Training
A brief summary....
- Training beginners are able to achieve rapid gains in strength and muscle mass with simple training and linear progression.
- The more experienced a trainee becomes, the slower their progress will be. Optimum planning of training, combined with adequate recovery, can enable an experienced exerciser to continue to make progress.
- The Texas Method allows for a balance of stress from heavier weights, varying volume and adequate recovery so that advanced exercisers can continue to progress over a longer period of time.
- The Texas Method consists of three training days per week: Mondays with high volume, Wednesdays for active recovery and Fridays with high intensity.
Youth and strength training
There are many advantages to being a young man. The problem, however, is that if you're young, you probably don't know this and you probably won't know it until it's too late to use these benefits to your advantage. If I could go back in time and do it all over again, there are some things I would do differently. I would spend more time on my math homework. I would drink better beer. I would spend less time trying to date more women and more time accomplishing things. And I would apply some of the things I've learned about working out since then to my own exercise program.
35 years later, it is now obvious that I did not use to my advantage the simple ability a young man has to push himself physically hard, recover easily from that effort, and then push himself again, thereby rapidly accumulating the effects of training and recovery in a nearly linear fashion. If I had had this wisdom back then, I would have used a simple program of squats, bench presses, overhead presses, deadlifts and deadlifts three days a week with increasing weights from session to session until I became much bulkier and stronger, or this type of training would not have resulted in any further progress.
In other words, I would have used the program I described in my book Starting Strength as long as it produced consistent, significant results. Please keep in mind that I'm not describing a program for beginners in this article - on the contrary, this is a program for advanced and experienced strength athletes. Nevertheless, I must mention a few points from Starting Strength.
The beginner effect
Young men adapt quickly when they are physically challenged, eat enough and get enough rest. I learned this simple fact from running a gym for decades, during which I showed everyone how to use barbell exercises and watched what happened to them. This is called the beginner's effect: Guys who started with a simple program, approached their training eagerly and intelligently, gained 30 to 40 pounds of useful body mass within a few months, while doubling their strength.
The beginner effect in action
The driving force behind the beginner effect is simplicity. Exercisers first added 10 pounds and then 5 pounds to their squats and deadlifts during each training session in which they used these exercises. Similarly, they first added 5 pounds and then 1, 2 or 3 pounds to each training session for bench presses, overhead presses and power cleans. They didn't do much else in the beginning - no exercises other than pull-ups and maybe a few curls. They didn't run, they didn't waste time with dumbbells and they didn't do sit-ups, planks or any exercises with a pulley, BOSI ball or similar.
But the ability to adapt so quickly and so thoroughly to a workout doesn't last long and begins to diminish the moment you start to get stronger - barely noticeable at first and then faster and faster as you approach the limits of your recovery ability after each increasingly heavy training session.
The truth about progress
The nasty, irritating fact is that the closer you get to your genetically predetermined physical limits, the harder it becomes to make progress. This is the principle of diminishing returns and we can observe this principle everywhere in nature and in our lives.
The first improvements are easy and cheap and the more advanced you want to become, the longer it takes and the more it costs. And if you don't take advantage of your opportunities when you have them, things will remain undone that you may never be able to make up for later.
Let's assume that you were wise enough to use your youth to your advantage and invested your time in five good months of linear progression. You ignored the fools who told you that undulating periodization was the way to go and you made the best, fastest and most important progress you'll ever make in the weight room. And now you're familiar enough with the potential of barbell training to be willing to put in the hard work that comes next.
What's next?
Next, of course, is more progress, but at a slower pace. You're so strong now that each training session is a strain that takes you longer to recover from. You are moving weights that are heavy enough that your weight increases occur in weekly increments rather than from training session to training session three times a week.
This means that your progress is now happening at a third of the rate it used to. It also means that your progress has the potential to continue over a longer period of time if you are diligent. Getting used to the increased loads from the increasing weights is the factor that has not only increased your strength, but has also improved your recovery ability so that you can now use a higher tonnage at a higher intensity. The fact is that it is necessary to expose the body to increasing amounts of stress at a level that tests your ability to recover so that further adaptations take place. However, as these are higher intensity efforts that are more demanding on your whole body, you need longer recovery times. If we design the program correctly, then we can plan workouts that place an optimal amount of stress on your body with an optimal pattern to maintain the adaptive drive of the program over a long period of time: A high level of tonnage stress at the beginning of the week, a lighter training session in the middle of the week to aid recovery, sometimes referred to as active recovery, and a higher intensity, lower volume training session at the end of the week. Stresses of different types and adequate recovery from these stresses must be in balance if this program is to work over an extended period of time. We call this program the "Texas Method" because we are in Texas and it is a very efficient training method that has proven itself over the years. The Texas MethodIn its basic form, the training consists of a volume day for the main exercises on Monday, a lighter recovery day on Wednesday and a higher intensity training day for the main exercises on Friday. These days can of course vary based on your schedule, but the pattern of rest days and training days is important.
Volume day Monday:
- A.Squats 5 x 5 with 90% of 5RM
- B. Bench press or overhead press 5 x 5 with 90% of the 5RM
- C.Deadlift 1 x 5 with 90% of the 5RM
Volume
5 sets of 5 repetitions (with the same weight for all work sets) has proven to be the optimal combination of volume and intensity. Higher reps require a weight that is simply too light, while lower reps with a heavier weight do not provide the optimal volume and cause too much structural stress. Many people have adapted sets and reps and yet have always returned to 5 sets of 5 reps with the same weight as the best pattern for long term progress.
Weights
The weight should be chosen so that all 5 sets of 5 reps can be performed without more than 8 to 10 minutes rest between sets. For most people, this amounts to 90% of the 5RM weight. So, for example, if your 5RM weight for squats is 345 pounds, your 5 x 5 squat workout on Monday would be performed with 315 pounds on the bar. The same pattern is used for bench presses and overhead presses - alternate between these exercises from Monday to Monday with 5 x 5 reps at about 90% of your 5RM weight. Deadlifts are a different story. There is no volume day for deadlifts as deadlifts push your body too hard. You will not be able to recover sufficiently if you perform more than one heavy set. This is especially true if you train squats with the 5 x 5 scheme on the same day.
Experience has shown that it is best to perform only one heavy set of deadlifts with 5 repetitions on Monday after the squat workout and bench press or overhead press. This will not be a true 5RM weight, as the deadlift will follow the squats, but the weight should increase from week to week. This makes Monday quite a bastard of a training session and that's exactly what the goal is. It sets up the rest of the week for recovery and puts the focus on intensity for Friday's training session.
Supportive training
If it were up to me, I would limit any supportive exercises to some arm training on Monday. I would also limit excessive weekend frivolities, such as staying up all night on Saturday and picking up girls with my colleague Jim Beam, which could interfere with training.
Recovery
Recovery should begin immediately after the last set of the training session. At this level of training intensity, sleep and nutrition in sufficient quantity and quality are critical. You will quickly overtrain with the Texas Method if you don't pay attention to your recovery. Always remember: you will not get strong and muscular by moving weights - you will get strong and muscular by recovering after training with weights. Don't forget to pay attention to this, or the Monday training session will ruin the rest of the week and you won't progress any further.
Recovery day Wednesday:
- A.Squats 2 x 5 with 80% of Monday's working weight
- B. Overhead press (if you did bench press on Monday) 3 x 5 * or bench press (if you did overhead press on Monday) 3 x 5 with your previous 5 x 5 weight
- C.Pull-ups 3 x with your own body weight
- D.Back extensions or glute-ham raise 5 x 10 * with a slightly lighter weight than your previous overhead press weight
Recovery continues with the training session on Wednesday. For squats, 2 sets of 5 repetitions are performed with 80% of the working weight from Monday. Alternate bench presses and overhead presses: If you performed 5 x 5 sets of overhead presses on Monday, train bench presses on Wednesday with 3 sets and a lighter weight than your last training session with 5 x 5 for bench presses, so that you feel the weight but it is not so heavy that it affects your recovery. The overhead press on Wednesday is performed with a slightly heavier weight relative to the 5RM weight than the bench press on recovery Wednesday, as the absolute weight is lighter.
Finish your training session with pull-ups and back extensions. I like to do 3 sets of pull-ups to muscle failure with 5 minutes rest between sets and 5 sets of 10 reps back extensions or glute/ham raises.
Intensity day Friday:
- A.Squats: warm up and then work up to a single work set, new 5RM weight
- B. Bench press (if you did bench presses on Monday) or overhead press (if you did overhead presses on Monday), work up to a single work set, new 5RM weight
- C.Power Clean or Power Snatch: 5 x 3 / 6 x 2 Friday is the intensity day. This day is about reaching a new 5RM weight or approaching it up to 2% to allow for good training technique. Perform most of your warm-up workout light, first with the empty bar, then 65 kilos and then use sets of 2 reps or single reps to work your way up to your one work set, which should give you a new 5RM weight. Make sure the weight is higher than on Monday, but not so much higher that your exercise execution form drops off on the last reps. If this happens, then you have chosen the wrong weight.
Friday options
Since deadlifts were trained on Monday, Friday is the power clean/power snatch day. Olympic weightlifting exercises are the best way to build explosiveness and athleticism under the bar while allowing you to increase your explosive power in a way that can be planned incrementally. Dynamic effort training has become popular as another way to accomplish this, and using explosive deadlifts would be one way to incorporate dynamic effort training into the Texas Method, but Olympic weightlifting-derived power cleans and power snatches represent a different level of neuromuscular activity.
Keep in mind that in deadlifts you're pulling fast because you want to pull fast, whereas in power cleans you need to pull fast because otherwise you can't move the weight to shoulder height. The explosive aspect of the deadlift is minimal as the explosiveness is inherent in the upper portion of the movement. Cleans and snatches are both slightly lighter and more powerful than deadlifts and therefore perfect for the Friday training session. If you want to call yourself a strength athlete, you need to know how to train cleans and snatches - even if you don't intend to compete in Olympic weightlifting. After your warm-up, perform 5 sets of power cleans of 3 repetitions or 6 sets of power snatches of 2 repetitions.
A few notes
The Texas Method is quite simple in terms of the number of exercises. Progress in the weight room is based on increasing the weights on the basic structural exercises and not on the number of different ways you can perform tricep presses on the cable. Very few successful strength athletes or bodybuilders confuse complexity with effectiveness. The strength and mass gains you will experience with the Texas Method will not be as dramatic as the gains experienced by beginners, as the simple gains have already taken place. We are already further up the progression curve - otherwise we wouldn't be using an advanced program. If 5 months of beginner progression took you from 45 kilos of squats at a bodyweight of 65 kilos to 150 kilos x 5 of squats at a bodyweight of 90 kilos, then the Texas Method will take you to 185 kilos x 5 at a bodyweight of 100 kilos within a year. That's not nearly as dramatic, but it's okay now that you're older and committed to your project.
Final words
The time you spend in the weight room can either be productive or wasted and if you think about this for a few seconds, you will come to the conclusion that any real progress equates to a measurable increase in strength. Strength gains are the basis for gains in muscle mass. Ultimately, muscle mass is a side effect of strength and an intelligently planned and applied program can increase strength. Measurable progress must be your goal at all times in your training career. In the beginning, when you are still new to the barbell, this is easy. The Texas Method is a good option for the next step: maintaining the trend of using increasingly heavier weights.
Even the Texas Method won't work forever. Nothing will work forever. But it will work well as an introduction to the more complicated training programs necessary to continue making gains in strength and muscle mass at an advanced level.
By Mark Rippetoe
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/texas-method
A brief overview...
- Women can perform sets of 5 repetitions with a weight closer to 1RM than men. Women can perform more repetitions using a higher percentage of their maximum weight than men.
- Women can perform more eccentric training (negative repetitions) when fatigued. Even after reaching concentric muscle failure, women can continue to perform negative repetitions.
- Women can set personal bests with less than perfect technique. Even using less than optimal form, women can complete 1RM repetitions.
- Women need less rest between sets. Women can recover faster between sets than men.
- Women can train heavier more often than men. They get less muscle soreness, they recover faster and they cope better with more frequent training stress.
If you need to be told that women are physiologically different from men when it comes to strength training, then you've either never trained men and women, or you weren't paying attention while you were doing it. A 1RM (maximum weight for one repetition) repetition performed by a woman is different from a 1RM repetition performed by a man. And women can train with a higher percentage of their 1RM weight than men. And there are other differences too.
Men vs. women: Heavy training
Women can perform sets of 5 repetitions with a much higher percentage of their 1RM weight than men.
Most women can perform 5 repetitions of bench presses with only 2 to 3 kilos below their maximum weight for one repetition. A woman with a maximum weight of 50 kilos on the bench can usually perform 5 reps at 47.5%, which is 95% of her 1RM weight.
In contrast, men generally train at 85 to 87% of their 1RM weight when performing sets of 5 repetitions. A man who can bench press 175 kilos can usually perform three repetitions with 157.5 kilos and 5 repetitions with 150 kilos. This is not because women have the fictional quality known as 'strength endurance'. Nor is it because they are "very efficient at using their strength." Rather, it's because the 1RM weight for women is not the same kind of limit for an exercise as it is for men. So if a woman performs 5 reps with a weight that is closer to the 1RM weight, then the 1RM weight is to blame. In competitions, there is therefore not much leeway for women between the first and their third attempt. This is the reason why Olympic weightlifting moved to one kilogram increases between attempts after Olympic weightlifting for women was added as a new discipline at the Olympics.
Even after concentric muscle failure, a woman can maintain eccentric control of a weight
I decided, with my developing awareness of this phenomenon, to experiment with an incline bench press with a woman from my gym. Kay was quite strong and had been training for several months. I loaded the bar with 32.5 kilos and had her perform her set. She completed 6 repetitions under her own power and reached muscle failure on the 7th repetition. I helped her up on the seventh repetition and told her to lower the bar in a controlled manner (the eccentric repetition). Kay performed 13 more repetitions under eccentric control, reaching a total repetition count of 20 repetitions. Later that week, she reported only mild muscle soreness and was ready to train again. In a similar situation, a male exerciser might have completed 2 more repetitions and may still have been able to hold the weight isometrically. But no man can do 13 controlled negative repetitions after muscle failure. A set of 5 or 6 repetitions produces sufficient exhaustion to severely limit further muscular effort in a man. This is not the case for a woman. Even after reaching the point of muscle failure on a set, women continue to have the ability to produce eccentric force well beyond the point at which a male exerciser would reach the point of eccentric muscle failure.
Women can perform a max repetition on squats, presses or deadlifts with less than perfect technique, something that men cannot do once they are past the beginner stage.
Check it out for yourself. Youtube is full of videos of female exercisers setting personal bests or records with sloppier form than men can, even if it takes a trained eye to spot the problems. Heavy squats must be performed in a vertical line over the center of the foot for efficiency of balance and leverage. Despite this, women are setting new records even though their technique could be better. Men would fail attempts with a similar degree of technical error. Women can perform heavier weights with a lower reliance on technical perfection than men, who must increase their mechanical efficiency as the weights get heavier. Women should do this, but men must.
Some speculation about women
1 - Women tend to be more mobile than men
Joint range of motion is related to the ability to relax muscles in a state of stretch. There are significantly more immobile men than women.
Could it be that this phenomenon is related to the lower number of motor units recruited at any given time?
2 - Women suffer significantly less delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) than men
Delayed onset muscle soreness is associated with eccentric loading in people who are not adapted to it. Muscle soreness passes more quickly in women and interferes less with training than it does in men. This could be attributed to either a lower voluntary intensity or inherent differences in the quality of the eccentric load experienced by women. A woman's ability to exercise eccentrically well beyond concentric muscle failure is indicative of both a lack of exhaustion from the preceding concentric work, as well as a lack of exhaustion during the concentric work itself. It is very likely that a woman is not able to work hard enough against the resistance of the weight to achieve a muscular response pattern more typical of men.
So how can these observations be explained?
It's obvious that testosterone is involved, but what does it do that explains this particular aspect of gender dimorphism? Testosterone has pronounced effects on neuromuscular efficiency. And neuromuscular efficiency is the primary physical difference between men and women. It is responsible for the differences in strength with similar muscle mass and all the factors mentioned above.
1RM: The difference between men and women
A 1RM weight is theoretically synonymous with maximal recruitment of motor units and an indicator of your motor nervous system's ability to recruit a maximum number of contractile components of the muscle - and therefore a maximum amount of muscle mass - during a muscular effort. A 1RM is basically a combination of your neurological and muscular ability to produce a demonstration of your maximum capacity force by recruiting a very large number of motor units. Most authorities in the field recognize that true 100% motor unit recruitment is impossible, with 95 to 98% being considered estimates of the upper limit of neuromuscular efficiency. This efficiency unfortunately decreases with age. And it also varies depending on genetic factors and gender. This explains the large gap between average athletic performance and athletic performance at an elite level, between the performance of young and older athletes, and between the athletic performance of men and women. In most sports, athletic ability depends on strength. The ability to explosively release force is the ability to contract a large number of motor units in a very short period of time and is another way of describing neuromuscular efficiency.
If men can recruit 98% of their motor units in a 1RM contraction, women are only able to recruit a smaller percentage at the same relative effort - perhaps 90%, perhaps 85% or perhaps less. Essentially, a 1RM weight for a man and a woman corresponds to two different neuromuscular events.
The role of hormones
Human athletic capacity is determined by genetic factors. The genetically controlled aspects are influenced by anthropometry, which determines the efficiency of leverage in mechanical force production. For example, a long tibia and a short femur are associated with sprinting efficiency. Height often determines the sport in which an athlete can perform best. Basketball, American football and equestrian sports are obvious examples of sports where anthropometrics play a crucial role.
Explosive and neuromuscular efficiency are associated with the quality of the tissue of the nerves, the quality of the nerve/muscle interface and the contractile characteristics of the sarcomere proteins. The ratio of type I to type II muscle fibers is invariable and this, along with neurological tissue limitations (think of how hard it is to heal a damaged nerve), represents a significant bottleneck. I'm really sorry, but it's not possible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. In addition to this, all of these variable characteristics are subject to hormonal regulation. Every system that influences human physical development is dependent on the hormonal environment in which it develops and in which it functions. Men and women and old and young people have different hormonal environments in terms of both development and function.
A man who has been bathed in testosterone since birth will reflect the effects of this in every system of his body from neuromuscular to behavioral systems, just as a woman's physical systems will reflect the absence of testosterone. This means that women who use androgenic and anabolic steroids can compensate for some - but not all - of these differences. And there is a large variance in the ability of these systems to respond to their specific hormonal environment. This variance is so extensive that much of the reason for this enormous variance is not yet known. What we do know is that every aspect of physical development is focused through the lens of hormonal levels into an individual expression that is dependent on gender, all other genetically determined characteristics, and the physical environment in which that development occurs. To save ourselves time, we will simply refer to this complex concept as "genetic factors" for short.
Vertical jumps from a standing position
The average vertical jump height for women is about 35 centimeters. It is very difficult to find a record - there is a 75 centimeter jump that was measured at the Nebraska Track and Field Championships in 2002. In contrast, the average vertical jump height for men is 56 centimeters and a 117 cm jump was measured at an NFL championship. The average and maximum jump height of women is therefore in the range of 64% of the corresponding values for men. The standing vertical jump test is a good measure of genetic explosive ability, as it measures the ability to accelerate one's body mass to achieve sufficient momentum to move the body upward a measured distance after force is no longer applied to the ground. Since the force production that generates this acceleration must occur within a short period of time, the height of the jump is a very precise measure of the ability to recruit a large amount of motor units within a short period of time, which in other words is the ability to perform an explosive movement. Increasing strength helps but does not affect this ability by more than 10 to 15% because the weight you are moving is your own body weight, which is quite light compared to the weight used by strong athletes in squats. When building muscle mass, force production must increase sufficiently to compensate for the increase in body weight, but absolute force production is not the limiting factor in vertical jumps, but rather the immediate recruitment for a submaximal contraction. For this reason, vertical jump height is a good test of "genetic predispositions" and a fairly good way to determine an athlete's genotype. It responds only minimally to training, as the movement is not particularly technical and there is no way to cheat if the observer of the test is paying close attention. A youngster who tests his vertical jump height at a squat weight of 45 kilos and later retakes the test after increasing his squat weight to 150 kilos will show little improvement in his vertical jump height - perhaps 15% - because the quality being tested is not absolute strength but the ability to recruit motor units. For the same reason, some very strong powerlifters do not achieve a great vertical jump height from a standing position.
The relatively limited ability to improve neuromuscular efficiency can be demonstrated by testing vertical jump height over an extended period of time. Apart from a large reduction in body fat, improvement in vertical jump height in men under the most optimal possible conditions is limited to perhaps 20% and is usually only 10 to 15%. Most women, due to their inherently less efficient neuromuscular efficiency, show very small improvements of perhaps 5% or no improvement at all. Strength coaches all agree that you can't greatly improve vertical jump height and that with the small improvements possible, strength gains are the primary factor.
And why would you want to improve your results anyway? The test is designed to determine your natural explosive capacity - not your ability to manipulate the test. It shows the differences between the 30s and the 91s, not the ability to go from 66 to 76.
Ronda Rousey can kick your skinny ass, but...
Sex obviously determines most of the hormonal milieu and sex is of course an obvious aspect of genetics. But variations in individual sex hormone receptor efficiency are also a significant determinant of hormonal response. Two young men of the same height and weight, and perhaps even identical testosterone levels, will have different physical capacities. In general, a younger man will have greater neuromuscular efficiency than an older man, and in general, a man will have greater neuromuscular efficiency than a woman.
The difference between natural born athletes - the explosive guys with a vertical jump height of 91 centimeters or more - and their less blessed brethren is quite pronounced. An explosive athlete, who by definition recruits more motor units and therefore more muscle mass for a contraction, achieves a different training stimulus from that contraction than an athlete who recruits less muscle mass. This explains why less talented athletes cannot benefit from the same training program that produces world-class performance in athletes with better genetics. The Bulgarian weightlifting team may be able to train only snatches, deadlifts and presses and front squats and nothing else. This may be enough training for them as they train more muscles at a higher capacity with each exercise - simply because they are who they are. Your narrow butt, on the other hand, will probably need squats, deadlifts and heavy presses if you want to have any chance of keeping up with them in a competition. There are also examples of genetically blessed older athletes who are better than less talented younger athletes and there are also gifted women who are better than the average man and especially older men - Ronda Rousey can kick my skinny butt and yours too. However, the difference between the sexes remains the most profound predictor of absolute physical capacity.
For the same reason that the average man cannot achieve the level of neuromuscular efficiency of a genetically blessed man, even with a lot of training, the average woman cannot perform beyond the trained capacity of the average man.
Applications of this knowledge for female strength athletes
We need to consider what we know about the differences between the neuromuscular efficiency of men and women, understand the implications for training and plan training accordingly.
A 1RM weight for a woman is a different neuromuscular event than for a man A 1RM weight for women may only represent 85 to 90% of muscle fiber recruitment - perhaps less or more depending on individual differences. If this is the case, then even a 5RM weight is a different neuromuscular event, a different load and therefore a different training stimulus. It is relatively lighter than a man's 5RM weight, which means that 3 sets of 5 reps is not the same training load for men and women.
After the first few months of training, "heavy" sets of 5 reps may not be heavy enough for women to drive the load/recovery/adaptation cycle in the same way as men. For this reason, the productive training stress that a man can produce with sets of 5 reps may need to be produced with relatively heavier weights, such as sets of 3 reps. Volume can be maintained with more sets and 5 sets of 3 repetitions are successfully used to drive strength adaptations in women more than sets of 5 repetitions.
5 sets of 3 repetitions work well for women and such training works quite well over a long period of time
Sets of 10 repetitions are just as useless for women trying to get stronger as 20 repetitions are for men. Any weight that a male exerciser can do 20 reps with is not heavy - even if it may feel that way at the end of a set. If strength production is strength, then a weight that requires such submaximal strength production that you can perform 20 reps with that weight is not heavy enough to drive strength adaptation over a significant period of time. For women, sets of 10 reps are a similar waste of time after the first few weeks of training if their goal is to get stronger. Sets of 5 reps are not much better as these are simply not heavy enough either. Sets of 3 or maybe even 2 reps are necessary to get close enough to a weight heavy enough to drive strength adaptations. In fact, practical experience has shown that 5 sets of 3 repetitions work just as well and for just as long for women as 3 sets of 5 repetitions do for men. While men will reach a plateau after a few weeks with sets of 3 repetitions, women can train productively for months with this "relatively heavier weight, but in reality just as heavy for them".
Women can train heavier more often than men
Women get less muscle soreness, recover faster from training and cope better with more frequent training stress than men, as their training stress is relatively lower compared to men's training stress. Heavy sets of 3 repetitions for 4 to 5 sets 3 days a week with no light days may be necessary to produce strength gains in more advanced female strength athletes. Such a training plan would kill most men, but is necessary for most women. Women can also deadlift more often than men and need to do so to progress. Most men cannot recover sufficiently from more frequent heavy deadlift training, and most men cannot handle multiple sets of heavy deadlifts as part of a training session. Women, on the other hand, need both the heavy volume and the high intensity of multiple heavy sets of 3 repetitions.
Women need less rest between sets than men
5 sets of heavy squats can require a somewhat advanced male exerciser to rest 15 minutes between sets, which can add up to a very long training session if other exercises are performed. Women, on the other hand, recover more quickly between sets, which are not as demanding for them as they are for men. This should be kept in mind - especially when you consider the need for more heavy workouts per week and women's ability to do more work in a shorter period of time
Women are more likely to get away with sloppy technique, but should still strive for perfection
Although women's heavy weight training technique can be sloppier than men's without affecting performance as much as men's, it should still be as perfect as possible for obvious reasons. Just because a movement can be performed with an inefficient movement of the bar doesn't mean the trainer doesn't need to worry about technique. If you can't teach your trainees near-perfect technique, then you're not a competent trainer, even if you may be able to hide your incompetence behind the performances of particularly talented female strength athletes.
Women are different - and amazing
What we know for sure is that women respond differently to the stresses of weight training because they produce a different quality of training stress from which they must recover and through which they must force adaptations. The adaptation curve looks different to men, but still points upwards, as is the case for all people exposed to adaptive stress. We are still learning more about this. Keep this in mind and we will learn together.
By Mark Rippetoe
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/strength-training-for-women
Beyond the box
I've been working with CrossFit athletes for 4 years now and for the past year CrossFit has been my primary focus. I started by teaching these athletes the Olympic weightlifting drills and then started training them for strength. This gave me the opportunity to go to the 2015 CrossFit Games as a coach. I watched the top competitors and analyzed the tasks they were asked to do. Here's what you need to compete against the world's elite.
1 - You need to master the basic skills
The sooner you master all the key skills of bodyweight and weighted exercises, the sooner you will be able to focus on your development as an athlete. Developing your skills and increasing your physical capacity at the same time is suboptimal and makes planning your training program very complicated. You can't just say, "I'll learn this later." If you are serious about becoming a serious CrossFit competitive athlete, then you need to master all the key skills. It's like any other sport: you have to master the basic skills before you can learn more complex stuff. It's hard to play field hockey if you can't skate.
The first item on the agenda is to get really good at the following things:
- Bodyweight exercises: rope climbs, handstand running, pistol squats, dips on rings, double-under rope jumps (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rgyTeGbYzQ), handstand push-ups and all the kipping pull-up variations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tluId9M_9Ks)
- Barbell exercises: Snatch progressions (overhead squats with the weight, power snatch from a hanging position, power snatch, squat snatch from a hanging position, clean progressions (front squats, power deadlifts from a hanging position, power deadlifts, squat repositioning from a hanging position, squat repositioning), shoulder press progressions (standing shoulder press, push press/standing shoulder press with momentum from the legs, power jerk, split jerk), walking lunges with a barbell overhead.
- Dumbbell/kettlebell exercises: Power snatch/snatch, squat snatch/squat snatch. There are more exercises, but if you are not quite good at all of them, you should not think about competing yet. A large part of your training should be focused on honing these skills.
2 - You need to be strong. Stronger than you think
At the 2015 CrossFit Games, 8 of the 13 events required a high level of strength. You need the highest possible level of general strength - and not just for some exercises. The basic exercises are still the key exercises (front squats, classic squats, shoulder presses). But you also need to be strong in all variations of loaded carries such as farmers walk, overhead walk, sandbag walk, prowler pushing, wheelbarrow and zercher carries.
You must also be able to perform the basic exercises with fancy equipment. This includes things like log lifts, deadlifts with kettlebells, deadlifts with a thick bar and deadlifts and push ups with a sandbag. You need to get strong in bodyweight exercises with added weight. Instead of just focusing on being able to do more push-ups, handstand push-ups or muscle-ups. You need to focus on getting stronger at the strict versions of these exercises with added weights.
3 - You need a high level of fitness
You don't just need a solid base of aerobic capacity, you also need a strong anaerobic capacity and a high lactate threshold. I know a lot of athletes with very good aerobic endurance who quickly run out of juice because they produce too much lactate. You need a lot of uncomfortable training in the 1 to 3 minute range at high intensity. The spinning bike and rowing machine will be your best friend here. Another strategy is to combine a bodybuilding exercise with an exercise for athletic ability. Perform the bodybuilding exercise to generate a strong pump and lactic acid production and then train your athletic skills. This means, for example, generating a crazy pump in your biceps and forearms first and then moving on to rope climbs without leg support.
4 - You need to be an efficient runner
Running and racing are often overlooked. Everyone knows how to run, right? Well, that may be true, but some can do it better than others. Inefficient runners are stiff and use a lot more energy than efficient runners who are much looser. You become good at what you train. Just because you know how to run doesn't make you a good runner. Jog, sprint, sprint uphill, climb stairs. Move your body with your legs in as many different ways as possible.
5 - You need to find your weak points and fix them
I have seen elite athletes who were unable to do things they could normally do with ease because their hands were at the end (e.g. Matt Fraser and Lauren Fisher). Strength is transferred through your hands to the bar, rope or barbell. Weak hands lead to a loss of strength, which means you can't apply maximum force to your exercises.
And if you take part in competitions, your hands will be pushed hard, which is why you need sufficient reserves and grip strength and endurance. Grip training should be an integral part of your training.
The same applies to your core. In any movement that requires you to transfer force to a barbell that you are holding with your arms or that is on your shoulders and involves your legs, the core becomes the primary site of strength loss. Alex Vigneault doesn't have massive legs and they could be stronger, but he reps 370 pounds, snatches 285 pounds, deadlifts nearly 600 pounds and moves over 400 pounds on front squats because he has zero strength loss in his core. Train your core between sets of barbell exercises - squats, front squats, snatches, deadlifts, deadlifts. At first you will be weaker, but after a while you will no longer see a reduction in performance and eventually your core will become hard as steel.
6 - You need to increase your work capacity
Elite CrossFit athletes train at least 15 to 25 hours per week. Not everyone has the time to do this, but the more you can train while being able to recover sufficiently from training, the better you will get. Alex Vigneault and Carol-Ann Reason Thibault have performed best at the end of competitions. Why? Because the volume at the CrossFit Games is much lower than what they normally do during a week of training!
You may not be able to handle as much volume as them, but you should still strive to gradually increase the workload. Use the right training supplements to aid your recovery.
7 - You need to build muscle
What surprised me at the CrossFit Games was how muscular most of the competitors were (guys and gals). It makes sense though - muscles move weights. Having efficient technique is important, but to perform you need to be strong. And even neural efficiency has its limits. At a certain point, you need to build more muscle if you want to get stronger. Even if you don't train like a bodybuilder, the right hypertrophy training for lagging muscle groups will help you improve your performance. Every weaker muscle group is a potential strength leak. Fix those leaks, master your exercises, get brutally strong using many different tools, train running for efficiency, increase your work capacity and then dominate CrossFit.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/7-things-you-need-to-dominate-crossfit
Here's what you need to know...
- Stubborn "Hollywood" muscles like biceps and triceps require increased volume, increased frequency and increased variability - thus the extreme and brutal nature of these arm training completion techniques.
- The effects of these relentless training methods include increased time under tension, increased growth hormone release and pumping the muscles with oxygenated blood - all the ingredients necessary for muscle growth.
- Use a different arm finishing technique every fourth training day.
The goal of these five different training techniques is to generate insanely high volume with little or no rest. They are definitely an improvement over the boring and virtually useless 3 sets of 10 reps Scott curls that are ubiquitous in gyms across the country. The effects of these relentless training methods include increased time under tension, increased growth hormone release and pumping the muscles with oxygenated blood - all the ingredients necessary for muscle growth.
I've been using these methods myself and with clients for some time, and as the new strength coach for the Washington State basketball team, I will definitely have my players use these methods as well - especially those who need some mass on their arms to feel more confident. The idea is to use a different one of these techniques every fourth day. Remember that these are finishing techniques that you should perform at the end of your training session. You will not need any additional arm training.
1 - The 10/20
Start by choosing two biceps exercises - one that will allow you to perform 10 reps at a moderate speed (1:1 tempo) and one that will allow you to perform 20 fast reps (your form may drop off a bit here, but that's okay).
Some example exercise pairings include:
- Barbell curls combined with dumbbell hammer curls
- SZ curls in combination with standing cable curls
- Spider curls on the Scott bench(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whPVTmSEIIM) in combination with Scott curls
Perform 10 repetitions of the first exercise at moderate speed and then 20 fast repetitions of the second exercise. Pause briefly and then perform another pair of exercises. Perform a total of 10 such exercise pairs for a total of 300 repetitions!
Then move on to the triceps and choose 2 exercises:
- Bench press with close grip in combination with cable tricep press with a rope grip
- Dumbbell tricep presses behind the head in combination with cable tricep presses with reverse grip
- Skull crushers (lying tricep press) in combination with dumbbell kickbacks
Again, perform 10 repetitions of the first exercise at a moderate speed and then 20 fast repetitions of the second exercise. Pause briefly and then perform another pair of exercises. Perform a total of 10 of these supersets.
2 -Dioxin 3-Way
Forget that the name of this technique sounds strange. Dioxin 3-Way is as intense as it gets. Grab a pair of dumbbells and perform the following in quick succession without pausing:
- 5 reps dumbbell curls
- 5 repetitions of hammer curls
- 5 repetitions of cross body curls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsiI51h-jv8)
After you have performed the last repetition of cross body curls, put the dumbbells down and grab the next lighter pair of dumbbells (2.5 to 5 kilos lighter) and perform the entire exercise sequence - 5 curls, 5 hammer curls, 5 cross body curls - again.
Then move on to the triceps:
- 5 Tate Press (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ciauw1daxhQ)
- 5 repetitions dumbbell tricep press overhead
- 5 repetitions of dumbbell kickbacks
After performing the last repetition of kickbacks, grab the next lighter pair of dumbbells for each exercise (it is unlikely that you will be able to use the same weight for all exercises) and perform another descending set of the same exercise sequence - 5 tate presses, 5 repetitions of overhead tricep presses and 5 kickbacks.
The correct execution of Tate Presses:
Lie on a bench with a pair of dumbbells in your hands and extend your arms vertically upwards as if you were going to perform dumbbell bench presses. Your palms should be facing towards your feet. Without moving your upper arm and only by bending your elbow, lower the dumbbells until they lightly touch your chest. At this point, your elbows will be pointing straight out to the side. Then move the dumbbells back to the starting position by stretching your upper arms.
After you have completed the first round of triceps training, go back to the biceps and perform another triple set and then the second round for the triceps. Perform a total of 5 rounds each for biceps and triceps.
What makes this workout such a beast is the fact that there are no breaks between sets. You go non-stop from round to round.
3 - Repetitions with hold
- Grab a couple of dumbbells. While standing, curl one arm up to a 90 degree angle and hold that position (a static hold) while performing 10 reps of hammer curls with the other arm.
- After 10 repetitions, switch arms and perform 10 repetitions with the other arm.
- After you have performed the 10 repetitions with the other arm, perform another 10 repetitions with both arms.
- Then grab another pair of dumbbells and assume a tricep kickback position. Hold one arm straight back (another static hold) while you perform 10 repetitions of kickbacks with the other arm.
- After 10 reps, switch arms and repeat.
- After performing 10 reps with the other arm, perform 10 kickbacks with both arms simultaneously.
- Start round two of the dumbbell curls with a static hold.
- Perform a total of 5 rounds each for biceps and triceps alternately.
4 - Run the rack
Perform 10 dumbbell curls. Then grab two dumbbells that are 5 kilos heavier and perform 9 repetitions. Then take the next heavier pair of dumbbells and perform 8 repetitions. Continue this as best you can until you have completed one repetition.
Then do the same with dumbbell overhead tricep presses. Use one weight for 10 repetitions, take the next heavier weight and perform 9 repetitions, and so on.
After you're done with the dumbbell tricep press, go back to the biceps and repeat the dumbbell curl protocol. Alternate back and forth between dumbbell curls and dumbbell tricep presses until you have performed 3 rounds of each exercise or a total of 300 reps for the biceps and 300 reps for the triceps.
5 - Arm Tornado
This technique is all about having the necessary energy. Grab your training partner and turn on some adrenaline music. Choose a weight with which you can perform 20 repetitions of tricep presses on the cable and place a pair of dumbbells with which you can perform 20 repetitions of curls on the floor next to the cable. Start by performing tricep presses on the cable while your training partner performs dumbbell curls. When you are both done, switch exercises. Do this for 7 supersets and a total of 140 repetitions per exercise.
It will take a few days to recover from this type of training, which is why you will attack the arms with a different one of these techniques every fourth day. This will induce more muscle damage and cause more muscle soreness than using the same finishing technique every fourth day for several weeks.
As a college strength coach, I am a firm believer in 4 to 5 week phases during which you can increase the weight linearly, but for those stubborn "Hollywood" muscles like biceps and triceps we need to increase the volume, frequency and variability and for this we need the extreme and brutal nature of these arm training techniques.
By Scott Thom | 07/22/14
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/5-insane-biceps-and-triceps-workouts
Why training stops working and how you can solve this problem
Here's what you need to know...
- If you're training hard without seeing improvements in strength, muscle mass or leanness, then you've become desensitized to your workouts.
- You can prevent desensitization by going through periods of de-sensitization. There are three types of this: Intensity unloading phases, volume unloading phases and frequency unloading phases.
- To make a body that no longer responds to training more sensitive to training again, you can focus on one muscle group or exercise, switch to a completely different type of training or take a break from training.
Training hard without results
You train harder than most. Whether you're sick, injured or pressed for time, you always find a way. You do everything right, but you don't make any further progress.
You don't build muscle. You don't get stronger or leaner. And you're frustrated.
What is your problem?
You are no longer responding to your training
You've been desensitized and are now immune to your workouts. This is what happens to stimulus junkies: those who work out more often, longer and harder than anyone else.
Training stimulus addicts are emotionally driven and their instinctive reaction to lack of progress is to train more, longer and harder. This is the downside of being a truly passionate exerciser - you become your own worst enemy.
Restlessness and adaptation
Building muscle mass and strength is the body's way of protecting itself. Physical work stresses the body, the body experiences a state of restlessness or disruption and then adapts to deal with this in the future.
However, once it has adapted, the same volume and intensity will no longer throw your body off balance. At a certain point, you get used to the workload and you have to maintain it just to maintain the existing strength and muscle mass.
And it's not a question of recovery. Don't think that you can just keep adding more work and recover from it. Even if you do recover from more stimulation, this is only a short-term solution until your body adapts to the new workload.
Here's the bad news: if you don't change the way you do things, you'll continue to work hard without making progress.
Here's the good news: if you are willing to change the way you do things and do things that you will find emotionally difficult to cope with, then you will quickly start to make progress again.
Is it more important for you to feel good because you are training hard, or is it more important for you to achieve maximum results?
How to get your body to respond to exercise again
There are several different ways to combat desensitization. Preventative strategies keep the body sensitive to stimulation, but they can't cure desensitization to exercise.
If you're already showing signs of this - you're not making progress, you feel stuck in a routine, you're no longer getting a good pump - other strategies can help correct this.
Preventative tools
Unloading means that you reduce the amount of training stress for a short period of time (5 to 10 days). The three most commonly used unloading strategies include intensity, volume and frequency.
1. intensity unloading phase
Intensity in training is the level of effort relative< to your maximum effort. No matter what type of athlete you are, an intensity unloading phase means that you do not train as hard as usual during your sets. The volume and frequency of your training will remain more or less the same compared to your regular training.
Powerlifting and strength
Use a percentage of your 1RM weight to define the intensity of your workout. Since intensity is planned via percentages, it's easy to play with these percentages for an unload phase.
For powerlifters, an intensity unload phase means reducing the amount of weight you use for your sets (without increasing the volume).
Use 10 to 15% less than during the previous week. If you performed 5 x 5 with 80% of your 1RM, now perform 5 x 5 with 65 to 70% of your 1RN weight. A greater reduction is neither necessary nor effective.
Bodybuilding and hypertrophy
If you do not use planned percentages in your training, then the "intensity" is the maximum exhaustion you can tolerate in a set.
Finishing a set just before reaching muscle failure is less intense than using maximum pumps, extended sets, descending sets, forced repetitions and negative repetitions. Even if you use more weight, ending the set just before reaching muscle failure still means that the intensity will be lower.
If you are doing a bodybuilding workout, intensity is more subjective. If you normally go to muscle failure, then end your sets during the unload phase 1 to 2 repetitions before reaching muscle failure. If you normally finish your sets 1 to 2 repetitions before reaching muscle failure, then finish your sets even earlier during the unload phase.
Note: Intensity unloading phases are best for those who perform bodybuilding workouts. Perform an unloading phase every fourth week.
2. volume unloading phase
If you are training for strength, then a volume unloading phase is the best choice. Reduce the training volume by 40 to 50% but keep the intensity/effort the same. You can either reduce the number of repetitions per set, the sets per exercise or the number of exercises.
Let's say your normal training session looks like this:
- Bench press 5 x 5 a 130 kg
- Bench press with close grip 4 x 8 a 90 kg
- Dumbbell incline bench press 4 x 8 a 60 kg (30 kg per hand)
- Dumbbell tricep press lying 4 x 12 a 30 kg (15 kg per hand)
You can achieve a volume unloading phase by reducing the repetitions:
- Use 5 x 3 instead of 5 x 5.
- Use 4 x 5 instead of 4 x 8.
- Use 4 x 6 instead of 4 x 12.
The weight would remain the same for all exercises.
You can also reduce the number of sets instead of the number of repetitions:
While using the same exercises and the same weights, simply perform 2 to 3 sets less per exercise.
Alternatively, you can also omit exercises:
The number of sets and repetitions remain the same, but you only use 2 exercises:
- Bench press 5 x 5 a 130 kg
- Bench press with close grip 4 x 8 a 90 kg
In all three cases, you reduce the volume by 40 to 50%, thereby preventing you from getting used to a certain workload.
Notes: Strength athletes need to stay in contact with heavy weights even during an unloading phase to keep the nervous system active. You resensitize your body by reducing the amount of work you do. Unload every fourth week.
3. frequency unloading phase
If you use high frequency training - you train an exercise or muscle group three times a week or more - then reduce the frequency with which you train certain exercises or muscle groups. Reduce the frequency every 4 to 5 weeks.
Yes, high frequency training works. But what makes you efficient quickly can also desensitize you quickly. It will become increasingly difficult to generate an overload.
Reduce frequency by 50% or more for two weeks during the unloading phase.
- If you train a specific exercise 6 days per week, reduce the frequency to 3 days per week.
- If you train a specific exercise 5 or 6 days per week, reduce the frequency to 2 days per week.
- If you train a specific exercise 3 days per week, reduce the frequency to one day per week.
Do not reduce the volume as much as you would during a volume unloading phase. It can be 75 to 80% of your normal training volume per week. The aim is to prevent desensitization to the training frequency and not to achieve supercompensation by reducing the volume
Frequency unloading phase option 2:
If you exercise consistently 5 to 7 days per week, then it is possible that you will become acclimated to the weekly physical stress. Even if you change exercises and target muscles every day, desensitization may still occur.
Reducing the overall frequency after 8 or 12 weeks of intensive training is a good solution to prevent desensitization. Halve the training frequency. In other words, train only two to three times a week for 2 weeks.
Opposite training
This is the most commonly used approach to prevent training desensitization. This approach is simply based on changing the training program you perform. And when it comes to preventing desensitization, the greater the change, the better.
You can change the following:
- Total training frequency (training days per week)
- Frequency per muscle group or exercise per week
- Number and type of exercises
- Sets per muscle group
- Average number of repetitions per set or load pattern
- Method of performing repetitions (explosive, constant tension, slow eccentric repetitions, etc.)
- Intensity techniques (supersets, descending sets, rest-pause, etc.)
If you stick with fairly similar parameters for most categories - for example, if you use a similar training split, similar numbers of sets and reps, and a similar repetition type, and just swap out the exercises - then you won't really change the nature of the training stress.
So if you use this approach, you should switch to a training program that is different in many ways from your previous program. I refer to this as opposite training.
Do you mainly train with higher repetitions? Then switch to lower reps with heavier exercises. Are you doing 3 sets of 5 exercises per muscle group? Try 6 sets of 2 exercises per muscle group. Are you training with constant tension and slow repetitions? Train explosively.
It is not important that you use a training approach that is 100% specific to your goal because you are using this modification to keep your body receptive to your main training plan.
Note: You should not change exercises so often that you never master the basics.
But if you do use this prevention technique, then you need to train in a way that is the complete opposite of your normal training. The further you move away from your regular workout, the more effective it will be.
It may not necessarily be the best way to get closer to your goal, but it is better than not exercising to make your body more sensitive to your training again and you may well progress again simply because of the new stimulus.
How you can correct desensitization
1. specialization training
The more advanced you are, the greater the training stress needs to be to stimulate further change. As you become more advanced, your body will become better adapted to the physical stress.
The beauty of this specific system is that it allows you to make certain muscles more sensitive to your training again, while accelerating the growth of other muscles. If you drastically reduce the training volume for the muscle groups you are not currently specializing in, you will make these muscles more sensitive again for the future.
Choose one or two muscle groups (or a strength exercise) to focus on for the duration of the 4 week training block. Train this three days a week.
If you choose two muscle groups, then train both muscle groups on the same day. The rest of the body is trained at the maintenance level and split over two other training days.
Maintenance training is the key. Training stimulus junkies will find it hard to reduce the amount of work for the rest of the body, but this is essential to the success of this approach.
You only have a certain amount of training currency that you can invest each week. If you choose to invest more in certain muscle groups, then you will need to reduce the amount you invest elsewhere.
Hints: Training specialization gives new life to your training. If you focus heavily on one thing, then you will attack a weak point with everything you have.
And while you're re-sensitizing the rest of the body, you'll still get the feeling of training as hard as you can.
The biggest disadvantage of this approach is that the vast majority of exercisers do too much work on the muscle groups or exercises they don't specialize in. The goal is to re-sensitize these muscles. You should do a minimal amount of work - just 2 to 3 sets of work - for these muscles. The whole thing would work even if you didn't train these muscles at all.
When it comes to sensitizing the body, the less work you do, the better it will work.
2 - Drastic blitz training
Take a change in your training to a whole new level. Do something completely different that belongs in a completely different area of fitness. Stop training with weights for two weeks and only do sprints, jumps, throws and bodyweight exercises. Or take part in a team sport.
Use this extreme approach if you haven't made any progress at all for months. If nothing is working, you need to take a step back. Doing something completely different will allow your body to re-sensitize and progress when you go back to your regular workout.
Don't worry, you won't lose muscle mass in two weeks - especially if you stay relatively active. And you will develop a few other physical qualities during this time.
You may feel leaner, but this is simply because your muscles are less inflamed and have stored a little less glycogen. And even if you were to lose 1 or 2 pounds of muscle mass, but gain 7 to 10 pounds of muscle after a few months of no progress, that's not a bad deal.
There's also a psychological benefit. If you run into a wall and make no further progress, your training 7 days a week for 24 hours will occupy your mind. That kind of thing is frustrating.
Doing something else will rekindle your passion and motivation for training with weights, which will increase the quality of your workouts when you get back to your usual training.
Notes: Only use this extreme approach if you have tried opposite training and specialization training and find that you are still not making progress. This is not the first option for a system restart.
Not training with weights is emotionally hard - especially if you're addicted to the iron. But ask yourself if it's better to stay away from the gym for two weeks or stop making progress altogether.
3 - Planned de-conditioning
This is also known as strategic deconditioning. At the end of each 6 to 8 week training cycle, take 9 to 12 non-training days.
This time without training is not for recovery or supercompensation. Both will happen, of course, but that's not the real goal. Sure, after 6 to 8 weeks of training, you may think you still feel fresh, which is why taking a break from training would be useless. But the goal of the time off is to keep your body sensitive and responsive.
The duration of the unloading phase is important. For up to 7 days you will not lose any adaptations. So if you only gave yourself 5 to 7 days off, this would not be enough to keep the body sensitive to training - at least it would not be optimal. And after more than 2 weeks without training, you will start to lose some of your gains.
So 9 to 12 days of rest is the best duration to keep your body sensitive to the effects of training without losing gains.
For strength athletes, one benefit of a non-training phase is the conversion of IIa muscle fibers into IIb fibers. Both are fast-contracting fibers and both have a high degree of force production, but your IIb fibers have a contraction rate up to twice as fast as type IIa fibers.
Any form of training - even training with heavy weights and explosive training - will initiate a conversion of IIb fibers into IIa fibers. Why? Because type IIa muscle fibers are basically "reserve fibers".
During an unloading phase, IIa fibers will initiate a conversion to a IIb profile, which will increase your potential for strength and power.
When athletes take a 2 to 3 week break from training, their strength is just as high - or even higher - than it was before, but their work capacity decreases. You'll be really strong for 1 or 2 high-intensity work sets, after which strength drops off dramatically, whereas before the break you could do 5 or 6 heavy sets.
A detraining phase at the end of each very hard training cycle can help keep your body responsive to training and performing at a high level.
4 - Extreme detraining
Not only will you stop training with weights for almost two weeks, but you won't do any physical training at all. This is an extreme solution for cases of serious desensitization.
For most, not exercising with weights for two weeks and staying physically active (sprinting, jumping, throwing and playing sports) will be enough. But if you feel your situation is more serious, any form of intense physical activity could prevent you from becoming more sensitive to exercise again.
This is tough, but worth the effort. Not exercising at all for two weeks and making progress for the rest of the year is a worthwhile investment.
Note: There is another stage of this: an extended period of no exercise. We are talking about one to three months. This will result in loss of gains, but you will quickly work your way back up and make new progress after you become sensitive to your training again. This is better than being stuck for a year, but can be very hard.
If you ever reach a point where you need one to three months off, it's because you've made some really bad decisions about your training. Few people will ever need this strategy.
As long as you're not a professional athlete training 20 to 30 hours a week, you probably won't find yourself in a situation where you need to take an extended break from training.
Make smart choices and keep your body sensitive to the effects of your training.
By Christian Thibaudeau | 06/03/15
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/have-you-become-immune-to-exercise
