Scientific Principles of Strength Training - Overload - PDF

CHAPTER FOUR OVERLOAD SCIENTIFIC DEFINITION Overload is our next most important training principle after specificity, and is absolutely critical to the even marginal success of a powerlifting training program. One of the oldest and most research-grounded training principles, overload has a well...

CHAPTER FOUR OVERLOAD SCIENTIFIC DEFINITION Overload is our next most important training principle after specificity, and is absolutely critical to the even marginal success of a powerlifting training program. One of the oldest and most research-grounded training principles, overload has a well-established, two part definition. We can say that a training stimulus (whether exercise, rep, set, or session) presents an overload when: a.) The stimulus is within the maximal threshold of the adaptive system, and; b.) The stimulus is on average greater than recent historical stimuli. A maximal threshold for a system is the point above which the system is being disrupted enough to respond with meaningful beneficial adaptations. Disruption of homeostasis (the body’s maintenance of a stable internal environment) leads to a cascade of molecular events that cause adaptive processes to activate and elicit system improvements in muscle size, force production, and a host of other factors. Within this maximal threshold (between the minimum stimulus that elicits Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 72 adaptations and the system’s maximal exertion capacity), training elicits significant and meaningful adaptations. Below this threshold, the system may make adaptations, but at such as slow rate as to not be practical from a training perspective. Once a system has been presented with a certain stimulus within its maximal threshold, it undergoes adaptation. The entire purpose of most body systems’ adaptive abilities is to better resist disruption, so once the adaptations have been made, the next stimulus must be greater than the one originally presented so that it may elicit a similar disruptive effect and thus a similarly large adaptive response. Elements of variation and fatigue management make linear and consecutive overloads counterproductive in most cases, so the recommendation to make every session more overloading than the last is imprudent. However, the average session must in fact be greater than the last in order for the overload principle to be met and positive results to be maximized. What exactly does the overload principle imply for powerlifting training? P OW E R L I F T I N G D E F I N I T I O N The powerlifting-specific definition of the overload principle is also split into two distinct parts, and presents as follows: a.) Training that maximally stimulates adaptation must meet minimum functional intensities and volumes. Training must be heavy and voluminous enough to add the most size, heavy enough (with requisite minimal volume) to add the most strength, and near limits of exertion to train technique for 1RM lifting. The exact requirements for these overload thresholds will Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 73  be discussed in detail in the section on proper execution of the overload principle. b.) Training must get harder over time. Not every consecutive session must be heavier or more voluminous than the last, but over weeks, months, and years of training, both intensities (bar weights) and volumes (sets x reps x weight) need to elevate to continue the fastest possible performance progressions. Overload in powerlifting basically means you’re going to have to train heavy and hard, and regularly do workouts that you’ve never done or been able to do before… with either more weight, more sets and reps, or more of everything. P R I N C I P L E I M P O R TA N C E R A N K Overload comes second in the ranking for one reason: specificity is king. Without specificity, overload for powerlifting training could be misconstrued to be running 5 miles at 10 miles per hour when last week you ran 4 miles at 10 miles per hour and your fastest pace ever is 5 miles at 11 miles per hour. If you look closely, none of that training actually violates the overload principle and in fact concords with it quite well. The problem is that only specificity can guide us into the direction of remotely applicable training, and only then is overload relevant to improving our desired abilities, rather than just improving some random abilities. Once the training type is specified, overload is the next most important principle. Without overload, adaptations simply don’t occur. In order to squat 600lbs, there’s nothing you can do with squatting 135 that will get Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 74 you there. Overload is so powerful, in fact, that together with specificity, we have the formation of the first functional training approach. If the ONLY variables you take into account in a program are specificity and overload, you can in fact make progress and get strong... not nearly as strong as you can with the other principles included, but the effect is there. Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 75 I M P L I C AT I O N S & E X A M P L E S O F P R O P E R A P P L I C AT I O N O F O V E R L O A D 1. ) T R A I N I N G AT M A X I M U M R E C O V E R A B L E V O L U M E For every single lifter under every single circumstance, there exists a theoretical “Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV).” To be described in more detail in the next chapter (Fatigue Management), MRV is the maximum volume of training a lifter can perform, recover from, and benefit from. Generally, training volumes can be categorized in the following scheme: a.) Training that is not voluminous enough to incur any meaningful and desired adaptations b.) Training that is voluminous enough to incur some meaningful and desirable adaptations, but not the most that can be accrued c.) Training that is at the MRV, and is the most volume that lifter can benefit from. d.) Training that is higher in volume than the MRV but not overwhelming to recovery in the medium term and is still beneficial, though less than maximally e.) Training that is so high in volume that recovery is far enough behind to be a net negative on performance in the short-to- medium term. The range between points b and d is where overload volume is being applied. So long as minimum intensity ranges are exceeded, getting Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 76 between points b and d will highly benefit the training process. Since the interval between c and d represents incrementally more work, fatigue, and injury risk, getting anywhere between b and c, and as close to c as possible, is the most reasonable goal with training volume programming. But how much volume is this? The best way to determine the MRV is to keep climbing in volume until the next training phase (whether session, microcycle, or mesocycle) is reduced in performance due to high fatigue. If you’ve been squatting sets of 10 at 315lbs and adding sets of 10 each week, when you can’t hit a set of 10 and fail at 7 or 8 reps at 315lbs is just past your MRV at that weight. The second best way to find out is to administer a fatigue checklist. Is the bar feeling disproportionally heavy? Is the desire to train way too low? Is sleep off track and is hunger decreased? If no, then more volume can be experimented with. But for the most part, performance itself is the best metric. If you’re still handling higher volumes and intensities, you’re likely still at or below your MRV, which is where you want to be. After months and years of training while tracking volumes, intensities, and their responses to them, individual lifters can get very good at knowing how much volume they can recover from and still benefit. Now, your volume tolerance can change from training, nutrition, and lifestyle factors such as sleep quality, so there’s no easy formula. MRV is also different for different intensities of training… you can recover from a whole lot more volume at 60% 1RM than you can at 95% 1RM. However, especially if you know your average volume tolerance for different weight/rep ranges, program from there can give you a very good start. But be under no illusion, doing less than you can recover from is not the Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 77 best way to train. If you chronically under-shoot your MRV in training, you’re simply leaving potential PRs right there in the gym. If you’re serious about results, chase your MRV and if you like, stop just short. But don’t stop a mile out for fears of over-reaching. The best athletes always have and always will walk the line between maximal benefit training and overreaching. It just happens to come with the sport. 2. ) H Y P E R T R O P H Y T R A I N I N G OV E R LOA D R E Q U I R E M E N TS In order to train for speed, you’ve gotta present a velocity overload (run really fast). In order to train for strength, you’ve gotta present a force overload (lifting heavy weights). And just the same, in order to train for hypertrophy, you also need to present an appropriate overload. But what the heck is the appropriate overload for hypertrophy? It’s not nearly as intuitive as the overload for speed and strength; that is for certain. The overload for hypertrophy has a volume and intensity component. As mentioned previously, weights lighter than around 60% 1RM for a movement do not stimulate the cellular signaling pathways for muscle growth to nearly the extent that heavier weights do, and are thus largely inappropriate for hypertrophy training. Secondly, once the condition of intensity has been met, volume is a major contributor to hypertrophic outcomes. In fact, differences in intensity past 60% 1RM (lifting at 65% vs. 85%) have much smaller repercussions on hypertrophy than differences in volume (1 set vs. 4 sets, for example). Hypertrophy continues to increase with increasing volume until the MRV for hypertrophy training is met. Hypertrophy training benefits from more volume more than strength training does, for reasons that will be addressed in part in the chapter on fatigue management. How much Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 78 volume? While some practical guides will be offered later in this book, the MRV is the real answer, and generally, it’s not 3 sets of 5 once a week, but much more than that for most lifters. So far, we’ve defined the first, maximal threshold component of overload for hypertrophy training. Yes, training has to be heavy enough (60%), and volumes have to be high enough to stimulate meaningful gains in muscle size. The second component of overload is that the training sessions should, on average, be increasing in difficulty. In hypertrophy training, this means that one of three approaches must be taken: a.) The volume must already be high and the intensity should be going up (thus slowly inching up the volume as well by adding 5-10lbs to the bar each week) Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 79  b.) The volumes must be increasing while intensity is held constant (adding sets each week to squatting for 10 reps with 315, for example) c.) Both volume and intensity increase slowly (squatting 315 for 3x10 in week one, and working up to 335 for 5x10 in week 4) Various good coaches and the programs they write take one of the three approaches, and it’s not yet certain which one of these is best. What is clear is that some incremental increase in volume is almost certainly a best practice, and intensity increases likely play beneficial roles as well. To put it another way, if your program calls for the following progression: Week 1: 315 for 5x10 Week 2: 335 for 4x8 Week 3: 365 for 3x5 It is not likely to maximize potential hypertrophic responses to training because of the consistent drop in volume from week to week. 3. ) ST R E N GT H T R A I N I N G OV E R LOA D R E Q U I R E M E N TS While hypertrophy has a minimal intensity and puts a premium on increases in volume, strength training has a minimal volume but puts a premium on increases in intensity. The minimal volume for strength training is lower than that for hypertrohpy, primarily because strength training is, per unit volume, more fatiguing. To be covered in detail in the next chapter, heavier loads Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 80 are more fatiguing than lighter loads, even with the same volumes. Additionally, strength training requires the lifting of much more limiting loads than does hypertrophy training, and thus the total level of fatigue being carried during a strength phase must be lower, as being too fatigued would preempt the kind of heavy training that is in fact overloading. You can still bang out high reps when you’re beat up, but you can only be so beat up if you’re doing sets of 3 to 5 reps. There are other concerns that will be addressed in the Fatigue Management chapter (particularly for the nervous system), but for the purpose of this section, it is sufficient to point out that the volume requirement for strength is lower than it is for hypertrophy. Some practical info will be presented on such recommendations later in the book. For now, let’s say that one set of 5 per bi-weekly workout is not enough, 5 sets of 5 is very much pushing it in the right directions for most lifters, and 10 sets of 5 is almost certainly too much for most. The minimal intensity for fastest strength adaptations is usually described at around 75% 1RM. Anything less than that does not disrupt nor signal the nervous system to expand on its force-generating capacities for a given unit of muscle size. Yes, you can get bigger by training as light as 60% of 1RM, and that new size can make you stronger, but the direct strengthening of existing size only occurs best above 75% 1RM. We now have our maximal threshold condition for the overload of strength training; volumes must be in the moderate range, and intensity should be 75% at minimum in most cases. But what about the second “progressive” condition of overload? It turns out that by increasing volume without increasing intensity, Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 81 we can see large increases in hypertrophy. But such is not nearly the case with strength training. While volume increases are mandatory and intensity increases are optional in optimized hypertrophy training, the reverse is true for strength training. To meet the second condition of strength-training overload, our volumes may not need to change much during the mesocycle, but our intensities almost certainly need to go up. Just like you don’t get your biggest just training 3 sets of 10 all the time, you won’t get your strongest unless you progressively increase intensity. This of course means that every session, week, other week, or however you structure your progression, the weights on the bar must get heavier. Starting a strength mesocycle from 75% 1RM and moving up towards (and perhaps past) 85% or your 1RM is likely a very good general approach in this regard. Long story short; with moderate volumes, your weights in a strength phase should start out heavy (75% 1RM+), and progressively get heavier for best results. 4. ) P E A K I N G T R A I N I N G OV E R LOA D R E Q U I R E M E N TS To be addressed in high detail in the chapter on Phase Potentiation, peaking training is designed to accustom the body’s systems to producing limit forces in a stable manner so as to prepare for the actual execution of 1RM lifts at the meet itself. Peaking training has several major goals: Accustom the lifter to loads approaching 1RM Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 82  Enhance the particular technique needed to remain stable at these loads Retain general strength abilities Reduce fatigue while maintaining existing fitness and expressing new fitness in the days and few weeks before the meet itself While the entire plan for executing a peak can be quite complex, in this section we’re mainly interested in the overload requirements for this phase. The very end of this phase is characterized by reductions in both volume and intensity, thus the overload principle takes a major back seat to fatigue management. Until this time, however, the peaking phase has distinct and important overload requirements. Since one of the most important functions of the peaking phase is to prepare the athlete for the heaviest of loads; the heaviest of loads must be presented. In the case of the peaking phase, the overload threshold for intensity is above 85% 1RM. It is only above that threshold that the particular kind of instability that comes with maximal lifting presents itself. To be specific, when training for a 3-5 rep range in the 75%-85% range, the submaximal forces required allow some leeway with technique and particularly core (abdominal and lower back) tightness. The walkout can be less than economical, as the lifter has sufficient energy and stability to correct footing as an afterthought. In maximal lifting, any non-trivial lack of tightness or setup can immediately cost pounds of force production by misaligning joint angles and requiring the muscles to work from more poorly leveraged positions. In addition, the setup must be as economical as possible so as to minimize the amount of energy spent on it, and thus saved for the lift. In a 3-5 rep lift, this bit of energy Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 83 is largely inconsequential. In the maximal lift, it can make or break a PR attempt. There is no way to practice for the maximal lifts other than to actually use near-maximal lifts in training; above 85% 1RM, in the 1-3 repetition range per set. The volume threshold for the peaking phase is very low; the lowest of any major phase. This requirement stems from two reasons High volume training alters the nervous system to execute numerous submaximal contractions, directly interfering with its ability to execute the single, maximal contractions required for best 1RM performances. The weights being lifted are so heavy, fatigue must be kept very low so as to allow the lifter the capacity to execute the needed lifts. Fatigue also has effects on technique execution, which can make or break a peaking phase lift. The volume recommendation for the peaking phase is lower even that then strength phase, and will look something like only a few sets per session of 1-3 reps on the main lifts for most lifters. As for progression, the volume of the phase will remain mostly constant, and the intensity will progress in small increments through the phase (until the taper begins). This slow progression allows the lifter to start at reasonable poundages and work up to limit weights over the weeks. It can capitalize on the technical improvements under limit weights that are learned during this phase, allowing such progressions to occur smoothly as capability to execute near-max lifts slowly improves. Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 84 5. ) T H E P S YC H O L O G Y O F O V E R L O A D There may be something to be said for the psychological variables involved in training with the overload principle in mind. In particular, the expectation of difficulty in applying this principle consistently. For best results in powerlifting training, overload mandates that we regularly lift weights that we’ve never lifted before for reps we’ve never lifted before. As you get stronger, this process can be downright scary. When you squat more than 405lbs, the normal gym 45lb barbell starts to bend... just sitting in the rack, as if waiting for you to make your next move. You think about how hard and crushing your last week of training was, and how you barely made it out in one piece, and then you have this weight... 10lbs more than last week, staring you down with the cold, emotionless glance of steel. It can be a very tough endeavor to Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 85 consistently come in, read your program and be OK with the idea that you’re risking injury and ego, singing up for a considerable amount of discomfort, and still executing the plan. What’s worse is that the kind of PRs that constitute most of powerlifting training are rep PRs, largely between 3 and 10 reps depending on the phase of training. It’s easy to get psyched up for a max single, but for an 8RM that’s only 10lbs more than last week? Even still, getting psyched up for too many workouts in a row can wear down your psychological drive, so the only real choice is to fundamentally accept the idea that this type of risk, discomfort, and tenacity is simply a part of the sport, not to be worked around or avoided. And people try, some try quite hard to avoid having to progressively make training harder with unplanned deloads, only lifting when feeling great, cutting off extra volume, or replacing overloading assistance work with easier options. Those are all fine ideas, but they simply won’t get you the best results. The only way to get those is to go through that cold steel glance and get the needed work done. Nothing less, nothing more. That’s how the strongest lifters have been getting stronger for decades... without Facebook or YouTube or Instagram... by slow and steady pushes out of the comfort zone and into the maximal threshold, over long periods of time. U N D E R - A P P L I C AT I O N O F O V E R L O A D 1. ) N OT E N O U G H I N T E N S I T Y A N D VO LU M E Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 86 I N S U F F I C I E N T VO LU M E In order to benefit from training the most, the application of overload instructs us to train near our Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV). To be explained in complete detail in the chapter on Fatigue Management, MRV is essentially the highest amount of training volume that a lifter can recover from given a certain set of circumstances. In order to get the maximum benefits from training, normal training volumes need to be substantially close to that figure. In plain terms, just going in and showing off with heavy weights doesn’t constitute best training practice. Yes, heavy weights must be lifted, but the volume of training must be high as well in order for gains to be made in the most rapid manner. It’s not good enough just to do a set or two of the main lift per week and be done with it. Multiple sets and exercise are usually required for most lifters to maximize adaptations. If you’re doing too few sets, you’re actually mostly testing your abilities rather than overloading to improve them. There are numerous currently popular programs that underload volume to a significant enough extent to merit mention. A primary example, 5-3- 1 is an excellent program for beginner lifters, but the low volumes of the program are simply inappropriate for most intermediate and advanced lifters. Those who have been training for more than 2-3 years have likely developed an MRV that’s much higher than the training prescription of a program like 5-3-1 and would greatly benefit from increasing their weekly volume of training by adding more sets to the existing structure. Some Westside derivative programs are excellent for training to compete in powerlifting equipment. These programs are low volume for a very good reason: the heavier the loads, the lower the MRV tends to be for Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 87 any given session, week, or mesocycle. If you’re squatting 1000+lbs in training, there are only so many sets of that you’re going to be able to sustain over the course of training, and it’s not that many... perhaps as low as one to three top sets per week at those intensities. The problem is not with these programs per se, but their utilization by raw lifters. Raw lifters don’t experience nearly the relative intensities that equipped lifters do and can thus concomitantly recover and benefit from higher volumes. Using equipped powerlifting programs for raw training is thus usually not the best approach. INSUFFICIENT INTENSITY Not only does volume need to be high, but intensity as well. The minimum functional intensities for the three main adaptations sought in powerlifting training can be summed up as follows: Hypertrophy Minimum Intensity: 60% 1RM Basic Strength Minimum Intensity: 75% 1RM Peaking Minimum Intensity: 85% (developing technical prowess with near-maximal loads) Those are average figures, so not every session needs to meet or exceed them, but most should and the average session must. If your hypertrophy assistance work for triceps is sets of 30 reps on cable pushdowns and that happens to be 40% of your 1RM, you’re not getting the maximum hypertrophic effect. If your strength work has you mostly lifting 65% loads at high velocities, you’re not getting the most out of it. If you never go above 85% 1RM in the weeks leading up to a powerlifting meet, Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 88 your technical mastery and neurological preparedness for maximal loads will be sub-par and you’re likely to be less stable under your highest attempts and generally underperform. Most powerlifters don’t have a problem with the latter two overload thresholds (strength and peaking), but many violate overload for the intensity of hypertrophy work. True hypertrophy work is very overloading, and looks a heck more like sets of 8 in the squat than it does like sets of 25 in the leg extension. If you’re doing the latter, there had better be a very good extraneous reason for it. 2. ) E XC E S S I V E S P E E D WO R K As mentioned earlier, the sport of Powerlifting is perhaps the biggest misnomer of all sport names. Power is the product of high forces and velocities. But in powerlifting, velocity is neither judged in the scoring nor relevant to performance. No matter how fast you’d like to move the bar, maximal lifts move very slowly... their velocity is low. Because powerlifting is actually a low-velocity sport, it probably should be named “Forcelifting,” as testing higher forces is the name of the game, and the lifter with the highest forces, velocity be damned, wins every time. Since we’re stuck with the name, we can’t make too big a gripe about that, but we can spot some substandard training methods that conflate the demands of the sport. Speed work is one such training method, and its use in powerlifting training is greatly overvalued, though losing ground consistently since the raw revolution of the last several years. Maximal intent to move (MIM) is a term that describes how hard a Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 89 lifter pushes or pulls the bar. With a true maximal intent, both the performance of a lift in competition and the benefits to physiology in training are maximized. A sound program should recommend that most main training lifts are moved with maximum intent. However, the bar load still mostly determines velocity, as you’re only going to move 85% so fast. Speed work describes not the MIM, but rather a purposeful use of lighter weights in order to develop movement velocity, which hypothetically somehow transfers to enhanced performances with competition-heavy weights. The problem for speed work is two-fold. Firstly, MIM accomplishes all of the neural and fiber-type alterations the speed work does, so any argument for speed work cannot rest on those benefits. Secondly, speed work knowingly decreases intensity overload, while MIM does not. So if the performance transfer of speed work is no higher than MIM but intensity overload is violated by employing it, should we discard speed work altogether? For powerlifting, very likely. Many lifters have benefitted greatly from programs that incorporate speed days, but that is largely due to the fact that speed days both lower intensity and volume of training (almost no one does 10 sets of 5 for speed). This lowered volume and intensity assist the program effect by acting as light sessions to enhance fatigue management and recovery. More recovery can absolutely translate to better performances given other elements of proper programming are in place. The verdict on speed work is this: you can absolutely do it as a result of doing MIM with light-day loads to manage fatigue, but it’s almost certainly not worth doing for the development of high submaximal velocities or for some other form of what amounts to being its own sake. Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 90 3. ) A S S I S TA N C E W O R K T H AT V I O L AT E S O V E R L O A D The purpose of assistance work is very straightforward. After main lift work is done, assistance work presents more volume and intensity with the goal of stimulating gains in size and/or strength. That’s right, outside of rehabilitative or preventative training modalities (which are not covered under primary sport training and should be overseen or programmed by a physical therapist or athletic training), assistance lifts are done to get you bigger and/or stronger. Overload is a must for both pursuits, and its violation can interfere with the effectiveness of assistance work itself and thus the program at large. Two general issues arise with the selection of assistance work modalities, volumes, and intensities: Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 91 A. ) C H O O S I N G H O M E O S TAT I C A L LY D I S R U P T I V E E X E R C I S E S If the purpose of assistance work is to get bigger and/or stronger, then overload is a must. Overload is satisfied most with exercises that tend to disrupt homeostasis the most... exercises that present the most overload generally cause the most beneficial adaptation. As a general rule, the average homeostatic disruption ability per unit of work of exercises is as follows, from most to least disruptive: Barbell Movements Dumbbell Movements Cable Movements Machine Movements In addition, compound movements tend to disrupt homeostasis better than isolation movements, so that’s a consideration as well. When choosing assistance work, so long as you don’t exceed your MRV, the most homeostatically disruptive and thus overload-generating movements should be at the top of the list. Some of the best assistance work for the quads is close stance high bar squatting, which beats leg extensions almost every time. One of the best assistance moves for the chest is wide grip benching, which beats the pec deck machine almost every time, and the one of the best assistance moves for the hamstring is the stiff-legged deadlift, which beats the seated leg curl machine almost every time. Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 92 If you’re nearing MRV and still need targeted assistance moves (near MRV but your triceps are toast, need more chest work still, for example), you can use the isolation moves and the less homeostatically disruptive moves with better results (due to not exceeding MRV) than the compound barbell and dumbbell basics, but that’s a rare case. The first- glance recommendation for assistance work should almost always be with the tried and true homeostatically disruptive moves. B. ) AVO I D I N G OV E R LOA D - S U P P R E S S I N G M O DA L I T I E S While some assistance moves that are not the most disrupting still have some use due to their lower effects on MRV and fatigue, still other moves have no discernable use in powerlifting training, and, bluntly, are almost always a waste of time. Unstable training (either via Bosu ball or another unstable surface or via vibrating or oscillating bars) greatly reduces overload to the point of dipping far below the threshold for any hypothetical adaptations. Your nervous system focuses on making sure you don’t fall rather than on summating huge forces that produce strong lifts and high overloads. Additionally, these modalities don’t seem to confer any benefits to maximal lifting, and seemingly only prepare you to excel at... using the modalities themselves. The best thing about a Tsunami Bar? It wobbles up and down. That’s about it. No beneficial training effect to mention, and a whopper of an overload killer! Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 93 4. ) P O O R B E S T- E F F O R T T R A C K I N G Overload is of utmost importance to the training process. In order for training adaptations to be maximized, overload must occur in both volume and intensity. In order to present an overload, we must be sure that the average current effort is both within the maximal threshold and greater than recent past efforts. Planning an effort within the maximal intensity threshold isn’t terribly difficult. If a weight feels very heavy, it’s probably within the threshold. With the knowledge of the basic minimum intensities and a cellphone calculator, a double-check takes almost no time at all. Planning volumes is a bit tougher, but if you have been training long enough, you know about how many total sets and reps it takes to get the job done. Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 94 On the other hand, meeting the “recent previous stimuli” condition of overload requires a more intimate knowledge and record-keeping of recent past volumes and intensities. How many sets of squats were done in the peak microcycle of the last mesocycle? Was it 4 or 5? If memory is wrong, a quite drastic and meaningful failure to present volume overload may occur. Did you squat 350 the last time you went heavy or was it 355? Did that bar weigh 45lbs or 55? And assistance moves? Forget about it! You and the training partners just pile the plates on the leg press until you can’t get 8 reps anymore...who knows how many sets or how much weight that was?! As you can begin to see, a lack of tracking best efforts can present some problems to meeting overload. If your best in the squat was actually 15lbs higher than you thought, your next 2 or 3 workouts might be lacking in the second overload condition as you use weights that are too light. Especially on assistance moves, it’s absolutely worth it to track best efforts so that training can be planned to produce an overload. If effort tracking is a common practice, it becomes difficult to make sure that a steady overload is being presented. Tracking is almost always a good idea, but tracking weights doesn’t mean you have to present an overload literally every time you’re not deloading. Some more experienced lifters might have a slew of injuries which need quite a bit of working around and managing. Planning to overload might be replaced with a sporadic deload if the injury is not cooperating on that particular day. Still other times, a planned deload might be replaced with an overloading session if the injury site is feeling good that day. For lifters training close to their career limits of achievement, days on which high fatigue is present may call for deloads, as true overloads demand more and more ideal circumstances to be Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 95 attainable. It’s not every day you can squat 900+, so if you’re supposed to do that but you feel very beat up, a deload is probably better than missing the weight several times in a row and risking injury. This kind of training by feel is not the best possible scenario, but sometimes it’s the only realistic one. Training “by feel” should be reserved for advanced athletes undergoing injury management or attempting to control unexpected fatigue. Most everyone else should stick to the plan. You might not always “feel” your best, but most of those times, an overload is quite possible if the rest of your program is reasonably constructed. If training by feel, a considerable amount of intrapersonal honesty comes in handy. Much “training by feel” results in moderate volumes and intensities at best because training is hard and you’re not likely to every feel like actually pushing yourself far enough. You’ve gotta admit when it’s really an injury concern or unexpected fatigue rather than just sneaky laziness. If you can avoid it, don’t train by feel, and to the extent that you have to, be honest with yourself. O V E R - A P P L I C AT I O N O F O V E R L O A D When the overload principle is taken too far and applied to excessively, the training process can be significantly hampered. Because an over- application of overload often results in an uncontrolled accumulation of fatigue, many of the ideas discussed here will be revisited in the later chapter on Fatigue Management. Though in this section, more acute negatives of too much overload are given more attention, versus the more chronic negatives of too much overload that will be the focus of under-application of fatigue management later. Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 96 1. ) T R A I N I N G T O FA I L U R E T O O O F T E N Training to failure has one advantage, but two disadvantages to the powerlifter, and on the net balance is not a recommended training tool. Advantage: Training to failure might slightly increase the amount of muscle grown from any single training session, and might have similar effects on strength, though the net balance of the research on this is still unclear as of this writing. Disadvantage 1: For the same amount of volume, training to failure is incredibly fatiguing. While it only increases muscle growth in a session by a small margin, its effect on fatigue is disproportionately high. This means that the chances of having a good next training session (or even next exercise in the same session) by recovering on time and performing well are much reduced. Disadvantage 2: Training to failure, especially with heavy loads, likely increases injury risks. This occurs because movement stability is highly compromised at or near muscular failure. This instability with heavy loads can cause a increased chance for acute injury. Additionally, missing a squat (and a bench, to a lesser extent) can be a downright disaster, even with the right spotters and safety systems. On the net balance, training to failure seems to be a possibly useful tool at certain times for the bodybuilder, especially if lighter weights and machines are used to enhance safety. For the powerlifter, training to failure is of much limited use and does not garner high recommendation. Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 97 2. ) M A K I N G E A C H W O R KO U T H A R D E R T H A N THE NEXT ON PRINCIPLE As the volume and intensity of training increase, so does the fatigue. Volume is an especially high contributor to fatigue, and a high enough fatigue level, among other things, will make the powerlifter less able to lift as heavy as they are capable. This presents a distinct problem, as the application of overload seems to itself cause the later inability to present an overload. In order to continue to be able to present an overload in most workouts, some workouts must be intentionally non-overloading so as fatigue can dissipate. Formally known as the principle of Fatigue Management, the precise way in which fatigue is kept in check via training is going to take the whole next chapter to cover. For the purposes of this section, it’s sufficient to state that in any logically designed plan, not all workouts will be successively overloading, and that some workouts will be intentionally non-overloading in order to manage fatigue. This structure can take the form of every other workout being a lighter or less voluminous day (Westside, for example), or of intensity increasing through the week only if volume is decreasing to counterbalance fatigue (undulating periodization, various “Eastern-European squat routines” such as Smolov, and the like). These programs are not violating overload simply because they are not presenting it in EACH workout. But if the larger program is viewed, it presents steady overload within the timeframe of weeks. If you attempt to make each successive workout more overloading that the next as a rule, you’ll quickly sum up enough fatigue that this Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 98 very structure of training will become self-extinguishing and thus unsustainable. 3. ) P E R F O R M I N G N O N - P R O G R A M M E D “ I N S A N I T Y ” W O R KO U T S Every now and again, your best training partners show up on the same training day, and everyone is feeling good. Your lifts are moving fast, so the group decides to abandon the current workout (or simply continue after it’s complete) and do an “insanity day” where very pronounced increases in volume and/or intensity occur. Such changes can include, but are not limited to: Multiple sets of high rep walking lunges Drop sets of squats Maxing out when not planned Going “rep for rep” with a training partner Using the verbatim weights of a stronger training partner What must be admitted off hand is that such workouts are definitely fun as well as very overloading and absolutely effective to incur adaptations. But a problem arises; where do you go from there? If a workout is miles harder than the ones you typically consider challenging to recover from, it’s going to leave you quite less able to get your normal sessions in during the following week. Additionally, NONE of those sessions will now be overloading, at it might be until the next mesocycle that you’re recovered enough and have lost the adaptive Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 99 resistance enough to once again begin to benefit from “normal” (read: sustainable) hard workouts. A crude analogy to this would be something like having the most delicious and sought-after item in a taste-testing of a good chef ’s work first. After you bite into that exquisite piece of sushi, crème brulee or steak tartar, the rest of the meal will simply not be as enticing. Not nearly as enticing and enjoyable as it could have been had you saved the best for last. And that’s the real problem with “insanity workouts.” Even if they fit the general plan (I’m not so sure what high rep lunges are really going to benefit for a powerlifter), they don’t save the best for last, and can render a good timeframe of future attempts at overload ineffective. Because they body’s systems only have a finite window of adaptation, “insanity” workouts can often match or exceed that window (in which case most energy is spent simply recovering from the workout and not adapting). Thus the benefit of the workout is capped, but its effect on making future overload difficult is not nearly so. This method violates part 2 of the overload principle definition, and should thus be mostly avoided. If you’re dying to do one of these workouts, save it for your last workout before a deload. This will mitigate most of the effects on fatigue and adaptive resistance. SUMMARY With all the technicalities and physiological definitions aside, the overload principle is remarkably easy to define in common terms. Lift hard, and over time, lift harder. Make sure your volumes and intensities are within their maximal thresholds, and take baby steps to increase them over time. There are 50 million ways to avoid applying the overload Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 100 principle, and all of them are easier. But most powerlifters don’t have a problem with this principle in any grand sense because let’s be honest... the process of lifting harder and heavier is why most of us are in this sport to begin with. An often bigger challenge is for powerlifters to resist going too hard at the wrong times, and to deal with the fatigue that comes with overload training. Luckily, that’s the very topic of our next chapter. Key Points Overload is the degree of homeostatic disruption caused by training. In order to drive adaptations, the training must significantly stress and strain the underlying physiology Overload can be generated through training variables such as volume, intensity, frequency, exercise selection, and proximity to muscle failure The maximum recoverable volume is the highest range of total training the athlete can tolerate while still being to recover and make positive adaptations Powerlifters should generally be training within their maximum recoverable volume, however should also be aware that adjusting any of their training modalities will come at the expense of recovery and/or the other modalities. Ex: adding hours of additional mobility work while keeping the same training load will come at the expense of time spent recovering Powerlifters should seek to optimize their maximum recoverable volume by prioritizing highly specific training and minimizing, if not removing, nonspecific training Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 101 SOURCES & FURTHER READING Overload Defined Principles and Practice of Resistance Training Science and Practice of Strength Training Periodization 5th Edition Theory and Methodology of Training Training principles: evaluation of modes and methods of resistance training — a coaching perspective The Concept of MRV Principles and Practice of Resistance Training Peaking and Tapering for Optimal Performance Resistance exercise overtraining and overreaching. Neuroendocrine responses Fundamentals of resistance training: progression and exercise prescription Resistance exercise volume affects myofibrillar protein synthesis and anabolic signalling molecule phosphorylation in young men Exercise type and volume alter signaling pathways regulating skeletal muscle glucose uptake and protein synthesis Dose Response of Training Factors Influencing Strength Dose Response of Training Factors Influencing Strength Periodization 5th Edition Theory and Methodology of Training Principles and Practice of Resistance Training Strength Applications of the Dose-Response For Muscular Strength Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 102  Development: A Review of Meta-Analytic Efficacy and Reliability For Designing Training Prescription Quantitative Analysis of Single vs. Multiple-Set Programs In Resistance Training Muscular Adaptations in Low-Versus High-Load Resistance Training: A Meta-Analysis The Role of Resistance Exercise Intensity on Muscle Fibre Adaptations Effects of Low- Versus High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men Dose Response of Training Factors Influencing Hypertrophy Dose Response of Training Factors Influencing Hypertrophy Single vs. Multiple Sets of Resistance Exercise For Muscle Hypertrophy: A Meta-Analysis The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to Resistance Training Is There a Minimum Intensity Threshold For Resistance Training- Induced Hypertrophic Adaptations Effect of Repetition Duration During Resistance Training on Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Does Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage Play a Role in Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Effects of Low- Versus High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men Muscular Adaptations in Low-Versus High-Load Resistance Training: A Meta-Analysis The Role of Resistance Exercise Intensity on Muscle Fibre Adaptations Chapte r N o. 4 Sci en t if ic P r in c ip les o f St ren g t h Tra in in g P 103