Should I go Straight into an Intensive Cruise or drop down a Tier or two?

[BGD]

I've just finished my second blast of FT.

Initially I started off with Tier 2 and ran this for 5 weeks until I showed signs of over reaching so I immediately started an 2 week Intensive Cruise.

This time around I bumped up to Tier 3 and have just finished week 4.

My split is:

Sat: Upper Load
Sun: Rest
Mon: Lower Load
Tues: Rest
Wed: Upper MR
Thurs: Lower MR
Fri: Rest

Because I work predominantly night shifts (8 days on, 6 days off) my sleeping patterns can be all over the place as sometimes I get called into work outside of my normal working hours/days. These last 2 weeks in particular have been a nightmare sleep wise.

Anyway. I've noticed this past week that my knees and left elbow are getting really sore. I monitor my resting heart rate every morning and it's not elevated. This morning I really struggled to get out of bed and felt like I'd been hit over the head with a sledge hammer. I haven't noticed reduced performance in the gym yet, although on my last round of Barbell Squat loading sets I stayed @ 315lbs x 8 (on my first NTF workset) and wasn't able to beat that without breaking form. Other than that everything else is going gangbusters.

Basically I'm feeling that I'm starting to over reach and think it might be prudent to drop straight into a Intensive Cruise. With that said I've read some posts on the forum and re-read Scott's FT manual which mentions several options to try and extend a blast to reach the 6 week mark. For example, (1) dropping down a tier to Tier #2, (2) Stay on the same Tier but eliminate Pump Sets or (3) switch to the Family Man 3 day per week schedule. I'm coming up on a run of days off work so it will be easier to hopefully get back on track sleep-wise but it might be to late to get me back in track with this blast??

For those who have experienced this situation what option/s did you take and would you do the same again? Should I try and extend this blast for another 2 weeks or should I just drop straight into an Intensive Cruise.

Cheers

[Altamir]

No clear cut answer on this, as it has a lot to do with "know thyself". But I'll at least add my experience. If I start over reaching, I almost ALWAYS go right into an intensive cruise. There has been a few times I've extended a blast mostly due to schedule or time (I have a vacation coming up, etc). My personal experience is that once my CNS goes, just about everything goes with it, and it's hard to bounce back. On top of that, my feeling is always one of sort of, what is the hurt in cruising? Your cruise length is equal to your blast length, longer blast, longer cruise, shorter blast, shorter cruise. So over a year, if you either blast 4 weeks, or 6 weeks, the overall amount of actual "blast training time" is pretty much equal. No point in pushing beyond what makes sense.

Just my 2 cents.

[Scott Stevenson]

Since seems like you're not really sure what to do, I would opt for:

Go right to a cruise (as Altamir suggests he might do).

OR

Simply drop to Tier II or even Tier I. This is the simplest solution and would give you some experience in how that simple change (working within the system) affects you. This is one reason why I set up the Tier System: To give folks a basic way to manipulate volume without having to overthink things as well as have a standardized means of comparison amongst one another (threads like this).

You might be able to go Tier I for a week and then Tier II before a cruise (for instance- not saying you should). That would (I think) give you a BIG break during this off time (no work) and then a decent push during your next 8 days of work before cruising during the next 6 days off with the last part of the IC (no training) happening when your'e back to work.)

BUT - if your'e not sleeping, the will basically determine what you end up doing.

-S

[BGD]

Thanks for the input guys, appreciate it!

I've had 2 days of good sleep I felt 110% better this morning. I guess I've been under estimating the importance of getting a solid sleep pattern in and relying too much of Thermo pills and Pre-Workout drinks to get me up and going.

I've taken on board your advice and dropped back to Tier 2. Strange as it sounds the Leg Pump S/Sets I've found were also killing me. I guess I haven't auto-regulated them as much as I should have. I've always been starting my 'Leg Pump' supersets with heavy (for me) compound movements ie: Leg Presses - (Both Plate Loaded and Seated Cable Machine type) or Smith Squats or Hack Squats etc. They end up being a heavy balls to the wall 20-30 rep widow-maker sets then I drag myself across to the next two exercises breathing like a freight-train and dropping pools of sweat all over the floor. As my blast progresses I've found my knees and quads have still been sore by the time my 'Lower Loading' Day rolls around. Today I mixed things up a bit more and tried pre-exhausting my legs by doing Leg Extensions 1st in the SS to force me to reduce the total weight I can use on my now latter compound movement. Was still F%$k'n hard work but seemed to work well, + I also tried 5's in the hole on hamstrings which I ended up miscalculating and going too light on but was again a great changeup.

I'm really enjoying the FT program. IMO there not many BB training programs out there that actually explain (in both laymans terms and with references) why the program is structured in a certain way and provide various routine's options depending on experience and recovery ability. In addition FT outlines what signs to look out for when over-reaching and provides various options/guidance as to how to can change up your program to combat this!

Top Class!!

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks for the input guys, appreciate it!

I've had 2 days of good sleep I felt 110% better this morning. I guess I've been under estimating the importance of getting a solid sleep pattern in and relying too much of Thermo pills and Pre-Workout drinks to get me up and going.

I've taken on board your advice and dropped back to Tier 2. Strange as it sounds the Leg Pump S/Sets I've found were also killing me. I guess I haven't auto-regulated them as much as I should have. I've always been starting my 'Leg Pump' supersets with heavy (for me) compound movements ie: Leg Presses - (Both Plate Loaded and Seated Cable Machine type) or Smith Squats or Hack Squats etc. They end up being a heavy balls to the wall 20-30 rep widow-maker sets then I drag myself across to the next two exercises breathing like a freight-train and dropping pools of sweat all over the floor. As my blast progresses I've found my knees and quads have still been sore by the time my 'Lower Loading' Day rolls around. Today I mixed things up a bit more and tried pre-exhausting my legs by doing Leg Extensions 1st in the SS to force me to reduce the total weight I can use on my now latter compound movement. Was still F%$k'n hard work but seemed to work well, + I also tried 5's in the hole on hamstrings which I ended up miscalculating and going too light on but was again a great changeup.

I'm really enjoying the FT program. IMO there not many BB training programs out there that actually explain (in both laymans terms and with references) why the program is structured in a certain way and provide various routine's options depending on experience and recovery ability. In addition FT outlines what signs to look out for when over-reaching and provides various options/guidance as to how to can change up your program to combat this!

Top Class!!

Thanks, man - so glad to read that review.

Sounds like you're really dialing it in as far as how you do things. (I would imagine you're good a pushing past sleep deprivation, which makes it tough to recognize that as something that really shouldn't be normal. I'm that way.)

And yes, there is a huge difference between doing WM style high rep sets and Pump set as I've set them out (with finer gradations depending on the Pump set strategy). Kudos on figuring out what's best for you. (You'd not be the first person to say that the Pump sets can be the hardest part of FT!)

-S