In the minds of most people who train with weights, a slow adaptation is inferior to a rapid adaptation. Likewise, a small adaptation is inferior to a big adaptation. In other words, it is better to get strong fast, rather than slow; and it is better to make big strength gains, rather than small strength gains. Of course, this is preferable when possible, and it is possible for a short season that may range from a few months to a year. The problem is that once the big fast adaptations have been made, you can’t make them anymore. This is the point in time in which further attempts to keep making big strength gains at a rapid rate will probably result in no gains at all.
The Problem with Scientific Studies on Weight Training
One of the problems with official scientific studies on weight training is that they tend to be short term experiments that last eight to twelve weeks. It seems odd that even though most serious lifters lift for years instead of months, an eighteen-week experiment would be considered a long study. Since this is the case, the only valid conclusions that can be made from these studies must be considered within the context of a short term time period. Unfortunately, the short-term mindset is reflected in the methodology of the vast majority of weight training systems.
The Promotion of Outliers Can Be Deceiving
People who want to promote systems based on methods that work for a short time will often try to focus your attention on outliers. An outlier refers to a result that is not normal and lies outside of the norm. in the context of those who lift weights, an outlier would be a person who makes abnormally big gains at an abnormally fast rate. Unfortunately, the astonishing results obtained by these outliers are often presented as the norm, when they aren’t normal. Instead, they are the top five to ten percent who respond to weight training much better than the other ninety percent.
When you follow the methodology of training systems that are based on short term results, that’s exactly what you will get, short term results. If you are fortunate to gain a huge amount within a short amount of time, then your short term gains may seem satisfactory. However, if your short term gains fall significantly short of a desired goal, your only hope is to switch to a long term perspective.
Easy Adaptation
The long-term perspective will only work if you make the process of strength adaptations as easy as possible. Adaptation is easier if you require your body to make small adaptations, and you give your body plenty of time to make those small adaptations. In our current micro-wave culture where people want things quickly, adaptations that are small and slow sound so inferior that most people can’t handle the idea. But if you are past the stage where you have already made rapid gains, then you can either train in a way that allows you to gain slow, or you can stay stuck for the rest of your life while hoping that you win the magic lottery ticket of huge gains by finding a secret training system that delivers the jackpot of massive muscle gains.
Studies from the Former Soviet Union
The only study I know of that studied how well different training methodologies work over the long-term was done by the former Soviet Union back in the 1960’s and 70’s. In order for the training method to be considered valid, it had to deliver results for four Olympic cycles which is a total of 16 years. What did they find? They found that most of your training should be done with about 75% of your single rep max. They also found that the sweet spot for effort was to push one third to two thirds of the way to failure. In other words, use a weight that you can lift for about ten reps if you were to push all the way to failure, but don’t push to failure, just do three to seven reps and stop the set. When adding all of the reps from each set together, you should do 20 to 30 reps per exercise or muscle group.
Prilepin and Pavel
Where did I get this information from? Prilepin’s chart and an interview between Dave Rogan and Russian strength coach/trainer Pavel Tsatsouline.
If you want to gain fast, try high intensity training. If you can’t gain fast anymore, or you are just stuck and can’t seem to gain at all anymore, try a long term approach. Use 70% to 80% of your single rep max. Push one third to two thirds of the way to failure. Do 20 to 30 reps per muscle group per workout by using sets and reps schemes such as:
Eight sets of three reps with 80% of your single rep max
Six to seven sets of four reps with 77% of your single rep max
Five sets of five reps with 75% of your single rep max
Four sets of seven reps with 70% of your single rep max
Three to Four Workouts per Week
This system will probably not work well with low frequency training, so consider training each muscle group three to four times per week.
Let The Workouts get easier
Take your time and let the weights get 2% to 5% easier to lift, which means that if you train with 75% of your single rep max, let it become 70% to 73% before you increase the weights by 2 to 5%. It may take 8 to 12 weeks before you increase your weights, but if you keep up with this seemingly slow rate of gain, it will add up to some pretty big gains within a few years.
Do You Have a Long-Term Plan?
Do you have the patience for a long-term training plan? If not, you will probably have to settle for a perpetual training plateau in hopes of a sudden breakthrough that never materializes. If you love weight training enough to be a life time lifter, you are going to be lifting for a long time, so consider the use of a long-term training plan. Best of training to you.