Dfht

[Singleton]

What really is the other factor? Is it conditioning? Exercise tolerance? Recovery Ability? Or a summation of these things?

I'm looking into DFHT and it's pretty close to what I'm doing with HST, and the HST people have kind of said I wasn't doing it right, et c. DFHT makes a lot more sense and you can tell it's designed by someone who has significant REAL training experience. HST has solid principles, but the one thing that I always disliked was training everything on 1 day. I mean squats, bench, deads, for sets of 5 at near maximal effort is a huge CNS drain. The other thing is that 3x week is infrequent exercise. Body exercise should be more frequent.

 

[Madcow2]

DFHT is just the name of a program. It's based on dual factor theory which is also called fitness fatigue theory - the two factors being fitness and fatigue. Both factors arrise from the act of training but they accrue and disipate at different rates. It's just a better and much more robust model than the older single factor (i.e. pure supercompensation) which tends to fall apart very consistently in certain circumstances. Once you get a real grasp of dual factor little things like taking a few days off of training and coming back stronger or putting on a few pounds makes sense (i.e., it ain't all from that last single workout). In addition, the gains you make when training hard and heavy for a period shutting down after 3-4 weeks.

Some Very Useful Dual Factor links
Technical with good explanations: http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/PlannedOvertraining.html
Decent explanation with some ideas on how this is used: http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/PlannedOvertraining.html

You'll also find a lot of links on this and other useful stuff (including a DFHT writeup that's a linked word doc that contains a layout spreadsheet). The program at the top, Bill Starr's 5x5, is periodized according to the same theory. HST is just another way to skin a cat, some like it, some don't. One of the main issues in creating a cookie cutter program is you have to gear it to the lowest common denominator otherwise all the kids overtrain and your program is shit. DFHT and the BS 5x5 are geared to experienced lifters so there tends to be a better fit. That doesn't necessarily mean they are better, just that those with more experience and a good base of training tolerance tend to find the plain vanilla layouts a better experience.

 

[Singleton]

That is a great answer for 2 reasons.

1) It is very thoughtful
2) It shows that there is not a precise scientific definition of fitness and fatigue.

It's easy to measure absolute strength increase, but much more difficult to assess conditioning and exercise tolerance. Even more difficult to know if you're overreaching to the point of just before overtraining and then know to back off. I think I can tell when to take a day off, do active recovery, et c, but how do I know my judgement and instincts are correct?

I notice that if my pulse is elevated too much, I feel tired and thirsty, fatigued. This is usually accompanied by a desire to eat lots of protein and do nothing else (take naps)

 

[Madcow2]

You pretty much hit it on the head. There are some fairly advanced ways via blood draw or other methods (reaction time or more qualitative stuff the accuracy of which is going to depend on the person judging) but once you get the foundation down good coaching (and most are their own coaches) is a combination of art and science. One of the first signs of overtraining to manifest is generally a decrease in performance of around 10% or so. Not so much an isolated day but the CNS under fatigue and just overtaxed.

How do you know it's correct? I guess the best way is to error on both sides and keep a good training journal. Being a bit of an experimentor, I've actually purposely overtrained myself to get a grasp of what's going on and how I felt. In reality, it truly cost me a month or more of productive training, but experiencing both sides allows me to better judge it. I guess for most it comes down to experience and using carefully monitored workouts which can overload the body (i.e. so you get a tangible grasp of underreaching and overreaching). Personally, I wish I had a little light that went off but I've nothing so advanced.

EDIT:
1) I'm retarded, I mislinked above in post #2:
2nd dual factor link: http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/showpost.php?p=48&postcount=3
2) Link to a master thread and table of contents with that 5x5 periodized program:
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=375215
3) #2's 5x5 periodized program: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4764723&postcount=381