Thus, GAS suggests, as Mark Berry did, that training should be monotonous because the kinds of training that cause strength adaptations are not constantly varied. So, if squatting makes you stronger, it does not make sense to change the exercises that make up your training except as a means to increase the stress and cause a more significant adaptation than you already have. One tenant of GAS is that you will adapt to the specific demands of the stressor. In response to that stress, the organism (you) adapt to survive repeated bouts of that particular stress i.e., you get stronger. For strength training, the stress is the program: moving large amounts of weight, over big ranges of motion, at a high enough intensity and for enough sets and repetitions to require recovery and adaptation in response to the training. GAS has been the foundation of most intentional training programs because the adaptation to certain kinds of stress is predictable and beneficial. GAS states that when exposed to a significant but non-excessive stressor, an organism will adapt to survive repeated exposure to that stressor. Two intertwined models for training deal with these basic principles: the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) and the Fitness-Fatigue mode (FFM)l. If we assume that HLM derives from these common-sense principles-that effective training will be somewhat monotonous and that a less demanding workout should always follow a strenuous one-we can hypothesize about why HLM seems to work well for so many lifters. Starr and others mastered the use of this organization to make sound programming decisions for a wide range of lifters. It is almost as if the typical trajectory of a lifter’s progress will eventually take them through a program set up that fits the HLM framework. –Bill Starr, “Heavy Light, Medium: Taking the Confusion Out of the H-L-M Program” (2006) The system is based on the common-sense idea that a less demanding workout should always follow a strenuous one so your body gets the opportunity to recover properly.”
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“ Incorporating the heavy, light and medium system into your program isn’t a luxury it’s a necessity for long-term progress. Starr believed that HLM tapped into core concepts about training: Nearly ninety years later, a barbell is still a barbell and what works still works.
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What Berry wrote about monotony seems to apply to strength training in general. He influenced men like Bill Starr, who credited Berry for the development of the Heavy Light Medium concept of strength training (HLM). He advocated milk and heavy squats to build size and strength. The quote above comes from the prolific strength writer Mark Berry who, in the 1930s, wrote much of the original paradigms on which we base current training and programming practices. Most of your training should be predictable, changes should be small ones, and progress should be steady. That doesn’t mean it should be varied day-day-day, surprising, or unexpected. Berry “Physical Training Notes,” (made available at through the Stark Center). But, why kid ourselves when all of us reach the point, at one or more times in our experience when training does seem monotonous.” – Mark H. Perhaps this sounds like a queer expression, emanating from one who specializes to a greater or less extent in the dishing out of inspirational stuff in the field of exercise.
![dinosaur deadlift program dinosaur deadlift program](https://i2d6h8k4.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/156-400x255.jpg)
You fellows who are in the preliminary stage have not the slightest idea, and even though at times you may feel that exercise is a monotonous pastime, it takes some years to achieve an honest appreciation of the term.
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“Let’s give a little consideration, for the moment, to the guy who has trained for a sufficient length of time to have a true appreciation of the meaning of the term-monotony. Heavy Light Medium: A Commonsense Framework