Training Deceptions
Out of all of the training deceptions that cause us to be mislead by our own training experiences, there is one that I believe is more common than any other. I call it the common deception. It commonly occurs when a person believes that a training strategy that brought outstanding results in the past, is proof that it will always be the best way to train. This causes a lifter to keep on training the same way based on past evidence instead of current evidence. It’s a deception that occurs most frequently to people who keep trying to push harder and heavier to improve. This strategy works until they reach their anabolic zero point. It may not be working at the present time, but if a lifter keeps on replaying the memory of how well it worked in the past, they may perpetually train as they did in the past because they are still thinking in terms of past results instead of current results.
Once the anabolic zero point sets in, it is likely that a lifter will have to stay within the boundaries of their ATP creatine phosphate system, which means to stop when rep speed starts to slow down during a set. It means a lifter can do as many sets of an exercise as they can without growing weaker at that exercise, but no more sets than they can without weakening. It may mean shorter workouts that are done more often instead of creating more fatigue in order to try to shock muscles into getting bigger and stronger. It means repeating the same amount of reps with a given weight until enough workouts are done for the reps to become easier.
In the next article, I will be discussing how the temporary benefits of overtraining and undertraining can be mistaken for effective long term training strategies.