[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
It is fairly simple to understand why very different training approaches can be effective.
What makes a muscle grow is fairly simple to understand… you must ask your muscles to perform work approaching the limit of their capacity.
Different programs accomplish this different ways.
A high volume approach does it with accumulated fatigue… working toward the body’s limit of volume tolerance.
A density/beyond failure approach like DC and Trevor Smith’s method do it by creating maximum fatigue in one set… it has the same kind of impact as high volume work, but instead of requiring a lot of sets to work toward the body’s limit for work tolerance, it does so by creating a ton of fatigue in one extended set.
Powerlifting-type programs make muscle grow by doing plenty of work with loads approaching the body’s limit for tension/force production. So instead of working toward your work tolerance limit, it work towards your tension tolerance limit.
All three approaches work and work well. The issue is only one of fatigue (especially neural fatigue) management.
A high volume approach can cause metabolic fatigue as well as neural fatigue (lactic acid accumulation in the muscle can lead to peripheral neural fatigue which leads to CNS fatigue).
A “failure” approach causes much of the same fatigue via lactic acid accumulation but to a much more pronounced degree, which is why it is impossible to perform a lot of sets with this approach.
A powerlifting-type approach can cause a lot of neural fatigue too because heavier weights tend to put more stress on the CNS.
Those who fail to have results are those who suck at fatigue management.
That having been said, I believe that the more work close to your limit you can perform WITHOUT EXCEEDING YOUR CAPACITY TO RECOVER the more you’ll progress. Which is why I recommend lower reps without grinding. This allows one to do a lot more high-force sets without burning out.[/quote]
Now THAT made sense. CT, I’ve been reading what you’ve written on this subject for some time now. It almost certainly relates to the fact that I’m a bit slow, and maybe that I’ve always had these comparisons going in the back of my mind (“…but if THAT’s true, what about XYZ?”), but I think that’s the clearest explanation you’ve produced yet of what makes HTH concepts distinct from other bodybuilding protocols. Seeing HTH explained in contrast to other well-known programs just made the lightbulb turn on for me. This could be a point worth returning to in future iterations of the program, for thick-skulled folks like myself. 
Thanks for the explanation!