I’d been training this guy for just over a year and he’d
made impressive improvements. Really impressive (see how I’m repeating a word
from the end of the previous sentence in a very Trump-esque manner? Heck it
worked for him it might work for me). This guy had lost considerable amounts of
body fat, gained lots of strength and looked significantly more muscular. He’d
also improved his cardiovascular fitness and flexibility to boot.
He decided it was time to leave because his progressed had
slowed. Not stopped or even stagnated just merely slowed. He was insistent that
his progress should continue unabated at the same rate as when he first began
training.
I tried in vain to explain to him that this was not possible
but he was having none of it. So just like your average Angelina Jolie marriage
we went our separate ways!
Now, if you’ll allow me a moment of indulgence, I’d like to
share with you what I attempted to explain to him before we
split.
NEWBIE GAINS...
When you begin a training for the first time, you make phenomenal improvements. Every session you lift heavier and heavier weights. You feel like Superman. Enthused with your progress you get the old calculator out and work out that if you continue along this path you’ll be on world’s strongest man come Christmas.
When you begin a training for the first time, you make phenomenal improvements. Every session you lift heavier and heavier weights. You feel like Superman. Enthused with your progress you get the old calculator out and work out that if you continue along this path you’ll be on world’s strongest man come Christmas.
In preparation, you go out and buy a load of ‘Gold’s Gym’ vests, and even consider shaving your hair and getting a couple of tattoos. You’re cruising along in the fast lane of the hypertrophy highway packing on the muscle quicker than a Jamaican sprinter fails a drugs test, and then what happens?
Suddenly your progress
slows and continues to slow. Soon your desires to be a strong man are quashed until eventually you settle on the more realistic and
attainable goal of being the most muscular guy in the office!
OH, WHAT’S OCCURING… (as ‘Nessa would say)
You’ve been experiencing newbie gains, which are more pronounced if you truly are, as the Yanks would say, a rookie. (Sometimes, experienced weight lifters can get a similar, but not as conspicuous an effect if they switch to a new training regime. This is known as ‘novelty effect’).
You’ve been experiencing newbie gains, which are more pronounced if you truly are, as the Yanks would say, a rookie. (Sometimes, experienced weight lifters can get a similar, but not as conspicuous an effect if they switch to a new training regime. This is known as ‘novelty effect’).
Whether you’re riding the larger ‘newbie gains’ wave or the
slightly less impressive ‘novelty effect’ wave, one thing is for sure: no one
can tell you, with certainty, how long it’ll last. Some people will continue improving
at great rates for months on end, for others it may be just weeks.
One thing, however, is for certain, your progress will slow
with time as you approach your genetic ceiling!
GENETIC CEILING...
You’re genetic ceiling is the point at which genetically you can’t make any further improvements. The closer you get to this, the slower your progress is. Think of it as being on one of those inflatable bungee run thingamajigs. At the start, as you begin running you make great progress but as you get closer to the end your progress slows considerably or even comes to a halt as the resistance on the bungee cord increases!
You’re genetic ceiling is the point at which genetically you can’t make any further improvements. The closer you get to this, the slower your progress is. Think of it as being on one of those inflatable bungee run thingamajigs. At the start, as you begin running you make great progress but as you get closer to the end your progress slows considerably or even comes to a halt as the resistance on the bungee cord increases!
Take elite, Olympic weight lifters for example who are
hovering around their genetic ceiling. Year on year, some of them would be
ecstatic with a 1-2% improvement in performance as this could well lead to
winning gold. For us mere mortals, nowhere near our genetic ceilings, investing
a years’ worth of training to improve by 1-2% would seem very futile!
TAKE HOME MESSAGE…
In this unpredictable life we lead, we can seek solace from
a few certainties. One is death, everyone will die (excluding ‘the immortal
Hulk Hogan’ of course). Another is that your drunken uncle will make a tit of
himself at your next family wedding. And
the final one is that when training for any length of time, your rate of
progress will slow. If it didn’t there’d be loads of people strolling around
looking ridiculously more muscular than your average steroid abuser already
does!
It’s just one of those things we must accept. It’s a bit
like watching Good Morning Britain. Most of us only tune-in to get a glimpse
of the rather attractive Susannah Reid or the dashingly handsome Ben Sheppard, or
even the other lady who was crap on ‘Strictly’, but we must accept that in the
process we’ll probably have to put up with getting a glimpse of Piers Morgan
too, it’s just one of those things!
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TO BOOK YOUR FREE TRIAL PERSONAL TRAINING SESSION, OR TO BOOK A PLACE AT MY BOOT CAMP CLASS, PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO GET IN TOUCH.
matt@mlrpt.co.uk www.mlrpt.co.uk 07939316401 www.twitter.com/mlrpt www.facebook.com/mlrpt www.twitter.com/mlrpt
P.S. If you enjoyed reading this please click on the icons below and share with your friends!