Starting my final 2 week cycle tomorrow, have some questions about my sets.

S

stiffler

New Member
I'm sure the answers to my questions are on the site some where, but I'm having no luck & it's late. I have completed my 15's, 10's & 5's, increasing my weight over 2 weeks as recommended. Tomorrow I start the the final phase, which I'm a little confused about. Up until now I have been working up to my max, I'm not sure how this would work with negatives. Do I just keep increasing the weight & use a spotter on the concentric part of the move, or do I work up to my 5 rep max and slow down the eccentric part? What if I work out alone? I have made some pretty good gains so far (7.5 pounds while maintaining a consistent bf %), I'd hate to screw it up now.

Thanks in advance:-)
 
If you workout alone negatives are OUT on a majority of exercises. You can simply continue on with the 5's by using your 5 RM each workout and add weight when you can complete all the set/reps. You can also do 5 sets of 3 reps to keep the weight progressing. There is no wrong way as long as you are trying to add weight to the exercises. When you are no longer making progress then it is time to SD.
 
I'm nearly ready to start my last two weeks also and have similar concerns. I've got two sessions left to do to be at my 5RM for most exercises which means I'll probably be training very close to failure.

I intend to continue at my 5RM and maybe push a few exercises a little further if I can

I thought we weren't supposed to train to failure because of the frequency of the work outs. Is it ok for the last two weeks because it's followed by SD? or should we still stop if we feel we're going to fail and cluster the reps which I have done up to now.
 
It isn't necessary to go to failure on any given set. You won't burn out as quickly that way. When you reach your 5 RM you still don't need to push to failure. Just go until you can no longer keep your normal rep speed on the concentic portion and at that point end the set (You will know because the bar will slow down). If you want to cluster or whatever it's fine. From what I have read under the heavier loads its benficial to try to get an overall rep total of 15-20 per exercise for strength/hypertrophy gains. I did 5x3, 4x4, 3x5 or whatever it took to get there while still trying to add 5 lbs. to the bar each workout. When you get stuck on most lifts then its time to SD. The 2 week blocks are just general guidelines. you can extend them if you are still progressing cause there is no reason to stop if you are on a roll.
 
Good advice, cheers!

I'm nearly at the point where I won't be able to add any more weight to get the required reps in,

I'm benching 5x5 77.5Kg which got difficult towards the end of the rep range. I might be able to push to 80Kg and stick with that for my final two weeks.

Leg Press 5x5 200Kg is about max as well.

Military Press 3x5 47.5Kg again difficult but might be able to push to 50Kg by doing 5x3

When I cant increase any more, shall I stick with my maxes for 5-6 workouts then decondition? Maybe go for an all out push on my last session before decondition and go to failure with heavier weight?
 
Thank you for the responses! I just got back from the gym, an through some creativity I was able to do at least some negatives (pull ups, shoulder press, crunches).

But now I have 2 other problems that I'm hoping some one could shed some light on: as I increase the weights I'm lifting, I'm making more progress on the lifts at the beginning of my work out than the end, and while I continue to get stronger in many areas, there are a couple exercises that i am no longer able to add weight & keep good form. Any thoughts??
 
The exercises you can no longer progress on - either drop them or just continue using the same weight - be sure to record all those weights so you can use them for your new maxes when you plan out your new cycle.

FWIW, I like to take a week or even just a couple sessions at the very end of my cycle and find one rep maxes on certain lifts. There is nothing like a maximal one rep lift on bench, squats, deadlifts...
 
I'm with Tot. It's good to really see what progress you have made and the best way is to find your new 1 RM.

I chose to stay with just 4 exercises the last 2 weeks and just ride them out till I stalled on most. Seems like I stalled out on upperbody quicker than lower, but I assume thats pretty normal.

This time I'm gonna not worry about rep total and just add weight till I max on each exercise, but my goal is to do that within a 2 week time frame or less, then SD.
 
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