Most people who lift weights crave the idea of rapid strength gains. Rapid gains are possible for people who have the type of physiology that is highly responsive to weight training when they employ a very aggressive style of high intensity training. There are lifters who have made enormous gains in a short amount of time, but what I want to emphasize is that the type of training that is best for producing rapid gains is not always the best type of training for producing consistent gains over a long period of time. Just as runners understand that that sprinting and long distance races must be run in a very different manner, lifters need to understand that going for quick gains versus long term gains will require different types of training.
Very Aggressive Training
One of the most popular methods for making rapid gains is the 5 by 5 workout consisting of 5 sets of 5 reps on basic exercises. It can be done in a very aggressive manner in order to make quick gains, or it can be done in a more systematic manner with a more conservative intensity in order to make consistent gains over a longer period of time. If you are in the beginning stages of training, and your body is highly responsive to weight training, you can engage in aggressive five by five training. You simply choose a few basic exercises such as bench presses, squat, and bent over rows, and do them for 5 sets of 5 reps. If your body is highly responsive to weight training, you may be able to add five to ten pounds each workout; it is a simple matter of adding weight to the bar each workout and pushing yourself hard enough to do 5 sets of 5 reps with the added weight. Not everyone can gain this quickly, but a small percentage of people can.
There are other forms of training that may produce rapid strength gains. Max Aita is an outstanding lifter who had the privilege of training with the Bulargarian lifters while being coached by the Bulgarian coaches; including the world renowned Ivan Abadjev. Abadjev developed a high frequency training method in which lifters would work up to a heavy single rep max lift for a given exercise in every workout. This would often be done three times per day and the same exercises were repeated every day, and sometimes in more than one workout per day.
Over 100 Pounds in 6 Weeks
When using this type of extremely aggressive training, Max tells about the rapid progress he was able to make. I am listing the rate at which Max gained strength for the front squat, which will be followed by videos where he discusses these gains.
Max’s front squat went from 363 pounds to 477 pounds in six weeks.
He trained another eight months to improve from 477 pounds to 506 pounds.
He then trained nine or more months to improve from 506 pounds to 528 pounds.
Max Aita
30 Kilos (60 Pounds) in Less Than a Week!
Max also talks about a period of time where a sore elbow kept him from doing any cleans, snatches, or front squats; all he could do was back squats. Because of this, he was instructed to stop doing the exercises that hurt his elbow and do heavy back squats up to eight times per day. When he did this, his strength went up by 30 kilos (about 65 pounds) in less than a week! How’s that for rapid gains! Even though Max used Bulgarian high frequency maximum effort training with a great deal of success, I don’t recommend it unless you are supervised by a very knowledgeable coach as it can lead to severe fatigue and injuries.
Part 1
part 2
Aggressive Training and Plateaus
I bring up this story about Max Aita because in spite of the fact that he made some spectacular gains in a very short amount of time, he also recognized that the same aggressive style of training that led to super-fast strength gains also led to a sticking point that was holding him back from making consistent long term gains. He eventually changed his training style and started to gain again, but he had to be more systematic and patient.
It is important to understand that training programs that produce rapid gains often look like the best programs. Lifters often cling to a program that once brought super-fast gains because it appears to be highly effective. However, the same training program often stops working and becomes the culprit for an eventual training plateau. Another form of training is necessary that may not produce rapid gains, but it works on consistent basis over time. One lifter who was able to make long term gains that were consistently repeated year after year was Ed Coan. In the next article, I will share some of Ed Coan’s wisdom in regard to how he kept gaining strength year after year. Best of training to you.
Click on the link to see the next article: Wisdom From Ed Coan