good article

[wakefib]

thought some people here might benefit from this read.
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1298360

 

[SgtSlaughter]

interesting stuff... I liked the phases (because they apply to me right now)... rehab, hypertrophy, then strength.

This I would like to hear what BiggT, B.Wump. and others that have strength trained for YEARS have to say regarding this guys ideas...

Go Heavy or Go Home? Not Always!

At the onset of a long off-season, the main concern should be rest and recovery. Therefore our hypothetical seven month off-season should really be more like six or even five and a half months. Immediately after the season, guys should just take off for a month or so. If playing the game of football is like being in dozens of car wrecks each week, I certainly think that a month off is more than needed.

Upon returning to training, the first thing that should be addressed is any kind of injuries or imbalances that occurred during the season. Since the athlete has just taken four to eight weeks completely off from any training at all, we also need to reestablish a basic base level of fitness. So, this first block of training would be a GPP/rehab type phase.

During this time there will be no loading of the spine and no heavy bars in the hands. Almost everything will be done unilaterally and with dumbbells or just bodyweight. Rebuilding lost muscle mass will also be stressed during this phase, but if hypertrophy is a very big priority for this particular athlete, the next phase will basically be a hypertrophy-only phase. Each of these phases will last about a month.

After completing those two phases, the athlete can then begin to move into more of a strength phase. We'll assume that he took all of February off and began training in March. So after the first two phases, we'll begin the heavy strength work in May. There's just no reason whatsoever to expose this athlete's body to the stress of extremely heavy weights any sooner than this. Not only is it detrimental to his joints, spine, and CNS, but it's also not possible to make significant strength gains for much more than twelve weeks straight.

Think about this for a second. I have athletes adding 100 pounds to their squats in twelve weeks of the summer. Several of my colleagues have achieved the same results in this timeframe. Now if the athlete trained for 52 weeks versus twelve, how much greater do you think his improvement would be? An extra 20 pounds maybe? What does that tell us?

That right there proves that conjugate periodization isn't the most effective method for those with extended periods of time to train. Maybe taking significant periods of time away from heavy training is a very good thing. In fact, I know it is. How else can the gains that most athletes make during twelve to sixteen weeks of off-season training be explained?

The abuse the body takes from heavy squatting, benching, and deadlifting is immeasurable. There's no way this can be good for anyone to do year round. The body needs a chance to repair and recover, and that's where old school Western periodization comes in.

 

[fortunatesun]

Ferruggia makes some good points esp. in relation to peaking for an athletic season but as one of those non-competative gym lifters he addresses I don't think a phased system would necessarily be better. What's going to happen to my totals after several months of not working them? Or my speed/power? and so forth. How could my functional abilities outside the gym be any better?
This is the whole idea behind periodisation- once the law of diminishing returns sets in rather than change the entire concept you merely restate the expression in a way that takes into account the wear and tear you're putting on your body.
I agree many programs can make little sense to an individual's needs. When I first started a Westside template I made nice gains but then realized I wasn't training to compete in specific lifts. It's true that for me to hammer away at single rep max. would be just as bad as the hammering away at single bodyparts I was doing with my previous old BBing split. So I modify my program to allow me to work on the goals I set for myself.
I won't argue that my methods will make me the strongest I could have been, or the best conditioned. I think they allow me to strike the best balance I can, though.
As the author said, nothing is the end all or be all of training. Usually people run into trouble not by using a sound program but by adhering to the 'cookie cutter' aspect of it when there are better options. Of course if a better idea comes along that would be all to the good. I still need some more convincing with this one.

 

[wakefib]

Ferruggia makes some good points esp. in relation to peaking for an athletic season but as one of those non-competative gym lifters he addresses I don't think a phased system would necessarily be better. What's going to happen to my totals after several months of not working them? Or my speed/power? and so forth. How could my functional abilities outside the gym be any better?
This is the whole idea behind periodisation- once the law of diminishing returns sets in rather than change the entire concept you merely restate the expression in a way that takes into account the wear and tear you're putting on your body.
I agree many programs can make little sense to an individual's needs. When I first started a Westside template I made nice gains but then realized I wasn't training to compete in specific lifts. It's true that for me to hammer away at single rep max. would be just as bad as the hammering away at single bodyparts I was doing with my previous old BBing split. So I modify my program to allow me to work on the goals I set for myself.
I won't argue that my methods will make me the strongest I could have been, or the best conditioned. I think they allow me to strike the best balance I can, though.
As the author said, nothing is the end all or be all of training. Usually people run into trouble not by using a sound program but by adhering to the 'cookie cutter' aspect of it when there are better options. Of course if a better idea comes along that would be all to the good. I still need some more convincing with this one.

i agree, everyhting is individual and you have to make little changes to your program according to your needs. i think for someone that plays football or basketball for example, it would make sense to use periodization. for a powerlifter, i would say not lifting around your max lifts for acouple months might not be the best thing.