[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]MAF14 wrote:
the OTS Big Beyond Belief program pretty much is a super compensation program…[/quote]
Am I missing something or are people just using this word incorrectly? ANY PROGRAM IS A SUPERCOMPENSATION PROGRAM if gaining muscle and getting stronger is the goal. Supercompensation just means that your body benefits and gains from the work being done. If you aren’t growing, then no “supercompensation” is occurring.[/quote]
Beat me to it 
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
[quote]Dave Rogerson wrote:
I think the stuff these guys are talking about is muscle glycogen supercompensation as a result of depleting workouts and overfeeding etc.
[/quote]
Going back to what X was saying though, shouldn’t any good program done intensely deplete your glycogen levels? Intense muscular work is mainly powered by glycogen and the Phosphagen system, so as long as you are working hard, then there should be glycogen getting used up.
Same is true of overfeeding. If you are trying to gain muscle/weight, then you need to be in a caloric surplus, which is just another term for overfeeding. So again, any intelligently designed bodybuilding routine/diet is already going to be doing a “supercompensation” routine.
[/quote]
This is unavoidably what happens when people who don’t understand the basics try to use concepts that REQUIRE full understanding of basic concepts before you build on it.
No one here should be in the dark that “supercompensation” simply means growth from the training stimulus. No one here should be under the impression that depleting glycogen now needs some completely different training strategy.
Yet, we still get newbies acting like the big guys in the gym are the dumb ones for not spouting off retarded comprehension disadvantaged quotes.
Therefore, everyone in this fucking forum should already be “training for supercompensation”.
So why did these guys think it needed special attention?[/quote]
They think it needs special attention because of FULL NERDS in exercise physiology labs who have the time and interest in studying this shit academically. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that, but as I said, many, though not all, academic studies have no bearing on what we do.
A lot of these guys are also interested in this shit because Koresh (Poliquin) talks and writes about it endlessly - talks and writes about how one should drive oneself into the ground, back off, and then watch the pounds pack on and strength skyrocket. I always thought that taking an excursion to Vegas, smoking some dust, guzzling beers, and staying up til 6 AM for a week was a more pleasurable way of driving oneself into the ground, so that after being back home and well-fed and -rested for a week, he could see physique and strength improvements.
Of course all kinds of training deplete glycogen, but a glycogen-depletion workout–full-body with high repetitions–does the job most efficiently.
Onto complication and progression. Correct - they’re too different things! And thank god they are, because the most successful bodybuilders and powerlifters keep things amazingly simple! Please refer to Jim Wendler’s article titled Going Heavy to get a glimpse into what elite lifters do, despite the belief that they’re carrying some special secret.
The study of peri-workout nutrition is useful because it works! Much of other academic studies are of no use to us because they haven’t introduced something that works. For example, studies looking into the hormonal effects of different set and rep schemes are worthless, because such effects are insignificant and don’t do anything for us. Some guys actually think that the SLIGHT increase in GH and testosterone secreted secondary to exercise makes some difference in our results, when in fact those secretions do almost nothing.
If people want to continue to waste their emotional and intellectual energy with this shit, go ahead! I’ve been a broken record lately - saying that for the past few weeks. It’s those that think and study the most who make the least progress.
Mark Rippetoe’s “Practical Programing for Strength Training” delves into this subject (at least the training side of it) very deeply. If you’re interested in learning more, I’d suggest getting a copy.
My short synopsis: supercompensation is what everyone is going for (obviously) but the more advanced the lifter, the harder it is to provide (and recover from) the necessary stimulus to cause supercompensation to occur. Thus strategies like overreaching followed by a deload are often employed. IMO this is far more common with athletes than bodybuilders. Not sure if that is a good thing or not (nor am I quaified to judge really).