What causes muscles to stop responding to stimuli?

Hey Rip,

I am relatively new to your program but am definitely enjoying the gains being made. I have only read SS 3rd edition so excuse me if this is explained in other books you have written, but I am curious as to what causes your muscles to stop adapting to the additional stress being put on them with linear progression.

I understand that as weights reach higher quantity, the amount of muscle mass/synapse response, CNS response, etc requires more growth than it does at lesser weights, but I do not understand why the increments cannot just be lessoned... What causes your muscles to stop responding to the increase when they reach a certain level?

They don't stop responding. They just stop responding as quickly, because it takes more stress to disrupt homeostasis and more time to recover from the disruption. This is explained in PPST2.

Death.

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Originally Posted by Edge

I do not understand why the increments cannot just be lessoned...

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This is essentially what intermediate and advanced programming does. Daily increases to the weight lifted slow down to weekly increases, which eventually slow to monthly increases, etc.

Ideally, you exhaust 5lb jumps and microloading before switching to an intermediate program.

Read PPST2. It explains this and much more in greater detail.

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Originally Posted by pantsaregood

Death.

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I was going to say that. Really.