Overtraining

[samurai69]

when we first moved to portugal we slept on a sofa bed, after 1 night we piut matress on floor and TBh its one of the more comfortable sleeps i have had


.

[Al]

Miss my single futon on wooden pallettes

[Cookie]

Just found

[Cookie]

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/cardi ... system.htm

[Melas Zomos]

Great articles, this thread is a big help.
btw, sucked it up today and ordered a mattress....hopefully one small piece of the puzzle is set.

[Cookie]

Great articles, this thread is a big help.
btw, sucked it up today and ordered a mattress....hopefully one small piece of the puzzle is set.

Best board on the internet for informative articles & such like

Then again I`m biased

Which mattress did you order?

[Melas Zomos]

Best board on the internet for informative articles & such like
Then again I`m biased

Yes, it is definitely up their. Too much info really , having trouble keeping up....

Which mattress did you order?

Went with the Ascend air mattress after much research and many calls.
http://www.habitatfurnishings.com/air_bed.html
It is an air bed with a layer of latex, and memory foam. I get 180 days to try it out, if I don't like it then it only costs me $75 to send it back. It came down to the Ascend and the Natural latex by the same company. I just got one twin long, if it works out I will get another and put them together to make a king Little more than I wanted to spend, but if it helps then I would pay double, besides getting a ton of overtime at job 1 right now so the timing is good.

[Cookie]

Best board on the internet for informative articles & such like
Then again I`m biased

Yes, it is definitely up their. Too much info really , having trouble keeping up....

Which mattress did you order?

Went with the Ascend air mattress after much research and many calls.
http://www.habitatfurnishings.com/air_bed.html
It is an air bed with a layer of latex, and memory foam. I get 180 days to try it out, if I don't like it then it only costs me $75 to send it back. It came down to the Ascend and the Natural latex by the same company. I just got one twin long, if it works out I will get another and put them together to make a king Little more than I wanted to spend, but if it helps then I would pay double, besides getting a ton of overtime at job 1 right now so the timing is good.

Bump for later, too tired to read it all.

[samurai69]

http://jasonferruggia.com/accumulation- ... rtraining/

Accumulation and Intensification: How Build Muscle Like Clockwork with CONTROLLED Overtraining
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44 arnold schwarzenegger trapezius upright row Accumulation and Intensification: How Build Muscle Like Clockwork with CONTROLLED OvertrainingBy Nick Nilsson

Overtraining is NOT evil. In fact, overtraining can be exactly what you need to achieve continuous and rapid results in your training and breakthrough muscle-building plateaus!

So first, what IS overtraining? Overtraining is, most simply, training too much. Your body is unable to recover from the volume or frequency of training and begins to break down. You not only lose motivation to train, you become more susceptible to injury and illness, and you may even start to go backwards in your training, getting smaller and weaker on almost a daily basis.

So how can overtraining possibly be good for you?

I’ll tell you.

It all begins with the incredible adaptive power of your body. As you become more advanced in weight training, you will generally notice that you cannot make consistent gains for a long period of time on one training system. Your body quickly adapts to whatever training system you’re using and hits a plateau. To get around this, it’s usually recommended that you change your program every three to six weeks.

The question now is how to use this adaptive ability to your ADVANTAGE.

It’s really quite simple. You gradually build up to a state of temporary overtraining, then, when you’re overtrained and your adaptive processes are working to their fullest capacity for recovery, you back off. This backing off results in what is called overcompensation.

And overcompensation is where the REAL results are.

On a normal program, you work a bodypart, it becomes temporarily weaker, then becomes stronger as it overcompensates so you can lift more next time. What a normal program does on a small, local basis, this targeted overtraining does on a full body, systemic basis.

Sound good? We’re not done. Now we’re going to harness the power of overtraining by using what I call “Controlled Overtraining.” This idea goes by many other names but the core concept remains the same.

First, though, here’s an eye-opener for you…most programs have plateaus built right in…

With “normal” training programs that don’t take your body’s response to workload into account, you can get into either of two outcomes, neither of which is completely desirable in the long run. They’ll work in the short term because they DO spend some time in the optimal training zone, but then something happens…

In the graph below, you’ll see two lines. The top graph line is “Too Much Volume/Intensity.” The bottom graph line is “Not Enough Volume/Intensity.” Both hypothetical training programs spend time in the optimal training zone and both will get you results for awhile…

undertaining1 Accumulation and Intensification: How Build Muscle Like Clockwork with CONTROLLED Overtraining

In the top line, the problem happens when the program DOESN’T PULL BACK. You hit overtraining and your body stops getting results. The usual response? Add even MORE volume and/or intensity. This can result in chronic overtraining and hitting a MAJOR plateau in your training.

In the bottom line, the problem happens when your body adapts and you DON’T INCREASE volume or intensity…i.e. you keep doing what you’re doing. This is chronic UNDER-training and it’ll put a stop to your results, too.

Accumulation and Intensification

The core program stucturing principle you’ll be putting to work in Controlled Overtraining is known by many names…”Accumulation and Intensification” and “Dual Factor Theory” are two of the most common.

As far as this base concept goes, I definitely won’t pretend that I created it…it’s been around for a LONG time in various forms and has been used and talked about by many top coaches and trainers such as Charles Poliquin, Charlie Francis, Jason Ferruggia, and many Eastern Bloc coaches.

There is a tremendous amount of research on the subject and I could give you a HUGELY detailed physiological explanation of how it all works but I have a feeling you’d rather just know how it’s going to build muscle on you!

So let’s get right into it…

For a period of a few weeks, you will increase workload by increasing training volume (number of sets for each bodypart) and decreasing rest periods between sets until you get to the point at or near overtraining. This is “accumulation” as you’re accumulating workload and fatigue on the body and demanding more of it than that is currently able to recover fully from.

When you REACH that point, you then back off and dramatically reduce the training volume, doing fewer sets, while also increasing rest periods between sets and increasing the amount of weight you’re lifting (i.e. intensity). This is the “intensification” part of things and it’s where the REAL growth happens.

Here’s what it looks like graphical form…the white area in the in middle is the “optimal” zone for muscle growth. As you can see, you’re spending a LOT of time there with this program!

overtraining1 Accumulation and Intensification: How Build Muscle Like Clockwork with CONTROLLED Overtraining
When you begin the program, you gradually accumulate workload and training volume, moving more and more towards overtraining. This training “on the edge” is where the REAL results are – you won’t get anywhere if you stay too far away from it!

At the end of the “accumulation” phase, you’ve hit Overtraining. THAT is when we back off and reduce the training volume, increase rest periods and start using heavier weights. This “intensification” will gradually move you towards “undertraining” as your body adapts to the reduced workload.

This is followed by a deloading phase where you pull WAY back on your training and allow your body to more fully recover before you start ramping back up in the next training cycle.

Think of a car going up a hill with the gas pedal down. As you come to the top, you’ve got the pedal floored but you’re not going very fast…you’re overtraining the engine, so to speak.

Now you go over the top and start heading down the other side. If you keep that pedal floored, you’re going to start going VERY fast! Your body/engine is no longer overtrained by the steep grade but it’s still pushing just as hard.

THAT is the power of this type of training. You’re going to systematically push your body’s gas pedal to the point where you have it floored and aren’t really going anywhere, then you’re going to pull back and let it ROAR forward. The results you get from this type of overtraining and rebounding can be HUGE and THAT is what each of these four programs will do for you.

“Accumulation and Intensification” is the Cure For Plateaus…

When put to work in a targeted, organized plan, this pattern of loading and unloading can deliver serious long-term results in muscle and strength. This type of training really does hold the key to avoiding plateaus because of how it works WITH your body’s natural responses to training rather than fighting them.

In my new book “Mad Scientist Muscle,” what I’ve done is taken this core framework of “controlled overtraining and rebound” and created a number of training cycles using THE most effective muscle-and-strength-building techniques and training session structures I’ve read about or come up with myself in my 20+ years in the gym.

Each program is packed with powerful training techniques designed to build MASSIVE muscle and all structured on this type of volume/intensity-driven format.

Each of these programs attack muscle growth on a SYSTEMIC level…you’re going to be using the adaptive power of your entire body as a system rather than trying to grow bodyparts in isolation.

Click HERE to learn more and grab your copy now!
*********

Jason here. Just wanted to chime in and let you guys know that Nick’s new program is kick ass and he and I are in full agreement on a great number of topics. Any of you who follow my stuff know that I am a big fan of accumulation and intensification and use it extensively in my programs. Check out Nick’s new, Mad Scientist Muscle before this Friday, Sept 17th at midnight and save twenty bucks on the regular price of the program.

[Cookie]

Went with the Ascend air mattress after much research and many calls.
http://www.habitatfurnishings.com/air_bed.html
It is an air bed with a layer of latex, and memory foam. I get 180 days to try it out, if I don't like it then it only costs me $75 to send it back. It came down to the Ascend and the Natural latex by the same company. I just got one twin long, if it works out I will get another and put them together to make a king Little more than I wanted to spend, but if it helps then I would pay double, besides getting a ton of overtime at job 1 right now so the timing is good.

So how you getting on with the new mattress?

[Melas Zomos]

3 nights in, so far I think it is a winner, but we will see. I have had so many bad ones that I am skeptical on everything and I don't want to jinx what looks like a good thing.
Seems like I have been sleeping better, the aches and pains seem diminished, energy levels are slowly changing, but I am banged up from a match over the weekend so I can't make a definitive judgment quite yet.
Bolted a piece of 3/4" furniture grade ply to the bottom bed frame to help it from racking a bunch. Not perfect, but an upgrade. Ultimately I think the perfect, perhaps not feasible, solution would be to buy 2 twin longs each with its own frame and butt them together that way their is no movement whatsoever if someone need to get up out of necessity.

[Cookie]

Little thinking on this subject today after an incident at work over the weekend.

Long story short, guy gets bit pretty bad on arm by a pit bull. Leaving a pretty nasty wound which could require plastic surgery.

We then gets talking about how dogs have affected us all this past few years with either bites or breaking the sound barrier running out of the way. Common response from everyone was the mental effect its had on everyone with stress levels being quite high for sometime after a bite or close call to the point of being very jumpy.

So I took that a little further & wondered about the stress levels that are reported to those serving or having served on the front line. These are well documented even though soldiers have been shot for desertion when in fact could quite well have been stress / shell shock.

If the mind can have such a profound effect on the body & its systems after stress levels have been raised how much could this effect an individual who is quite stressed mentally on a day to day basis & their efforts to make progress in the gym & on the field of competition?

Looking back to my last two coal race runs I put an enormous amount of stress / pressure onto myself through injuries & whether I would make the starting line the first time. Then during this last race an enormous amount of pressure through fear of another injury happening so close to race day as what happened the previous year, whether I had done enough training & would I physically hold together when push came to shove & I had to exert so much physical pressure on "suspect" areas & the body as a whole?

I was so stressed out / nervous this year I was on the verge on throwing up on the start line.

So it would seem that the mental side of things can be far more damaging & calorie sapping than any program out there.