A Pair of Questions about Beast Building Phase 2

Hi Christian, I had a few questions regarding your Beast Building program, specifically phase two. I was wondering if you had any incite on how one would ramp and auto-regulate on the neuromuscular complexes you wrote.

Here is an example from the program:

Complex A, Option 1: Upper Body Horizontal Push Dominant

A1) Functional isometric front bench press (or incline press)
Maximum weight for at least 6 seconds
Rest 120 seconds

A2) Bench press (or incline press)
2-3 reps
Rest 120 seconds

A3) Speed bench (or ballistic bench*)
3-5 reps at 45-55% (speed bench) 8-10 reps at 20-30% (ballistic bench)
Rest 120 seconds

Perform the complex 4-5 times

Would a good strategy be:
-(A1)Aim for near-failure on only the last set of the functional isometric exercise, ramping up weight until then. Aim to beat max weight pushed for the previous week on the last set.
-(A2)Ramp up weight in the same manner as described in your other forum posts. Accept a little speed loss, but do not go to failure. Stop the complex when there is too much speed loss. (This means that I may do the complex less than 4 times, or more than 5 times if I am able to keep going)
-(A3)Do not need to ramp this. Stick to 45-55% of 1RM.

Also, would it be a good strategy to do the vertical push/pull neuromuscular complex one week, then horizontal push/pull the next, then switching back and forth for the remainder of the phase? Or would it better to just stick to either horizontal or vertical for the whole four week phase?

Thank you for your time help. It is appreciated.

Mike

I cant say definitively yes or no for your first question.

But for your 2nd question, you should stick to the same pairing throughout the 4 weeks, Thibs replied to a question asking exactly that in the phase 2 beast building discussion.

Thank you for the response, it is appreciated.

I was not aware there was a discussion thread for it. To be honest, I didn’t even consider that there were forum posts for articles dating that far back. I’m rather new to these forums.

I will definitely go read through it, and hopefully that will answer any questions I have. In the future, I’ll be sure to read through the article discussion forum posts (if available) before asking anything.

Thanks again!