The Training Cycle

A Scientific Look at Why it Works

Authors Revision

“The Training Cycle” was one of my first editorial contributions. It was written in early 1995. This
article references training periods or “cycles” lasting 12 to 20 Weeks in duration before a trainee
experiences the Exhaustion Phase of the General Adaptation Syndrome. In the years following the
writing of this article I have learned how to greatly lengthen training cycles, delaying the Exhaustion
Phase by manipulating certain variables in ones training program. By simply manipulating one
variable-the rep goal of a set-I’ve had numerous trainees “cycles” last over one year. I’ve even had
several last much longer-and one who continued to make progress for exactly 104 weeks (two years).
So, although this article isn’t a reflection of my current practices, the science of how the body
responds and adapts to stress as presented in this article is accurate and informative.

Hve you ever wondered why you should take a week or more off from training after hitting a new big
max, and then start a new gaining cycle using only 80% or so of the new max? And haven’t you
wondered why you have to wait 4-8 weeks till you can handle the big weights again? Kind of tough to
do, isn’t it? It takes patience; and patience comes from believing it will work and deliver ever
increasing size and strength. There is concrete research to back up the cycling of training intensity.
For long-term gains, intensity cycling is one of the very best interpretations there is of sound training.
After reaching that new big max in, for example, the bench press, of say 300 pounds for 5 reps,
you’re a little sluggish getting a workout started, and your shoulder aches a little when you warm up.
But to take 10-14 days or so off now, and start. A new bench cycle with only 80% of the 300 pounds
and then taking 4-8 weeks to reach 300 lbs again before going into new poundage territory, is not
appealing at all. This is the primary thinking (greed) that pervades most people, and is why most
trainees never leave the intermediate stage of strength and development. This lack of patience is
understandable though. You worked very hard to get to this point, and you don’t want to lose what
you've worked so hard to gain. I know you're afraid that you've going to lose size and strength. But
this won't happen, and you'll actually feel bigger at the end of one week's rest, following 12-20
weeks of all out training.

I want to state again, that if you don’t cycle your training intensity, you will have a hard time
progressing past your current state of development. Why does cycling work? Read on, there's
science to back it up.

I‘m sure that many of you have never heard of Dr. Hans Selye. He is considered by many to he the
world’s leading authority on stress. He authored the famous book THE STRESS OF LIFE. As well as
contributing over 1,500 articles to technical Journals and writing 29 other books on the subject of
how the body responds to stress, all of, which applies directly to weight training.
I want you to remember throughout this article that stress is not merely “nervous strain”, to use
Selye’s words, but the body’s response to any stimulus, positive or negative. The stress-producing
factors, technically called stressors, are different yet they all elicit essentially the same biological
stress response. Dr. Selye performed numerous experiments with various stressors, including
“intense muscular work” The latter applies directly to weight trainees.

I’m going to tell you about one such experiment. Stick with me and you will see that you need to
cycle your training, because progress is not linear (you cannot keep progressing indefinitely, without
giving the body a break), and the ability of the body to adapt to weight training is finite, from cycle to
cycle.

In his book THE STRESS OF LIFE, Dr. Selye gives an account of how a group of rats was exposed to
various stressors (e.g., cold environment, drugs, infections) including “forced muscular work” and the
results were “always the same as far as adapting to the stress,” to quote Selye. So, there is much we
can learn from this experiment.

Rats that were given time (5 weeks or more) to adapt to moderate levels of stress, could then
withstand extremely high levels of the stress for months. But if given less time at the moderate level,
they couldn’t withstand the higher stress level. After months of continually adapting to the higher
stress level, “acquired resistance was lost again“ and exhaustion set in (a sticking point), and no
matter what measures were taken (extra food, or even when placed under moderate levels of stress
again) adaptation continued to diminish. These rats went through what Selye has named the
“General Adaptation Syndrome,” which is the way the body responds to any stress (including weight
training). The GAS is composed of three phases: Alarm Reaction Phase, Resistance Phase, and
Exhaustion Phase. The actions of the body as it goes through the three phases of the GAS are based
on “demonstrable biological laws” learned from the laboratory. Let's now take a look at the three
phases, and how to construct a training cycle based on the actions of these phases in response to the
stress called Progressive Resistance Training.

PHASE ONE: Alarm Reaction Phase

When a stressor (e g., squat , bench press, deadlift) is first encountered, the body must rally Its
resources, so that It can, literally., Survive. This is called the Acute Stage of the Alarm Reaction Phase.
As Selye notes, the body has to be given time so that it can take defensive measures by rounding up
all the biological resources needed to repair the damaged muscles. And reload with fuel for the next
training session. In other words. The weights used to start a cycle must be relatively light, 70% to
80% ofa max for the rep range you‘re using, and built up slowly (for 4- 8 weeks) or the body will
prematurely enter the Exhaustion Phase, and you will have killed the cycle before it had a chance to
start. Be patient!
After the initial 4-8 weeks, or more, you should have built back to your previous best weights. These
are now handled relatively comfortably, with a gaining momentum initiated. This is a sign that
“adaptation has been acquired and the capacity of the body to resist rises considerably above
normal,” to quote Selye. If you try to rush through this phase by adding weight too quickly (due to
lacking patience), or in large increments (get yourself some small plates instead), the body won’t be
able to rally its resources fast enough and you will bring on a premature end to the cycle, with
nothing to show for your efforts. Again, you end up in Phase 3, the Exhaustion Phase, because “no
living organism can be maintained continuously in a state of alarm,” to use Selye’ s words. Once you
are in the Exhaustion Phase, you have to start all over again. So, be patient, and do it right. Once
adaptation has been acquired, it’s time to go into new poundage territory.

PHASE TWO: Resistance Phase

This is the “new territory” phase. At this point, the body can tolerate consistently hard workouts,
handling weights that should surpass old records and allow the trainee to break into new ground.
This is the phase of the GAS that we look forward to. This part of the cycle can last a very long time
(20 weeks or more, in my experience) if care is taken not to override what the body can adapt to. As
Selye stated in his book STRESS WITHOUT DISTRESS, “Excessive or unvaried stress... becomes
distress. And this, in turn, can lead to...physical breakdown.” So don’t get “excessive.”

(I'll cover “varying” the stress later) Keep it going by adding a very small dose of iron to the bar each
workout. If, once again, you get impatient (greedy) and add too much weight, you will kill the cycle
and end up in phase 3, with little to show for your efforts. Be smart, be patient, put 100% into every
work set at this stage, and really enjoy this phase

PHASE THREE: Exhaustion Phase

Even if you played your curds right, and only added weight in very small increments, slept well, and
ate nourishing meals, you would eventually encounter the exhaustion phase. The body can only
recover for so long even if you do everything right. The exact reasoning behind what causes the
body to enter the Exhaustion Phase, regardless of what steps are taken (e.g., extra rest, food, and
even lighter weights) are not clear .But it has been found to be related to long-term release of
corticoids. The adrenal glands secrete excessive amounts of corticoids during intense weight training,
to combat inflammation. Dr. Selye, in THE STRESS OF LIFE, gives an example of what happens to the
body by comparing with what happens to an electric heater during excessive use.

If an electric heater maintains the temperature of a room, we can compensate for excessive cold by
using more current. But this is possible only within certain limits . As more and more current is used,
there comes a point when the wires burn out; then the whole heating mechanism breaks down, and,
significantly, its failure is the direct result of efficient heat regulation. This kind of breakdown can
occur in most compensatory mechanisms.
As Selye would put it, the body’s resources to resist or recover from weight training become
depleted, and the only way they rebuild is if they do not encounter this stressor for a while. The body
needs a break from lifting weights. The key is to know when this phase is starting, and then take at
least a week off. If you don’t, and you keep trying to force gains, I promise (and it’s been proven by
Dr. Selye, and many real-world examples) you will get weaker and smaller, and very frustrated. You
cannot “bully” your body out of the Exhaustion Phase. There are medical symptoms, as well as self
observable signs, that your body has had enough and is entering the Exhaustion Phase.

As far as the medical symptoms are concerned, the most generally used and reliable measures of
undue stress are the levels of certain blood constituents, mainly the levels of adrenalines, corticoids,
ACTH (adrenocorticotrophic hormone), and the eosinophils. Now, unless you have the time and
money to have your blood drawn every week to track these constituents, this method is not feasible.
So, what you need to be aware of, is recognising the self observable signs that become evident when
your body is starting to deplete its “adaptation energy stores” to quite Seyle. The following are five of
the most obvious self-observable signs that Phase 2 is ending, and Phase 3 is beginning.

I. No progress

After several weeks of honest 100% effort to all aspects of training (effort in the gym, good food
intake, proper rest) you can't seem to make progress. In other words, you keep beating your head
against the same poundage’s week after week; This lack of progress may also be accompanied by
continually sore joints, This is the best sign to recognise because you haven't depleted yourself too
much yet, unless you're also experiencing the following signs.

ii. Elevated heart rate

If you not ice your heart seems to be “racing” while you’re at rest, or especially when you’re
sleeping. It‘s a sign your body is working overtime to try to repair itself.

iii. Constant systemic fatigue

You feel like you’re “zoned out” or “wiped out” all the time (not just following a hard workout). You
may even experience “flu-like” symptoms. Years ago, when I was training like someone who used
steroids i.e., six days per week, sometimes twice a day, I would awake during the night sweating, with
a heart rate over 120 beats per minute. Talk about being in an exhausted state.

iv. Psychological/attitude changes

You’ve lost your enthusiasm to train. You just don’t feel like doing it. Irritability sets in (you yell at
your dog, girlfriend or mother for no reason) and you’ve developed a bad attitude, or you feel like
you could sleep any time any place.

v. Intestinal disturbance

You may develop problems with your digestive tract. Symptoms that appear are usually diarrhoea,
indigestion, or you simply lose your appetite and, hence, lose weight.

Dr. Selye classified these symptoms as “diseases of adaptation.” (These are not diseases as you may
interpret them though. By definition, a disease is a condition of an organism that impairs normal
physiological functioning.) These symptoms occur universally due to any “undue stress,” and are a
sign that the body can no longer adapt to the demands being placed upon it. Selye also states that
“when they [the signs of undue stress] appear, it’s time to stop or change your activity-that is, find a
diversion.” This diversion should take place during what I call the Active~Rest Phase.

PHASE FOUR: Active-Rest Phase

I’ve taken the liberty to add a fourth phase for those involved in weight training to Dr Seyle's General
Adaptation Syndrome. I call this the Active Rest phase, and that's what your body needs at this point-
rest. Its time to take at least a week off and let your body recover from the pounding it has taken for
the last 3-4 months (or perhaps even longer) Some of you may need 2 or 3 weeks of rest, depending
on how much you've depleted yourself.

So what do you do during this period? Almost any light activity, just stay out of the Weight room. You
can gently jog, swim, ride a bike. Etc. Just stay mildly active, stretch a little. The key is to get some
rest, so don’t do anything too stressful. Here is what your body’s going to do.

During this period. Your body is going to restore many of its biochemical resources and functions,
particularly the nervous and endocrine systems. These two systems take longer to recover from the
stress of the months of working out. After the week or longer off: you’ll be feeling great and ready to
hit the gym again.

A new cycle can be started at 80% of your recent new best poundage’s. Once again the body will pass
through the first two phases (hopefully you’ll stop before you hit Phase 3 this time) and bring about
new strength and the resultant muscular growth. Once again, you’ll have to enter Phase 4 to let the
body repair itself, and begin the cycling process again. If you do this for 4 or 5 successful long cycles,
you can, literally, metamorphosize yourself.
One additional piece of advice I would give would be to change some of your exercises from cycle to
cycle. You should stick to the big basic exercises, but there are plenty of those around. Your training
doesn’t have to be boring. There are also physiological reasons for changing your exercises from
cycle to cycle. As Dr. Selye stated, “unvaried stress” can lead to depletion of the adaptation energy
stores. So, it would be a good idea to change a couple of movements each cycle.

Proven by science and much research, both in the laboratory and field, this is how the body adapts
to stress. You can’t get around it. If you want to realize your strength and size potential, cycle your
training. Work on developing the awareness necessary to know when your body needs time off, and
have the courage to do it. Don’t waste years of your life trying to prove different, and end up short of
your potential.