How much weight increase after each 8-week cycle?

[albatr0ss]

Let's say my 5RM for squat is 245, and I take a week off (skipping the cycle of negatives... no spotter). I just spent two weeks crawling up to that 5RM; how do I know how much to increase the weight for the next big cycle? Is there a system to it? Or do I just add some arbitrary amount of weight (more for bigger muscle groups)?

My big concern is that I'll plan on spending two weeks working up to a given weight, and then halfway through the minicycle I fail, and realize I'm trying to lift too much weight. How can I avoid this, while intelligently increasing the amount of weight per exercise on each 8 (or 6) week cycle?

 

[CDB]

Let's say my 5RM for squat is 245, and I take a week off (skipping the cycle of negatives... no spotter). I just spent two weeks crawling up to that 5RM; how do I know how much to increase the weight for the next big cycle? Is there a system to it? Or do I just add some arbitrary amount of weight (more for bigger muscle groups)??

You can do an arbitrary amount, but the problem with that is you may have gained more strength you could take advantage of by using even more weight. So, here's novel idea: test yourself at the end of the cycle before you decondition.

Totally mind blowing idea, right?

In all seriousness, what I used to do is go to technical failure with a weight I knew I could do at least 8 reps with, work out my estimated X (X meaning whatever ranges I planned on using next cycle, usually 12, 8, and 5 or 3) rep max using formulas which are readily available on the internet, and just use those weights as the last for each micro cycle.

Or you could use the clustering technique and just figure your 5 rep max and just work up to that over the whole cycle using clusters.

Either way, just take a week or two when you're done to figure out your new maxes using whatever technique you prefer and then use those weights rather than just adding five or ten pounds here or there.

 

[Totentanz]

This is why I always recommend taking a week or two before you SD and working beyond your old 5 RM until you find your new 5 RMs for each lift. Then extrapolate your 10 RM from that.

As CDB said, just adding an arbitrary amount is pretty much a bad idea. Whatever you do, find some way to figure out your new maxes prior to your SD and use those numbers to build your next cycle.