Supercompensation

[Guest guest]

I have two questions based upon the " Supertraining " book:

1) After my last training cycle I took six days off prior to my meet

and had better success than I had anticipated. Following this I was

reading 'Supertraining' with the goal of attempting to divine what the

ideal amount of time off would be prior to a meet. In doing so I came

across two, seemingly, contradictory statements:

From Supertraining p. 201

" An increase averaging 18-25% in speed-strength for a controlled

movement was noted after a 10 day rest from intense specialised

strength training (Nyeniskin, 1974). It may be assumed that this

phenomenon is connected with the well known adaptive inertia of the

body and supercompensatory restoration (adaptive reconstruction)

after strength work. "

Reading on to p.202

" Muscles can lose up to 30% of their strength after a period of

total (bed) rest of only one week (Muller, 1996). The loss of

strength caused by complete cessation of resistance training occurs

at approximately the same rate as it is increased by training

(Hettinger & Mueller, 1995; Ravick & Larsen, 1959) "

So, now I'm confused. Is the difference the bed rest component or

am I taking the latter statement out of context? I certainly observed

results that supported the former.

[The issue is bed rest, the total cessation of any physical activity to stress

the body. The very large loss of muscle and bone mass and strength produced

by total bed rest is well konwn to the medical profession, and is a major

reason why doctors try to avoid having patients totally inactive for any

prolonged periods. Mel Siff]

The second question is:

2) Is there a means to objectively tell what the ideal rest period

is so that one can tell when the supercompensatory effect is at its

peak.

[No precise objective method exists to make this determination, though

the Omega Wave system appears to offer some useful information in this

regard. To the average athlete, the use of subjective ratings and feelings

still appears to be the most useful method. In all cases, however, the term

" rest " means active rest, not the passive rest of total inactivity (such

as bed rest or lolling around watching TV!). I also would not rest from ALL

weight training for 10 days - that Russian research which you cited refers to

a decrease in the volume and intensity of loading, especially the volume. Thus,

most lifters decrease the volume significantly of all training and the intensity

to

just a few attempts with heavy (e.g. 90%) but not circamaximal loads. Other

competitive lifters here might like to add their comments. Mel Siff]

Regards,

Kerr

Littleton, CO

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