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- Aug 3, 2010
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GEARING DOWN
Coming off isn’t a walk in the park. A user often faces multiple symptoms such as weight loss, a decrease in body strength, loss of muscle tissue, increased fat deposits due to a drop in nutrient partitioning (more on this in Part II), a decrease in motivation to train, depression, laziness and a lack of self discipline. All of this is caused by a catabolic state induced by a decrease in testosterone production and an increase in cortisol. Simply stated, you’ve got the post cycle blues. Your life now sucks. All those gains are going bye bye. Or so you think. Alas, there’s hope for your poor small-balled self.
There are (3) factors that need to be addressed;
1. Training
2. Nutrition
3. Supplements
After a cycle, the muscles are in need of a stimulation that is at a level close to what they had been given while “on.” Unfortunately many times trainees become paranoid afterwards and continue to keep the level of intensity high. Big mistake! This causes a couple of things. For starters, it opens up the body to burn out in the form of neural fatigue. This in part, is primarily because the body can no longer cope with the demands that are being placed upon it. The hormonal system is in a state of recovery and the body cannot withstand the same amount of stress anymore. Two, injury can and often does occur as the loads used can no longer be supported by the body due to the rapid increase of muscle tissue and the lag in development of the supporting soft tissues. As a result you have a strong muscle but your tendons and ligaments cannot support the muscles that are being used to lift the loads. For this to happen, several variables need to be examined. The two most important for our purposes are the frequency of the workouts during the cycle, the number of sets performed and the rep range.
The number of times you “hit it” is important in most relationships. If you skimp on frequency, performance suffers, and as a result your relationship weakens. The same can be said about the frequency of training sessions, the body, and the relationship between strength and size. During a cycle most people increase the frequency due to increased recovery. However, post cycle the number of sessions in a week should be altered as the body is now in a state of recovery. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to certain rules; this being one of them. If you were training five to six days a week during your cycle, the same frequency can still be maintained almost to the same degree, however one of the other exercise variables (mentioned above) involved must be changed.
Once the frequency of training has been chosen, the next step is to choose the number of sets or the amount of volume that will be used in the routine. The number of sets selected will depend on the level of intensity you’ll be using. Intensity, for the purpose of this article, can also be defined as the overall work load used in a training program (determined by the frequency and number of sets employed). For example, if you have been training to failure using a high number of sets, it should be quite obvious that you cannot continue training in the same manner. That said, to maintain the same level of intensity the number of sets employed must be lowered. You do this because there is an inverse relationship between intensity and the number of sets used in a workout session. As seen below the number of sets chosen should coincide with the frequency.
Variety is the spice of life. Although cliché, it’s the truth though, and most likely throughout your cycle, the repetition range that’s been used has varied. Post cycle, however, repetition ranges should stay the same if they’ve been altered. Let me explain a bit further.
High reps are known to primarily work on increasing the non-contractile proteins and the semi fluid plasma between the muscle fibers. In scientific circles the 140 pound lab techs call this sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Meatheads refer to this as “pump training.” The other type, low rep training, is called sarcomere hypertrophy. This is otherwise known as power training. It works on increasing the size and number of the sarcomeres that make up the myofibrils. Each type of hypertrophy has a different effect. Bodybuilders and those purely interested in aesthetics train using the pump method. Athletes who are in sports that require explosiveness and speed train primarily using the power method.
Training post cycle should focus on a variety of rep ranges. Low rep training focuses on neuromuscular efficiency, which in turn is responsible for strength production with minimal hypertrophy. Higher rep training focuses more on hypertrophy while placing less emphasis on the neuromuscular system. If one area is favored the other will suffer. So, to stay big and strong it is imperative that you utilize a mixed rep range in your training program. Below I’ve outlined the programs in their entirety so you can see what the programs look like once all the variables I mentioned have been added in.
Next week, I’ll outline some of the nutritional stumbling blocks that you might face after a cycle and some supplements that might offset this problem.
GD
Coming off isn’t a walk in the park. A user often faces multiple symptoms such as weight loss, a decrease in body strength, loss of muscle tissue, increased fat deposits due to a drop in nutrient partitioning (more on this in Part II), a decrease in motivation to train, depression, laziness and a lack of self discipline. All of this is caused by a catabolic state induced by a decrease in testosterone production and an increase in cortisol. Simply stated, you’ve got the post cycle blues. Your life now sucks. All those gains are going bye bye. Or so you think. Alas, there’s hope for your poor small-balled self.
There are (3) factors that need to be addressed;
1. Training
2. Nutrition
3. Supplements
After a cycle, the muscles are in need of a stimulation that is at a level close to what they had been given while “on.” Unfortunately many times trainees become paranoid afterwards and continue to keep the level of intensity high. Big mistake! This causes a couple of things. For starters, it opens up the body to burn out in the form of neural fatigue. This in part, is primarily because the body can no longer cope with the demands that are being placed upon it. The hormonal system is in a state of recovery and the body cannot withstand the same amount of stress anymore. Two, injury can and often does occur as the loads used can no longer be supported by the body due to the rapid increase of muscle tissue and the lag in development of the supporting soft tissues. As a result you have a strong muscle but your tendons and ligaments cannot support the muscles that are being used to lift the loads. For this to happen, several variables need to be examined. The two most important for our purposes are the frequency of the workouts during the cycle, the number of sets performed and the rep range.
The number of times you “hit it” is important in most relationships. If you skimp on frequency, performance suffers, and as a result your relationship weakens. The same can be said about the frequency of training sessions, the body, and the relationship between strength and size. During a cycle most people increase the frequency due to increased recovery. However, post cycle the number of sessions in a week should be altered as the body is now in a state of recovery. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to certain rules; this being one of them. If you were training five to six days a week during your cycle, the same frequency can still be maintained almost to the same degree, however one of the other exercise variables (mentioned above) involved must be changed.
Once the frequency of training has been chosen, the next step is to choose the number of sets or the amount of volume that will be used in the routine. The number of sets selected will depend on the level of intensity you’ll be using. Intensity, for the purpose of this article, can also be defined as the overall work load used in a training program (determined by the frequency and number of sets employed). For example, if you have been training to failure using a high number of sets, it should be quite obvious that you cannot continue training in the same manner. That said, to maintain the same level of intensity the number of sets employed must be lowered. You do this because there is an inverse relationship between intensity and the number of sets used in a workout session. As seen below the number of sets chosen should coincide with the frequency.
Variety is the spice of life. Although cliché, it’s the truth though, and most likely throughout your cycle, the repetition range that’s been used has varied. Post cycle, however, repetition ranges should stay the same if they’ve been altered. Let me explain a bit further.
High reps are known to primarily work on increasing the non-contractile proteins and the semi fluid plasma between the muscle fibers. In scientific circles the 140 pound lab techs call this sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Meatheads refer to this as “pump training.” The other type, low rep training, is called sarcomere hypertrophy. This is otherwise known as power training. It works on increasing the size and number of the sarcomeres that make up the myofibrils. Each type of hypertrophy has a different effect. Bodybuilders and those purely interested in aesthetics train using the pump method. Athletes who are in sports that require explosiveness and speed train primarily using the power method.
Training post cycle should focus on a variety of rep ranges. Low rep training focuses on neuromuscular efficiency, which in turn is responsible for strength production with minimal hypertrophy. Higher rep training focuses more on hypertrophy while placing less emphasis on the neuromuscular system. If one area is favored the other will suffer. So, to stay big and strong it is imperative that you utilize a mixed rep range in your training program. Below I’ve outlined the programs in their entirety so you can see what the programs look like once all the variables I mentioned have been added in.
Next week, I’ll outline some of the nutritional stumbling blocks that you might face after a cycle and some supplements that might offset this problem.
GD
