Selecting the right Tier

[Scott Stevenson]

Sorry, yes shortened range of motion to focus on a particular muscle group. I think mentally and physically I get a lot more from increasing the leg press by 20kg per rotation rather than 5kg or a couple of reps on the leg extension.

And I think this will vary by person, too. (I intentionally left this flexibility in there. Very cool to see you fine tuning as you have.... )

I have been finding lately that I can do knee extensions essentially pain free. (I couldn't for years due to patellofemoral pain.) I'm getting some new VMO development from this, actually, so I'm liking them.

I think it comes from a basis of doing DC where I can really apply myself to a single loading set. On tire II, if I squatted for example, I'd get 210kg (about 460lb) for 9 reps on the first set and then 6 reps on the second but I'd always feel like I'm holding something back. If I dropped the weight on the second set (to get a higher number of reps) I felt like I was always 'guessing' at the load (e.g. do I drop by 10% or 20%?) and would end up with variable increases in my log book each time the exercise cam round, so my first set might jump up by 1-2 reps where my second set might jump by 5-10kg and 1-2 reps.

Well, the idea is to hold back a rep or two until the last loading set, which would be taken to failure. This is in part for practical reasons (getting a bar loaded with 500lb back to the uprights after leaving it on the safeties is difficult when trying to rest between sets ) as well as to increase training volume relative to the neurological stress.

The variable increases aren't that big of a deal, IMO, as long as your'e moving upward.

You'd have to tease out how much to drop for your next loading set and then just use the log book as your guide.

1.) Set your reps (generally in the 6-12 range, but you can narrow that)
2.) Do your best initially to gauge (guess) the right weights to stay in range
3.) Adjust in successive workouts as needed. If you blast past the upper end of your rep range, then that's good!

I think the tenancy is the further up the tiers that I go the more 'fluffy' exercises I tend to add, as I don't know how anyone could keep adding compounds and recover, which seem to impair recovery rather than create any additional benefit. For example, on Tier III my loading sets just seem to come to a grinding halt in terms on weight or rep increases. Perhaps I'm just getting close to my max strength levels and the loads are just hammering me into the ground so 8-10 years ago tier III might have been ideal.

I think you're talking above specifically about using the exercises you've chosen for Quad and Ham Isolation movement in particular?...

(Not 100% sure I know what you mean by "adding compounds.")

Maybe you're just re-iterating the notion in your first post that your choice of exercises dictates the volume Tier you'll use?...

-S