The Law of Individual Differences

The truth is that the most effective program is going to be one catered to you as an individual.

The most common example of violating this rule is the myth that you must run first thing in the morning on an empty stomach in order to burn fat. There are a few programs that have popularized this method. The idea is that you are in a fasted state, and so if you run without consuming any food, you will force your body to burn fat as the main fuel.

There is some truth to the notion, and in fact you may get away with burning a little extra fat doing this. However, in the long term, it may not be a good strategy at all. Fat burning is tied directly to your activities throughout the entire day, not just during a specific workout. Everything you do during the day, including the nutrition plan you follow, will determine how much fat gets burned overall.

For some individuals, fasted morning cardio fits their schedules and is an effective way to train. I've had clients, however, who simply feel nauseous if they are running on an empty stomach. It is amazing that they would rather try to push through the workout and feel sick and not be able to train hard because of the idea that they may burn more fat, rather than wait to do their training later in the day after they've had something to eat.

For these individuals, any benefit of fasted morning cardio is lost because they are not burning as many calories overall. A session later in the day would more likely expend more calories and end up burning more fat overall.

Another example is with resistance training. The Internet and magazines are plastered with workouts that promise to add inches to your upper arms or build muscle in a short period of time. Often these workouts prescribe an exact number of exercises, sets, and repetitions that you must follow. They all violate the law of individual differences.

Your muscles actually have different types of fibers. Some of these fibers are more suited for endurance work, and some are more suited to strength training work. The idea that training can influence your fiber composition is controversial but does seem to hold merit. However, genetics still play a major role and some people tend to have more of one type of fiber than the other. This distribution also varies throughout the body.

My build, for example, is extremely 'fast twitch' fiber in my chest muscles. This means that I can handle heavy loads for low repetitions as my chest muscles are designed for strength.

However, any type of endurance exercise such as push-ups or going into higher repetitions with lower weight is tough for me. On the other hand, my legs seem built for endurance and can handle heavy loads over long repetitions (which is probably why I enjoy running and do well at longer distances). For me, any program that tries to lock these muscles into a specific repetition scheme is doomed to failure because it wouldn't take into account the muscle fiber distribution in my body - my individual differences.

A final example, and perhaps more common, is handedness. Most people are either left-handed or right-handed. Due to this preference, the muscles on one side of the body become more developed than the muscles on the other side. In this situation, training should actually focus on unilateral movements (exercises that work one side of the body at a time) and emphasize bringing the weaker side into balance with the stronger side. Most generic programs simply don't take this into account and often prescribe bilateral exercises that use both sides of the body at the same time.

So how do you use this law in your practical, everyday training? The best way is to keep a journal and record your response to exercise. You may find as I did that whenever you find a new training program, you'll have to do fewer repetitions with your chest and more repetitions with your legs.

Or you might discover that you stick to your schedule and lose more fat overall when doing long, slow runs later in the day as opposed to fast runs in the morning before you have breakfast. Learn to listen to your body and don't be afraid to customize routines to fit your schedule, your body type, and your overall goals. Celebrate your individual differences!