Take the Strain

[Hardartery]

New thread because I am bored. I'll start with a thing Hooper had in a recent video. He referenced his leg workout with Israeatel recently and how that way of lifting will not do anything for getting strong. Not being critical, just pointing out the difference between lifting for hypertrophy and lifting for strength. This goes to my earlier thinking on the subject and my reluctance to subscribe to the bigger means more potential strength theory. It is admittedly much more nuanced than that simple statement, but I am still there.

Here is my thinking at the moment based on analyzing what I am actually doing in my lifting. Sounds stupid, but in the past I have done largely the things that I am doing now - at least in variations - without thinking a whole lot about what I am really doing. It gets a little deeper than that, I promise.

So, as a strength training newbie, I did some things based largely on what the PLers were doing plus my natural inclinations. This means crap I read in misc.fitness.weights, GoHeavy, Strength List, The Anvil and maybe Diesel Power Forum. So, I moved to 5 or fewer reps. This was in addition to starting to Squat for the first time in my mid 20's. Yes, I admit it, I did not squat until my mid-20's and my initial 1 RM was 305 lbs. My high school only had a single Universal station - no weights or bars of any kind just the machine. I had some accumulated vinyl covered concrete weights in the basement and no idea what PL was. I was unaware that WSM was a television show, I was only aware of it as a competition held annually by invite. My parents still cannot get cable at their house to this day. So, what I did was BB stuff until I got out of school and then in my 20's I found the message boards and a desire to get serious.

Moving along. Low reps and steady LP was what people did and made sense. I hit a 650 RAW squat that way and 850 in a suit and wraps. I was repping 275 OHP strict. I was natty. It works great IME. Upper work was usually sets of 5, sometimes fewer but inly because I fell short of the goal reps of 5. I worked a lot of doubles and triples for squats and later DL. It works, if you are patient and consistent. There are a lot of other things, but I did not find better success in any of the other stuff. I am kind of doing that again now for the most part. It's working just fine, except I'm old now and stuff hurts and I am on TRT. When I was young nothing hurt.

I have been thinking hard on this and how the squats have been feeling lately. I have been only hitting singles at the top, but it's going up every week. It's not getting harder, in fact some weeks the higher weight feels easier. I am not as big as I was when I was younger. Realistically, to get to IFBB pro card size I would need to add 4-6 inches to each arm (I am probably about 18.5" right now - maybe close to 19", haven't measured) and at least 10" to my thigh (I think I'm between 26" and 27" right now, give or take). I am smaller than when I competed in my prime, but not by a lot and I am a little leaner than I usually was then. So, I am small, relatively speaking, at 275 lbs and 6'-0. So, after such a long ramble, what the hell am I getting no about?

I am increasing fibre recruitment week to week right now. The strain of the increased weight is triggering that. I am no where near the max for what I have currently on my frame and I doubt that I am capable of reaching it before I age out of the ability. I could probably do what I am doing for quite a few more weeks before it stops and I am positive the stop will not be me maxing out the existing potential, it would simply be the need to change up for other reasons. The other reasons are their own discussion and it is a huge one. What I am doing right now is probably adding to the cross-sectional size of my muscles, but I would not consider any part of it hypertrophy. There is the opposite approach of low percentage work done at high volume, this works great for some people and probably works to some extent for everyone. It certainly is good to cycle in for blocks.

I feel like some people break easier, which is why what I am doing would maybe be a less positive option for some people. I think it requires certain genetic and experience prerequisites, like growing up doing masonry and concrete (First time on a site I was 5 years old and worked summers full-time starting at 12). Not everyone has that. Some people have that sort of background and end up crippled disasters by 30 years old. I can feel my muscles waking up week over week to lift heavier. What do you guys think? I just used to do it and not question it too hard but I think it would do me good to understand the nuts and bolts of it better.

[Hardartery]

I should add to this. I am lifting with either no psyche up or very measured amounts of it right now, if I let myself go all on and try to hit the "Flow State" or whatever people are calling it these days, I would get a stupid jump but I feel like that would be counter-productive. Evan Singleton likes to do things that way, and is a lot of why he was always hurt and not finishing where he should have in contests. I am trying to be conscious of the process without allowing the adrenaline and everything to shoot up. That would give me 100% of what I have worked up to but I think that it would be an impediment to progress week to week. This is really the point I am trying to dig down to above. I feel like I am building up recruitment and ability this way, and that going all psycho for a lift actually eliminates that process and so I gain nothing long term from that at all. Although a big PR might feel good, knowing it's a watershed moment on your training makes it feel pointless and hollow.

[Philbert]

Agree, getting hyped for training all the time is counterproductive for most people.
and muscular hypertrophy can occur whether the lifter is engaging in "hypertrophy training" or not.

[mgil]

Agree, getting hyped for training all the time is counterproductive for most people.
and muscular hypertrophy can occur whether the lifter is engaging in "hypertrophy training" or not.

+1

I am pretty zen when it comes to lifting now, possibly to the detriment of my max numbers. Pushing hard worked to get my numbers up, but also seemed to come at a cost in terms of injury and now some chronic issues.

But this limits training crossover. If you are competing, there has to be some sort of max effort work. Display of skill is also trainable. Not training for max efforts also puts someone at risk of injury. It's a bit of a duality.

[Hardartery]

Agree, getting hyped for training all the time is counterproductive for most people.
and muscular hypertrophy can occur whether the lifter is engaging in "hypertrophy training" or not.

+1

I am pretty zen when it comes to lifting now, possibly to the detriment of my max numbers. Pushing hard worked to get my numbers up, but also seemed to come at a cost in terms of injury and now some chronic issues.

But this limits training crossover. If you are competing, there has to be some sort of max effort work. Display of skill is also trainable. Not training for max efforts also puts someone at risk of injury. It's a bit of a duality.

This goes to my thinking. I am letting myself come up a LITTLE for the top set/single. Just enough to get the lift, which means sometimes I am coming up during the rep when it starts to slow or stick. I don't know if that's a universal ability or a gift of ADD. I feel like by forcing my body to do as much as possible with minimal adrenaline is forcing greater adaptation to strength. Maybe wishful thinking, but it feels like I am progressing. Psyching up just seems to find out where I am at but not actually improve me from the session. Maybe if I was hammering the pharma it would produce results, but I feel like the results would be sub-optimal at best.

I have a former training partner that did psyche up, and was not natty by any stretch (And that was far from a secret). He did seem to increase in the gym but it did not carry over to the contests. By his own words he relied on AAS, so he didn't learn lifting equipment and we did a lot of flavour of the month/what is popular this week stuff based on Westside/PL/ Travis Mash/whoever he was reading or talking to. Most of it was garbage that did not help anything. I feel like my best work tended to happen at the contest. I had my fails, but PR's did not happen in the gym and that was largely due to the different level of psyche I could achieve at the contest.

[lheugh]

Always a fascinating topic, and I appreciate the long-form thought process. A lot of what you said resonates, especially about coming back to what works after trying a bunch of approaches. I think that kind of honest reflection is way more useful than just chasing the latest programming trend. We're basically talking about the Yerkes-Dodson Law, especially as it applies to lifting. The basic idea is that performance improves with arousal up to a point, but beyond that, it crashes. What’s fascinating is how individualised that curve is - especially depending on personality. As an introvert, I’ve learned that my best lifts happen when I’m well below the hype zone that seems to help a lot of others. I’m not talking lazy or low-energy, but more like focused and calm. Minimal sensory input, low external pressure, just locked into the task. When I used to try and emulate the amped-up vibe (blasting music, loud self-talk, etc) my technique would fall apart. I'd rush cues, lose bar path, or just mentally spin out. But when I stay cool, almost meditative, everything flows. It’s like my nervous system has more room to allocate to precision and grind under tension instead of fighting off overstimulation. Not everyone thrives in chaos. Some of us are more lethal in stillness. That's also part of the fun of coaching - finding where an athlete falls on that spectrum. I think it ties back to what you mentioned about background and adaptation too. Some people build durability through hard, early physical work and can tolerate or even thrive under high neural and physical stress. Others need a lower “operating temperature” to keep everything efficient. It’s not about being soft; it’s about knowing where you sit on that curve and exploiting it.

[Hardartery]

Always a fascinating topic, and I appreciate the long-form thought process. A lot of what you said resonates, especially about coming back to what works after trying a bunch of approaches. I think that kind of honest reflection is way more useful than just chasing the latest programming trend. We're basically talking about the Yerkes-Dodson Law, especially as it applies to lifting. The basic idea is that performance improves with arousal up to a point, but beyond that, it crashes. What’s fascinating is how individualised that curve is - especially depending on personality. As an introvert, I’ve learned that my best lifts happen when I’m well below the hype zone that seems to help a lot of others. I’m not talking lazy or low-energy, but more like focused and calm. Minimal sensory input, low external pressure, just locked into the task. When I used to try and emulate the amped-up vibe (blasting music, loud self-talk, etc) my technique would fall apart. I'd rush cues, lose bar path, or just mentally spin out. But when I stay cool, almost meditative, everything flows. It’s like my nervous system has more room to allocate to precision and grind under tension instead of fighting off overstimulation. Not everyone thrives in chaos. Some of us are more lethal in stillness. That's also part of the fun of coaching - finding where an athlete falls on that spectrum. I think it ties back to what you mentioned about background and adaptation too. Some people build durability through hard, early physical work and can tolerate or even thrive under high neural and physical stress. Others need a lower “operating temperature” to keep everything efficient. It’s not about being soft; it’s about knowing where you sit on that curve and exploiting it.

IME, the over-hype lunatic guys tend to be one of two things. It is someone who has no real ability or idea what they are doing but they get off on being the centre of attention, or it is someone desperately trying to get "Up" enough to focus. Singleton gets a huge slap on the back with an open palm right before he walks out to a lift, that is because he needs something to centre on and a monster shot of pain gives him the focus point. Ringing your head off the loaded bar is the same thing. Those guys are trying to switch on, all of the antics are because they really are not there yet. Most advanced guys have way more control over it. It's a switch you learn to flip in most cases, I am finding as I age I can operate it like a dimmer. When you flick the switch, the world goes away and you can't hear anything, maybe you can't see anything either, it happens. If you are aware of anything around you you are not "On". It's a bit like the Stranger Things thing if you follow me. And this is coming from someone whose blood pressure and heart rate go down with the introduction of stimulants. I am way too psyched at a contest without stimulants at times. The reaction you get from the paramedic at a contest when your BP is 180/120 and you insist on taking a stimulant dose that would drop a horse is hilarious. And so is his reaction when 10 minutes later your BP is 120/70 and you're cool as a cucumber.

I think most guys fail to learn this side of things. It's important to be able to turn it on when it matters, like the Mom lifting the car off of her child, but it's also important to to operate with it off in training. If you watch a guy like Novikov or Hooper, they go from 0 to 1000 as they set up and they do it with no antics. That is frigging art.

[Skid]

I work out in my basement by myself, but do psyche myself up for heavy squats (not so much for bench or deadlifts). Nothing too crazy but let out a yell and shake the bar a bit for squats. Funny thing in a meet I'm silent and just focus on the job at hand. I couldn't even tell you what the judges look like.

[aurelius]

I am pretty zen when it comes to lifting now, possibly to the detriment of my max numbers.

+1

I look forward to my daily gym time. I put my headphones on, start jamming my playlist, and get to work. Fantastic way to get out of work mode and reset for the evening.

[SaviorSelf]

I'm not totally sure if I'm following, but it kind of sounds like you are describing the broz method/bulgarian method.

Characteristics include: working up to a daily max, no psyching up. Minimal volume but train every day

I did this one time between high school and college when I had nothing better to do. It works not just performance wise, but also from a comfort/injury perspective. My joints never felt better and it felt like I didn't even need warmups, like I could just roll out of bed and do a 1RM. The Greg Nuckols guy tried it and said it cured some of his nagging injuries as well as hitting some good PRs for him

Mike OHearn (yeah this guy has a weird reputation as a fake natty, but no doubt he's got something about longevity figured out) says something kind of similar. He says volume is what breaks you down. High weight strengthens your tendons and ligaments. Therefore his training seems to be more or less just working up to a "daily max" too from what I can tell

I'm on the wrong side of 30 now and I cannot train with the same volume I could as a teenager or in my early 20s. Even just doing high rep but one set, I'll start to get tendonitis everywhere. But maxing out or just staying in a low rep range with high weight I can handle no problem

[Hardartery]

I'm not totally sure if I'm following, but it kind of sounds like you are describing the broz method/bulgarian method.

Characteristics include: working up to a daily max, no psyching up. Minimal volume but train every day

I did this one time between high school and college when I had nothing better to do. It works not just performance wise, but also from a comfort/injury perspective. My joints never felt better and it felt like I didn't even need warmups, like I could just roll out of bed and do a 1RM. The Greg Nuckols guy tried it and said it cured some of his nagging injuries as well as hitting some good PRs for him

Mike OHearn (yeah this guy has a weird reputation as a fake natty, but no doubt he's got something about longevity figured out) says something kind of similar. He says volume is what breaks you down. High weight strengthens your tendons and ligaments. Therefore his training seems to be more or less just working up to a "daily max" too from what I can tell

I'm on the wrong side of 30 now and I cannot train with the same volume I could as a teenager or in my early 20s. Even just doing high rep but one set, I'll start to get tendonitis everywhere. But maxing out or just staying in a low rep range with high weight I can handle no problem

Definitely not anything in the vicinity of the Bulgarian Method. I also would not place Bulgarian in the same category as low volume, it is pretty firmly a high volume system and tends to break guys down quite spectacularly. Above experiences notwithstanding, it is a system that tends to weed out the weak.

Not that it particularly matters to what I was rambling on about, but I am lifting twice a week, with an extra light arm day or press day thrown in here and there depending on the feels. So, although I don't consider myself to be doing anything particularly low volume, it isn't high volume by any means. The accessory work is usually to some form of failure, I prefer positive failure to absolute and it is very traditional in setup. Compound movement(s) first, isolation/accessory after. I am only discussing the compound with the above approach. iso/accessory stuff is just pounding things that I am guessing are weak or just because I have some sort of pet attachment to that movement. I don't think that I take any iso stuff seriously enough to get psyched up, I'd bust out laughing in the attempt.