Some people respond well to high intensity or high volume training on a regular basis. Even hardgainers may occasionally be able to make rapid gains in strength and size through the use of high intensity or high volume training. The problem is that the same training that causes rapid gains can transition into training that causes a sticking point. I believe that one of the most deceiving things that can happen to anyone involved in weight training is that they try high intensity or high volume training and experience rapid gains for a short time. This leads to the false conclusion that training that works for the short term must also work for the long term. However, what may be effective for a few weeks or months may suddenly stop working and backfire in the context of long term training. This is discussed in this article which is taken from the 8th chapter of the book, Individualized Training Strategies For Hardgainers.
Chapter 9
Potential Deceptions When Using High Intensity And High Volume
There will always be some people who are able to maintain steady long term progress using high volume or high intensity training. These are the people who should use these types of training on regular basis. Other people can benefit from high intensity or high volume training for a short time, but they really don’t derive steady long term benefits from either type of training. You must be aware of the difference between training methods that give you short term benefits as opposed to long term benefits.
It is easy for hardgainers to get sucked into training methods that cause sudden gains in muscle mass. A sudden gain in muscle mass is not a bad thing, but sometimes the same training method that seemed to work so good will also lead to a sudden sticking point and a training plateau. These types of methods can push your body into a state of high alert and cause quick gains, but the ability to keep gaining comes to a halt, and the gains often seem to evaporate.
Unfortunately, the idea of quick gains can be addicting, and anytime you see evidence of quick gains, it becomes easy to buy into the idea that you have finally hit the jackpot in terms of a training system that will produce massive results on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, the quick gains are often a temporary phenomenon and you must learn to evaluate a training system on the basis of what it can do for you over the course of a year or more instead of weeks or months.
Six Circumstances That Can Produce Temporary Quick Gains
Quick gains tend to occur under six circumstances that are somewhat temporary. You need to be aware of this or you will constantly be captivated with a training system that once brought quick gains while overlooking the fact that it quit working.
The first situation in which quick gains can occur is in the beginning stages of weight training. Even hardgainers may find that they can add five pounds to their lifts from week to week for a brief time. This may occur at some point during the first few months of training and is the result of being in the beginner stage instead of the result of using an ingenious training method.
The second situation is seasonal training. If someone lifts for three months every year, they lose strength and muscle mass during the nine month time period when they stop lifting, but they can quickly regain their strength and muscle mass when they start training again. This is not new growth, rather it is the normal ability to quickly regain old growth due to muscle memory.
The third situation is somewhat like the second. You may have been a consistent lifer, but had to take a layoff off for several months. When you started lifting again, you found that you could quickly regain what was lost. Once again, these type of quick gains are not due to a superior training system, but they are the result of muscle memory.
A fourth situation is a teenager who consistently trains with weights. When they hit a teenage growth spurt that has nothing to do with the training method they are using, they suddenly gain a lot of strength and muscle mass.
A fifth situation occurs when a more advanced lifter uses a shock routine consisting of high intensity or high volume training. While visible gains may be made for one to three weeks, the gains are often followed by a training plateau.
A sixth situation can occur if you have been using high volume training on a regular basis and suddenly cut back on the workload with low volume training. Under these circumstances, your body may super-compensate with extra strength or muscle mass for a few weeks when using low volume training. This may lead you to believe that low volume training is always superior, but it was actually the high volume training that set your body up to gain more than normal when you switched to low volume training.
Any of the six situations can cause someone to experience quick results. The problem is that a person can keep remembering the training that produced quick results while forgetting that the same training strategy isn’t working anymore. The quick results can lead to a mindset that perceives that effective training should always work quickly. However, a more realistic point of view would be to prioritize consistent gains over quick gains that quickly come to an end. Consistent gains may not occur as fast, but in the end, more progress is made.
One reason that I feel it is important to address the six situations that can produce quick gains is because high intensity and high volume training often work under all six situations that were discussed. This can be misleading and cause a person to think that high intensity or high volume training are always superior. Sometimes this is true in the context of short term gains, but not necessarily in the context of a long term approach that ultimately leads to more overall gains.
While there are some people who can consistently keep gaining using high intensity or high volume training, this isn’t true of most hardgainers, and they need a different approach to training. They may be able to periodically use high volume or high intensity training, but not constantly.
The true hardgainer has physiological characteristics that must be matched with specific training elements if they want to succeed. There are no quick fix solutions, but the consistent application of precise training will pay off for those who are patient and diligent to apply it. This type of training will be discussed in the next article. Best of training to you.
Note:
Refer back to the previous seven articles if you want to read the series of chapters from Individual Training Strategies For Hardgainers that are lead up articles to this article.
Hardgainers Part 1: Four Types
Hardgainers Part 2: Physiological Characteristics
Hardgainers Part 3: Conditional Hardgainers
Hardgainers Part 4: Intensity Responsive
Hardgainers Part 5: Volume Responsive
Hardgainers Part 6: Volume Responsive Training
Hardgainers Part 7: 8 x 8 Training For Volume Responsive
