(08-25-2018, 12:36 AM)Scott Stevenson Wrote: Have you interacted with others who have done HST enough to get an idea of any consensus as far as the effectiveness of strategic deconditioning?...Well, the only time I did HST was roughly 15 years ago. I just took many of the principles behind HST and continued utilizing them in my training.
For me the 9-12 day SD was kind of like an insurance policy against becoming "resistant" to training. Also, I like the idea that these breaks lower your strength (due to neural detraining) but you don't really lose muscle mass. When I was younger I always had the problem of gaining much more strength than size, which in turn led to numerous joint problems etc. So being able to get a training effect from lighter weights after a 9-10 day break was always good.
On a sidenote, the legendary Canadian coach Scott Abel has written quite a bit about utilizing 2-4 week breaks strategically to foster new growth, reset muscle fiber type, etc. He calls it "Slingshot Training" in his books and articles.
Quote:(Very interesting stuff about not losing any size, too, after all those years of training. I don't doubt that one bit.That was surprising to me, I figured I'd lose at least 10 lbs of muscle. But also it kind of makes sense, because I have basically been the same size for 10 years now. Gained 99% of my muscle mass during the first 10 years of training, and the last decade I've been jumping through every hoop I can think of to just gain an extra 1%.)
(08-25-2018, 09:02 AM)Pumped340 Wrote: I too strongly feel after that period of time training naturally, if you've done things mostly correct, you've made almost all the progress you'll ever make unless you start using super supplements.I believe this is actually a relatively well established consensus among top strength coaches and experts. Bodybuilders just refuse to believe it, because all the methodology and lore is so heavily influenced by the enhanced side (where genetic limitations are much less set in stone, if one is willing to up the dose etc). But when you look at long-time natural bodybuilders, almost all of them built the majority of their muscle mass early on and compete for years staying roughly the same size.
Quote:Have you found motivation to drop in those 10 years? Do you switch the routine up for the sake of novelty? As this point, knowing that most reasonable routines will result in the same progress (lack there of) I think it's a nice time to find what's most enjoyable for oneself. Great aspect of Fortitude Training there....the constant variety keeps it from being boring.Not really. I've always had really good motivation for bodybuilding, because building a physique and competing was just one side of why I got into it. The other side of bodybuilding for me has always been the intellectual challenge it can provide. I've coached a lot of other competitors through the years, and even though I can't seem to get much bigger myself, I'm always trying to find new ideas to use with the people I help. And I just LOVE diving into new ideas and methodologies, trying them out in practice, etc. Even if I gain zero lbs from it.