10-15-2016, 10:03 PM
Ok so I posted this up on my training log but given I've been gone for a while I'm also putting it up here hoping it gets more eyes on it so I can get more answers from all the experienced members out there
Ok so I've been absent for a while - work, kid on the way, changing jobs, travel, etc. have been hectic. So long story short
After my last burn out I've successfully had 2 blasts and 2 cruises - all at Tier 1 - small gym lots of members difficult to zig zag or hog lots of pieces of equipment
But what's more important are the questions that these two blasts have given rise to.... I welcome any and all feedback / comments / thoughts / and personal experiences as I'm looking to make the most out of my next blast starting either at the end of this week or next weekend
1. During the blasts I realized, especially with upper body pushing movements as I tried to keep progressing my rep range kept falling down from 8 ish to 6 ish to 4 ish
2. At that low a range I personally found that the very first rep felt like a grinder, so by the time I hit failure at 4 1/2 reps or 5 reps or whatever - it wasn't really the muscle that was failing - it was the damn weight that wouldn't move - I know this sounds weird but honestly that's what the experience felt like
3. Muscle Rounds for back - I've personally found these to be a real challenge - not so much for arms, legs, chest, or shoulders, but back is a killer. I don't have a lot of machines in my gym so MRs are typically loading movements with a lighter load I.E. ~ 15 - 18 rep max that gets built on. So using barbell rows, or t bar rows, or scott bar rows or smith deads, or partial deads, or full range deads just didn't make sense I lost more energy just getting the damn weight into position as the cluster sets progressed and I would quickly see a breakdown in form, e.g. I was using ~120 kgs on v bar t bar rows and hit failure on my 5th cluster set I.E. ~20 reps. However, I personally know that 120 kgs is a weight I can rep out for 20 to 25 in a straight set - similar experiences for other back movements.
4. This gave rise to me experimenting in my last cruise to overcome the issue described above, instead of muscle rounds doing straight sets in the 15 to 18 rep range. Believe it or not it was some of the best progression I've seen - in about 3 weeks of cruising I ended up using 90% to 95% of my 4 to 6 rep max for straight sets of 16, 18, and sometimes even 20 reps - and because they didn't start getting into grinder reps till about rep 12 or 13 my elbows, shoulders, knees, wrists etc have never felt better
5. Now this has me at a conundrum - I'm 31, not old but not a 24 year old young buck who can throw around 4 rep maxes week in and out without consequence, I have suffered from severe spondiolysis (sp?) I have dislocated my right shoulder in the past, and I have other wear and tear across my body. So the higher reps seem to be, at least, conducive to better joint health as well as conducive to good progression
6. So now I'm left with these experiences and more questions - this is where I'm calling on every FT trainee out there - even Dr Stevenson - if you have the time or inclination to read this long post and reply
Q1. What are your views on keeping my loading sets in the 15 to 18 rep range and really grinding it out week after week in that range? I know this will over time, drop to 12 to 15, then 10 to 12, then 8 to 10 but I have the sense if I'm working with 90% of my 5RM for 15 - by the time I work my way down to 8 to 10 reps my 5RM itself would have improved significantly
Q2. MRs are supposed to be 15 to 18 RM kind of weight, if my loading sets are in that range what do I do about MRs? As I understand it FT uses a variety of rep ranges - which indirectly translate to a variety of Loads and TUTs to provide a multiplicity of stimuli to the system - so how do I figure out my MR work loads?
Q3. Given my shortcoming with MRs for back thickness and even width movements - is it ok for me to straight set them? Surely, anyone reading this can understand the absurdity of using a heavier weight for more reps in a straight set than an MR
Q4. Does anyone else have similar experiences or am I just uniquely strange in all of this?
Thanks a lot, and its good to be back and posting
- Joshua
Ok so I've been absent for a while - work, kid on the way, changing jobs, travel, etc. have been hectic. So long story short
After my last burn out I've successfully had 2 blasts and 2 cruises - all at Tier 1 - small gym lots of members difficult to zig zag or hog lots of pieces of equipment
But what's more important are the questions that these two blasts have given rise to.... I welcome any and all feedback / comments / thoughts / and personal experiences as I'm looking to make the most out of my next blast starting either at the end of this week or next weekend
1. During the blasts I realized, especially with upper body pushing movements as I tried to keep progressing my rep range kept falling down from 8 ish to 6 ish to 4 ish
2. At that low a range I personally found that the very first rep felt like a grinder, so by the time I hit failure at 4 1/2 reps or 5 reps or whatever - it wasn't really the muscle that was failing - it was the damn weight that wouldn't move - I know this sounds weird but honestly that's what the experience felt like
3. Muscle Rounds for back - I've personally found these to be a real challenge - not so much for arms, legs, chest, or shoulders, but back is a killer. I don't have a lot of machines in my gym so MRs are typically loading movements with a lighter load I.E. ~ 15 - 18 rep max that gets built on. So using barbell rows, or t bar rows, or scott bar rows or smith deads, or partial deads, or full range deads just didn't make sense I lost more energy just getting the damn weight into position as the cluster sets progressed and I would quickly see a breakdown in form, e.g. I was using ~120 kgs on v bar t bar rows and hit failure on my 5th cluster set I.E. ~20 reps. However, I personally know that 120 kgs is a weight I can rep out for 20 to 25 in a straight set - similar experiences for other back movements.
4. This gave rise to me experimenting in my last cruise to overcome the issue described above, instead of muscle rounds doing straight sets in the 15 to 18 rep range. Believe it or not it was some of the best progression I've seen - in about 3 weeks of cruising I ended up using 90% to 95% of my 4 to 6 rep max for straight sets of 16, 18, and sometimes even 20 reps - and because they didn't start getting into grinder reps till about rep 12 or 13 my elbows, shoulders, knees, wrists etc have never felt better
5. Now this has me at a conundrum - I'm 31, not old but not a 24 year old young buck who can throw around 4 rep maxes week in and out without consequence, I have suffered from severe spondiolysis (sp?) I have dislocated my right shoulder in the past, and I have other wear and tear across my body. So the higher reps seem to be, at least, conducive to better joint health as well as conducive to good progression
6. So now I'm left with these experiences and more questions - this is where I'm calling on every FT trainee out there - even Dr Stevenson - if you have the time or inclination to read this long post and reply
Q1. What are your views on keeping my loading sets in the 15 to 18 rep range and really grinding it out week after week in that range? I know this will over time, drop to 12 to 15, then 10 to 12, then 8 to 10 but I have the sense if I'm working with 90% of my 5RM for 15 - by the time I work my way down to 8 to 10 reps my 5RM itself would have improved significantly
Q2. MRs are supposed to be 15 to 18 RM kind of weight, if my loading sets are in that range what do I do about MRs? As I understand it FT uses a variety of rep ranges - which indirectly translate to a variety of Loads and TUTs to provide a multiplicity of stimuli to the system - so how do I figure out my MR work loads?
Q3. Given my shortcoming with MRs for back thickness and even width movements - is it ok for me to straight set them? Surely, anyone reading this can understand the absurdity of using a heavier weight for more reps in a straight set than an MR
Q4. Does anyone else have similar experiences or am I just uniquely strange in all of this?
Thanks a lot, and its good to be back and posting
- Joshua