CNS Rest Period?

This IS a really complicated question.

Dan John gives some examples of appropriate rest in the book "Easy Strength".

Runners recommend one day of COMPLETE rest each week for full recovery.

But a lot of people violate that all the time, and I have no idea on the actual research.

Sorry I can't be of any actual help.

If it is actually CNS Fatigue, than 1-2 days of rest (without any physical exercises), combine with lots of fluids and eating right, should be enough to recover. In all honesty though, it is much easier to experience physical muscle fatigue, than CNS fatigue.

:bigsmile: asdwedgcbuhijkihgftrdsfgh

I think it's individual.

The only way to know is to try some programming and see how it affects you (all other things being equal like good hydration, good sleep adequate nutrition).

I know I've gone too far when simple tasks become difficult (like walking up a hill that's never normally a problem) and also when grip strength starts to tail off. Pavel tells of an old Russian dude who swore by increasing resting heart rate as a measure of effing up the cns - can't remember where I saw that one though...

I think it's individual.

The only way to know is to try some programming and see how it affects you (all other things being equal like good hydration, good sleep adequate nutrition).

I know I've gone too far when simple tasks become difficult (like walking up a hill that's never normally a problem) and also when grip strength starts to tail off. Pavel tells of an old Russian dude who swore by increasing resting heart rate as a measure of effing up the cns - can't remember where I saw that one though...

I think that's in Easy Strength too, but it might be other places as well. (It's pretty to identify the source when you just have one)

The threshold would be individual, based on fitness level, hydration level, nutrition levels at a particular time. (Too many variables to predict)
Pushing yourself physically at over 90% for too long without any rest will tax your CNS. When you can't think straight, and your motor skills are dropping, heart rate increasing, and you're exhausted, but you can't sleep, chances are you're experiencing CNS Fatigue.

Since you are upping your deadlifting, your body is not going to be used to it initially, so chances are you may experience muscle fatigue first, but again, its individual, so it's hard to predict.
I used to squat and deadlift only once a week, but I've upped that to twice a week, and I've been doing that for 14 weeks now and I haven't had any issues. (Aside from the first 2 weeks some serious DOMS)
The key is listen to your body, hydrate it, feed it, and give it rest.

Essentially, if going down to the basement of my house and back up gets hard, I know I'm on the way to fatiguelandia, and should tone it back a bit.

My assumption though would be that muscular fatigue will occur prior to CNS fatigue.

Climbing up stairs. Harder than it looks when you're overtrained!

This IS a really complicated question.

Dan John gives some examples of appropriate rest in the book "Easy Strength".

Runners recommend one day of COMPLETE rest each week for full recovery.

But a lot of people violate that all the time, and I have no idea on the actual research.

Sorry I can't be of any actual help.

I figured it was a question the size of the Rock.

One reason it came to mind is that I'm ramping up my lifting volume, and intensity. Will my yoga, swimming, and climbing have negative effects on my CNS improvements?

Probably. Anything that stresses the body is going to have an effect, however small. It's one of the reasons I stopped doing all forms of cardio, it wasn't allowing me to maximize my lifts.

How much it affects you is going to be based on your age, your genetics, your food intake, hormone levels, intensity of workouts, everything.

jimmmer - that makes a lot of sense. Reason the question came to mind was the deadlift item in the other thread. I'm currently deadlifting once a week, either for reps, or for weight. I'm planning to up that to 3x per week, once for weight, 2x for reps. Some weeks it might be 2x for weight, 1x for reps.

Essentially, if going down to the basement of my house and back up gets hard, I know I'm on the way to fatiguelandia, and should tone it back a bit.

My assumption though would be that muscular fatigue will occur prior to CNS fatigue.

You're welcome to try DLing 3x a week but the wheels are probably going to fall off of your training sooner or later. In the beginning I liked DLs a lot so I started training them 2x a week. It went fine for a month or two, and then my lifts started plateauing. And then they started going backwards. I switched back to 1x a week and everything was fine. 3x a week would put me in a wheelchair. You're talking about the most stressful lift there is. I'm thinking you will probably regret it but sometimes you have to figure these things out for yourself.

Crap, at some point I realize I will probably have to DL 1x every other week. But I'm oldish and my DL is fairly heavyish.

This IS a really complicated question.

Dan John gives some examples of appropriate rest in the book "Easy Strength".

Runners recommend one day of COMPLETE rest each week for full recovery.

But a lot of people violate that all the time, and I have no idea on the actual research.

Sorry I can't be of any actual help.

I figured it was a question the size of the Rock.

One reason it came to mind is that I'm ramping up my lifting volume, and intensity. Will my yoga, swimming, and climbing have negative effects on my CNS improvements?

Probably. Anything that stresses the body is going to have an effect, however small. It's one of the reasons I stopped doing all forms of cardio, it wasn't allowing me to maximize my lifts.

How much it affects you is going to be based on your age, your genetics, your food intake, hormone levels, intensity of workouts, everything.

jimmmer - that makes a lot of sense. Reason the question came to mind was the deadlift item in the other thread. I'm currently deadlifting once a week, either for reps, or for weight. I'm planning to up that to 3x per week, once for weight, 2x for reps. Some weeks it might be 2x for weight, 1x for reps.

Essentially, if going down to the basement of my house and back up gets hard, I know I'm on the way to fatiguelandia, and should tone it back a bit.

My assumption though would be that muscular fatigue will occur prior to CNS fatigue.

You're welcome to try DLing 3x a week but the wheels are probably going to fall off of your training sooner or later. In the beginning I liked DLs a lot so I started training them 2x a week. It went fine for a month or two, and then my lifts started plateauing. And then they started going backwards. I switched back to 1x a week and everything was fine. 3x a week would put me in a wheelchair. You're talking about the most stressful lift there is. I'm thinking you will probably regret it but sometimes you have to figure these things out for yourself.

Crap, at some point I realize I will probably have to DL 1x every other week. But I'm oldish and my DL is fairly heavyish.

hate to disagree there chief, but i'm fairly certain that we all came to the conclusion in the Hugh Jackman thread that deadlifting up to 5x weekly not only did not negatively affect lifts/mass/cns, but also that it was the OPTIMAL way to train and that all the successful bodybuilders and powerlifters did it.

This IS a really complicated question.

Dan John gives some examples of appropriate rest in the book "Easy Strength".

Runners recommend one day of COMPLETE rest each week for full recovery.

But a lot of people violate that all the time, and I have no idea on the actual research.

Sorry I can't be of any actual help.

I figured it was a question the size of the Rock.

One reason it came to mind is that I'm ramping up my lifting volume, and intensity. Will my yoga, swimming, and climbing have negative effects on my CNS improvements?

Probably. Anything that stresses the body is going to have an effect, however small. It's one of the reasons I stopped doing all forms of cardio, it wasn't allowing me to maximize my lifts.

How much it affects you is going to be based on your age, your genetics, your food intake, hormone levels, intensity of workouts, everything.

jimmmer - that makes a lot of sense. Reason the question came to mind was the deadlift item in the other thread. I'm currently deadlifting once a week, either for reps, or for weight. I'm planning to up that to 3x per week, once for weight, 2x for reps. Some weeks it might be 2x for weight, 1x for reps.

Essentially, if going down to the basement of my house and back up gets hard, I know I'm on the way to fatiguelandia, and should tone it back a bit.

My assumption though would be that muscular fatigue will occur prior to CNS fatigue.

You're welcome to try DLing 3x a week but the wheels are probably going to fall off of your training sooner or later. In the beginning I liked DLs a lot so I started training them 2x a week. It went fine for a month or two, and then my lifts started plateauing. And then they started going backwards. I switched back to 1x a week and everything was fine. 3x a week would put me in a wheelchair. You're talking about the most stressful lift there is. I'm thinking you will probably regret it but sometimes you have to figure these things out for yourself.

Crap, at some point I realize I will probably have to DL 1x every other week. But I'm oldish and my DL is fairly heavyish.

hate to disagree there chief, but i'm fairly certain that we all came to the conclusion in the Hugh Jackman thread that deadlifting up to 5x weekly not only did not negatively affect lifts/mass/cns, but also that it was the OPTIMAL way to train and that all the successful bodybuilders and powerlifters did it.

I thought that it had been decided that deadlifting 1 x a week (or maybe it was deadlifting at all) makes you lose all your gainzzz and wrecks your CNS (irregardless of the weight or volume you are pulling) and that ONLY PL'ers did it at all.

As had been already said, it is highly individualistic. I actually think it is a moot point what gets fatigued. If your routine allows you to progress less in the long run than a less aggressive (or more aggressive one for that matter), then its not the best routine. And progress obviously depends on goals.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I currently pull 2 x a week - one heavyish and one light'ish day. Neither day goes above 90%, 2 reps or a total of 6 working sets.

The only time I max pull is at meets - and after that (which would be a combo of all lifts plus generally being knacked as they go on all day), I am pretty much toast for a good 2 weeks (and usually longer for deads). No idea 'what' is fatigued, I just know I am pretty much treading water for a while. Then again, I am old!

Personally, I would not recommend 2 heavy days a week, but as I mentioned, everyone is pretty individual with this and it may *work* for you - it really depends.

After a high volume session, how long is a "safe" rest period for the CNS?

Your CNS* never rests. If it did, you'd be dead.
Even when you're asleep, it's working.
(Ditto for the PNS.)
Nerves repolarize almost instantly (in healthy people).

To give an example: Yesterday was a hard, high volume lifting session.
Would yoga, rock climbing, or some other non-load bearing workout impact the CNS recovery?

For weightlifting, you're not supposed to work the same muscles more than once every other day. Having 2 days of rest is good too.
But the nerves? Doesn't matter.


* brain & spinal nerves

Um, it's not about repolarizing the neurons. It's about the adaptations that happen. Those adaptations don't happen instantly.

And I'm pretty sure I've overtrained via too much volume and CNS under-recovery, because the results feel different from when your muscles are beat up. It's hard to describe but you feel weak/exhausted before you even try to use muscles, and it happens to muscles you didn't even work, like having a super-weak bench press after a squatting session a day or two before.