I read an article by Dave Tate or Louie Simmons, can’t remember which, but he stated that training at either maximal or near maximal loads (i.e strength training) all the time will wear out the nervous system. So your strength curve will increase but soon plateau and possibly decrease. He said this takes roughly 3 weeks for it to happen.
OK - so it’s an intensity thing, makes sense.
But what about hypertrophy training? Even though the load is relatively low, for example 50-60% max, isn't there an issue of wearing out the nervous system? I sure as hell feel as if by rep 8 I'm recruiting a shitload of motor units in order to get the weight moving.
Couldn’t hypertrophy training result in an exhausted nervous system, resulting in a decreased strength curve?
I’m sorry if this post doesn’t make any sense but this has been driving me crazy for a while.
Thanks for all replies to this post.
I would like to discuss this topic further with y’all.
I don’t know the science behind it, but I’ve always found that if I reach a plateau, a week off never fails to get me past it, and then some. With that in mind I suspect that there may be more to it than only nervous system, but recovery may only be for example 95% (even though you feel fully recovered) which over many sessions negates your efforts and you hit a glass ceiling. I could be talking broken bisuits here, but the model works for me.
that sounds rather logical to me. your nervous system does respond to stress. and overexertion would put it at a deficit, and all things it controls, muscular contractions for one, would likely fall ill to its fatigue. I am in college right now, so I can testify to nervous system stress relating to the rest of your body. I would like to know where this article is, so that I might read it and possibly some articles cited, if any. This is an interesting topic, and I as well would like to see much discussion on it. Good post!