Drop Dead Taper

So doing less intense work, maybe lighter weight higher reps will not add mass, but will keep the muscle maintained and preserve some strength...sounds like keeping toned to me. My grievance is being wordsmithed for no reason, or to make it sound like I'm talking about something I don't know about. All I did was tell Leslie not to go crazy on the weights. As per her request for info. While there may be a definition of 'toning' out there, there is not a specific physiological method that promotes said 'toning', the use of toning is more of a total body improvement thru exercise. If you build significant muscle mass and density in your quads doing 400 pound reps of squats, I GUARANTEE you that you can not maintain that same mass and density by doing a weeks worth of reps of 200 pounds. After that week that muscle mass and density will start to atrophy as the body senses that there is no longer a need to spend resources maintaining it with no stressors present requiring it.

I don't profess to be an expert by any means...and recoginize there are lots of different studies out there showing conflicting research...however I have never heard that resting 2-3 weeks has any significant impact on loss of strength or cause any significant muscle atrophy. What I have been told and read a bit about that is fascinating...and seems to make sense to me as far as the changes I find occur in my body when I taper is research thats shows that traditional weight training: A) Typically cause a **** to fewer fast twtich muscle fibers and more swlo twitch B) That rest/recovery and some degree of atrophy cause the reverse effect. One overview of some of this is here: sportsmedicine.about.com/.../MuscleFiberType.htm

If Rail Groper was not a permitted alias, is it really appropriate to have SwimSpud, SwimStub, Fontress and Fortness as aliases? Seems like a double standard to me ... I'm sure this person(s) can think something a little more creative. Fort, best is just ignore those that lack the intestinal fortitude to mock in their own name. It does seem bifurcated though... Sidenote: I always wanted to make "Tim Hackysack" and "Bob Hopeland" as aliases but thought it better not to go down that path.... ;) I also told you the knuckledraggers would be out and take issue with what I wrote. Wolfie. There is no toning in the same way there is no stroke called Freestyle, but rather a category. I see plenty of people talking about toning their bodies at the gym or wherever. If you want to label it maintenance that's fine with me. However, serious weight trainers will not do light weight high reps because it doesn't really add mass, it tends to strengthen and tone! If you disagree with my point, fine but don't nitpick the language. From: dictionary.reference.com/.../toning 28. tone up, a. to give a higher or stronger tone to. b. to gain or cause to gain in tone or strength: toning up little-used muscles.

Sidenote: I always wanted to make "Tim Hackysack" and "Bob Hopeland" as aliases but thought it better not to go down that path.... Yeah, too obvious. :-)

Wolfie. There is no toning in the same way there is no stroke called Freestyle, but rather a category. I see plenty of people talking about toning their bodies at the gym or wherever. If you want to label it maintenance that's fine with me. However, serious weight trainers will not do light weight high reps because it doesn't really add mass, it tends to strengthen and tone! If you disagree with my point, fine but don't nitpick the language. Paul's point is that different rep ranges don't have different effects on muscle. Any given muscle is either being strengthened, weakened, or maintained, mostly due to changes in the size of the muscle. The more intense your strength training is, the more you will tend toward larger and stronger muscle. That's all there is to it. Shifting to higher reps during a taper is not smart. Any time you change a lifting program around you're liable to get sore and fatigued. Just stop lifting a couple weeks out and strength (in the water) will stay steady or increase slightly.

So doing less intense work, maybe lighter weight higher reps will not add mass, but will keep the muscle maintained and preserve some strength...sounds like keeping toned to me. My grievance is being wordsmithed for no reason, or to make it sound like I'm talking about something I don't know about. All I did was tell Leslie not to go crazy on the weights. As per her request for info. It's in the dictionary, and lay folk will know what you mean if you say trying to "tone up." Do we all really want to turn this into a debate on semantics of expression? So to make everyone feel better: Leslie, think maintenance rather than mass building, or stength gains. Lower weight, higher reps may help limit muscular atrophy during the taper period before you big swim. I told Fort originally it may be ok, not will be ok. I deferred on the basis of not lifting heavy anymore and not in conjunction with swimming tapers.

Think toning not building for the taper phase. Doing good form reps with lighter weighs may be OK. Chris uses paddles instead of lifting he said... Um, there is no such thing as 'toning', it doesn't exist. You are either a) building muscle fiber, b) trying to maintain muscle fiber or c) losing muscle fiber. There is no 'toning'

It's in the dictionary, and lay folk will know what you mean if you say trying to "tone up." Do we all really want to turn this into a debate on semantics of expression? Oooh the dictionary! There are actually two meanings to "tone." Technically, it just means a healthy amount of tension in the muscle. If somebody has lost muscle tone, that's a big problem and it has nothing to do with swim training. The lay meaning is really vague, but usually falls somewhere around the idea of increasing muscle mass while decreasing fat. If someone wants to "tone up," or get a "toned look," this is what they're talking about. This is a bad thing to focus on turing a taper. In a few weeks, no one who has been training for a whole season is going to achieve any kind of significant body composition change. And if you focus on it, you're not focusing on the goal of the taper: swimming fast. So, no, "tone" is not an appropriate word to use with respect to strength training during a taper.

Well toning, maintenance same thing to me...I'm just a lay person. If you say it won't work on a taper that's all Fort wanted. I never said it would work. Since it's sanctioned "put down" time though; maintenance or toning (in the sense I meant) on a taper is technically only possible if you actually train in the first place.

Since it's sanctioned "put down" time though; maintenance or toning is only possible if you actually train in the first place. :banana: Oh snap! :banana: