity as close to the training goal as possible. The first test will be used as a baseline and then recurring tests will show the validity of your training plan. Let’s look at an example. I want to run a 6-minute mile time, so I find my baseline by running a mile for time. Hypothetically, I ran an 8-minute mile the first time. At the end of the mile, I’m breathing hard, and my quads are burning, so I organize my training plan to address these identified weaknesses. After 6-weeks of training, I retest my mile time and get a 7:30 mile – providing evidence that my training is helping me get closer to my goal. At this time, I would self-analyze to identify what made the mile challenging this time to see if I can improve upon my workouts. If I were to run the mile and score the same or worse time as my baseline, it becomes evident that there are flaws in my training in which case I would review my training logs and try to identify what I may be overlooking. Remember, this process of analyzing transference can be used with any training goal.
Tracking transference is a surefire way of ensuring your training is helping you reach your goals. If you are moving further away from your goals, you know that the existing routine is detrimental to your progress, and if you are maintaining you will see no change. This also plays a large role in identifying your individual differences. What I mean by this is that everyone responds to exercises slightly differently. Individual differences also involve any restrictions you may have due to previous injury or dietary restrictions. Let’s switch to a different example to expand our understanding.
Say you want to do your first pull-up and when using the assisted pull-up machine, you can perform 1 repetition with 60lbs of assistance. The assisted pull-up machine is our testing device and 60lbs of assistance is our baseline. Knowing you need to develop your back musculature you perform seated cable rows and Lat pulldowns in your workouts. After 6 weeks, you reattempt the assisted pull-up machine, you and are unable to reduce the amount of resistance below 60lbs, showing that you have not progressed towards your goal. You review your training logs and choose to use a bent-over barbell row this time to strengthen your back. Another 6 weeks goes by, and you retest. Only this time you perform 1 repetition with only 30lbs of assistance. You can now positively say that the bent-over barbell row helped strengthen your pull-up.
There is another aspect of transference that is very beneficial. There are things that present themselves when training referred to as “repetitive use injuries”. Some of these include Tennis Elbow, shin splints, tendonitis, etc. Basically, these injuries develop overtime from a repeated action without enough recovery between performances. You can prevent these by utilizing the principle of transference. If you look back at the previous examples, you will see what I mean. Focusing on the pull-up example, we used other back exercises to strengthen the back and therefore trained the pull-up by proxy. We can also use it to prevent injury. Say that I know the barbell row and the Lat pulldown strengthen my pull-ups. I can now use these exercises in rotation to build strength and limit my risk for injury by doing a barbell row for 3 weeks before switching to a Lat pulldown for the next 3 weeks. You may find that this style of progression will help your rate of progress faster than if you were to do just Lat pulldowns for 6-12 weeks because a novelty stress produces a higher stimulus for muscular development. Only adding to the point that understanding transference will accelerate your training, help ensure you are on the right track, and reduce your likelihood of injury.
I felt a lot of frustration with training when I started lifting because I wasn’t sure why my training wasn’t yielding the results. For me, I always wanted to gain weight and be strong as an ox. When I learned the concept of transference, I felt empowered and with time was able to begin moving the needle closer to my goals. I have heard that frustration is triggered by unknowns, so it is my hope that introducing this concept gives you the sense of empowerment it gave me. Providing you with the tools to set yourself up for success!
If you have questions or are interested in personal training, please feel free to reach out at [email protected].
