Let me make something clear while I'm on the subject. I have no problems with the tenants behind HST. However. And most of the philosophy underpinning it is a very good message. But that does not mean that everthing you read in those tenants is an absolute truth and you also must be able to interpret them in a broader context.
Quote:
There is a limit to the number of increments you can add to increase the load. You simply reach your maximum voluntary strength eventually. This is why Strategic Deconditioning is required for continued growth once growth has stopped (all things remaining equal).
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That's a good for instance. People think as soon as you reach a plateau that's it, shows over. By HST's tenants you'd have to decondition. But a plateau is NOT an absolute limit. It is a roadblock. The key word is eventually. The absolute limit to the "number of increments" any one individual can load is not going to be easy to predict. And there are many more manipulations than just than just a few like cycling back or time off which can allow someone to progress for much longer periods of time than the "you adapt after _______ weeks" crowd would have you believe. So much of training it seems to me comes from a desire to take the hard work out of it. It's easier to adopt the belief of "I've adapted" so you can have variety and all that than it is to adopt an attitude of patience, diligence, and hard work.
And a lot of this is old stuff. But old stuff becomes new and new stuff becomes old and then the old stuff is new again with a new twist added.
The biggest difference between shiny new conscepts like HST and "old-fashioned" strength and mass programs like the 5x5's we are talking about is just that: patience and diligence.