After last week's over-exertion, I decided to call an audible on the play and change my sets/reps a bit to something I've had mentally burning for a while. The next logical step for this style of training.
Next step = triples instead of 5's, with a focus on RPE/speed. The goal is to have 3 relatively equal reps, without a grindy rep, with an RPE in the ~8-9 range. I say 3's because, as per Thibs' latest piece on T-mag (which despite being a little hokey, makes some valid points), it's honestly a lot easier to concentrate on speed in 3's than 5's.
Despite an increase in volume with triples (5 sets of 3 in everything), I actually feel kind of energized at the end of my workout, instead of drained. By concentrating on speed with medium-heavy weights and NOT over-exerting myself, obviously.
Pause Squats
Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
225 x 1 (no band)
245 x 3,3,3,3,3
RPE = ~8-9 on these. Possibly a little more towards 9 at the end, but I wasn't GMing stuff, and the speed for me on these was pretty good.
Chins
Me x 3
Me + 45 x 3
Me + 90 x 3,3,3,3,3
RPE = ~8 on these. I think I had at least 2 reps to spare on any given set.
Bench
135 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 1
225 x 3,3,3,3,3
RPE = ~8 on these, too. Same deal, my third reps were often as fast as my first.
Now, I'm not naive, I realize that any change in programming can result in "ZOMG THIS IS THE BEST PROGRAM EVAR," due to the novel stimulus, so I'm going to have to give this time to work. But in principle, I'm already liking what I'm seeing. I don't know if my attention span sucks, but I was able to keep much tighter with a much better focus on speed by simply sticking to 3's.
As to the volume I used, i.e. 5 sets of 3, this is right at the "optimal" range for the ~80-90% range as per Prilepin's guidelines, and based on past experience is probably right-ish. My thought was to autoregulate volume on the fly - i.e. stick towards the low end of the volume guidelines (~3 sets of 3) on terrible days, and maybe the high end (~7 sets of 3) on awesome days, occasionally going for PR's if I really feel like it. Fatigue stops will also be in place - if any one set feels noticeably harder than the previous, regardless of what volume I've achieved, I'll stop that exercise for the day.
The other option is to wave the volume similar to what I've been doing. Something like 5 sets of 3 --> 7 sets of 3 --> 3 sets of 3 --> peak. This will obviously be viable, but I also kind of dig the idea of things being a bit more autoregulating. I.e. if I get "stuck" at a given set/rep scheme without progress for a week or two, simply increase or decrease loading, based on how I'm feeling.
However, I will probably proactively deload once every month or two regardless of how I'm feeling, as this seems to be a recipe for success.
Next step = triples instead of 5's, with a focus on RPE/speed. The goal is to have 3 relatively equal reps, without a grindy rep, with an RPE in the ~8-9 range. I say 3's because, as per Thibs' latest piece on T-mag (which despite being a little hokey, makes some valid points), it's honestly a lot easier to concentrate on speed in 3's than 5's.
Despite an increase in volume with triples (5 sets of 3 in everything), I actually feel kind of energized at the end of my workout, instead of drained. By concentrating on speed with medium-heavy weights and NOT over-exerting myself, obviously.
Pause Squats
Bar x warmup
135 x warmup (band)
185 x warmup (band)
225 x 1 (no band)
245 x 3,3,3,3,3
RPE = ~8-9 on these. Possibly a little more towards 9 at the end, but I wasn't GMing stuff, and the speed for me on these was pretty good.
Chins
Me x 3
Me + 45 x 3
Me + 90 x 3,3,3,3,3
RPE = ~8 on these. I think I had at least 2 reps to spare on any given set.
Bench
135 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 1
225 x 3,3,3,3,3
RPE = ~8 on these, too. Same deal, my third reps were often as fast as my first.
Now, I'm not naive, I realize that any change in programming can result in "ZOMG THIS IS THE BEST PROGRAM EVAR," due to the novel stimulus, so I'm going to have to give this time to work. But in principle, I'm already liking what I'm seeing. I don't know if my attention span sucks, but I was able to keep much tighter with a much better focus on speed by simply sticking to 3's.
As to the volume I used, i.e. 5 sets of 3, this is right at the "optimal" range for the ~80-90% range as per Prilepin's guidelines, and based on past experience is probably right-ish. My thought was to autoregulate volume on the fly - i.e. stick towards the low end of the volume guidelines (~3 sets of 3) on terrible days, and maybe the high end (~7 sets of 3) on awesome days, occasionally going for PR's if I really feel like it. Fatigue stops will also be in place - if any one set feels noticeably harder than the previous, regardless of what volume I've achieved, I'll stop that exercise for the day.
The other option is to wave the volume similar to what I've been doing. Something like 5 sets of 3 --> 7 sets of 3 --> 3 sets of 3 --> peak. This will obviously be viable, but I also kind of dig the idea of things being a bit more autoregulating. I.e. if I get "stuck" at a given set/rep scheme without progress for a week or two, simply increase or decrease loading, based on how I'm feeling.
However, I will probably proactively deload once every month or two regardless of how I'm feeling, as this seems to be a recipe for success.
