Bread & Butter
end game.
a linear progression works great. until it doesn't. predictable linear progress will crumble sooner rather than later… unless you make adjustments. lucky for you, i'm going to show you how to make adjustments (i'm such a nice guy). first, let's take a look at why things fall apart.
strength science.
getting stronger is a delicate balance between stress, recovery, and adaptation. the easiest way to conceptualize this is to think about how a funnel “works” with water.
first, there’s the stress. expressing a degree of strength you normally don't is stressful. this is like pouring water into the funnel.
second, there’s recovery. this is like water filtering through the funnel. when the funnel is clear and free of liquid, you’re recovered. when there’s liquid in the basin of the funnel, you’re stressed.
third, there’s adaptation. as the stress-recovery cycle repeats, you unlock the ability the pour more water into the funnel. you Level Up. the first day, your pour fills a thimble. as time passes, your pour fills a shot glass, then a rocks glass, then a pint glass, then…
Level 1.
when you first walk into the gym, you're Level 1. you can’t express much strength relative to your Level 99 genetic potential; you can't pour much liquid into the funnel. thanks to funnel engineering, small pours flow through rather quickly. assuming sane workloads and sane adaptation expectations, noobs can turnover in 48-hours. this explains the schedule.
training days are 48-hours apart to facilitate enough recovery and adaptation. the 72-hour break after Day C is a formality in order to create a consistent weekly schedule.
take a look at the squat. you go to the gym on Monday and do some squats (pour some water into the funnel). you go back Wednesday, recovered and potentially adapted, which means you’ll be able to lift a little more than you did Monday… and so you do. you go back Friday, recovered and potentially adapted, which means you’ll be able to lift a little more than you did Wednesday… and so you do…
not Level 1.
as time passes, you Level Up. you increase the amount you can pour into the funnel, which rams you into two physiological realities:
first, you need more time to recover. larger pours take more time to filter through the funnel. you’ll eventually be pouring an amount that can’t filter through within the initial 48-hour time frame.
second, you need more time to adapt. going from Level 55 to Level 56 takes more time than going from Level 2 to Level 3. some Olympic weightlifters (we're talking Level 98) train for four years, just to increase the amount they can lift by 10 pounds.
these two things impact your performance. the delicate dance between stress, recovery, and adaptation starts to decay. eventually, you'll struggle to add weight to every exercise every session, either because you're too fatigued, or unable to adapt within the 48-hour window.
stalling.
failing to make a scheduled weight increase is known as “stalling.” stalling isn't a bad thing. if you've approached the progression sensibly, stalling is a good sign. it means you’re getting stronger. you can, however, do a few things to prolong the stall.
many things influence your ability to recover and adapt, including how much (and what) you eat and how much sleep you get. suffice to say, you'll sustain progress longer if you sleep well and eat well. devout followers of Starting Strength (perhaps the most popular linear progression program in the world) often recommend drinking a gallon of whole milk a day (GOMAD) to ensure you're eating enough calories and proteins.
alas, some aspects of your life may be detrimental to recovery/adaptation and beyond your (realistic) control. maybe your job is Shang Tsung and sucks the soul from you. maybe you have two toddlers running around the house. you shouldn't quit your job or sell your kids on Craigslist. even if you do everything in your power to prolong the stall, you'll still run into it.
load potential.
when you control for external factors, when you stall is largely determined by an exercise's load potential. certain biomechanical realities influence how much weight you’ll eventually be able to add to any given exercise.
- Smaller muscles aren’t as strong as bigger muscles. When bigger muscles are the primary drivers of an exercise, you’ll have a higher load potential.
- Less muscles working together aren’t as strong as more muscles working together. When more muscles are working during an exercise, you’ll have a higher load potential.
- More range of motion means more work than less range of motion. When an exercise has a small range of motion, you’ll have a higher load potential.
- More torque creates more tension without an increase in the load. When an exercise has minimal torque, you’ll have a higher load potential.
- Technical demand reduces the degree to which you can rely on strength. When an exercise has minimal technical demand, you’ll have a higher load potential.
there are more factors i could list, but here's the general shakedown:
(A) Upper-body lifts typically have less strength/load potential than lower-body lifts, meaning they'll stall earlier.
(B) Single-joint isolation lifts typically have less absolute strength/load potential than multi-joint compound lifts, meaning they'll stall earlier.
so let's say you did a bunch of barbell exercises thrice per week and you added 5 pounds to every exercise every session. here's when each lift would stall, with the conventional deadlift being able to sustain linear progress the longest:
- Barbell curl (stall first)
- Overhead press
- Barbell row
- Incline press
- Bench press
- Front squat
- Back squat
- Conventional deadlift (stall last)
load potential is why the program's upper-body progression is milder than the program's lower-body progression. more on this soon.
dance.
suffice to say, this program's success depends on the applied workload and the expected rates of recovery and adaptation.
- if you don’t apply enough stress, you won’t spur adaptation. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
- if you don’t recover adequately, you’ll be fatigued. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
- if you don’t adapt between sessions, you won’t get stronger. you won’t be able to add weight to every exercise every session.
if you used insane workloads (if you did 10 sets of 10 reps for every exercise) or you had insane adaptation expectations (tried adding 30 pounds to every exercise every session), the program would implode. you wouldn't sustain linear progress for a meaningful length of time.
this program juggles stress, recovery, and adaptation to unlock a brief period of smooth and easy strength gains, which you will look back on and glamorize (as i am now). once Phase 1 ends, tomfoolery ensues and there's no turning back.