Accommodation and Stagnation

There is a delicate balance between the correct blend of specificity and the correct amount of
variation to progress
You can continue to progress if you change your exercises regularly
A process of elimination is useful to discover where you are stuck
During the late 1960s, a Soviet scientist named U. I. Ivanov performed and published results from an
interesting experiment. Ivanov used three similar groups of people and had them perform strength
training exercises twice a week for a period of three months.
Group 1 performed (concentric) dynamic weight exercises
Group 2 performed static strength exercises (isometric) with maximal tension
Group 3 performed yielding (eccentric) exercises using weights exceeding 10-40% of what they were
capable of lifting in an ordinary (concentric) manner.
After the period was concluded, the results were very interesting. Compared to their previous
personal performances:
Group 1 managed to lift on average 8.5 kg more in the squat and 5.5 kg more in the clean. They also
managed to jump 3.7 cm higher and could pull with 14.6 kg more force in a back strength test.
Group 2 managed to lift on average 9.2 kg more in the squat and 12.7 kg more in the clean. They
also managed to jump 5.4 cm lower than before the training period and pulled with 30.0 kg of
increased force in a back strength test.
Group 3 managed to lift on average 15.0 kg more in the squat and 9.7 kg more in the clean. They
also managed to jump 1.6 cm lower than before the training period and pulled with 19.1 kg more
force in a back strength test.
What did and does this experiment reveal? The athletes tested strongest in the motor skills and tasks
that were the most similar to the exercises they did in the experiment.
A problem arises though.
On the one hand, the specificity of the training produced the highest results in the motor tasks and
exercises most similar to the ones performed.
On the other hand, if those same athletes would have continued using the same exercises for an
extended period of time they would have ceased to progress any further. This is called
Accommodation.
Accommodation is a biological law that states that a decrease in adaptation will occur to a repeated
stimulus over an extended period of time. In other word, your progress will stop. Every activity you
do has a learning life-cycle to it.

Let me provide an example. When you were a small child, you probably read kids' books (maybe you
still do). Simple stories, learning the alphabet and learning your times table were likely things you
did. At an early stage of learning when these processes are not fully comprehended the brain is
greatly stimulated.
Fast forward 20 years. You have left school and you are working as an accountant. Would you still be
using such books to learn how to be a good accountant? I sincerely hope not! Your brain has
exceeded the capacity to learn any more from such elementary activities. What you need is
increasingly more complex demands to keep progressing. If you were to return to elementary
teachings you most definitely would not be progressing in your accountancy job for long!
Believe it or not, strength and speed adapt in a similar way.
I'm sure you are aware or have seen people in the gym making rapid progress in the early stages of
training only to hit a brick wall due to using the same routines. You have likely experienced it
yourself. Most definitely I have.
Thomas Kurz reports that one cause of reaching a plateau is to repeat an exercise over and over
with the maximal speed attainable in that exercise. The brain then learns to move with that speed to
the point that it cannot be exceeded. A greater intensity of stimuli results in a faster learning of the
movement. To illustrate:
A sprinter hits a speed barrier due to using the same maximum velocity sprinting drills during
training
An olympic weightlifter cannot exceed their maxes on the competitive lifts because of repeatedly and
with no intensity variation practising the competitive lifts
A powerlifter cannot exceed their maxes on the competitive lifts because of repeatedly and with no
intensity variation practising the competitive lifts
Stagnation can also occur as a result of lacking a particular strength or speed quality. For example:
A sprinter who cannot exceed their sprint times due to a lack of maximal or absolute strength
A powerlifter who cannot progress past a sticking point due to a lack of explosive or speed strength
An olympic weightlifter who cannot progress past a sticking point due to a lack of maximal or
absolute strength
Accommodation and stagnation can be conquered in the following ways:
Changing an exercise or drill to another similar exercise or drill
Changing the movement speed of an exercise or drill
Changing the intensity zone of an exercise or drill
Adding more exercises to a routine
In regards to maximal strength & absolute strength training this can be achieved by utilizing the

following:
Maximal and near maximal deadlift, squat, good morning & bench variations (wide stance, close
stance, partial movements, inclines)
Maximal and near maximal hip hyperextension movements (hyperextensions, 45 degree
hyperextensions, glute bridges, hip thrusts)
Isometrics
Using the repetition method to build strength in specific muscles
In regards to explosive-strength training this can be accomplished by utilizing the following:
Bounds with long amortization times (not trying to minimise ground contact to an excessive degree)
Depth jumps (falling from heights varying from 75-110cm - do not try to keep the legs stiff)
Broad jumps (weighted, un-weighted, single jumps and repeated jumps)
In regards to speed-strength training this can be accomplished by utilizing the following:
Bounds with short amortization times (trying to minimise ground contact times while simultaneously
making the maximal distance possible)
Drop jumps (falling from heights varying from 20-40cm trying to minimise ground contact times
while simultaneously jumping the maximal distance possible)
Broad jumps (weighted or un-weighted trying to minimise ground contact times while
simultaneously making the maximal distance possible)
Exercises in the 3 categories above all have slight variations in movement, speed and intensity, but
they remain within an intensity range which will continue to train a targeted motor quality or
strength. This is an excellent way to avoid accommodation and stagnation.
It would be impossible in one article to cover every sports training method to combat
accommodation and stagnation. What is possible, however, is to come up with a set of parameters to
use to discover what areas must be addressed.
Here is a possible guideline to use for analysis:
How many times has this exercise been repeated in this manner?
How many total exercise variations are being utilized?
What strengths or motor skills are not being trained sufficiently?
Is the sport more heavily reliant on strength, or speed?
When answering such questions, some points for analysis to be mindful of are:

Exercises with a high speed element can have a life-cycle of as little as 7-10 days
Exercises with very high resistance can have a life-cycle of around 21-25 days
The more exercise variations being utilized, the greater the chance to avoid accommodation
provided the motor skills targeted are the same (e.g. explosive strength, maximal strength)
The greater the resistance to be overcome the greater reliance of maximal strength (powerlifting,
olympic weightlifting, strongman)
The lower the resistance to be overcome the greater the reliance on speed and explosive-strength
(sprinting, shot, javelin)
Higher levels of speed and explosive-strength will assist in reaching high force levels faster
Higher levels of maximal strength will provide the foundation for increased speed and explosivestrength
Like a cake that must have certain ingredients in optimal quantities, when a mass must be moved,
maximal strength, explosive-strength and speed-strength must be present and involved to a greater
a lesser degree in optimal quantities.
So for a sprinter whose times have stalled, such an athlete may want to look at their current training
with these points in mind. Perhaps their current training consists of the following common errors:
An overdependent tendency to use block starts, maximal acceleration & top end sprint speed drills
Insufficient strength work
Using the same plyometric drills to death way beyond the point they have lost their effectiveness
It could be that this athletes technique is very good. If so, this could be eliminated as a potential
problem. For such an athlete, perhaps performance could be improved by:
Utilizing a greater variety of drills and exercises for technique, explosive-strength and speedstrength
Utilizing maximal effort exercises & assistance exercises to build a foundation of maximal &
absolute strength needed to increase speed and explosive-strength further
Breaking training down into periods of specific focus during training cycles
Enter a possible new way:
Using the preparation period to work on maximal & absolute strength in the glutes, hamstrings, leg,
hip & torso muscles - incorporating a wide array of jumping drills that gradually increase in intensity
over time
Focusing more on strength, jumping & bounding drills in the preparation period whilst using sprint
drills to perfect rhythm at a lower intensity in between strength sessions

Reducing the volume of strength & jumping exercises during the pre-competition period and
working on perfecting technique at maximum speeds
Using parachutes and light weight vests of different sizes and magnitudes of resistance during the
pre-competition period to avoid accommodation to the main sprint exercises
Notice the change:
The speed of the technical exercises has been changed slightly without altering technique by using
parachutes & light weight vests
Maximal & absolute strength can be increased allowing for greater total force production
Explosive-strength can be increased allowing for faster acceleration
Speed-strength can be increased allowing for faster top end speed
Breaking the training down into periods of focus ensurers that one form of training does not
interfere with another - no form of training is ever neglected but the primary aims in different
periods alternate
The proof is now in the performance. If it increases, that is a good indicator that the changes are
working. If performance stalls out again later down the road, the coach or athlete can go back to the
drawing board to figure out more solutions.
The process can be repeated for any activity. Identifying dominant strengths and support strengths
in a sport activity will go a long way to being able to identify and eliminate weak links.
It has been said already - every drill or exercise has a life-cycle to it. Along the same lines, it is often
what is not being trained that will hold performance back. To teach the brain and body to adapt
further requires learning increasingly complex motor skills. Make adaptation your friend - let it work
for you, not against you.
References:
Special Strength Training Manual For Coaches by Yuri & Natalia Verkhoshansky
Programming & Organisation Of The Training Process by Yuri Verkhoshansky
Depth Jump vs Drop jump by Natalia Verkhoshansky
Shock method and plyometrics by Natalia Verkhoshansky
Jump training 101 by Natalia Verkhoshansky
The Science of Sports Training by Thomas Kurz
Sports skills and strength training by Thomas Kurz
The Science and Practice of Strength Training by Vladimir Zatsiorsky