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kethnaab
New member
Dual factor theory, simply put, involves planning your workouts with the knowledge that fatigue and fitness both affect performance. As you train, you build up your fitness level, but also accumulate fatigue, which reduces performance below what your fitness level would dictate. So you get very fit, but very fatigued from high volume, high intensity training, such as what the 5x5 involves, hence the week(s) of "deloading" where you lower the overall volume yet continue to lift. The fatigue dissipates due to the lower volume, and you are able to smack some serious weight.
an easy correlation can be made to a guy who runs
if dude runs 5 days per week, 10 miles per day for several weeks, he is going to become extremely fit, but he will get tired due to what we frequently hear termed "overtraining".
Now, imagine if, after 4-6 weeks of doing 50 miles per week running, he cut back to 3 runs per week at 5 miles per day. Essentially, he just went from 50 miles weekly to 15 miles weekly.
He's still running, and one could argue that, because he's running only 5 miles every other day during the week, he's probably running a lot faster than he was if he was still doing 10 miles. He lowered his overall volume (miles ran) and frequency (days running per week) but upped the intensity (his running speed during the 5 mile is faster than his running speed during the 10 mile)
Because he spent weeks accumulating tons of fitness from his hard workouts, these 15-mile weeks where he runs 3x per week are like an active rest for him. His fitness level can handle 50 miles per week, he's only running 15 miles per week. Therefore, the fatigue that also accumulated during those 6 or so weeks of 50-mile running is now able to dissipate, even though he's still running very hard each week. He cut back on volume and frequency, and now he sees increases in his athletic performance as fatigue dissipates and his fitness is allowed to "show through"
You can be in great shape, but if you're flippin' tired, you can't perform that well. Unfortunately, it takes ALOT OF HARD WORK to get in great shape, and that causes fatigue to accumulate.
Check the stupid picture/graph I drew. It represents "general fitness level" with a blue line and "general fatigue level" with a red line, with "performance" being the green arrow drawn between the difference. As you exercise, your general fitness level increases, as does your fatigue accumulation. The harder you work, the more your fitness goes up, but the more fatigue that accumulates (Loading/accumulation phase). How you perform is not based SOLELY on your fitness level, but it is based on a (very non-mathematical, but rather theoretical) equation that basically states:
"Performance = Fitness - Fatigue"
Eventually, you get to the point where you are thoroughly busting your ass and you are starting to see that fatigue overtakes you (overreaching/overtraining phase). So at this point, fatigue has "won" (albeit temporarily) so many trainers will just quit for awhile (a week, sometimes weeks, sometimes several months). However, the thinking man's trainer decides to take advantage of this by PLANNING to do this, using "Dual Factor theory". He increases his fitness levels using high levels of volume and frequency and once he reads that fatigue has overtaken his fitness levels, he drastically cuts back on his frequency and his volume. This allows for an active rest, so fatigue dissipates. however, he is STILL TRAINING HARD, and his fitness levels continue to climb.
in the basic DF 5x5, you "accumulate/load" for a period of about 6 weeks. You hit your PR at week 3 or 4, then you get another 2 or 3 weeks of ass-busting workouts and your performance peaks, because fatigue increases at this point faster than fitness does. Once you recognize that fatigue starts to "win the battle", you drop back to your best 5rep weight, except instead of doing 5-rep sets, you do 3 rep sets. Instead of doing 5 sets, you do 3 sets. Instead of working squats 3x per week, you work them 2x per week
and instead of sitting on your couch recovering, like a lump, you are in the gym getting stronger and better, all the while, you are recovering.
Most people think this is a random occurance, but as you get to know the body, you learn to recognize exactly how your body reacts. Once you learn how to do that, you really can learn how to use "overtraining" to your advantage
How to Benefit from Planned Overtraining
an easy correlation can be made to a guy who runs
if dude runs 5 days per week, 10 miles per day for several weeks, he is going to become extremely fit, but he will get tired due to what we frequently hear termed "overtraining".
Now, imagine if, after 4-6 weeks of doing 50 miles per week running, he cut back to 3 runs per week at 5 miles per day. Essentially, he just went from 50 miles weekly to 15 miles weekly.
He's still running, and one could argue that, because he's running only 5 miles every other day during the week, he's probably running a lot faster than he was if he was still doing 10 miles. He lowered his overall volume (miles ran) and frequency (days running per week) but upped the intensity (his running speed during the 5 mile is faster than his running speed during the 10 mile)
Because he spent weeks accumulating tons of fitness from his hard workouts, these 15-mile weeks where he runs 3x per week are like an active rest for him. His fitness level can handle 50 miles per week, he's only running 15 miles per week. Therefore, the fatigue that also accumulated during those 6 or so weeks of 50-mile running is now able to dissipate, even though he's still running very hard each week. He cut back on volume and frequency, and now he sees increases in his athletic performance as fatigue dissipates and his fitness is allowed to "show through"
You can be in great shape, but if you're flippin' tired, you can't perform that well. Unfortunately, it takes ALOT OF HARD WORK to get in great shape, and that causes fatigue to accumulate.
Check the stupid picture/graph I drew. It represents "general fitness level" with a blue line and "general fatigue level" with a red line, with "performance" being the green arrow drawn between the difference. As you exercise, your general fitness level increases, as does your fatigue accumulation. The harder you work, the more your fitness goes up, but the more fatigue that accumulates (Loading/accumulation phase). How you perform is not based SOLELY on your fitness level, but it is based on a (very non-mathematical, but rather theoretical) equation that basically states:
"Performance = Fitness - Fatigue"
Eventually, you get to the point where you are thoroughly busting your ass and you are starting to see that fatigue overtakes you (overreaching/overtraining phase). So at this point, fatigue has "won" (albeit temporarily) so many trainers will just quit for awhile (a week, sometimes weeks, sometimes several months). However, the thinking man's trainer decides to take advantage of this by PLANNING to do this, using "Dual Factor theory". He increases his fitness levels using high levels of volume and frequency and once he reads that fatigue has overtaken his fitness levels, he drastically cuts back on his frequency and his volume. This allows for an active rest, so fatigue dissipates. however, he is STILL TRAINING HARD, and his fitness levels continue to climb.
in the basic DF 5x5, you "accumulate/load" for a period of about 6 weeks. You hit your PR at week 3 or 4, then you get another 2 or 3 weeks of ass-busting workouts and your performance peaks, because fatigue increases at this point faster than fitness does. Once you recognize that fatigue starts to "win the battle", you drop back to your best 5rep weight, except instead of doing 5-rep sets, you do 3 rep sets. Instead of doing 5 sets, you do 3 sets. Instead of working squats 3x per week, you work them 2x per week
and instead of sitting on your couch recovering, like a lump, you are in the gym getting stronger and better, all the while, you are recovering.
Most people think this is a random occurance, but as you get to know the body, you learn to recognize exactly how your body reacts. Once you learn how to do that, you really can learn how to use "overtraining" to your advantage
How to Benefit from Planned Overtraining
