RE
You're talking -stress- vs. -hypertrophy-.
Stress on the CNS, under Powerlifting, trains you to lift more weight at a lighter mass.
Hypertrophy is the aim of maximum muscle growth at minimal weight within a specified range.
Gains in strength, in either case, will equal muscle growth, however PL-er's lift through a lighter rep scheme than hypertrophy oriented builders.
Taxing the CNS is hurt through excessive lifting. When you're body gets no rest during the week, and you endure 2 hour workouts. CNS stress can also occur with extreme life stress, with little sleep, and poor diet. Make no mistake, CNS failure ore stress does not occur in just 1 vein.
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Failure in lifting occurs when you can no longer lift MORE weight under a given rep scheme. Each person here will go to a different goal, and bb-ers are very dogmatic.
Alot of guys shoot for 8 or 10, sometimes 12. You want to lift heavy, but not so heavy you can't also do sufficient reps to be considered work. Some guys with good genetics could be 12, some could be 8. I'd say 8 as the very *best* since it's enough to work toward, but not so many reps that you can't go heavy. Play with it.
After you bang 8, don't wait 1 or 2 minutes like alot of program prescribe; you don't need to. The muscles recuperate temporarily very quickly, in 20 seconds or so, so that you can bang out more reps. Waiting only lengthens the workout and can thrust you into catabolism since you'll eventually go over the 1 hr limit into buring MORE protein than desirable.
8 reps
rest-pause
as many as you can reps
rest-pause
as many as you can reps
rest-pause
(sometimes I do 1 more, and get out like 1-2 reps)
Next week, it should be cake to add more weight by 5-10 pounds. If I can't do 8, i get 6- or 7.
It sounds simple and it is, and because it is, you stick with it. And you enjoy it, because your main goal is to lift more, and that's fun.
A-Unit