One Choice or Multiple Choice Workout Results?
When I train for strength, I want to train in such a way that I create conditions that will give my body one choice; the choice being to get stronger. If I create training conditions that give my body multiple choices for how it would like to respond, it may make the wrong choice. Many people assume that when they use resistance training with either, weights, body weight, or bands, that their body will automatically choose to become stronger. I certainly wish this were true, but experience shows that it is not. When you use resistance training, or any type of exercise, you can easily create conditions that give your body many choices that it can make in response to a workout. It’s important to realize that strength is only one of the choices that your body can make. Let’s look at five choices that your body can make in response to a workout:
- Your body can become stronger.
- Your body can remain at the same strength level.
- Your body can lose strength.
- Your body can gain endurance
- Your body can gain the ability to move faster.
If you are using resistance training, it is likely that you want your body to choose choice number 1, which is to become stronger. What needs to be understood is that your body does not always choose to become stronger and often chooses options 2 through 5 on the list of choices. Your body will make a choice according to whatever it thinks will make your training the easiest.
Your Body Adapts According to the Best Way it Can Make a Training Stress Easier
If your body thinks that becoming stronger is the best way to make a workout stress as easy as possible, then it will become stronger. Becoming stronger can make a weight easier to lift and this is exactly what your body wants in regard to a primary reason for becoming stronger. However, if you workout in such a way to make your body think that staying at the same strength level is the best way to make a workout stress as easy as possible, then it will stay at the same strength level. If your body thinks that becoming weaker, or gaining endurance or speed is the best way to make the workout as easy as possible, then your body will adapt according whatever it thinks will make the workout stress as easy as possible. This simply means that your body will take the path of least resistance, which is the easiest path, and it will do so every time; always, always, always.
You can workout harder without become stronger. You can workout longer without becoming stronger. You can sweat more, strain more and psych yourself more, but that doesn’t mean that your body will think that becoming stronger will be the best choice to make the workout stress as easy as possible. Since I believe this to be true, the objective is to figure out when your body would want to choose strength as the best option for making a workout stress easier. At the same time, do as much as possible to eliminate workout variables that cause the body make choices 2 through 5 as the best choice.
Individual Differences
Some people are naturally anabolic in their physiological makeup. This simply means that when they workout, there may be many forms of exercise that cause their body to choose to become more muscular and stronger as its number one choice Most distance runners do not develop large muscular legs from running, but occasionally you will find a distance runner who develops large calves and thighs from distance running. Why is this true? The answer is because their leg muscles are naturally anabolic and easily choose strength and muscle size. The same holds true for endurance cycling, skating, or skiing as most people don’t develop strength and muscle size from endurance training, but a few do. However the rest of us who don’t belong to those few will be much better off designing a resistance training program that will not give our bodies’ the option of favoring an endurance adaptation at the expense of a strength adaptation.
Some people may argue that they have done long hard weight training workouts that require great endurance and have obtained phenomenal results in terms of becoming bigger and stronger. No one can argue with a person who has had this experience. What I want to stress is that not everyone who trains in such a manner will experience this. Such types of endurance workouts may even have negative effects on strength for a lot of people because their physiological predisposition favors an endurance adaptation or a stabilizing adaptation (staying at the same strength level) rather than a strength adaptation. Designing workouts that eliminate the tendency for an endurance adaptation and stabilizing adaptation would be wise for the majority of people. How do you avoid an endurance or stabilizing adaptation that may cancel out a strength adaptation? Here are a few guidelines:
- Avoid using more than 15 repetitions of a set of a resistance exercise.
- Do not go for the burn. The burn usually means that you are emphasizing the lactate system and emphasizing the lactate system gives the body the possible choice of favoring endurance at the expense of strength.
- When using more than 5 reps for a set of an exercise, don’t go to failure. I suggest training short of failure on all sets for strength training.
- Do strong workouts. This means training only as long as you are strong. Quit training a body part when it starts to weaken. You know when you are starting to weaken when rep speed slows down. Stop training when this happens.
- Only do sets of an exercise as long as you are strong as you were on your first set.
- If you have been doing long strenuous workouts with a long recovery time between workouts, try shorter workouts that are done more frequently.
- Read the basics of PPT for understanding precisely how to train for strength.
If you follow these guidelines, you eliminate multiple choice options that your body can make and will increase your body’s tendency to choose strength as the best option. For more information on Precision Point Training refer to the “basics of PPT” on this website, and the book, Get Stronger with Precision Point Training.