Are you talking about just bodyweight gain?
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
I definitely agree with that observation. I feel like a lot of it stems from too much focus on programming manipulation. This idea that, when you change the sets, reps and frequency around in some specific manner, it magically makes you progress in a different way, so all you need to do to train as an “intermediate” is do XYZ.
It’s one of those chicken/egg sort of things. I imagine real intermediates just figure out what principles work for them and apply them, while the self-proclaimed ones follow intermediate programs and do crappy. It’s why I started saying there is no such thing as an intermediate lifter, haha.[/quote]
That actually seems a neat definition of intermediate lifters… Off the top of my head:
Newb: doesn’t understand training principles or is not knowingly applying principles
Intermediate: has an understanding of general training principles and can apply some of them to their training
Advanced:has well defined principles and effectively applies them to reach specific goals.
Much nicer than the ability to apply enough stress such that recovery from session to session is not possible or the even worse 300/400/500 or other arbitrary measure.
But folks like something far more tangible than a principle based approach