My road to 1500

You’ll get there again mate, it’ll come back and more!!

Done a bit of musing today, come up with a 6-7 week plan to start after my meet. I’m going to run the following, with the 5 day split I listed earlier. Assisstances will be 3/4 sets of 8-12 reps in most cases, front squats will follow the same plan but will also have 3x8 back off sets

Week 1 - 80-85% for 15-20 reps
Week 2 - 90-92.5% for 6-10 reps
Week 3 - 97.5-100% for 1+ reps
Week 4 - 85-90% for 9-15 reps
Week 5 - 92.5-95% for 3-6 reps
Week 6 - 100% +2.5-5kg for new 1RM

Deload when needed, preferably week 7, or week 4 and push everything back a week.

I’ve purposefully left the set / rep scheme open ended to just a rep range for the session so I can base it on how I feel on the day! Stick to the lower percent / total reps if im having an off day, go for the higher percent / total reps if I’m feeling good!

I’ve written the days out, with weight ranges instead of percentages and it looks like it would work nicely!

What do you guys think? @MarkKO @Vincepac1500

Doesn’t look too bad but I’m not the best at programming my buddy’s been helping me with it

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Thanks man! I’m still learning, but I think I’m getting a handle on it.

I used Prilepins Chart for the total rep amounts, leaves it open for me to work whatever sets / reps I feel is best on the day, aslong as I get the total reps, sounded a good idea to me anyway!

I’m a big fan of the total rep approach. For me, volume is a little high but if you’re comfortable with it there’s no issue. I personally find it more beneficial to really limit how many sets I do over 80% and instead do more in the 60-75% and then hammer assistance, but the way you’re tapering it off should work too.

Bottom line, you thought it through and you know yourself so there’s no reason it shouldn’t work.

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Thanks for the input man, I think it should be ok, but I can always adjust the total reps down a little if I find its too much!

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I know I’m kind of just butting in here, but I’m curious about the volume of the program. I know that @MarkKO says it’s on the higher side. However, I feel like specifically with Week 1’s 80-85% you can end up doing much more than 15-20 reps.

I realize that you’re auto regulating the actual set numbers, but take 10x3 for example, which is recommended to be used with 80-85%. Since this seems to be a strength program, wouldn’t a high set, low rep approach similar to 10x3 make sense to implement, allowing you to accumulate more in the 25-30 rep range for Week 1 with the same intensity?

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Your not butting in at all bud, all feedback is appreciated!

Seeing as I’ve not really done much programming of my own I didn’t want to deviate too far from Prilepins right away, I just used his total rep ranges for the percentages. If I fee the volume is too high / too low I’ll adjust the total reps to suit.

I ran some of the numbers just to make sure it would work, and if we take my deadlift for example week 1 would be 207.5kg - 220kg for 15-20 reps, which I looked at as 5x4, and that seemed like a good number but obviously if I run the first 3 weeks through and it doesn’t seem to be enough I’ll look at the rep ranges again.

I’m not sure yet whether to pyramid my weights up over the actual work sets in small increments, or pick 1 weight and do sets across.

What would you suggest for the rep ranges for each week? Always nice to have other perspectives on things.

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I’m of the opinion that as long as you reach your set total rep range should be the focus. You can kinda pyramid up and then see how you feel. The end game for each workout should be total tonnage. It’s why I’m such a fan of schemes like the 10x3.

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Its definately something for me to consider man, thanks! I’ll give it a run through to week 3 and see how it felt, if I feel it wasn’t pushing it enough I’ll run the total rep ranges of week 1-2 on week 4-5’s percentages and see how that feels.

Just make small adjustments until I settle on something I’m happy with!

Thanks again for dropping in and giving me something else to think about! :slight_smile:

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22-5-17
Bench

Stretch shoulders / pecs, band pullaparts, band dislocations

Bench 20kg 3x8, 60kg x10, 80kg x10, 100kg x3, 120kg x3, 135kg x1

Flat DB Press 25kg x15, 40kg 2x10, 50kg x7, 60kg x3
Cable Flys 4/5/6/7 plates x25, 20, 15, 15
2 board CG Bench 60kg 2x10, 80kg 2x10
Rope Pressdowns 4 plates x25, 25, 25, 20
BB Curls 4x amrap, 30, 25, 22, 17
Cable Curls 4 plates 4x30
Side Laterals 5kg x25, 7.5kg x20, 10kg x15, 12.5kg x10

Had a really good week away from training, feeling very fresh. Worked Bench tonight up to (possibly) my opener, and it moved like a dream, felt very comfortable!

Got a lot of volume in on the assisstance work to get the blood flowing, my arms had a huge pump by the time I left the gym.

Squats and Deadlifts tomorrow, then I’ll be taking it easy until meet day.

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Didn’t know you had a meet planned. Good luck, will you say planned numbers or hold out till you hit them?

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Yea bud, I thought I’d mentioned it a while ago! I’m competing this Sunday in the qualifiers for the British Championship, I entered about 4-5 weeks ago.

Going to be competing in the 100s as I’m sat at about 96-97 right now, althought next time I’m going to cut down to the 90s as there are a couple of raw records that’r within reach for me.

I want to see how Squat / Deadlift feels tonight. I’ve hardly squat over the last 6 months due to the hip issues so I thinking about hitting my current comp PR for a second, then going for a PR 3rd attempt. As for deadlift, I need to work on stopping the bar drifting forward, if I can do that I know I’ve got 600lbs in me… I hit 260kg on the stiff bar the other week and it felt pretty easy, but my forms better on the stiff bar :confused:

I was thinkin:
Squat 200-210, 230, 240
Bench 135, 142.5 / 145, 150/152.5 dependin on the day
Deadlift 230, undecided after that atm

My main priority is just hitting my qualifying total of 560kg though.

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You’ll smoke that total. You might feel better after that week off. When I was sick for like 5 days couldn’t hit the gym my shoulder healed right up, haven’t had any problems with it since.

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Yea thats whats happened, all the little niggles I’d picked up have sorted themselves out!

I’m not overly worries about the total, its just wht i’m focused on! I’m only about 5kg short of hitting it with my openers, so just dont bomb out and I’ll be fine!

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23-5-17
Lower

Foam roll lower body and back, leg swings, band dislocations

Squat 20kg 2x8, 60kg x5, 80kg x5, 100kg x3, 140kg x3, 170kg x1, 200kg x1

Deadlift 60kg x5, 100kg x5, 140kg x3, 180kg x1, 200kg x1, 225kg x1

T bar row 20kg 2x15, 35kg x15, 50kg x15
Superset WG Pulldowns 7 plates 4x15

Leg Press 1/2/3/4/5/6 plates x15

And thats the last training session done, Sunday is meet day so I’ll work on mobility for the rest of the week, ready to hit the platform!

I’m not happy with how my deadlift has been going on the DL bar, still struggling with form and I’m just not sure what to do to put it right. I’ve been watchin Tom Martin deadlift on IG a lot lately and he seems to ‘attack’ the bar just as he starts to pull, but that goes against everything I’ve read about pulling the slack out of the bar.

Maybe my setup is off, maybe I’m just not tight enough, maybe I’m simply over thinking it all, I’m not sure.

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Might just need more training with the Deadlift bar, learn to make the whip work with you. I’m having that problem now, bend helps break the floor great but whip kills me.

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I think thats it man, going to be doing more work after the meet, rather than just working in singles after squats

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Good luck dude

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28-5-17
Meet day!!

So there were ups and downs today! Firstly, I qualified for the British Nationals in September so I achieved my main goal!

I went 7/9 on the day, got a new PR total, hit a squat that I’m very proud of, and got a comp PR in every lift along the way! :slight_smile:

So heres the numbers.
Squat: 195 / 220 / 232.5kg
Bench: 130 / 142.5 / 155kg (fail)
Deadlift: 225 / 240 / 252.5kg (fail
Total: 615kg (15kg PR)

My squats were raw without sleeves, just a belt and wrist wraps! So I equalled my sleeved gym PR with bare knees, extremeley happy about this one!

I hit a 142.5kg bench (which didn’t get recorded, somebody phoned me mid lift so interrupted the video)for a 7.5kg meet PR, and while my gym PR is 150kg, 142.5kg moved like it was nothing! In hindsight I should have gone to 150-152.5kg for my 3rd, but at the time I felt like I could get 155kg. It came off my chest well, then when it slowed I think I lost tightness / balance and the bar seemed to fall to one side, then that was that!

Deadlifts… urgh Deadlifts, the babe of my lifting! I really do hate deadlifts at the moment! 225 and 240kg moved ok, 252.5kg came around 2 inches off the ground and that was it! I can’t really figure out why, I thought my setup looked decent, but I know from next week that conventional is no longer a part of my training! I’ll be pulling a fresh 1RM Sumo next week without going stupid, so I know whate base I’ll be building from.

All in all its been a greay day, and I’ve loved every minute of it! I’ve got a pizza and fries waiting for me, so I’m going to go enjoy that and then head off to bed! But I’ll leave you all with todays highlights, enjoy!

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