Here were my last 4 months of training. I focused on a full body split in order to increase training frequency. There are only a few quantifiable measures of progress when training that relate to the law of progressive overload. They are:
Increasing Intensity: measured in percentage of 1RM
Adding volume: reps or sets
Density of the workout: performing more work in the same amount of time or the same amount of work in less time
Time under tension: time the muscle is contracting during a set
Acceleration: Force= (Mass) (Acceleration)
Frequency: the number of times each body part is trained in a given week.
I focused on training frequency as I have not focused on it since December 2006. The goal was to over train the body and then allow for supper compensation to take place. I started the program weighing 290 and completed it weighing 283. It has now been two months since I finished the program and I now weight 293-294. It was allot of work for 3-4 pounds of muscle, but I felt it was worth it. Hear is how the split went. For the first three weeks (weeks 1-3) I trained the full body each workout, 4 separate times in 7 days. I know that you can not truly train all the muscle groups in one workout, but you can hit the majority of them and that is what I mean when I say full body training. I then took a back off week where all body parts were trained once in 5 days with 3X60 for capillary growth (week 4). In the next training block (weeks 5-7) the frequency drops slightly to 3 full body training sessions, but I trained twice a day and the total training volume increases. I felt it was necessary to back slightly off on the frequency for this training block, so I can work on lagging body parts and prepare to peak for the last three weeks. I will then have another back off week that is devoted to capillary growth (week 8). For the last three weeks (weeks 9-11) I trained 3 times a day using the full body split 2 times a week. This gives me a frequency of training each body part 6 times a week which I think is the maximum for a natural trainer. No exercises are repeated thought each training block and the sets, reps and lines of pull are also all changed form workout to workout. All the major muscle fiber types are trained throughout the week: Fast Twitch 2A, 2B, Slow Twitch; and Capillary Density is also factored in on the back off weeks. Week 12 was taken completely off, but I rode my mountain bike, as some form of physical activity is necessary to keep the Testosterone and Endorphins levels high.
During the training blocks, full recovery from the previous workout is not necessary or even desirable. If you look at the work from Verkhoshansky on concentrated loading, you will see that a greater training effect can be achieved if the athlete never fully recovers during his loading weeks (first 3 weeks of training block) and is allowed adaptation to occur during the unloading week or back off week where training volume is low.
Verkhoshansky indicated that, "the greater the loss of capacities during the loading period (meaning incomplete recovery during the training cycle) the greater will the rebound be after an unloading week." So in that regard, only training when the body is fully recovered is not optimal for the fastest gains. However, training without full recovery for more than 3-4 weeks is counterproductive, hence the back off or de-loading week.
As the frequency of the workouts increases the training volume per workout must decrease. For instance, most weightlifters will train chest with a total of 9-12 work sets, not including warm-ups every 7 days. I trained the chest with 14 total works sets in 7 days, but the sets are spread out over three training sessions. As training frequency increases, daily training volume per body part must decrease, but the weekly totals will be the same or higher due to the frequency of the program. Most weightlifters can either train with a lot of volume during one session or train more often. Seldom can they do both. This quote summarizes the training mythology in this program:
Overtrain, Rest, And Grow!
Pierre Roy once said that unless athletes start complaining of tendonitis, they're not training hard enough. They should train until they're literally depressed, then back off. In other words, if you're not making progress in the gym, smash yourself into the ground for two weeks ? purposefully overtrain until you're mentally depressed and your body is about to shutdown ? then take five days off. When you come back into the gym, you'll hit new personal bests.
That Which Does Not Kill Us...
(Charles Poliquin)
Linear Mode
