Optimization problems in training - Why people get stuck- by steven-miller
Disclaimer: This article does not contain any "training secrets" - I could not offer any, even if I wanted to. It is supposed to explain a fundamental idea that applies to many things in life and happens to also have merit regarding training design and goal setting in sports. Some experienced and successful athletes might contradict some of the points made. That is fine since they are successful in the first place. However, if you are running into training problems regularly and fail to achieve your short and midterm goals this article might be of interest to you. Critique and discussion are welcome and encouraged. Just make sure to address the actual argument. Which goal setting mistakes lead to optimization problems?How long are you supposed to rest between sets if you're aiming for mass gains?
How about to avoid mass gains [...] and aim for mainly strength [...] gains?
Questions such as this one are asked by sports people quite regularly - at least on the internet. Whether it is related towards the goal of high relative strength (that means the ratio of maximal strength to the bodyweight of the trainee) or presents itself as worries fitness trainees have towards the topic of desired muscle mass accumulation vs. undesired body fat gains, those questions always represent the flawed idea, that one can optimize ones training based on two (or more) contradictory goals. I want to illustrate this point with an analogy everyone should be able to relate to easily. Say your goal in life is to earn the most money you can. Optimizing your life towards this objective is absolutely possible and there will be a best solution to this problem, meaning that there is a way of living that makes you earn the most money. This scenario however becomes unsolvable once you have a second life goal that is associated with or, in the worst case, completely contradictory to your first objective, for example you having the goal of having as much free time as possible. There you are with two simultaneous objectives that absolutely don't fit each other. People will then say things like "my life goal is to earn as much money as I can while still having as much free time as possible" while not realizing that they have created a situation where there is no single best solution. Any way of living would then be as good or as bad for these goals as every other one. The objectives have thus become irrelevant.
Now be honest with yourself: How often did you state things like "I want to increase my squat as much as I can while staying as light as possible"?
Two different principlesIn economics people realized those problems to be inherent in the economic principle as well. The economic principle just means that every individual is trying to maximize its profit. Profit might be defined as gains minus costs. Hence it is argumented that the economic principle can be followed via two separate ways, that of maximization (maximizing gains with given costs) and that of minimization (minimizing costs with given gains). Dividing the economic principle in these two separate ideas helps avoiding logical pitfalls and paradox scenarios.
This concept is extremely valuable in training as well because it enables you to set realistic goals that can be measured and allows you to imagine a training setting that best accomplishes your objectives instead of being stuck between two contradictory guidelines.
Applying this new knowledge towards our stereotypical statement about squats and bodyweight gains would mean that we have to change it either like this:
"I want to increase my squat as much as I can while only gaining 10 lbs of bodyweight." (maximization principle) or like this
"I want to stay as light as possible while putting 50 lbs to my maximal squat weight." (minimization principle).
But how does one decide which variant is the better one?
Prioritizing
