Quote:
Originally Posted by ThomasGoldkamp
Dream, I'm really intrigued by your thoughts on working out less frequently. I almost wonder if that's why I've seen big strength gains lately. I've been working out back/biceps, chest/tri and legs/shoulders with about two to three days rest between each. It's working better than when I used to do chest/tri, legs/shoulders, one day rest, back/bi, all, two days rest, repeat.
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Thomas, think about two factors: (1) intensity (2) recovery. Based on my observations, most trainees don't work out very hard, not really. If they're spending an hour or more training, how can they be working hard ?
Further, people seem to get the impression that they get stronger from training. Technically, you get stronger from RESTING FROM TRAINING. Hit it hard. Then back off and give your body a chance to do its thing. The research is in and it shows that that takes longer than anyone previously imagined.
Only a fool would reason that, if two Tylenol every eight hours was good for shoulder pain, that eight Tylenol every two hours would be even better. But in a sense, that's how we go about exercise.
Think about dose-response as well. In other words, for efficiency's sake, what is the optimal dosage for strength training ? Based on the link I provided, the evidence certainly does seem to suggest that, provided the effort is high ... surprisingly little. No, I mean SURPRISINGLY little!