If conditioning fails to match the target activity, what happens to adaptations?

• A. Adaptations will be non-specific, offering less transfer to the target activity.
• B. Adaptations will be optimal for any activity.
• C. Adaptations will be unrelated to training time.
• D. Adaptations will be greater with less effort.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is specificity: your body adapts to the exact demands you place on it. When conditioning doesn’t match the target activity, the adaptations that develop are tied to the specific movements, muscle groups, contraction speeds, joint angles, and energy systems you train. Because the stimulus isn’t aligned with the target, those adaptations don’t transfer well to that target performance, so you end up with improvements that are non-specific and less useful for the activity you want to improve.

For example, training with movements that differ from the target will heighten general strength or endurance in the practiced task, but this won’t translate into the same level of improvement in the target activity because the neural and muscular adaptations are tuned to the trained patterns. If you want better transfer to a particular activity, your conditioning should mirror its demands as closely as possible.

So, adaptations will be non-specific, offering less transfer to the target activity.