Effectiveness

[wrestlingmark]

So your goal for continued success, cycle after cycle, is to increase that range - by either decreasing the effective starting weight and/or increasing the finishing weight of the cycle.

Does this mean to increase that range from one cycle to the next cycle or to increase that range in ONE single cycle? How would this be accomplished, by strength gains. I'm not sure i'm understanding this?

Thanks,
Your Wrestling Mark
www.tnawrestling.com

 

[Conciliator]

Quote[/b] ]So your goal for continued success, cycle after cycle, is to increase that range - by either decreasing the effective starting weight and/or increasing the finishing weight of the cycle... Does this mean to increase that range from one cycle to the next cycle or to increase that range in ONE single cycle?

Specifically, he is referring to the range from one cycle to the next.  This range will increase when you become bigger and therefore stronger (as size is a factor of strength) from one cycle to the next.  For example, after you complete your first cycle, you should be bigger and, accordingly, the RMs for your second cycle will be higher. This means that the upper limit of the range has increased.

In addition, he means to be serious about strategically deconditioning the muscle so that the lower limit is exactly that, lower.  Note that the lowest effective weight for a deconditioned muscle is about 60% of the 1RM.  This means that for every 10 lbs the upper limit increases (by following HST principles and eating right), the lower limit will increase only 6 lbs (adding 4 lbs to the range).  In other words, for every 10 lbs you raise the upper limit, you will also increase the range by 4 lbs, that is, 40% of the strength increase.  For example, if you increase your strength by 30 lbs, the range will increase about 40%, or 12 lbs.

As the range increases, the jumps between workouts will be larger.  This will be beneficial as it helps in rounding weights (e.g. to 5 lbs) while still maintaining progressive load.  Further, the larger jumps will better provide a novel stimulus to the muscle, overcoming RBE and inducing hypertrophy.

By increasing the range in one single cycle (say, by realizing that you are stronger as you near the end), you do not get the benefits from larger jumps between workouts, and this simply because you have already done them (using the smaller jumps you had planned based on your "old" RMs).  It is still quite beneficial however, as you can extend the last weeks of the cycle and venture into new, higher, progressive poundages.  And come next cycle, your range will have increased as well.

 

[imported_dkm1987]

This is from one cycle to the next.

IE, say your starting weight in the 15's is 35 Lbs.
Your 5 RM is say 80 for this cycle.

The next cycle you can either
A. Increase your 5RM or
B. If you truly didn't add any strength, decrease your 15 RM starting point (by taking a longer SD) or
C. Do the exact same thing over again.

This is one reason why it's not that accurate when you guess your maxes, it's more accurate if you find your new maxes each cycle. It tells you if you are adding strength or not and how you should plan your next cycle.

I'm not saying you should retest your maxes seperately each cycle but on the RM for each rep range go ahead and test them then, this way you know what they are at pretty all times and can tell what strength changes are occuring.

Dan