Finishing up my first cycle - repeat 5's with new maxes for last 2 weeks or?

M

MOD

New Member
I'm finishing up my first cycle. I based my 5rm maxes on what I was doing with Max-OT... and I nailed them pretty accurately. I hit the same weights I was using, but they did feel lighter, and I could probably get away with adding another 5-10lbs.

I'm thinking of repeating the last two weeks of 5's, however with the added bump in weight. So I would be hitting new maxes at the end of the two weeks. Or, even rolling back the weights a little bit and maxing out on my 'A' routine at the end of the first week (I train A,B,A... then B,A,B... using my "B" routine for maxes).

I read that some advocate continuing with the 5rm's and adding weight where possible, or switching over to negatives, or dropping down to 3 reps for more volume.

I personally feel that I could hit those new rep maxes if I worked up to them again like I had for the previous rep blocks. I think I would burn out quickly and my strength would suffer if I continued on training at 100%+ at 5 reps.

What do you guys do?
 
I'm one of those who would advocate continuing with your 5 RM and increasing the weight when possible. Burn out shouldn't be a concern unless you continued that for too long, but since you will be taking an SD immediately afterward, working so close to maximum for a couple weeks shouldn't hurt. If you want to play it safe, just don't try to up the weight each session and instead repeat weights a session or two before attempting to increase.

This assuming adequate calories. If you are not eating over maintenance then I would not recommend pushing for new maxes.
 
I will give it a go for this week. What I 'think' will happen is that my strength will drop off due to the high frequency. However, I will keep my mind open and see what happens.
 
You got to push it man! This is what the previous 6 easy weeks have been building up to. You get time to recover during the SD, and you'll appreciate it when you do.
 
MOD said:
I will give it a go for this week. What I 'think' will happen is that my strength will drop off due to the high frequency. However, I will keep my mind open and see what happens.
Click to expand...

You might think that, however if you look at other systems based on HST principles, such as DC, they have you working at your max and pushing for a new max every workout. It usually takes trainees doing DC who are not on AAS about 6 weeks before they need to take a "cruise" which is DC's version of a deload. It's not very likely you will burn out in only two weeks unless you are going totally balls out crazy each time.

I actually typically take a week and find 1 RMs on the big exercises, which is something I would recommend to everyone. Pushing for a new 1 RM on the deadlift can be a life-changing experience. Some lifts I would never do a 1 RM attempt on...i.e. curls, etc, but I always do them on squats, deads and flat bench. If you've never tried max singles before, I think you would like it. It is the most tangible measure of your strength increases from cycle to cycle. Plus then you can put them in your sig here and show off your 1 RMs to everyone.
 
Totentaz, would you say that part of the purpose of the last 2 week block (be it negs, 5's, or whatever), is to over-reach (planned overtraining) so that the body continues to supercompensate during the SD?

Also, should I keep my sets 1 rep short of failure during this period, or should I push all out? If you could post a link to some discussion on the subject then that would be great too.

Thanks.
 
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