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  #11  
Old 11-06-2008, 01:58 PM
Darkhorse Darkhorse is offline
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"The Working Class Hero"
By Darkhorse

This article is for the majority of us who work for a living. Those of us who aren't in high school anymore or burnouts living with their parents with all the time in the world to train. Who here spends long hours in the office? Take that number and superset that with a family! Lots of responsibilities that keep you home, and realistically, no matter how hardcore you think you are, you'll always choose your family over the gym. Even if that means grabbing a pair of bands and heading out to your garage, or doing pullups in the backyard holding onto a tree branch lol. A pump in the gym isn't going to make you feel any better sleeping on the couch! And if it does, you've got problems well beyond the scope of this article.

How many times have you heard:

..Not optimal
..Not popular
..Where's the (pick popular compound exercise)
..That's not what "So and so does"

While many times that's exactly what some trainees need to hear, there's a lot that people just don't take into account. So those words get replaced with "availability" and "what I can, when I can".

Lets take powerlifting, por exemplo. While you can absolutely be a beast without any specialty bars or equipment, it does help. Using accomodating resistance as well as that infernal SSB bar helped my deadlifting tremendously! That said, aside from my gym at OCSC, I do not have access to that equipment. Now, I work upwards of 60 hours a week, so aside from Thursday's, I cannot make it in. It's as simple as that. Additionally, I was extremely tired and feeling run down with having to cut sleep short all the time to make it in the gym 4 days per week. I mean, it's imperative to go 4 days because everyone says so, right? Not necessarily. While I cannot brag about a 800 lb squat, I certainly can brag about making it past 500 while working 60 hours a week, having a big family, and being drug free.. Same thing goes for most of you. There's a lot of impressive physiques here hands down, and I know most of you on a more personal level, and can certainly admire what a lot of you could accomplish while having so many demands outside of the gym. Being able to balance all your responsibilities like the food on your scales.

So what can you do about it?

1) You need to make peace with your situation. Don't try to take on more than you can chew. If you cannot make it in 4 days per week for your upper/lower split, then don't try to because your mind will certainly not be focused on the weights in your hand. I know the times I've tried to go back to back days in the gym, all I could think about was if it was worth my getting up so early before work. No matter how subtle, it'll affect performance, and no amount of preworkout magic shakes is going to change that.

2) Be honest with yourself. Don't worry about the things you believe are "unchangable". If you want to workout three days per week, who the hell said it absolutely has to be every other day? If you can easily make it in Wednesday and the weekends, then by all means do so. Make things easy on yourself. Whether you know it or not, stress is one of the biggest reasons why most people aren't seeing the results they're after. I know I joke all the time with my friends that Lexapro has been the best bodybuilding supplement I've ever had LOL.

3) Make very attainable short term goals. "You may have won the battle, but not the War." That doesn't apply to us! Just worry about each little goal (battle), which will not only help win the War, but more importantly, it'll keep motivation, confidence in your abilities, and in what you're doing high as well. Having confidence in what you're doing is working is extremely important to be successful.

4) Do not be influenced by those around you! Straight from Beyond Brawn right here. If you're on a program like something out of Practical Programming where you're strictly doing bench, squat, and rows in a day, don't overanalyze and think you need some cable flyes to finish off that workout. Stay on task, and as long as the results keep coming, why change something? They may look like they're having fun on the hammer strength machines, and I guarantee you they'll STILL be looking like they're having fun 2 years from now on those machines looking the exact same.

5) Don't keep an online journal. What did he say?! Yep, believe it or not, it can hinder more than help. How many people's journals have any of you read where there's an excuse or ellaboration as to why the weight was low for that day? Or starting off the entry saying that you're a 350 lb bencher, but today they only benched 250.. Personally, I don't think it would be a motivational tool for someone to keep a journal when they're missing workouts because of a very hectic work schedule. Perceived expectations could weigh you down...

In closing, I hope I was able to give all of you some food for thought. When it comes to training, you'll be hard pressed to find two people doing the same exact routine because everyone has needs, whether it's a weakness in strength or physique, or outside interference. I'll follow this article up with what I'm personally doing as well as a few other routines that think outside the workman's box.

This is from Ironaddict's forum. This is a wonderful layout for anyone who sincerely wishes that there was more than 24 hours in a day.

Day One:
Bench or Dip
Incline Bench
Chin
Barbell Curl
Deadlift

As many rest days as needed

Day Two:
Bench or Dip
Incline DB Press
Row
Decline Skull Crushers
Squat

As many rest days as needed

Think about the possibilities here. There's just so much you could do here it's not even funny. Certainly none of this, or any program needs to be so "conventional" or vanilla either. Who the hell needs everything to be 3 x 10?!

This is just ONE of a thousand interpretations. I think most of you will absolutely love some of the intensification techniques I've included lol:

Day One:

Bench - Changes every week:
- Week One: 5 x 5
- Week Two: 5 x 4
- Week Three: 5 x 3
- Week Four: Rest back to 5 x 5 with increased weight
Incline Bench - 2 x 12 (1 second pause on chest)
Chins - 30 total reps (just get there!) - If you make it, either increase weight, decrease rest or sets to get there.
Barbell Curls - 20 rest paused
Deadlift - 1 x 4-6, rest 5 min, 1 x 8-12

Day Two:

Weighted Dips - 3 x 10 (pyramid to top set)
Incline DB Press - 20-30 rest paused
Rows - 3 x 10 (4 second negatives)
Decline Skull Crushers - 3 x 8-10 (60 second rest between sets)
Squat - 1 x 20 (using 12 RM)

Now, that will certainly get the job done. As you can see, there's A LOT of different things mixed in that you could get away with since it's really only "when you can". I tried to provide a lot of different ways of spicing up a routine. Any one of a number of different variations to the "same ol', same ol'" exercises would suffice.

What if you could only get in *pick a day* and the weekends? Here's a thought:

Wednesday - Full Body

Saturday - Upper Body

Sunday - Lower Body

Or

Wednesday - Legs

Saturday - Chest/Back

Sunday - Shoulders/Arms/Abs

There's so many different things you could do, and get just as good or even better gains than if you tried fitting everything in to an already very busy schedule.
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  #12  
Old 11-06-2008, 02:47 PM
EricT EricT is offline
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I have a lot to say about all of this. Big surprise huh

Probably the majority of the things I post has to do with "modes of thought" rather than specific advice. In other words, my "outlook" or "philosophy" on training. This will be no different...I only want to discuss/backup a lot of the stuff DH has said in a general way.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DH
My Outlook on Training


Do YOU have an outlook? Do you have a philosophy. Chances are there are people who will read DH's article, if not here, than at IA's, and would like to single out comments or details and argue them. That happens to me all the time.

I think my patent response will now be "What is your outlook" (one the subject at hand or in general). Because IF you don't have a philosophy..you are standing on thin ice and all your arguments and "opinions" are like smoke to me.

No, I'm not talking about beginners asking questions and all of that. I'm talking about people who want to criticize the efforts of people like DH or myself but if asked, would not have a coherent viewpoint or consistent leaning on ANYTHING. That is the start of organization. Even if if as a beginner you are adopting the training philosophies of a few people that you trust and respect and who have shown themselves to be qualified, you will probably do better than NOT having that foundation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DH
Lets look at something like the 5x5, made popular by guys like Bill Starr. It's a wonderful full body program. You'll also notice it has squatting three times a week (I recommend only two) and deadlifting in between. But, it HAS a system of checks and balances worked in. That means you're taking your KNOWN 1x5 RM and 5x5 RM and programming it into the final weeks of the program, then deducting from that in rather large increments back to week one (reverse planning). So what does that mean? It means the first two weeks are relatively easy and you're just getting used to the demands of the program, and teaching your body to tolerate the workload.


Expanding on what I was saying and bridging it with this...you take the typical guy who's been training in a completely disorganized fashion and probably mostly chest, lol, and put them on ANYTHING that is organized and is built on a solid rationale their results will probably skyrocket. Given that some rationales are better than others, but ANY rationale is probably better than NONE.

Taking fullbody 5x5's, besides the fact that it is built around the big compound lifts, what you have is a rationale. Going from Ronnie Coleman's training as told by Flex to any 5x5 method..well, I think it should be obvious that the results will seem miraculous by those standards.

I, like, DH, could look at the typical 5x5 and see some problems and especially if I was actually consdering individual needs. I definitely agree about the squatting thrice weekly in general as well.
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If you act sanctimonious I will just list out your logical fallacies until you get pissed off and spew blasphemous remarks.

Last edited by EricT; 11-09-2008 at 02:42 PM.
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  #13  
Old 11-06-2008, 04:02 PM
EricT EricT is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DH
I think what would help a lot of lifters is to think for themselves lol
Well, you know you said something also about HIT, but I think you can go so far as to blame trends in general. People are looking for the "way". They're looking for a bible. Most don't want to except responsibility for their own training.

People mistake METHODS for PRINCPLES. Bottom line. Like I said before 5x5's are usually built on a rationale and that is better than no rationale but at it's heart is is a "method". Someone has success doing some 5x5 and suddenly it's their fundamental training principle. Not only is it recommended across the board to everyone and anyone but they will keep on doing it forever thinking that it is "the way"

That's no different than HST OR HIT in a way.

What I think is important to realize is that a very knowledgable and experienced trainer or "coach", their training philosophy is built around the successes and failures they've had, their observations, theory, reading, all sorts of things. But you can be sure that when you see a "program" that if they are good, they have a "philosophy" that governs that. Big problem though...

We talk alot about the beginner, intermediate, and advanced as told by guys like Rippetoe. Now, I can explain in depth his "philosophy" and understand it. But what I also understand is that it is built around his rationale for training, his failures and success, his observations, his pool of knowledge he can pull from. So the "programs" fit in with the defintions.

Trying to take those programs and the definitions they are built on and generalize them is the mistake most people make.

Whether it's 5x5's, HIT, or HST. How many people think that a "deconditioning" week is paramount for "hypertrophy"? Because HST tries to prove that.

I remember when the "Texas Method" was being popularized and suddenly I was seeing a bunch of people appying "TM" to their customized split, lol. It's a method, folks. What is the underlying ratinale. How far can that take you? when is it appropriate and not appropriate and how can it be programmed in the most efficient way? Are their particular parts of it that are valuable to you throughout your training career? Are there other parts of it that will only prove to be applicaple at any given time in that career?

Last edited by EricT; 11-07-2008 at 05:06 AM.
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  #14  
Old 11-06-2008, 04:24 PM
EricT EricT is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DH
That's the problem with those dual factor articles that spread like wildfire around the forums a couple of years ago. Certainly a breach of fresh air, and a hundred times more beneficial than just going on a week's vacation (unless overtrained). Unless it's a specific type of programming that uses volume and intensity cycling, I've found that planning deloads too far in advanced is very "hit or miss" and about as unspecific as guessing the supercompensation wave.
To me, that right there was more of the same thing I was just talking about. The "dual factor" 5x5's, as they were popularized, were methods. Dual Factor theory itself is NOT a method. It is a training model. A theory, if you will.

One of my BIG problems is gurus discovering a new pet theory, coming up with a program and trying to tell you that a program is a principle.

Need I mention HST again. It's no different a phenomena. Take out "deconditioning" and you have short linear periodization. Takes the magic out of all the "theory" right there. Inefficient programming is inefficient programming.

As I've said about a million times, good training is builit on a sound knowledge of good training, not theories.

Keep in mind, as I say all this, that this is just me taking DH's article and sounding off. If I seem to differ with any detail that DH may have said, keep in mind it's only details. We do not disagree on the fundamentals. My purpose is to expand on and backup DH's stuff, not to debate it. I'm just excited and inspired by his articles.

You’ve been led to believe that this whole “DFT” loading thing is some kind of advanced strength protocol. I've probably said too many times already that any 5x5 is middle ground strength/mass work. It is one way to skin a cat IF it suits. And you can say that about anything.


But here is the big problem. It doesn’t really allow you to work on individual lifts based on your needs for those lift. It doesn’t allow you to periodize those lifts. It doesn’t allow you to pick one or two priority lifts to use more advanced protocols on….in short it is amateurish and shortsighted and you are simple trading volume for intensity and productivity. INTENSITY must CERTAINLY be a bigger factor than VOLUME in strength work.

Another big problem is QUANTITY over QUALITY.

We all know that sometimes that “effort” to get through that faitigue or to get up that one big rep, or even to fail helps us a lot. But that should not be the way the MAJORITY of our lifting is. All this downer trip I’m on about Rippetoes…that’s part of it. The whole damn thing is about reps, sets, VOLUME. That is all Rip knows, and I got news for you, bro, he knows a limited amount just like anyone does. So people spend all their time doing a bunch of shitty ‘reps’ intead of really learning the concept of quality. I know I'm preaching to the choir with some of you but I wonder if you've learned what that can mean.



Yes, the beginner only needs more general stuff but no, not everybody is the fucking same! LOL.

OK in order to distribute stress we basically need to understand about the effects of fatigue. The only reason you can load in this aggressive manner with volume loading protocols without getting weaker is, because, simply speaking the CNS effects are just not that strong. You’re basically getting metabolic “volume” fatigue and a generalized kind of fatigue in terms of your body’s reaction. The body does not distinquish between these stressors. Ask yourself how this concept of building up a lot of “faitigue” really relates to “gaining strength”. It only does in a very roundabout way. You are basically trying to juggle chainsaws, donuts, feathers, and needles at the same time. Because all you can FEEL is the endocrine effects. I.E. you only know when to stop when “you feel overtrained” or have started to overreach.

Pituitary-adrenal-gonadal responses to high-intensity resistance exercise overtraining.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9843563

Catecholamine responses to short-term high-intensity resistance exercise overtraining.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8...gdbfrom=pubmed

Resistance exercise overtraining and overreaching. Neuroendocrine responses.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9068095?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.P ubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pu bmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=5&log$=relatedreviews&lo gdbfrom=pubmed


PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES ARE BETTER DETECTORS OF OVERTRAINING THAN PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES
Theriault, D., Richard, D., Labrie, A., & Theriault, G. (1997). Physiological and psychological variables in swimmers during a competitive season in relation to the overtraining syndrome. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5), Supplement abstract 1237.

MONITORING OVERTRAINING - ANOTHER ATTEMPT
Hill, M. R., Motl, R. W., Estle, J., & Gaskill, S. (1997). Validity of the stamina index test for monitoring elite athletes. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5), Supplement abstract 46.

BIOLOGICAL MARKERS DO NOT RECOGNIZE OVERTRAINING
Van Heest, J. L., Skinner, J., Cappaert, J. M., Rodgers, C. D., & Ratliff, K. (1966). Monitoring training stress in elite swimmers using biological markers. Medicine and Science in Exercise and Sports, 28(5), Supplement abstract 1083.

BLOOD FACTORS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH OVERTRAINING
Rowbottom, D. G., Keast, D., Goodman, C., & Morton, A. R. (1995). The haematological, biochemical and immunological profile of athletes suffering from the overtraining syndrome. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 70, 502-509.

DIAGNOSING OVERTRAINING WITH BLOOD FACTORS IS OF LIMITED VALUE
Lehmann, M., Wieland, H., & Gastmann, U. (1997). Influence of an unaccustomed increase in training volume vs intensity on performance, hematological and blood-chemical parameters in distance runners. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 37, 110-116.

BLOOD AND ENDOCRINOLOGICAL PARAMETERS NOT RELATED TO THE ONSET OF OVERTRAINING
Knizia, K., Gastman, U., Netzer, N., & Steinacker, J. M. (1997). Monitoring high-intensity endurance training using resting hematological, blood-chemical, and serum/plasma endocrinological parameters. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5) , Supplement abstract 1267.

BLOOD FACTORS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH RESPONSES TO INTENSIFIED TRAINING
Mackinnon, L. T., Hooper, S. L., Jones, S., Gordon, R. D., & Bachmann, A. W. (1997). Hormonal, immunological, and hematological responses to intensified training in elite swimmers. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29, 1637-1654.

But guess what, such a feeling wouldn’t be TOO much different than training for swimming. Does swimming make you stronger? It makes your stronger at swimming. BTW, the dual factor training model was developed looking at endurance athletes and swimmers in particular.

I hope this is making sense. This over-reaching is volume over-reaching. IF you were to over-reach with CNS intensive work you wouldn’t get ANY endocrine effects! You wouldn’t hardly have anything to go on except on thing…..you’d get weaker at whatever intensity range you had over-reached at.

But when you use “general fatigue” as a benchmark for periodization you get all these different fatigue affects but if you get weaker….you don’t know what the hell is up whether it’s the CNS or “you’re just tired” and need recovery time. So, when you mix it all together in this big lump, for one thing, you will never know how heavy you can and can’t lift and for how long. I could go on and on but sufficeth to say that this is all a big tadoo about nothing. Yes, we will be deloading. But no we don’t need to use fatigue as a METHOD of strength training. IT’s a SIDE EFFECT, lol.


When it comes to fatigue in general you can basically say that you have either more immediate but short lasting effects or less immediate but larger and longer lasting. Now, if you do really high intensity CNS intensive work you will basically feel it right after but the fatigue will dissipate really quickly. Why? Basically low volume. The actuall affects on the CNS you really won’t be able to tell. So keep that in mind for later on.

Bascially if you take out the notion of work at 90% of 1RM or above you can basically say that the fatigue from “VOLUME” will last longer than the fatigue from more maximal work of lesser volume. When I say more maximal I don’t mean MAXIMAL. It’s oversimplified because of “power work” and such but it will serve. (It doesn’t all have to be perfect it only matters if you get results).

http://www.bodybuilding.net/training...real-5236.html

Last edited by EricT; 11-07-2008 at 04:42 AM.
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  #15  
Old 11-06-2008, 05:31 PM
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Kane Kane is offline
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This is a very good read guys!
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  #16  
Old 11-06-2008, 05:51 PM
EricT EricT is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DH
First there's a lot of differences between "overreaching" and "overtraining", so don't lump them together. Oftentimes, the less experienced don't know when to stop, nor the difference between feeling "a little run down" vs. completely burnt out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DH

There's 3 effects of training stress:

1) Fatigue
2) Overreaching
3) Overtraining

The first two will of course lead to a light reduction in your training capabilities which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The third one is when the lifter is too late. So, when you schedule random deloads far in advance without taking into account your recovery abilities, demands of the program, diet, sleep, stress, ect what you're doing is one of three things. One, you could just get lucky and guess right. Two, you deload well before adaption takes place from your training which makes everything you done up to that point pretty worthless. Three, by the time you deload on that magical week you slated in, it could be too late. If it IS too late (ie. overtraining vs. overreaching), then your deload would probably be more than one week OFF for sure (ie. you've officially fucked yourself). But remember, this applies more towards high intermediats and advanced lifters because novices can supercompensate faster thus never accumulating fatigue.
Overtraining as a term is used differently by different physiologists. I think it is important to understand, however, that “overtraining” and “overtraining syndrome” are not the same thing. Overtraining is what you do..the stimulus. Overtrainng syndrome is a list of physiological symptoms resulting from that. In other words, it’s manifestations.

This may seem like semantics but I assure you it is not. To illustrate this let’s compare overtraining to a virus. If you know anything about viruses then you’ll know that it is not their intention to produce specific symptoms in a host. It is not their intention to make you sick at all let alone to produce any specific reaction. If they have an intention (which of course they don’t, lol) it would be to magnify themselves. Period.

So with any virus there is a list of general and specific symptoms associated with that virus. You need enough of them and in the right combination to be reasonably certain that you have “VIRUS A”. And even then it’s a crapshoot. Virus A may or may not produce a fever, for example.

The reason I’m making this comparison is because overtraining can be the same. That is why so many trainers make very conservative recommendations as far as deloading or time off. Just because there is no fever you can’t say for sure it’s virus A. And just because there is not a certain symptom of overtraining syndrome you can’t say it ain’t overtraining.

Overtraining, at least at first, MAY OR MAY not produce a decline in performance. Just like virus A may or may not produce a fever. I’m putting a wrench in things but I’ll try to fish it out as I go.

Nowadays, what we do is use the term overreaching. We use this to define the first stage of overtraining and sometimes to describe overtraining without a performance decline.

This goes back to the beginner, intermediate, etc. thing. I’ve been down on starting strength. Well the above is a big part of the reason why. You can open youself up to overtraining and some manifestations of that while “making progress” on a program like SS. Because you can begin to overreach without seeing performance decriments. You can increase load on the bar for a while DESPITE the accumulation of fatigue. It is not correct to assume that progress means NO fatigue. That’s not how it works. Read my article on fitness-fatigue is you want to know what I mean. “Fitness” can accumulate too. Sometimes by the time ACUTE accumulated fatigue MASKS fitness you find out in unpleasant ways. Like injuries due to technical failure. I’m not trying to be an alarmist or ultra-conservative. In fact I am anything but. I’m just stating the A, B’s, and C’s.

Look at it this way. Doing TOO much TOO soon is a type of overtraining. Most people will accept this without question if you tell them. They may not stop doing too much but they'll know you're right. SO, you are going to tell me that we can define how much squatting is too much too soon because we have magically come up with the optimum set/rep range for a general population from which they can "recover" on a workout to workout basis sans "fatigue". Yeah...

Understanding a bit about Sympathetic Overtraining Syndrome versus Parasympathetic Overtraining Syndrome may help to tease out and make sense of some of that. Basically sympathetic is increased sypathetic activity at rest. Whereas parasympathetic is increased sympathetic activity at rest and with exercise.

Does that mean everyone should plan a deload every 4 weeks? Or six weeks? Or whatever arbitrary time someone tells you? No. Ummm…see DH’s comment of A DAY OFF, lol. You know there are very authoritative statements still posted on this forum that would lead people to believe that basically, you’re not allowed to take a day off. Honestly, lol, I don’t pay much attention to frequency and protein syntheis and all the various other physiological details when it comes to training. I pay attention to results.

Last edited by EricT; 11-06-2008 at 06:42 PM.
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Old 11-06-2008, 06:05 PM
EricT EricT is offline
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I guess I could some up what I am saying with a that very simply. Fatigue, whether it's absence or presence, is not such a good thing to lay your training hat on.

You need to develop a deeper knowledge or yourself if you want to be ultimately successful in training yourself. You have to be willing to experiment, observe results or lack of results, observe others, READ, plan, think, synthesize...or, in other words, learn to think for yourself, like Darkhorse said at the onset.

So I don't to come off like I'm having a SLEEPER moment and I'm saying training is a feel experience, lol. I think having knowledge over yourself, you needs, your reactions is not just about being instintual. I think you are making educated decisions when you do that, not just going by subjective "feelings".
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Old 11-06-2008, 06:23 PM
EricT EricT is offline
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Since just about everytime someone brings up deloading or overtraining the term "CNS" comes up, I cannot harp on this enough.

I think I may have posted this all before but what the heck:

I’ve been talking about “cns instensive” training. I used this term simply to separate out the more maximal strength training from “other” training. A few points need to be made on all that:

1.Everything you do affects your CNS to some degree. Just lesser intensities affect if less, but speed of movement, etc…and ANYTHING is at play here.

2.
The whole CNS thing and CNS fatigue has gotten ridiculous and has been blown way out of proportion. I have spoken of the ridiculousness of the average person doing average training trying to separate out “CNS fatigue”…you can’t hardly do it for reasons I’ve mentioned.

3.
EVERYTHING you read you have to consider that persons BOX. What applies to them and their trainees does not necessarily apply to you. This is the number one biggest mistake people make…reading some new thing and turning it into their bible.

4.
Some of this over-reaction to CNS stuff has been do to post failure and post post failure training. Not the same as all maximal strength training. The body is not THAT damn fragile.

5.
Usually when big name guys talk about CNS fatigue they are referring to the max effort method.

It is beyond me why people would think that maximal strength training only means max effort method. Sure you may want to limit max effort to non-consecutive days, or only two days at the beginning, or what have you…but all maximal strength training does not have to be max effort and even though this whole CNS thing has been blown out of proportion see number one about intensity.

6.
Keep in mind that with coaches training athletes they may be dong a whole lot more “cns intensive” stuff than you or me. Besides heavy squats and OL lifts, there may be plyos, sprints, all sort of stuff that is high intensity in nature.

7.
What applies to some guy nearing his genetic level in strength probably doesn’t apply to most of us.

8.
There are SO many factors that can affect your ability to lift on any given day it is ridiculous to think you can factor out one single thing. People make a big thing about about CNS burnout or desensitization but in experimentation you find that it is actually VERY hard to really bring this about.

9.
When researchers do try to bring this about they use, of course ridiculous methods. For instance having a training group do 1RM training every single day for two or three weeks. This is because they are not interested in how to regulate it they are monitoring the body for ways to DETECT it…and finding that this is hard to do. This doesn’t apply to us.

10.
Given all that the best thing to do is react to WHAT HAPPENS not what you THINK will happen. This is my whole problem with so many “methods”. They are based on assumptions. And we know what assumptions do…

11.
It is reasonable to be cautious and most people will take steps to ensure they don’t train to the point they start to lose a significant amount of ability. But this doesn’t mean you have to treat your body like it is made of…I don’t know…something really fragile. Crystal?
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Old 11-06-2008, 07:11 PM
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_Wolf_ _Wolf_ is offline
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Wow...The info here is so important for noobs (and the rest of us as well) to read....can someone PLEASE sticky this?
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Old 11-07-2008, 04:24 AM
EricT EricT is offline
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We'd have to sacrifice some stuff but I think if DH comes back into it and we keep adding it maybe could be arranged.

So I saved "Working Class Hero" till this morning. What an excellent article. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to read that kind of realistic take on training. I agree times one hundred.

Many times we focus on what we CAN'T instead of what we can. Nothing more defeating than that.

You know, DH was saying about how you may tend to do, as per his example, 4 days a week becasue everybody says you must, etc. I've made a comment a few times about considering the "box" someone is in when you here their advice. Whoever "everybody" happens to be, many times, their opinions on how you should train can say more about them than it does about you. Always keep that in mind.

BTW, something I meant to point out about overtraining but forgot to is that the great majority of research on it is in regards to aerobic and endurance activity. People love to carry on about the effects of high intensity and act like it is something that is completely understood but it is barely even begun to be understood in depth. Most everything is theory and as far as CNS intensive "overtraining" there really is not much research on it at all and what little there is..well, the studies fail to actually illict a discreet overtraining "syndrome". I put in a whole bunch of sources.
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