Trying to Hit 250x10 with Peaking Cycle

m at 250x8 and 225x13 and I was thinking of doing like a 6 week peaking cycle, I can either :

week 1 200x15
week 2 210x15
week 3 220x12
week 4 230x12
week 5 240x10
week 6 250x10 (hopefully lol)

or 225x10 on week 1 and go up 5 lb every week while keeping the reps the same until I hit 250x10 … What do you all think? Also I would be doing 1-2 sets of overload with the slingshot and some paused closegrips wich always helped alot I think. Thanks for your help :slight_smile:

[quote]55amg wrote:
m at 250x8 and 225x13 and I was thinking of doing like a 6 week peaking cycle, I can either :

week 1 200x15
week 2 210x15
week 3 220x12
week 4 230x12
week 5 240x10
week 6 250x10 (hopefully lol)

or 225x10 on week 1 and go up 5 lb every week while keeping the reps the same until I hit 250x10 … What do you all think? Also I would be doing 1-2 sets of overload with the slingshot and some paused closegrips wich always helped alot I think. Thanks for your help :)[/quote]

I prefer to do it the other way around. Start with heavier and work on improving your capacity to do reps with a heavy weight.

hmmm so start with 250x5 and add a rep every week?

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]55amg wrote:
m at 250x8 and 225x13 and I was thinking of doing like a 6 week peaking cycle, I can either :

week 1 200x15
week 2 210x15
week 3 220x12
week 4 230x12
week 5 240x10
week 6 250x10 (hopefully lol)

or 225x10 on week 1 and go up 5 lb every week while keeping the reps the same until I hit 250x10 … What do you all think? Also I would be doing 1-2 sets of overload with the slingshot and some paused closegrips wich always helped alot I think. Thanks for your help :)[/quote]

I prefer to do it the other way around. Start with heavier and work on improving your capacity to do reps with a heavy weight.
[/quote]
SO I should start with 250x5 and add one rep every week?

[quote]55amg wrote:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]55amg wrote:
m at 250x8 and 225x13 and I was thinking of doing like a 6 week peaking cycle, I can either :

week 1 200x15
week 2 210x15
week 3 220x12
week 4 230x12
week 5 240x10
week 6 250x10 (hopefully lol)

or 225x10 on week 1 and go up 5 lb every week while keeping the reps the same until I hit 250x10 … What do you all think? Also I would be doing 1-2 sets of overload with the slingshot and some paused closegrips wich always helped alot I think. Thanks for your help :)[/quote]

I prefer to do it the other way around. Start with heavier and work on improving your capacity to do reps with a heavy weight.
[/quote]
SO I should start with 250x5 and add one rep every week?[/quote]

That’s not what I’m saying. The body doesn’t work in a linear fashion. It is not as simple as saying that you can add one rep per week. Adding one rep per week (from 5 to 10), so 5 reps in 5 weeks would represent a strength gain of about 12-15% in strength over 5 weeks. Most solid strength programs will give you that gain over 10 weeks or so.

It sounds “easy” to just add one measly rep every week. But when you are talking about something that is already a max effort that 1 rep out or5 represent a pretty significant strength gain, once that cannot be repeated every week.

If it were that easy we could go from 250lbs x 5 to 250 x 57 after one year, and that just wont happen.

What I’m saying is that if you want to be able to do 250lbs x 10 you need the base strength to do it… the stronger you are, the “easier” 250lbs becomes relative to your capacity and the more reps you can do.

Normally you can do 10 reps with 72-75% of your maximum.

So if you are shooting for 250lbs x 10 it means that you need to be able to do one solid rep in the bench press with at least 335lbs (250 is about 75% of 330). Even if you are much better at reps than maxes you would still need at least a 325lbs bench press to have a shot at getting 250lbs for 10 quality reps.

If you can’t bench press close to that weight you can try to add reps every week until you are blue in the face, there is not way you will be able to go from 250 x 5 to 250 x 10 in that short of a time.

A 250 x 5 (if it is a limit effort) equals about a 280-285lbs max bench. Which would mean a lack of strength of AT LEAST 45lbs to have a shot at getting 250 x 10.

So while ONLY adding 5 reps over 5-6 weeks sounds VERY easy. In reality it requires a pretty large increase in strength.

Of course all of this is assuming that 250 x 5 is an all-out effort at the moment.

EDIT… I just noticed that you can do 250 x 8… so realistically it should be fairly simple top get up to 250 x 10. I assumed 250 x 5 was your max since you decided to start there.

So yeah, getting from 250 x 8 to 250 x 10 should be fairly easy.

But by starting heavier what I mean is handling weights that are heavier than your target.

Do training sets between 260-275. Mostly, with one set per workout where you go for higher reps, just to maintain your strength-endurance.

For example.

Week 1
4 x 3-4 reps @ 260
1 x max reps @ 235

Week 2
2 x 3-4 reps @ 260
2 x 3-4 reps @ 265
1 x max reps @ 235

Week 3
1 x 3-4 reps @ 260
2 x 3-4 reps @ 265
1 x 2-3 reps @ 270
1 x max reps @ 240

Week 4
1 x 4-5 reps @ 260
1 x 4-5 reps @ 265
1 x 3-4 reps @ 270
1 x 2-3 reps @ 275
1 x max reps @ 240

Week 5
1 x 5-6 reps @ 260
1 x 5-6 reps @ 265
1 x 4-5 reps @ 270
1 x 3-4 reps @ 275
1 x max reps @ 245

Week 6
1 x max reps @ 250

  • Don’t worry if you don’t improve the max reps from week to week even when the weights stays the same: the volume with heavy weights increases from week to week which will leave you more tired when the max reps set comes up.

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]55amg wrote:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]55amg wrote:
m at 250x8 and 225x13 and I was thinking of doing like a 6 week peaking cycle, I can either :

week 1 200x15
week 2 210x15
week 3 220x12
week 4 230x12
week 5 240x10
week 6 250x10 (hopefully lol)

or 225x10 on week 1 and go up 5 lb every week while keeping the reps the same until I hit 250x10 … What do you all think? Also I would be doing 1-2 sets of overload with the slingshot and some paused closegrips wich always helped alot I think. Thanks for your help :)[/quote]

I prefer to do it the other way around. Start with heavier and work on improving your capacity to do reps with a heavy weight.
[/quote]
SO I should start with 250x5 and add one rep every week?[/quote]

That’s not what I’m saying. The body doesn’t work in a linear fashion. It is not as simple as saying that you can add one rep per week. Adding one rep per week (from 5 to 10), so 5 reps in 5 weeks would represent a strength gain of about 12-15% in strength over 5 weeks. Most solid strength programs will give you that gain over 10 weeks or so.

It sounds “easy” to just add one measly rep every week. But when you are talking about something that is already a max effort that 1 rep out or5 represent a pretty significant strength gain, once that cannot be repeated every week.

If it were that easy we could go from 250lbs x 5 to 250 x 57 after one year, and that just wont happen.

What I’m saying is that if you want to be able to do 250lbs x 10 you need the base strength to do it… the stronger you are, the “easier” 250lbs becomes relative to your capacity and the more reps you can do.

Normally you can do 10 reps with 72-75% of your maximum.

So if you are shooting for 250lbs x 10 it means that you need to be able to do one solid rep in the bench press with at least 335lbs (250 is about 75% of 330). Even if you are much better at reps than maxes you would still need at least a 325lbs bench press to have a shot at getting 250lbs for 10 quality reps.

If you can’t bench press close to that weight you can try to add reps every week until you are blue in the face, there is not way you will be able to go from 250 x 5 to 250 x 10 in that short of a time.

A 250 x 5 (if it is a limit effort) equals about a 280-285lbs max bench. Which would mean a lack of strength of AT LEAST 45lbs to have a shot at getting 250 x 10.

So while ONLY adding 5 reps over 5-6 weeks sounds VERY easy. In reality it requires a pretty large increase in strength.

Of course all of this is assuming that 250 x 5 is an all-out effort at the moment.

EDIT… I just noticed that you can do 250 x 8… so realistically it should be fairly simple top get up to 250 x 10. I assumed 250 x 5 was your max since you decided to start there.

So yeah, getting from 250 x 8 to 250 x 10 should be fairly easy.

But by starting heavier what I mean is handling weights that are heavier than your target.

Do training sets between 260-275. Mostly, with one set per workout where you go for higher reps, just to maintain your strength-endurance.

For example.

Week 1
4 x 3-4 reps @ 260
1 x max reps @ 235

Week 2
2 x 3-4 reps @ 260
2 x 3-4 reps @ 265
1 x max reps @ 235

Week 3
1 x 3-4 reps @ 260
2 x 3-4 reps @ 265
1 x 2-3 reps @ 270
1 x max reps @ 240

Week 4
1 x 4-5 reps @ 260
1 x 4-5 reps @ 265
1 x 3-4 reps @ 270
1 x 2-3 reps @ 275
1 x max reps @ 240

Week 5
1 x 5-6 reps @ 260
1 x 5-6 reps @ 265
1 x 4-5 reps @ 270
1 x 3-4 reps @ 275
1 x max reps @ 245

Week 6
1 x max reps @ 250

  • Don’t worry if you don’t improve the max reps from week to week even when the weights stays the same: the volume with heavy weights increases from week to week which will leave you more tired when the max reps set comes up.[/quote]

Thank you very much for putting some good thought in this I just printed the workout out and will start it right away!

workout 1

260x4 260x4 260x3 260x3 235x8(left about 2 reps in the tank)

workout 2

260x4 260x3 265x4 265x3 235x9

workout 3 260x3 265x4 265x4 270x3 (hard) 240x8(hard) next week i will stick to the lower range of the reps

Workout 4 260x4 265x4 270x3 275x3 240x9 (last rep went up real solid)

[quote]55amg wrote:
Workout 4 260x4 265x4 270x3 275x3 240x9 (last rep went up real solid) [/quote]

Looks like you are on the right track.

Also, to hit your goal, the week where you do your testing I recommend:

  1. Minimizing any work involving the triceps, deltoids and pecs for 3 days prior to the test.

  2. Increasing caloric intake significantly for 3-4 days prior to the test, even doing with some more salt than usual.

  3. I would take a day OFF 2 days prior to the test and do some light bench pressing the day prior so that you are in the groove during test day.

For example. Assuming that Monday is the bench day I would recommend:

Friday: OFF or some lighter biceps and back work (NO LEGS)
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: Bench press 3-4 x 3 @ 200-210lbs focus on solid technique; nothing else
Monday: Test

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]55amg wrote:
Workout 4 260x4 265x4 270x3 275x3 240x9 (last rep went up real solid) [/quote]

Looks like you are on the right track.

Also, to hit your goal, the week where you do your testing I recommend:

  1. Minimizing any work involving the triceps, deltoids and pecs for 3 days prior to the test.

  2. Increasing caloric intake significantly for 3-4 days prior to the test, even doing with some more salt than usual.

  3. I would take a day OFF 2 days prior to the test and do some light bench pressing the day prior so that you are in the groove during test day.

For example. Assuming that Monday is the bench day I would recommend:

Friday: OFF or some lighter biceps and back work (NO LEGS)
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: Bench press 3-4 x 3 @ 200-210lbs focus on solid technique; nothing else
Monday: Test[/quote]

Workout 5 260x5 265x5 270x4 275x4(solid but hard) 245x8-9(I was too concentrated on the lift lost exact count)

yeah monday is bench, laterals and triceps. Tuesday is squats and Thursday is deads so I will be off for 3 days prior to benching again. Ill follow your recommendations! Just curious Why the light benching on sunday ? is it to prime the CNS and motor functions for the best possible bar motion/form ?

Also when this training cycle is over can I simply add 5 lb to all the working sets and start all over?

Thank you very much!

[quote]55amg wrote:
yeah monday is bench, laterals and triceps. Tuesday is squats and Thursday is deads so I will be off for 3 days prior to benching again. Ill follow your recommendations! Just curious Why the light benching on sunday ? is it to prime the CNS and motor functions for the best possible bar motion/form ? [/quote]

Yes. I personally find that doing the movement the day prior, without fatiguing yourself, leads to better performance. I do that with all of the athletes I work with.

[quote]55amg wrote:
Also when this training cycle is over can I simply add 5 lb to all the working sets and start all over?

Thank you very much! [/quote]

If you like the set-up, sure. For optimum progress I would actually do some lighter bench pressing at the end of your third workout of the weak. 3 sets of 5 reps with 20-30lbs less than you used during your heavy workout.

250x7 from 245x9 I got weaker by 1rep/5lb LOL … Unreal … I honestly felt drained and tired even while warming up everything felt heavy. Thank for trying though I did enjoy the program I did great all the weeks except for the test week lol btw my triceps horseshoe is considerably more visible too so I look a bit better which is great!

[quote]55amg wrote:
250x7 from 245x9 I got weaker by 1rep/5lb LOL … Unreal … I honestly felt drained and tired even while warming up everything felt heavy. Thank for trying though I did enjoy the program I did great all the weeks except for the test week lol btw my triceps horseshoe is considerably more visible too so I look a bit better which is great! [/quote]

Give yourself one more regular week of training without putting pressure on yourself to hit your goal. You are obviously stronger. Peaking on a precise date is always hard even with experienced coaches working with the athletes for a long time. Within a week or two of regular training you should hit it without problems.