LONG: Apologize for length.
I’ve never had 3 weeks of workouts where the frequency of being pissed off and agitated with my workout was as frequent as the past 3 wherein I’ve adopted the HTH principles.
My previous set-up was chest/back, legs, delts/arms repeat or off.
Since incorporating ramping entailing usually 3-8 sets of 3 reps starting at 60% max and building to the highest weight I can not grind/push through the sticking points thru Ive seen the following happen:
Squats down to 385 x 3 from 405 x 5
Undergrip Chins 85 + bw x 3 to 75 + bw x 3
Bench Press down to 280 x 2 from 310 x 3
Seated DB PResses down to 110s x 3 from 115s x 5, etc. etc.
My previous workouts Ive been very successful NOT RAMPING but doing 3-5 warm-up sets of ONE not 3 reps. I typically do 3-4 sets of 3-5 on the main movement at the top weight. Prior to a workout of attempting 405 for 3 of 5 I would start at maybe 245 x 1-2, 305 x 1, 345 x 1, 370 x 1, 395 x 1.
Ive followed the overhead press first/incline/flat and even when I’ve done an activation exercise first then done flat 3rd, 2nd, or 1st my numbers are significantly down. I’ve always been able to (after dynamic stretches) jump right into my heavy sets of seated db presses. With ramping, - and starting with db press 1st in the workout, its dropped as noted significantly.
Before - I literally felt strong by jumping right into my heaviest set and the first dumbbells I touched were my top weight, peaking at 115s x 3 sets of 5 before starting the new split and ramping. Same with squat wherein I have done front squats first but even when starting with back squats and doing the long extended ramp, instead of the typically warm-up(or complete lack of for db presses) numbers are way off.
Chins are similar in that Ive been able to simply have the same or better performance with a 3-4 of 1 rep warm-up or none at all and jump right into the heavy sets of 3-4 reps at top weight.
Sorry for the length but I really would appreciate some suggestions as I wanted a change of pace and to focus a bit more on hypertrophy but what the hell, Im sick of seeing the strength Ive gained go to shit incorporating these principles.
Im tending to think I might just do better with MY type of warm-up to top weights for a few sets then incorpoate some max rep circuits, etc. Im only doing the chins in heavy style and Ive switched to the volume, circuit, performance high-rep 1 1/4 reps, isolation no rows lat routine afterwards.