Sorry for the delay... I've been busy stupid as of late!
That book is okay. Books that cover the subject well include Practical Programming, Science and Practice of Strength Training, and Supertraining.
They are ordered from easiest read to toughest. Supertraining is beyond most people's comprehensibility unless they have a strong background in this stuff.
But don't go ordering books unless you enjoy reading about this stuff.
Let's discuss some fundamental concepts relating to planning your workouts.
Lifting weights is a stress to the body, right? We impose this stress with the intent of eliciting a positive response from the body. In many cases, said response we're chasing is improved performance, strength, hypertrophy, etc. In order to experience these good things, we have to give our bodies a reason to improve... this means we have to place enough fatigue on the system to force an adaptation.
You are probably familiar with all this stuff, I'm sure. Progressive overload and all that.
When discussing this stuff, I like the fitness vs. fatigue concept.
As we train, we are building fitness and fatigue... they both accumulate over time. Put differently, we must push our bodies past its limits *some of the time* to improve, which leads to fatigue.
That whole *some of the time* concept is something a lot of people overlook to their detriment. Going in and chasing PRs day in and out will leave even the best stalled and injured. This is where the whole concept of periodization comes about. Periodization was born out of the desire to plan training so that athletes would be at their max condition and ability at the most important times of the season.
Without this plan in place... without periodization and without the knowledge of fitness vs. fatigue... coaches would simply push harder and harder with no concept or thought of the accumulating fatigue. That's a recipe for disaster as elite performance is not something that can be maintained year round and overtraining is not a fun place for athletes to find themselves!
Knowing what we know about how the body responds to such stresses, we know that we must consider the 'dose' of fatigue to prescribe for optimal fitness enhancement. Too much fatigue or insufficient rest (which can be one in the same) leads to overtraining, reduced performance, and injury. Too little fatigue leads to suboptimal performance enhancement and a large opportunity cost.
Much of this conceptual bullsh%t I'm talking about is discussed at length in any of those books I suggested above. What we're really talking about is the Two Factor Theory of training which is simply a model. People get locked into thinking it's a program but it's not. It's simply a way of thinking about the way the body works in relation to stress, fatigue and fitness.
As I noted earlier, when you train, you accumulate both fitness and fatigue. It is said that the fatigue actually 'masks' the fitness. You can build so much fatigue that you're ability actually regresses with further stress application which tells us that there is a point of diminishing returns. Without proper rest programmed into training, overreaching and overtraining occurs. The former isn't necessarily a bad thing. The latter isn't good for anyone.
With proper planning, and I realize I'm rambling a bit... you impose enough fatigue to elicit the best possible fitness gains without overdoing it. Then you back off a bit to allow the accumulated fatigue to dissipate. Fitness lasts longer than fatigue insomuch that you can take a break or plan in some lower intensity/volume stuff (usually the latter but not always) to allow for that fatigue to return to baseline leaving you with your improved fitness.
This is why many people actually get stronger after a break when timed properly. This is also what the entire concept of deloading is based on.
Hopefully I'm making some sense here, and if you have any questions, please feel free to let them fire.
The application of this is quite simple. In my own programming you'll see me do something like 3-4 weeks of building up intensity while reducing volume.... sometimes to the point where, by the end of the training cycle I'm working with triples, doubles or even singles with controlled volume.
I'll ride that out by progressing weights as much as possible but before long, invariably, my body reaches that point of diminishing returns. I know my body well enough that I don't hit that point anymore... rarely I should say. But I'd know it if I did. I'd be aching in the joints, my performance would be stalled or worse would regress, I wouldn't have the desire to train, etc, etc.
At that point, I normally hit a deload week where I train with significantly reduced volume while maintaining my intensity (i.e, weight on the bar).
This is a very simplified application of this but pretty much all worthy programs have this concept built into them... look at anything from Dante Trudel's Doggcrap training, Bryan Hay****'s HST training, WSB, etc, etc.
It all comes down to fatigue management. Improving can't be one's sole focus. Recovery ability and fatigue management must go hand in hand with progressing performance... at least if you're looking for the best ROI*.
*return on investment
Okay, now I know I'm rambling! Sorry.
