Training Deceptions
I believe there are training deceptions. What do I mean by training deceptions? I am referring to anything that cab mislead us to believe things about training that are not really true. Most training deceptions are partially true and are based on things that lead to effective training part of the time. Out of all of the training deceptions, I believe there deceptions that occur because we are mislead in our understanding in regard to the experiences of others and, and I believe there are training deceptions that occur because we are mislead by our own training experiences.
A Summary of Training Deceptions
Dumbbell Rack
There is an old story about six blind men who did their best to describe an elephant. Each of them was at a different location in relationship to the elephant. Since they couldn’t see, they described the elephant according what they could feel when they touched the elephant. The blind man who was located on the side of an elephant described the elephant as a wall. Another blind man was located in position to feel the elephant’s tusk and describe the elephant as being similar to a spear. Another touched the elephant’s trunk and described the elephant as being like a snake. The blind man located at one of the elephant’s legs thought an elephant was like a tree trunk, while the blind man who touched the elephant’s ear thought an elephant was like a fan. Finally the blind man who touched the elephant’s tail declared that an elephant is like a rope.
One of the morals to the story is that each man was right, but none of them were completely right. There is a big picture as to what an elephant is like, and these men were each able to experience a small part of the elephant, which they mistakenly interpreted as what the whole elephant was like. Why do I say this? Because experiencing a small aspect of something can deceive you into thinking that the small aspect of what you experienced is true in all cases. I believe this is what happens in strength training and is the reason why the variation of training ideas is obnoxiously diverse. Many people interpret strategies that work for a short time as strategies that will work all of the time. These are what I refer to as training deceptions which I am going to summarize in conclusion to the previous series of articles on training deceptions.
The common deception
The common deception occurs when people start out by pushing themselves extra hard in training and it works really good in the beginner and intermediate stages. It will keep working really good until strength increases to the point where the metabolic demand of workouts will overtake the anabolic supply of recovery power. This is when pushing extra hard quits working. However, the memory of past progress from extra hard training becomes lodged in the mind of the lifter and it becomes inconceivable to him that he has reached a point where he needs to change to a different training strategy.
The Shock Training Deception
When the conditions are right, shock training can cause a temporary boost in strength and muscle mass even in experienced lifters. This is because the body is trying to make the severe training stress easier. However, this is usually temporary. If shock training continues, it leads to the pattern that kills progress. This occurs when the body keeps trying to become stronger in order to make the training stress easier, but workouts never do become easier with continued shock training.
The Undertraining Deception
Undertraining can be effective when it is done after overtraining. Overtraining will program the body to recover at a rate and magnitude equal the metabolic demand of severe workouts. When this is followed with less severe undertraining, the body can easily overcompensate with a surplus of recovery and grow stronger. However, the body eventually reprograms itself to only recover as much as what is required by the easier workouts. Don’t be deceived into thinking that sudden results that are produced by doing only one set per body part means that you should always use one set per body part, because it often stops working.
The Champions Deception
A person who has a naturally high level of anabolic hormones will be able to push harder and gain longer than others who are trying to imitate his training but can’t imitate his naturally high level of anabolic hormones or number of muscles fibers.
The Chemical Deception
People who use performance enhancing drugs are achieving an anabolic state with their drugs rather than with training. However, people who don’t use those drugs are often so impressed with a drug users results that they imitate a drug users training without realizing the type of training they are doing won’t work unless it is accompanied with performance enhancement drugs.
The Growing Deception
Adolescents who workout would get stronger even if they didn’t workout because they are growing. An adolescent may use a training method that they thought was the ultimate way to train. However, they may find it stops working when they reach maturity because the automatic strength and growth that occurs as a result of growing up has now shut down.
The Seasonal Deception
The seasonal deception occurs when people only train for a season of a few months out of the year. Every time they start training they make fast progress by going full bore because they are just regaining strength that they had lost in the off season. The speed at which they can regain strength makes them believe they have found a magic method for gaining strength. The problem is that the training only works for the length of the season and often stops working well before the season is over.
Train Smart
My advice is to train smart. See the big picture. People use all kinds of extremes because there are times when extremes work and they perceive those times to be the entire picture, but an extreme that works is usually a small part of the whole picture in the context of time. A balanced approach to training will give you more in the end. Balanced training means training as long as you are strong during a workout. Stop training when you cease to be strong during a workout. When you finish a workout, don’t train again until you regain full strength, but don’t wait past the point when you’ve regained full strength. Best of training to you.