"Newbie Gains"

ythannah

In strength training, how long does the newbie gain effect last?

I've been doing the basic compound barbell lifts (NOT heavy, however, working my way up verrrry slowly) since around July 2013, although admittedly not consistently for about the first 6 months or so.

Had to give up all upper body lifts from roughly March through July 2014 due to a bad rotator cuff injury. In fact, I held off on bench press completely until about a month ago.

Got much more consistent when I switched my lifting to the early AM, which was around three or four months ago. I was finding it too easy to forget or skip when I was doing it in the evenings. I do upper/lower body split on alternating days -- my only rest days are when I sleep in and don't have time. (Recall that I am not lifting "heavy")

Thing is, it's been over the past month that I've really been noticing the effects... visible definition, leaning out, etc. I guess what I'm asking if this is just newbie gains and eventually (or soon) I'll stop seeing changes?

PS I'm old. 51. And menopausal. If that affects the answer, lol.

JeffseekingV

Lift with proper technique with a good reasonable program and push these gains for all it's worth. When it tapers, that's when it's done and/or you need to adjust

ana3067

You really need to make sure you get enough rest in. I basically do upper/lower as well, kind of based on Wendler (doing main lift once a week, accessory work included, but I do my own rep scheme and choose my own accessory work), but I only work out 4x a week. If I cannot do 4x a week then I do 2 full body days. Takes longer but it's good if I need to get stuff done earlier in the week or am stressed with classes/assignments/exams and can just postpone things.

As far as newbie gains though, I'd say that you're probably past that. If you are in a caloric deficit, you are just losing some body fat. So... you will stop seeing changes once you stop losing body fat. And then if you want to grow more muscle, you will see change again once you eat at a caloric surplus.

And relating back to rest, be sure you are resting. especially with the injury, even if it's healed you don't want to over-train and/or flare it up. I am mending tennis elbow and I had to lower my upper body weights (some by a fair bit, others by a few lbs). If I force myself I can make it feel worse again.

ythannah

My routine is sort of following the All Pro one. I guess what I'm doing is a slow recomp... not in a caloric deficit, mostly eating at either maintenance or surplus.

(If that sounds a little odd, it's because my SO is the cook for our household but he travels for work on a regular basis -- when he's cooking, I eat higher calorie/protein than I do when I cook for myself, when I eat mostly vegetarian/pescetarian.)

Trust me, I'm looking after that shoulder... I don't want to go through another 6 months of that! On the other hand, I'd love to stabilize it with a bit more muscle to avoid future injury, as snow shoveling season is about to start again

Sam_I_Am77

Funny enough I had my Physiology textbook open when I saw this question. There might be some research that indicates otherwise, I haven't really looked, but there's no real indication about the time in which you will improve your neural adaptation and plateau. I would speculate that the neural adaptation would be affected by load (sub-maximal vs. maximal), volume, and frequency with maximal effort probably hitting that plateau faster.

ythannah

Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »

Funny enough I had my Physiology textbook open when I saw this question. There might be some research that indicates otherwise, I haven't really looked, but there's no real indication about the time in which you will improve your neural adaptation and plateau. I would speculate that the neural adaptation would be affected by load (sub-maximal vs. maximal), volume, and frequency with maximal effort probably hitting that plateau faster.

So I take it that I may be prolonging the time frame for neural adaptation by lifting relatively light weights?

I'm finding that visible results are making the whole lifting thing quite addictive and was just curious as to when that might come to an end.

Sam_I_Am77

ythannah wrote: »

Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »

Funny enough I had my Physiology textbook open when I saw this question. There might be some research that indicates otherwise, I haven't really looked, but there's no real indication about the time in which you will improve your neural adaptation and plateau. I would speculate that the neural adaptation would be affected by load (sub-maximal vs. maximal), volume, and frequency with maximal effort probably hitting that plateau faster.

So I take it that I may be prolonging the time frame for neural adaptation by lifting relatively light weights?

I'm finding that visible results are making the whole lifting thing quite addictive and was just curious as to when that might come to an end.

The honest answer is that I really don't know. It's possible, in theory it makes sense, but I really couldn't say. In the NASM OPT training model, stabilization-endurance and strength endurance training (to a lesser degree) to help improve neuro-muscular efficiency (one of the benefits). Stabilization-endurance uses a lighter load for 1 to 3 sets of 12 - 20 reps using a 4sec (negative) / 2sec (hold) / 1sec (postive) tempo. That phase generally lasts for 4 weeks, possibly longer depending on the individual.