Bulgaria on my Mind(Still)
February 21st 2007 10:47
The central difficulty in improving the fitness of the body is the precarious balance between under and over training. It is profoundly easy to be in the gym with regularity and still fall into a pattern where the body is not really being challenged to improve its capacities. The inverse is easily as true: too much work quickly brings the body to a point where it does not grow. Everyone who has ever trained seriously with weights for even a brief period has probably run into each of these situations.
The emotions are a powerful element of exercise. There are periods where the dedicated feel that dedication with intensity and other periods where training is more like going through the motions than a passion. It is very easy to find oneself going to the gym with little enthusiasm and going through workouts that show this emotional state. The periods where passion is high lead to so much exertion that the body soon lags behind the desire to work. Needless to say keeping a even keel is something that has to be a priority, if you wish to get the most out of all the work you are doing.
I feel strongly that the only way to avoid the extremes is to structure workouts that take the swings of the emotional pendulum into account- to incorporate lighter and more intense workouts into a pattern where the value of each kind of workout can be enjoyed. The key to doing this with success is to have some idea of how the body reacts to work.
When they reoriented their training regimen in the 80s the Bulgarians discovered some essential realities of the body's pattern of adaptation. First, the body can respond to increased stress for about three weeks. If the intensity of workouts is ramped up each week for three weeks the body will rise to the challenge. After 21 or so days of increasing work the body will be at its limits, while the mind's emotional focus may require it to do still more work. At that point there is a disconnect. The body begins to falter under the load as the mind forces it to soldier on. The result is that gains in fitness stop and over training sets in.
If, however, workouts are scaled back after a three week period of intensity to a much less intense level the body will actually bring all of its powers to bear on recovery even though the demand will be less. The result then will be overcompensation for a period of three weeks(or until the body determines that it is not going to be asked to do all the work that it had been). This overcompensation period is where growth occurs.
After three weeks of scaled back training the body will be ready to react as if no more stress is going to be placed upon it and will reduce its reaction. At that point it is time to ramp up the training for the next three weeks. This time ,however, you will be able to demand more than ever from your system.
Such a regimen of more and less intense workouts will smooth out the emotional roller coaster of training and keep your mind from holding back your body from its maximum growth. In the future I will give an example of such training. Your servant, as always.
I feel strongly that the only way to avoid the extremes is to structure workouts that take the swings of the emotional pendulum into account- to incorporate lighter and more intense workouts into a pattern where the value of each kind of workout can be enjoyed. The key to doing this with success is to have some idea of how the body reacts to work.
When they reoriented their training regimen in the 80s the Bulgarians discovered some essential realities of the body's pattern of adaptation. First, the body can respond to increased stress for about three weeks. If the intensity of workouts is ramped up each week for three weeks the body will rise to the challenge. After 21 or so days of increasing work the body will be at its limits, while the mind's emotional focus may require it to do still more work. At that point there is a disconnect. The body begins to falter under the load as the mind forces it to soldier on. The result is that gains in fitness stop and over training sets in.
If, however, workouts are scaled back after a three week period of intensity to a much less intense level the body will actually bring all of its powers to bear on recovery even though the demand will be less. The result then will be overcompensation for a period of three weeks(or until the body determines that it is not going to be asked to do all the work that it had been). This overcompensation period is where growth occurs.
After three weeks of scaled back training the body will be ready to react as if no more stress is going to be placed upon it and will reduce its reaction. At that point it is time to ramp up the training for the next three weeks. This time ,however, you will be able to demand more than ever from your system.
Such a regimen of more and less intense workouts will smooth out the emotional roller coaster of training and keep your mind from holding back your body from its maximum growth. In the future I will give an example of such training. Your servant, as always.
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