mihou
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Nombre de messages : 8092
Localisation : Washington D.C.
Date d'inscription : 28/05/2005
 | | Mini-Article: The Truth About Progress | |
Mini-Article: The Truth About Progress
by Chad
WaterburyAdding weight to the bar every session is the only way you'll
make progress, right? Wrong! There are many factors involved in
making progress; adding weight to the bar is just one of them. In
short, progressive overloading is overrated. I have great admiration for the book Supertraining by
Siff and Verkhoshanksy. Not only is it one of the best books ever
written on strength and conditioning, but it also does an excellent
job disputing some common weightlifting myths. One of my favorite
parts of the book deals with progressive overloading. Basically,
progressive overload refers to a need to constantly increase load
in order to develop greater strength levels.Remember the legend of Milo? He was the fella who carried around
a calf everyday. As the calf grew and got heavier, Milo got
stronger with each passing day carrying that sucker around. That's
progressive overloading. Sounds simple, huh? But check out this
excerpt from the Supertraining book:Closer examination of the Milo tale reveals an incomplete
ending. Milo, being an enterprising strongman, obviously would have
sought further increase by lifting progressively heavier bulls. If
he had progressed very gradually, the implications are that he
should have been lifting well over 500kg after a few years.
Similarly, if you began your first bench press with 60kg at the age
of 16, then increased the load by only one kilogram per week, you
should be lifting 580kg at the age of 26 and 1100kg at the age of
36 years. [Note: That's 2420 pounds!] That this will not happen is
obvious. In other words, progressive overloading produces
diminishing, and ultimately zero, returns (1).In other words, that Milo tale might very well be a bunch of
bull! I'm not saying that progressive overloading is useless and I
don't think Siff and Verkhoshansky were either. Instead, the
concept isn't as clear-cut and simple as it seems. Merely adding
more weight to your barbell every session isn't going to turn you
into a strongman. It's just not that simple.
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