Wave loading has been around for 60+ years and originat- ed in Eastern Europe in the '50s and '60s, but it's still one of the most underutilized forms of training in bodybuild- ing.
The Traditional Method of Periodization and Why It Continuously Stops Working
The main reason for this is that the majority of bodybuild- ers automatically approach plateaus and neuromuscular adaptation to their workouts by varying one of two things: either their loads or their volume. They either increase the sets/reps, maintaining the same load or they increase the load while decreasing the number of sets/reps they're doing. In ef- fect, this approach to training is waiting for your neuromuscular adaptation to catch up to the work you are doing.
Now, you might be a guy who's been working out for a year or less and thinking, "But this is working great for me, Vince." Well, that might be true, but it's because everything works for a beginner; for a while.
The thing is that your neurological system adapts very quickly to your set/rep patterns. In fact, with most bodybuilders that adaptation will occur within about six workouts. For ad- vanced bodybuilders, guys that have been training for more than four years, that adaptation can occur within three workouts. Once that adaptation happens, you're wasting your time continuing with the same routine because the intensity is just not there, and it's intensity that spurs growth.
It's All About Intensity
A lot of guys make the mistake of defining intensity as how hard they are working, but the intensity of your workout is actually defined by how close you are to your 1RM. That's why, when the scientific community talks about intensity, they talk about heavy loads. This is why wave loading is such an effective method.
Wave loading trains your neurological system by "tricking" it into adapting to an exercise before it really needs to.
Going Proactive by Training Your Brain
With wave loading, you actually train your neurological system itself. The body has certain mechanisms in place to protect it from injury. It's those mechanisms that determine how much you can lift in your workout. Your brain has a set point at which it decides that you're at risk of hurt- ing yourself and at that point, it's going to send a message to the given muscle that it's done (which is why you have a 1RM - 1 rep max).
Wave loading trains your neurological system by "tricking" it into adapting to an exercise before it really needs to. There are a few different wave loading protocols to accomplish this, but I'll just give you two common examples. One uses a heavier single set first and the other uses a series of waves of the same exercise, changing the reps and loads between each set to keep that neurological adaptation in play and increase the intensity of the exercise.
What Wave loading looks like
For the first method, let's say that you can typically bench press 110 pounds for 5 reps. With wave loading, you might start with a set of 140 x 3. Your brain starts sending messages to your muscle that you're about to lift 140 pounds on your next set. That message translates to more muscle fibers being recruited and more motor neurons being fired in preparation to protect the muscle from potential injury.
But instead, you lighten the load on the bar to your normal 110 pounds. Because your muscle has more