Musings on Training and Gaining Strength

[4skers89]

Short workouts are good. Forgot where I read this but it said if you were spending more than an hour in the gym lifting you're wasting time.

IMO It really depends on what you're doing, not just that it took you a long time.

For instance, if you're using Texas Method you could easily spend over an hour on volume day. Unless you're inhuman and can squat 5x5 at ~90% of your 5RM in less than a half hour or so. Then you have bench or overhead press 5x5.

It just depends on the program. If you're dicking around using a bunch of machines for more than an hour, then yea, you could probably be using your time more wisely

Based on the name I didn't like the sound of this Texas method until I found http://www.t-nation.com/training/texas-method and saw Rippetoe. It looks like you could still average 1 hr per workout over a week of workouts. I was interested since it is good for getting through intermediate level until I read that it works because of ability to recover when young. I tell younger guys that now is the time to get strong and then just transition to maintaining. I thought Mark was losing his mind with this "If I could go back and do it over again... I'd spend less time trying to date more women..". He has to be talking about the time aspect and not that he actually dated more women.

Sounds like my workouts when I started out. I just made up my own by picking various things to do. A lot of them involved machines. I wished I had started with well planned out workouts and not wasted so much time. The only machines I use now are calf raise and pulley machines.

 

[NoLongerN]

For your consideration..

You don't get stronger in the gym. That's where stress is applied.

You get stronger outside the gym by recovering and eating well. I find the older you get, the more you have to consider how to recover best and what dosage of stress (aka training) is required to drive progress.

Sometimes I like to think of training as a medicine. You need to titrate the dose of training to a level that causes adaptation so that you can apply the next dose sooner than later. Apply too much too soon, you won't make long term progress, and burn out or die (well, not really but you get it).

Apply too little and you won't drive progress either. In my experience, it takes some time to learn how your body and mind react to training to know what was too much, what's too little and what's about right. Starting with a good training program will get you at least pointed in the right direction.

Generally, younger people can recover very quickly and be ready for more training quicker than older people. The older you get (read 40+ years, probably), you need to look to progress slower but progress none the less. This is where proper programming can come in.

A lot of this stuff is described in Seyle's general adaptation syndrome. Check out the books Practical Programming or Starting Strength for a primer on it.

+1 on this post. I enjoyed reading this whole thread thus far. I plan on getting back to more balance on weights verses cardio after my marathon. Lots I can learn in the weight lifting area. I usually go lite on my lifting with higher reps because at age 50 I'd rather have fun and see a healthy body over getting injured and seeing gains. I know I will see some better gains when I get on a program. I'll be hoping to learn some more from you guys when I am ready to start.