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Proper progression is a key to appropriate adaptation, but it is so very poorly understood. Ever since I started lifting I would try to increase the weight I would do every week by five pounds for each lift, sometimes more. I felt this was an objective way of marking progress from week to week, a way of proving to myself that what I was doing was “working”. If I didn’t increase the weight on a specific lift that week, I almost felt a sense of failure or disappointment in myself because I thought I wasn’t getting any stronger, or at least not at the rate I “should” have been. When I started training on SMS roughly two and a half years ago (the exact date was Saturday, October 31, 2009—don’t ask me why I know this) I found a way to regulate how much weight I would use for my core lifts and applied what seemed to be an appropriate progression. But I was still missing a similar regulation for my accessory lifts, so I resorted back to the five pounds per week increase. However, after learning more about preserving the integrity of joints, I am no longer convinced this is a uniformly appropriate progression.
What I am now doing with my accessory lifts (lifts that are done in addition to or to improve my core lifts—squat, bench, deadlift, and military press) is I use the first training week of the phase to figure out a challenging but appropriate weight for my accessory lifts. The SMS program series is broken into four-week phases, constituted of three hard training weeks followed by a deload week. Instead of bumping up the weight for these lifts each week, I keep it the same throughout the entire phase. Yes, it does feel easier week-by-week and I do feel like I could add more weight as the weeks go by. However, by keeping the weight the same throughout the phase I have been recovering significantly better between training days. This allows me to feel better heading into my core lifts each day in the sense that I don’t feel nearly as taxed or drained from the day(s) before. Since your training is only as affective as how well you can recover from it, this improved recovery seems like a pure gold to me.
In RTS® we talk about something called MicroProgression®. MicroProgression®, according to the RTS manual, is the smallest reasonable step[1]. It is not walking distance X to jogging distance X. It is walking distance X to walking distance X + one more step, if the one more step is appropriate for that individual. Maybe, it is walking distance X to walking distance X + standing for one millisecond longer. You get the picture. Progression is not five pounds per week if five pounds per week is not appropriate. And do not confuse ability with appropriateness. Just because it can be done does not mean it should be done.
This is something it took me a while to accept. The problem here is that ability in terms of progression is far too often dictated by neuromuscular ability and completely disregards structural integrity. People train intensely for years and push through fatigue and muscle soreness. Then one day they wake up and that soreness has moved from their muscles to their joints. Unsurprisingly, that joint pain doesn’t accumulate overnight, but rather over years of letting their muscles tell them when they have had enough.
Let me clarify and say that I love training hard. I love pushing myself and feeling exhausted and accomplished. I am in no way trying to demonize this. The problem is when this is done inappropriately, which for most people it is. It is fairly well understood that there has to be a certain amount of stimulus in order to create an adaptation. What is not well understood is how truly appropriate the stimulus is for the individual in the immediate present, in the short term, and in the long term. Our attention is so heavily focused on the first two time frames that we often completely disregard the third. This isn’t about taking it easy now so you can feel good when you are in a nursing home at age 70. This is about training intelligently now to improve the function of your body so you never have to be in a nursing home and can feel great throughout your entire life. This is about not having to get knees and hips and shoulders replaced in your mid-50’s and again a decade and a half later. This is about being able to do what you did when you were twenty at age forty and beyond.
My MAT® instructor, Matthew Bernier, says, “What is the difference between a callus and a blister? What is the difference between increasing tendon strength and developing tendonitis? What is the difference between developing thicker, more durable cartilage and developing arthritis? Progression.”
I don’t know if not increasing the weight of my accessory lifts by five pounds per week will save my body in the long run, but I do know that since I started doing this my body feels better than it has in a long time, both from a neuromuscular and structural perspective. I feel stronger than I ever have, am moving better than I ever have, and actually feel really good after I finish training instead of longing to go pass out in an ice bath. Because of this, I have to believe that what I am doing now is more appropriate than what I was doing before.
Understand as best you can what you are doing to the human body both now and in the future, constantly question if you can do less to achieve the same or better results, and be ready to work really, really hard when it is appropriate to do so.
Get big or die tryin’.
Charlie Cates, CSCS
Self Made®, Owner and Founder
Charlie Cates is a strength and conditioning specialist and the owner and founder of Self Made® (http://selfmadefitness.com/) in Chicago, IL. He has worked with competitive and everyday athletes of all ages and ability levels, from 9-year-old kids to NFL MVP’s. He can be reached via e-mail at charlie@selfmadefitness.com.
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[1] Syllabus for Part 1 of the RTS 123 Course. Purvis, Tom. 1997.
