Tidbit Tuesday - The Supercompensation Curve
Hello,
Welcome to another Tidbit Tuesday where we aim to teach you something new about health, nutrition, lifestyle, training, and so much more, every week!
Today we are talking about The Supercompensation Curve… that can be a lot to say so I’ll shorten it to the SC.
The SC is a concept that explains the human capacity for adaptation to stress. While it is usually applied to fitness and training, it can be applied to anywhere stress is.
Our body is always looking for homeostasis. As we apply stress our body experiences fatigue and breakdown. During exercise, our muscles are pushed to their limits, creating micro-tears in the muscle fiber, and with appropriate rest and nutrition after the stressor our muscles heal larger and stronger!
Our bodies are constantly responding to the stressors we apply to it. Whether that be physical or mental stress, learning a new skill or engraining a new habit.
As stress is applied, we drop below our line of homeostasis, we must then recover from the stress, and if we intentionally apply another stressor at the right time, we can create a new homeostasis, where we can handle a greater deal of stress.
In theory, if we can continue to apply scheduled stressors, with appropriate levels of rest and recovery, then we will continue to become stronger and more resilient.
The more stress we can manage the more we can accomplish!
If we apply another stressor when our recovery supersedes our previous homeostasis, we become stronger and reset our own bar for stress.
This example shows exercise as the stressor, but it can be applied to most any stress, such as hermetic stress on the body. Stress like extreme heat and cold exposure, fasting, or learning a new language all follow the same principle.
What does this tell us?
Every time that you’ve faced a stressor and felt like you could barely handle it, allowed some time to pass and your body to recover, the next time you faced that stressor you were better prepared for it!
Do NOT shy away from stress. Sure, in the moment you may not be enjoying yourself to the utmost. But you are going to come out a stronger person who is more capable!
Just remember, allow yourself the appropriate amount of rest. But rest too much and you will return to your previous level of homeostasis... right back where you began.
Having a pre-planned schedule can ensure that you are making the most of your time and effort, not wasting it randomly attempting things that might stress your body.
Develop an appropriate plan using Progressive Overload!
But that will be a topic for another week.
Happy Stressing!
Your Friend in Health & Fitness,
Coach Sean
