Extending Post-5s with ramped sets?

W

wmullen

New Member
I have just completed the final workout of 5's and am about to enter post-5s. I am using a 3 sets of 5 setup, and from past cycles I can normally only get around 2 weeks of post-5s before I burn out and have to SD (180kg for 3 sets of 5 DL pushing for PBs every workout grinds you into the ground real fast)

This time due to upcoming commitments I need to extend the post-5's to about 4 weeks. In order to do this I had thought about ramped sets building up to a top PB set, similiar to 5x5. I think this would be CNS sparing and hopefully allow me to extend the post-5s by another couple of weeks.

Any thougths?
 
That should work out OK but the benefit will likely be lessened somewhat. You could also try Max Stim or Myo Reps which are less taxing on your CNS. My personal choice is a combination of the two whereby you do an activation set at your 5 RM and then do singles with just enough rest in between them to complete the rep in solid form until you reach your total targeted reps (probably about 15).
 
One thing that has worked for me and others is dropping frequency to twice per week (for each muscle group).
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

So at the moment I have two possibilities:

a) replace the 3 straight sets of 5 with a myo-reps setup as Old & Grey suggested:

- 1 "activation" set of 5reps
- drop weight to 80%-90% of 5RM and bang out a few mini sets of myo-reps

total reps still 15 but with more "effective" reps

b) drop frequency to 2x a week as Bryan suggested.

- as I'm on a "simplify & win" A/B routine this would mean each exercise once a week but each muscle group twice a week.

A couple of things to bear in mind is my age & training age (41/25), and I'm lifting fairly respectable loads so recovery between workouts is the issue when hitting PBs every workout in the post-5s.

My concern with option a) is that it will not really do anything to help extending the cycle, as recovery between workouts will not be improved, in fact it may even be worsened due to more effective reps - O & G?

I like the look of option b), as my goal in the post-5s is really to push strength as far as possible. To this end recovery between workouts becomes more important, especially with the heavy loads.

One final question - I'm toying with the idea of dropping from 3x5 to 3x3 with a twice a week setup in order to really push the PBs. Would it be wise to do this now straight from the off, or continue with the 3x5 until that plateaus and then drop down to 3x3?
 
In my opinion, 'recovery' is overstated.

Using Myo Reps is less taxing on the CNS so neural recovery is not a problem. Muscle fiber recovery is usually not a problem except in beginning lifters.

That being said, I think using a straight HST based program using a routine of multiple full sets of 5's is very taxing on the CNS and twice a week is probably a good idea. So is going to sets of threes.

Try them all and see how you feel. Unfortunately there is no 'one size fits all' answer. What works for me at my age and testosterone level and umpteen other variables may be useless for you. About the only generalizations that are true for everyone are the basic tenets of HST.
 
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