GETTING MOMENTUM IN YOUR TRAINING AND KEEPING IT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE, BY NOT FALLING OFF THE CLIFF

GETTING MOMENTUM  IN YOUR TRAINING AND KEEPING IT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE, BY NOT FALLING OFF THE CLIFF 

Then reality sets in, and that -10% session happens. Then another, then another, then you wonder what in the hell happened to all of that sweet nectar of progression.
Well first off, there’s no real way to completely avoid the pitfalls of training. When you feel as though strength and development have regressed. When the return on your exertion investment just does not seem to scream equality, when your life ends up dealing you stress that just zaps the life right out of you. The gym goals either take a backseat for a while or get shit on altogether.
This is especially true if you are really pushing hard as hell and focused on attaining rep PR’s and moving up to that next level. I did this for years, and while I made good progress, the most frustrating thing about it was that I so often found myself in a downslope later, not able to hit weights I had smashed so easily before. I would spend months and months trying to just MATCH those PR’s again.
Why did I end up losing much of that momentum that I had for so long? I will credit Brandon Lilly for giving me a great metaphor in regards to this. And in fact, it even uses a term I have often used in regards to training regression. Brandon said a Russian coach told him, “You can push a horse as hard and as fast as it will go towards a cliff until it nears the end of that cliff and then it will lock everything up and stop.” I’ve often called the regressive aftermath of a long and productive training cycle that netted PR’s and lots of tangible progress the period of “falling off the cliff.” Basically, strength and work capacity will tank. You aren’t strong or explosive, and your willingness to push hard in a determined way is diminished. You can only push hard and fast for so long.
At some point, the brakes will get slammed on, or you’ll fall off the cliff. Either way, it signals either regression or stagnation. You either end up behind the 8-ball and you cannot match those PR’s anymore, or you stay stuck there for a long, long time. All training gives and then takes something back. Eventually, training will take more from you than it gives back regardless of what protocol you are using. There is a time and a place for everything, and eventually the body will adapt to certain stresses, and in order to move forward, change, in some way, will be required. This is why you need to plan accordingly when you see the edge of that cliff fast approaching you.

PLAN, ATTACK, CONQUER, ESTABLISH, REIGN 
Throughout your training life, you’re going to eventually need to understand what your body needs in order to move forward. Generally, most guys that work in the “unproductive training department” are making money there because of two common reasons...

1. They switch routines too often. aka CRC's, (chronic routine changes). This is often younger guys or novice trainees. They start reading everything in the world on training and end up switching routines

2. They don’t know when to switch methodologies. The guy obsessed with strength development will not stop training in low reps, and train for mass for a while. They don’t understand the benefits of training high reps on the big movements for a while rather than just doing singles and triples all the time. This is usually the more advanced guys, who became “advanced” through a particular method and then as they get closer to their genetic ceiling, fail to understand you can only milk that same cow many times in a day. Eventually, you have to find a new pair of tits if you want more milk.
Strength and muscular development have a handshaking mechanism, but they cannot shake hands unless you introduce them to one another. If your bench has been stuck at 315 for two years, then you either need to learn how to bench more efficiently (better setup, more leg drive, etc.), Or you simply need to get bigger. Mass moves mass, and a bigger you are always going to be a stronger you.
Too many guys that are obsessed with setting one rep maxes in the gym will not give up their “testing” for a few months of “bodybuilding” style work. It’s because they have become fixated on hitting a new bench PR. If a new bench PR hasn’t been hit in a very, very long time, then you’ve become insane. Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.
The “plan-attack-conquer-reign” motto applies very well not only to war strategy, sexual conquests, binge eating, and fantasy football, but your training paradigm as well.

Plan - Figure out what it is you need to do, in order to get to improve. By “improve” that means setting REALISTIC goals, a timeframe to reach them, and a sound methodology. This stage of planning takes a bit of being honest with yourself and being introspective about what you need to let go of, and what you need to go after. Again, if you’ve been stuck for a very long time, you’ll need to make some changes in your training/diet/sleeping/stress, whatever.

Attack - after your plan has been established you need to attack all of the areas involved in that plan with the force of 10,000 Vikings. Eat like a machine, train accordingly to plan, make sure you’re getting adequate rest, and do not deviate from the “plan” unless It is an absolute requirement. This is why it is important that the PLAN be solid. You don’t want to start changing things early because your plan suddenly seems insufficient.

Conquer - This is where plan and attack bear their fruit, and your goals become realized. If the first two phases were on point, this phase should happen fairly seamlessly.

Reign - Now here is where the analogy of the horse running off the cliff comes into play. You’re chasing PR’s, and you’re training as hard as possible. Once the PR’s (the conquer phase) start coming in, you must be aware that the cliff is fast approaching. YOU CANNOT GET GREEDY.

If you do, two things are going to happen. You will either go right off the cliff, or that horse will slam on the brakes and progress comes to a screeching halt.
The PR’s are hit on the way to the cliff’s edge. The reason the cliff comes upon you is that there’s nowhere left to go. You’ve tapped the landscape (your body) out for the moment. Then you’re forced to backtrack and find a way down. This is a regression. If you are smart, you’ll understand that part of reigning, and increasing your baseline is knowing that after you have reached a PR, eventually there is an inevitable backslide.
On the way to the cliff, what you should have done was be cognizant of the small road leading down off the mountain. You have reached your goals, and now it is time to back off the speed for a bit, and REIGN over the progress you have made.
You will MAINTAIN the progress. Not regress from it. You do not need to DEMONSTRATE the progress in order to maintain it. You can maintain that progress by NOT falling off the cliff or staying stagnant. By slicing in periods of maintenance training to increase your baseline. This is another component of base building. I found this out on my own. That by simply training to maintain, I found myself getting stronger and stronger. Then when I would go after a rep PR when I felt good, low and behold it was there.
A light bulb went off that not killing myself, and coaxing progress out as my body would allow it, had tremendous benefits. Training in lower intensities and not killing myself every training session ALLOWED my body to recover, and because of this, strength gain ensued.
Getting greedy always ends up backfiring in both life and training. Once you’ve established some new set points in terms of PR’s, understand that you will need to back off and work to MAINTAIN those PR’s. You do not have to actually reproduce those PR “strength demonstrations” weekly TO DO THAT. Please grok the shit out of that ideology. It will benefit you greatly.