Understanding the S.A.I.D. Principle for Sustainable Growth
Milo of Croton was one of the strongest, toughest humans walking the planet around 500 BC. He was a renowned wrestler and strongman. He won an Olympic wrestling championship, and undocumented legends of his feats range from tossing boulders to wrestling lions.
The legend of his training is what resounds in modern day. You might have heard the story of Milo and the Calf. Legend has it that a young Milo, when he was just an ambitious boy living on his family’s farm, would train by lifting a newborn calf onto his shoulders and walking around with it. He did this every day. As the calf grew in weight, so did the intensity of Milo’s training. Four years into his training Milo was lifting a four-year-old bull onto his shoulders.
The legend of Milo and the calf illustrates the amazing adaptive potential of the human body encompassed by two essential ideas in physiology: the S.A.I.D. Principle and the theory of Progressive Overload. I’ll explain both.
S.A.I.D. is an acronym which stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. It refers to the body’s adaptive response to the challenges it encounters (Todd, Shurley, & Todd, 2012). One who runs many miles while training for a marathon will impose specific demands on the nervous, muscular, and cardio-respiratory systems. The body will adapt to meet those demands. A different workout (a different demand, like a powerlifter lifting heavy weights) will cause the body to adapt in a different way, in specific relationship to the demands imposed.
This process is in constant motion, so we must be aware of it. You will get ‘better’ at whatever you are doing, so be sure you are doing things you want to get better at.
Unconscious operation, moving through life numbly, putting one foot in front of the other and simply surviving the experience will get you just that: survival. In that state you will often be subject to demands imposed in ways that serve others. That is not necessarily a bad thing either. There might be a fantastic coexistence between the system you operate within and your own intentions. Such harmonious interaction is the flavor of the best cultures, communities, and relationships. Tuning in, if only to become aware of that harmony, is a good idea. Tuning in, in case stepping out of a situation is needed, is equally good.
“Want to improve your work capacity? Work. Want to be a better public speaker? Speak in public. Add demands in specific relationship to the adaptations that will support your goals.”
If you are abiding by the demands of a system that does not serve you, has no interest in your health or growth or future, then you will adapt in potentially disastrous ways. David Foster Wallace, in his 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College, reminds us that everybody worships, aligns with, abides… something.
He suggests that if “you worship money and things – if they are where you tap real meaning in life – then you will never have enough. Never feel like you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you.”
Do not be afraid of this process. Just be aware of it. Understand it. Be intentional about what you’re aiming at, what you are subjecting yourself to, what you are working toward. Don’t become a boiling frog. And remember that adaptation is impossible without demand.
The S.A.I.D. principle applies to the mind as well. It applies to one’s mindset, ability to focus, patience, distress tolerance, and countless other capacities that might be difficult to measure, but are truths of the human experience.
If you are always a step too quick to react, you will never develop patience. You will limit your ability to appropriately respond to situations. If you are stuck in the constant current of novelty provided by social media platforms which are, in no conspiratorial way, incentivized by well-paid geniuses to hold your attention captive, then the level of command you have over your own focus will diminish. If you gloss over the need to see humans as individuals, you might batch-process groups of people as though you ‘know’ something about them. This out-of-tune thinking is the root of the dangerous -isms that pervade our society.
So stay in tune with your experience. Know that the demands imposed on your body and mind will create adaptations, whether or not you are aware of this process which is, in many ways, the cornerstone of the evolving human condition.
Recovery and Growth
In the body, one must engage in challenge (impose demand) then recover accordingly in order to adapt. If the demand is too high, or rest is insufficient, growth will not be possible – not in a sustainable way, at least. The Milo story highlighted the idea that the stress of lifting the calf increased incrementally as the calf slowly grew. While Milo’s pace of adaptation is surely exaggerated, the concept is appropriate. He did not lift a bull or wrestle a lion on the third day of his training – he progressively increased the challenge over time.
Equipped with this understanding, we can fold recovery and wellness back into the discussion. Milo could not have grown stronger without sleep and nourishment. He must recover from the stress of lifting the calf if he wants to come back and lift a slightly heavier calf the next day.
Stress is not the enemy, but more stress than one can recover from can have deleterious effects on improvement. The development of mental and physical strength is the product of a simple formula:
Stress + Recovery = Growth
Using these principles and the above formula to your advantage is critical to development. You would be wise to
· Bring Awareness to the current set of demands
· Recognize that the demands are creating a specific adaptation
· Thoughtfully Progress those demands over time
· Include enough Recovery to allow the adaptation to take place
· Maintain Patience and Humility, since these adaptations do not happen overnight
Train for what you want, limit what you don’t – you will be adapting either way. Don’t be afraid to strain, to work hard toward your goals.
You will build skills and dispositions through that work, you will create opportunities to adapt in the direction you have been hoping for, and you’ll be writing your story with intention – be open to hurdles and quick turns along the way, but try to stay aligned. Alignment is key.
Yet another nod to importance of chasing the work you are willing to do. Does your behavior match your goal?