01-07-2016, 02:54 AM
How do you select your own Tier and is it impacted by exercise selection?
I've been running FT since it was first release and I thought I had a fairly comprehensive understanding of the program (even taking it through 2 contest preps) until the start of this last blast (currently 3 weeks in). Quick summary of the tier experience:
- Tier II Basic and then graduated to Tier II Turbo (stopped this due to tendon issues in both knees and recovery being compromised)
- Moved to Tier III basic under the assumption I needed move volume and knee issue was a frequency problem. I didn't. weights stalled and felt burn out all the time - 4 week blast length.
- Defaulted back to Tier II basic however have recently been noticing recovery is starting to become compromised so moved down to Tier I for this last blast.
Since moving to Tier I I feel like a new man and my workouts don't hammer me into the ground any more and both my loading and MR sets are making massive jumps in weight added each rotation compared to eeking out 5lb increases. However, the more experienced I become with the programme the more I'm realizing that exercise selection can create a 'hardcore' and 'light' version of each tier. For example;
'Hardcore' Tier I Loading Lower (actual last WO)
- Thigh: High box squats
- Quad Iso: Pump close stance leg press only targeting quads
- Ham Iso: Pump stiff legged deadlifts
A light version for example could be substituting leg extensions for the leg press and leg curls for the stiff legged deadlifts.
What are everyone's thoughts on this? I feel I get more out of the lower tiers by not using strictly single joint isolation exercises. How did you settle on your ideal tier and identifying the right exercises for you?
I've been running FT since it was first release and I thought I had a fairly comprehensive understanding of the program (even taking it through 2 contest preps) until the start of this last blast (currently 3 weeks in). Quick summary of the tier experience:
- Tier II Basic and then graduated to Tier II Turbo (stopped this due to tendon issues in both knees and recovery being compromised)
- Moved to Tier III basic under the assumption I needed move volume and knee issue was a frequency problem. I didn't. weights stalled and felt burn out all the time - 4 week blast length.
- Defaulted back to Tier II basic however have recently been noticing recovery is starting to become compromised so moved down to Tier I for this last blast.
Since moving to Tier I I feel like a new man and my workouts don't hammer me into the ground any more and both my loading and MR sets are making massive jumps in weight added each rotation compared to eeking out 5lb increases. However, the more experienced I become with the programme the more I'm realizing that exercise selection can create a 'hardcore' and 'light' version of each tier. For example;
'Hardcore' Tier I Loading Lower (actual last WO)
- Thigh: High box squats
- Quad Iso: Pump close stance leg press only targeting quads
- Ham Iso: Pump stiff legged deadlifts
A light version for example could be substituting leg extensions for the leg press and leg curls for the stiff legged deadlifts.
What are everyone's thoughts on this? I feel I get more out of the lower tiers by not using strictly single joint isolation exercises. How did you settle on your ideal tier and identifying the right exercises for you?