Preparing for second cycle, confused

[Datoyminaytah]

To keep this simple, I'm only giving examples from one exercise (bench press) but the general principle applies to my other exercises.

Before my first cycle, I measured my 15 rep max as 120. I didn't measure my 10 and 5 rep maxes, I estimated them at 145 and about 160.

That worked out OK. I hit those maxes even though I didn't actually test them.

I've been extending the 5's since the "end" of the cycle. I actually usually do 6, 5, and 4 reps instead of 5, 5, 5. I'm currently up to 175.

OK, so I just tested my 15 rep max the other day, and to my surprise, it's 150! But if I calculate my 10 rep max like I did before (multiplying by 1.2) that's 180 pounds, more than I'm doing for 6 now. And 5 would be about 200 pounds.

Now, I am actually going to measure my 10 rep maxes this week, but I was curious what this could mean, for my 15 rep maxes to have gone up so much more than I expected.

 

[magnumfreak]

The jumps in 10 rep and 5 rep maxes are a result of using a percentage to calculate them. The calculated values are only useful the first time you run a cycle. For example: If your first cycle 15 rep max was 100 then your calculate 10 rep max would be 120 or about 20 pounds more. Second cycle you measure your 15 rep max at 200 then your 10 rep would calculate out to 240 40 pounds more. Not likely.

For my second cycle I just added 10-15 pounds to what I used for my first cycle. Making big jumps can be dangerous to the joints and ligaments. Nice slow steady gains will result in the longest term benefits.

Hope that made sense. LOL!

 

[Lol]

If you are taking creatine and you respond well to it you will find that you can squeeze out more reps when the loads are lighter. This can make you think that your RMs are way off in other rep ranges but the effect of the creatine won't be so pronounced during 10s and especially 5s.

 

[Datoyminaytah]

<div>
(Lol @ Dec. 11 2006,15:51)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">If you are taking creatine and you respond well to it you will find that you can squeeze out more reps when the loads are lighter. This can make you think that your RMs are way off in other rep ranges but the effect of the creatine won't be so pronounced during 10s and especially 5s.</div>
That's possible.

OK, I read another post that recommended adding 15% and 25% to 15 rep max to calculate 10 and 5 rep maxes, after the first cycle. So I tested my 10 rep max yester day with this info, and it was about right. The 5 rep max based on this is about right, too.

 

[faz]

when you finish each 2wk cycle 15s etc ,on the last day if you can lift more weight than you have wrote down then do it and use that for your rep-max next cycle.