Tried And True Bodybuilding Program, Progressing Main Lifts?

That’s the correct interpretation IMHO!

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I disagree with the fundamental premise of that whole article haha.

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Me too

Please discuss, always love hearing different opinions on these things, if you don’t mind.

Do you do a test week at Week 10 after running this?

No, I don’t ever do test weeks to be honest.

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Then do you just increment the weights for the next cycle by a fixed amount?

Typically. I’m pretty much always sub max training and won’t take big lifts to failure either. I like to train frequently and do lots of sets, as I found it’s the best for body composition. I may go for a 1RM or 2RM once a year. It always stresses my body more than I’m comfortable with and it’s usually on the mark with what I think it should be if I extrapolate from my rep work.

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So, how much would you increase your weight after such a 9 week cycle? Is it X kilos for upper-body and Y kilos for lower body or something like “assume max increased by 10%”?

Typically somewhere between 10-20 lb lower, 5-10 upper.

Just to muddy the water/add to discussion. This is good for 5x5 ish stuff…

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I don’t like static rep ranges because it’s lower intensity than an evolving rep range with evolving sets. So I’ll have a rep range (ie 2-5, 6-10, 8-12, etc.) that I will set for an exercise, that I know will keep me in a relevant window of intensity for that particular lift. The reps naturally have to scale down for each Progressive set when training to, or a rep from, failure as your baseline of strength is lowered from fatigue. With static rep ranges like a 5x5, You’re pretty much completely sandbagging on those first couple of sets to still be able to perform 5 reps by the end, and accumulating junk volume. In my eyes, this isn’t optimal for hypertrophy, where you’re aggressively trying to fatigue muscle fibers. For instance Bench Press might look like:

Heavy sets
275x6
275x5

Backoff Sets
235x10
235x8
235x7
235x6

Then the next week I’ll increase on the heavy set and add another heavy set while removing one backoff set.

Heavy sets
275x7
275x6
275x4

Backoff sets
235x11
235x9
235x7

This method can be applied to all of your strength work at the beginning of the workout. I also apply this with the isolation and accessory lifts afterwards as well but it’s a bit more straightforward since there are no back off sets and I can add a set when I reach the top of the rep range and then add weight the next week and start back at the beginning of the rep range with that extra set removed. This is all assuming Hypertrophy and building muscle mass is your goal. For pure strength, 5x5 might be better. I don’t really know, because that’s not what I’m concerned with in my training.

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I’m guessing because you are staying submaximal you don’t feel the need to deload? How hard are you pushing your other lifts (accesories)?

I think some here are aware that he is a close friend of mine. He has gotten extremely busy in his profession.

Right now I haven’t deloaded yet with the circuit training, but before I would actually deload every 5 weeks, kind of in the vein of CT’s jacked athlete program. I’d take a break from big barbell movements and go for a “bro” week with a more traditional bodypart split (only 1 leg day) focused on higher rep, HIT sets to failure on DB and machine movements mostly.

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Cool, so those 9 weeks would take 10 weeks? I’m thinking about trying it for 2 lifts that I think would respond well to that progression for me and where they are at.

I just did one session with overhead press and hit my reps for week 1, felt good. Since that lift isn’t extraordinary there isn’t much distance between the sessions, nor between one max or another max.

Just did 2 reps with 55, almost 3, so I decided to map those percentages to put me at doing 6 sets of 2 with that same weight at the end of the 9 weeks. Maybe that will work, or it won’t. Either way, I’ll either learn again that starting light is never a bad idea (I just hate it mentally) or I’ll get away with it :woman_shrugging:

If you feel like doing a deload I think after week 6 before the final 3 week wave is probably best. I like to set up a program the same. I’ll map backwards from my target at the end and start where I need to.

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Cool - good luck to him. He (and you) offer a wealth of knowledge. As in EASILY able to write for T-Nation. It’s a shame he is not on here often. But it is good to know he’ll be about every now and again.

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Thank you!

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