Musings on Training and Gaining Strength

[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.