“You Can’t Train Heavy
All the Time”
This leads us to something else you might have heard
in the gym. “You can’t train heavy all
the time.” I hear that refrain every time I
try to explain the concept in the last paragraph.
But what people really mean when they say that is,
“I love to lift weight 3 or 4 days a week and
I can’t train heavy that often.” Yup,
very true. And I can’t get my hair cut 3 times
a week just because I like going to the barber.
Reality check: Do you want to lift weights or do
you want to build muscle?
The fact is you can’t train heavy all the time…but
you can train heavy every time. But because your body
needs time to recover from heavy, productive, muscle
building exercise you need to add more time off between
workouts. Our man in the above example can do a workout
that is a 37…then one that is a 40…then
one that is a 41, if he takes enough time off between
workouts. That’s the way you work your way up
to 100. That’s the way everyone has to do it.
It’s a physiological law.
There is a concept that can really help unlock the
secret to all of this: Perceived Effort. Hypothetically,
if your level of strength is “28” then
a “26” workout feels extremely intense
and demanding. But if your strength level is “88”
and you perform an “86” workout the perceived
effort is identical! As you get stronger your workout
intensity increases but your perceived effort stays
the same! That’s great news because it means
you don’t really have to psych yourself for
more and more difficult workouts…just the same
level of perceived effort every time.
One Real Benefit of Light Training
So you can see that the guy performing a “light
day” is pretty much wasting his time. There
is no possibility whatsoever that his light workout
can trigger new muscle growth. In fact, if his last
workout was productive his body will be in recovery
mode and will need to fully recover before the new
muscle growth will manifest. And doing another workout
the next day – even a light one – will
only slow down recovery.
Personally, I think the main reason guys go to the
gym for “light workouts” is just so they
can watch that cute blonde on the stair master. The
gym, for many guys, is what the local bar is for others:
a place to meet and socialize. So people have taken
their need for frequenting the gym and rationalized
it into a training method of frequent “light
days” without regard to the physiological facts
of the matter.
But, all that said, there is one tangible and valid
benefit of lighter training. Stress relief. Speaking
for myself, I tend to carry stress in the muscles
of my lower back and my neck and traps. If I do a
few deadlifts and shrugs I get instant relief. I only
need to use 30 or 40 percent of my maximum to get
this stress relieving benefit. The best part is that
if I keep the perceive effort very low I know I’m
not slowing down my recovery too much. The stress
relief and mild endorphin release makes it a pretty
good bargain. But I don’t kid myself that I’m
building muscle. I know that takes truly grueling
effort.
So…want to get the best of both worlds? Plan
your productive, muscle building workouts far enough
apart to ensure a steady climb to that “100”
that represents your full genetic potential. And when
you need some stress relief and a shot of endorphins,
do a few lifts at about 30% of your capacity…if
you really feel you must.
All the best,
Pete
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