Offeason gains..appearance vs reality

[SleepLifter]

simple question...I'm posing it to you guys because you know all about the on/offseason training goals.

In your opinion, how important is the physical number on the scale when it comes to measuring your offseason progress? For example, I just started my official offseason training two weeks ago and since i upped my calories I have actually lost about 1.5 pounds. However, my strength is going through the roof. And I'm looking fuller.

Its weird. I'm thinking maybe i lost fat or water. If you guys are making gains in the gym, is that enough to base your progress on. Or do you use the scale? If I can push 90lb on the DB press now and 120 in 3 months, does that mean i have gained muscle? Or can you gain strength independently of muscle?

thx

Sleep

[TJ_Strong]

You press the 120lbers????

wow

[Vitamin C]

From what I understand, the begining "strength" increase is mainly neurological adaptation, which eventually produces growth.

So, at what stage does physical growth set in? I was wondering that also.
I've been averaging 2 lbs/week on my bulk and was wondering how much of that is muscle and how much is fat.

The most accurate way to find out is via calipers, but I'm sure there's a good rule of thumb when it comes to gaining weight that lets someone approximate how much they have gained.

[SleepLifter]

nah man, currently im only at the 100s lb dbs.....but im planning on getting there. I was just wondering, If my strength goes up does that mean I am getting bigger by default?

and 2 lbs a week is a little bit too much seeing as how you body can only only assimilate .5- MAYBE 1 lb of muscle a week (and that is unlikely). look to gain more like 1 lb a week abd u will end up leaner.

any ideas on the strength/size paradox? does strengh mean size?

[Big Will C]

Strength does not always correlate with muscle gains. You should periodically measure your bodyfat while keeping an eye on your weight. That way you know approximately how much muscle you're gaining versus how much fat you're gaining.

Remember, in bodybuilding it doesn't matter how much you lift or what you weight, it's how you look. However, if you go from lifting (pick any lift) 50 lbs to 200 lbs, for example, odds are you've gained some muscle.

My $0.02.

[anabolicaholic]

If you go from the 90s to the 120s you'll definately be gaining a large amount of muscle. Just make sure you're eating enough calories and concentrate on adding weight to your lifts. The scale is not too important in my opinion.

[lucious]

Generally a stronger muscle is a bigger muscle.

[Big_G1986]

not neccasarilly, depends on how refined your CNS is.

[Skibird93]

From what I understand, the begining "strength" increase is mainly neurological adaptation, which eventually produces growth.

So, at what stage does physical growth set in? I was wondering that also.
I've been averaging 2 lbs/week on my bulk and was wondering how much of that is muscle and how much is fat.

The most accurate way to find out is via calipers, but I'm sure there's a good rule of thumb when it comes to gaining weight that lets someone approximate how much they have gained.

That is correct...generally the strength gains in the first 6-8 weeks of a program come primarily from neuromuscular adaptations, not an increase in muscle size. This is different for everyone of course but that is the "average". A persons training background also has a huge impact on this. This is why beginners see such huge strength increases when they first start a weight training program. Your nervous system adapts to the exercises you are performing and recruits more motor units and muscle fibers to lift the weight...hence, you seem stronger. Actual muscle hypertrophy starts to take over after the first 6-8 week initial period. At this point, most of the strength gains that you will be seeing will be coming from an increase in muscle strength and/ or size. So, it only makes sence to stay on a program for at least 8-10 weeks minimum to really see if its working for you. To all of these people that want to "trick" their bodies by switching their workouts continuosly.....why?? You are getting stronger from your nervouse system adapting, not your muscle tissue getting bigger. Just my thoughts...any one care to agree or disagree????

[pgsam]

yes I would...im not saying that sticking to something for 8-10 weeks is bad, if it works it works, but are you saying theres mostly strenth gains in the first 8-10 weeks? because id have to say thats ridiculous...I think this applies more to when you very first start lifting, like the first month maybe youll only put on a few lbs. I cycle training styles pretty often, every 6 weeks or so and ive been continuing to grow fine, as well as my strenth.

sleeplifter- strentht and hypertrophy can happen independently, but if youre eating enough, and working in a hypertrophy range, no. say youre just pressing the 100 lbers for 2 rep sets and eating less than maintenance obviously youre not going to put on muscle, but it would still be possible to increase strenth, just slowly

[FATHER FLEX]

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do...dra?id=1268956

[Skibird93]

yes I would...im not saying that sticking to something for 8-10 weeks is bad, if it works it works, but are you saying theres mostly strenth gains in the first 8-10 weeks? because id have to say thats ridiculous...I think this applies more to when you very first start lifting, like the first month maybe youll only put on a few lbs. I cycle training styles pretty often, every 6 weeks or so and ive been continuing to grow fine, as well as my strenth.

sleeplifter- strentht and hypertrophy can happen independently, but if youre eating enough, and working in a hypertrophy range, no. say youre just pressing the 100 lbers for 2 rep sets and eating less than maintenance obviously youre not going to put on muscle, but it would still be possible to increase strenth, just slowly

What I am saying is that your body responds to the training that you are doing by making it easier to lift the amount of weight that you are using. Building muscle tissue is not an easy process by any means. So, in order for your body to lift the weight that you are training with it will do this in the easiest way possible. For the first 6-8 weeks roughly (and I mean roughly) the gains in strength you see will be primarily because your body gradually becomes more efficient at lifting the given weight. It is much easier to train your nervous system to fire more often and stimulate more muscle fibers to lift a given weight than to actually create muscle hypertrophy and actually add size to the muscle fibers themselves. Think about it...what increases at a greater rate muscle strength or size??? Obviously muscle strength. It is much easier to greatly increase the amount of weight you can lift than to greatly increase your muscle size right. If it were the other way around you would be seeing guys adding 2 or 3 inches to their arms in 10 weeks, this just doesnt happen naturally. Another factor that hass a huge effect on muscle mass gain is nutrition. A person with a less than adequate nutrition p[lan can still make decent strength gains in the beginning phases of a program due to the neuromuscular adaptations.