This time you did:
Military Press = 2 sets x 6 reps x 130 lbs, 1 set x 5 reps x 130 lbs, 1 set x 2 reps x 135 lbs
so 3x6x130 didnt go quite as well as planned. i needed help for the 6th rep on the last set so im not counting it. its moved up from last week which is a good thing. next week i will try for 3x6x130 and then 1x4x130 too. the 135 lbs set was just to see where i stand. im happy[/quote[
The fact that you were able to get a couple at 135 after all that tell's us a lot. What I want to do next time is to have you use slightly more challenging weights but not "maxing" out. This will be within the realm of what I call "quality volume". So it will be much like what you did with the low rep sets to practice technique. Except for this you will be trying to put on more weight and trying to do as much as reasonable.
But before I give you the "plan" I need to explain the mindset. This is very important because this is not like anything you've ever really done before. The fact is it assumes a little more advancement in terms of being able to judge things. Or more experience. I think you are there, at least with the MP's if not the rows
The first thing is the rest periods. We are not to worried about time here. At the end you will drop the weights and do some mre anyway (probably at 130 for 2 or 3 sets) so initially when you are doing the lower rep sets you don't need to be thinking "this is taking too long. At the same time, however, you wan't to keep the rest periods only as long enough as needed to prodcue 2 or 3 good reps on the next set.
Say if you start with 135 and 3. Or if 135 is incredibally light you could do 4 for the first set but no more. But probable 3. Remeber you are going for "quality volume". Alright so for the next set say you rest a minute to two minutes (I'd say two minutes for you). You try for another 3 at 135. If as soon as you pick it up you don't feel like it's going to be good then put it back down and rest more. Then try again.
If at that point you get another set of 2 or 3your recovery seems on target and you feel strong and confident then you move forward. You might put 140 on. Take a good rest which is as long as YOU think is needed and try 2 or 3 at that. When you have added weight it would make sense to take slightly longer rest that if you are just repeating weight. If 140 goes well and there is more in the tank then you can continue loading the bar (as small of increments as you please but no larger than 5 pounds).
Now the rest periods can be whatever is needed. The idea is to keep them as short as you can within reason but if you need even up to 4 minutes then do that. The idea here is a strength challenge, and getting quality volume, not a time thing.
You may end up doing up to 150 like this. I don't really know. When you're done and you feel like it's enought, or you feel like you are approaching failure too much then take a LONG rest of 5 or even 5.5 minutes. And then drop the bar down. Again the weight is up to you but you may end up repeating the 130. So these are like a couple of back off sets except they 'count'. You want to sort of finish off things. So do MRE work here as much as feels comfortable.
What you may find, if you are able to do it correctly and avoid approaching failure for the heavy sets is that those last MRE sets are much stronger than you would have thought. That is really what should happen. This would be what is called "neural facilitation". Similar to sometimes when you do speed work. BUT if you were to do the same thing with traditional "max" work you'd be more "fatigued" than "facilitated". So this should hopefully give you a lot of work with more weight without actually sacrifising your rep work.
For the second press exercise you could of course cut that down or even leave it out completely. Switch to a bench if needed. Whatever.
So the "plan" is much like I already described. Starting at 135 makes sense but you could do a test with 130 of course to see how things are on that day.
135x2-3
rest as needed
135x2-3 (it's important to repeat it once to see if you feel 'strong and fast' still)
rest as needed
140x2-3
rest as needed
145x2-3
rest as needed
150....
Etc. and so on. You could put on smaller increments if you have them and want to and of course you could stop at any point and just stick with that weight for a few more sets.
Then a long 5 or more minute rest and the MRE work which can be 130 or 135 depending on how you feel. As you see SO much of this depends on your judgement and how you feel. This ain't standardized cookie cutter shit. You could basically say it is "doing what you can". However it is doing what you can do WELL rather than shitty the way most people end up donig it. So if the bar moves super slow and you're grunting and straining, there is not use in continuing. That does NOT mean that it can't feel challenging. It's a tricking and fine line.
It should be very productive and fun.
Continued..
Quote:
| regarding the presses, u told me to try and do as many sets as possible of 1-2 reps increasing the weight each time by no more than 5 lbs but lesser than 5 if i want. if i feel like something is wrong (after unracking), i am to put the bar back, wait, and attempt it again. right? the pattern u gave me is; |
For instance a really good thing to do so you can basically lift the heavier weight more times is to take 90 or so percent and rest-pause it with one rep and 10 to 15 second rests. That's kind of a classic rest-pausing technique (without the drop sets) and it's emphasis is on taking that very heavy weight and instead of following one rep right after another so that you only do say 3 reps you rest pause and get maybe 6 reps plus every rep is potentially just as good as the first. This all having nothing to do with DC style rest pausing which is essentially post failure work with short rest.
So you look at the "quality volume" thing I've described and it's a lot like that rest-pause thing except you will end up using a slightly lighter weight and only focus on how many times you can get the weight up with a good rep. That entails at least doing more than 1 rep which would be counter productive since the rest periods arent restricted as much. So at least go for 3 but realize that we are emphasizing quality and staying fresh so 2 good reps is still better than 3 with the last being slow.
By the same token you might end up pumping out 4 good ones here and there but I find it's best to stay with 3. And if only 1 good one is in the cards then that is what will have to happen. You want to stay far away as possible from failure. That doesn't mean that you won't find it feeling a little tought here and there but you should expect a very good bounce-back if things are going well.
Whatever exapmple I gave you was just an example...this is a "feel" and a reactive thing.
More..
Reread the first explanation I wrote. I might have confused you by over-expaining. The rest periods can be anything and it is completely up to how thing are going. But most of them should be less than 3 I would think.
As far as the less weight comment don't worry about it. I'm comparing the classic rest-pause technique I described with this. It doesn't matter. You will put on as much weight as ends up working out for you. Everything you need is in the first explanation.
YES. It is all relative. That is exactly why I emphasized that there is not exact formula.
There is no pyramid. If you can ramp up the weight and end up with 3 reps then good.
This is not a max out attempt. The idea is not to build up to a max or something like that. Remember that you are going to do those "back off" sets. In a way this is just on top of what you have normally been doing.
Say that a person just did 130x6x3.
So he uses this technique keeping the rest periods as short as possible but as long as needed and he does
130x3 (70 second rest, just as an example)
135x3x2 (90second rest after first then 120 after second)
140x3 (3 minutes)
145x3 (rest longer)
150x2
150x2 or 3
who knows really....
Then if he hasn't gone too far and allowed enought recovery he takes 135 and knocks out two sets of 6. But even if he takes 130 and does 2 or 3 sets it's still great. Are you seeing what I'm getting at? And those backoff sets aren't even really necessary really.
This is something that is hard to explain. You just have to experiment with it. Most people have never done something so "freestyle" so it's an individual experience.
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