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Question: Why are you only doing 3 days a week of training when you are above cms. Just curious for your reasoning.
Answer: If you have had the opportunity to watch all of the DVD's for the St. Louis seminar, you will see that the biggest key for building strength for any classification of lifter is to find the right volume and the right intensity; not only for the current training block but for the entire year.
So, for me being an MS I will train 4-5 days a week when leading up to a major competition and only 3 days a week when leading up to a "minor" competition. The meet I am doing in Dallas in April I am considering as a "minor" competition.
This may be a bit misleading, but when you total up the volume that I will do these next 8-9 weeks you will see that it is not that much less than what I would do for a major competition. So, all things considered-even though I am "only" training 3X a week, the intensity will still be above 67/68% and the volume should be theoretically adequate to build strength; even for an MS.
Regardless of what any of the texts may or may not say, I can tell you from practical, real world experience that if I had to train balls-to-the-wall 4 or 5 times a week for the entire year that I would probably either a) experience significant injuries, b) "burn out", or c) both. Remember to take everything that I say in the proper context when it comes to training. Much of the research I have studied has been on strength athletes that have "ideal" conditions. They have the best coaches; all the recovery modalities at their fingertips, their environmental stressors (paying bills, putting food on the table, etc.) may not be as great, etc. That is why Dave and I are always happy to work with another lifter. We get to test all those things that we have read about and tried out on ourselves on a much larger scale, and we then see what works and what doesn't; and if we are really lucky we get to find out why.
Maybe in the end, despite being a MS on the classification chart, it is possible for me to build strength while training 3X/week; due to everything else that I deal with on a daily basis. Maybe not. Maybe I do always need the 4 or 5 days a week in order to build strength. As of right now, I have had good results with both, and that is why we are still proceeding the way that we are; because we need more information.
I hope this answers your question. If not then resubmit and I will tackle it from another angle. Good question!
About Eric Talmant
Eric Talmant is a top lightweight powerlifter and has a "passion for all things nutrition." A 1996 graduate of the University of Evansville, Eric is a certified Metabolic TypingŪ advisor and Functional Diagnostic nutritionist.
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