Maybe it will, maybe it will not assuming the fatigue spilled over from the end of the previous cycle. The first 1-2 workouts are done with a few reps to spare on purpose, to allow CNS to recover. And also for some metabolically effective higher rep work. You see, there's in effect no start and no ending, it's a full circle, the workouts complement each other. Or so I hope
What's important is that the average load/intensity will be much higher than it used to be.
As you can see I'm not only repeating weeks 3-4 (or weeks 5-6 if you didn't skip 15s) of a HST cycle's usual 5s runup over and over again, but also "repping out" on the lighter days, with a set or two to spare.
Assuming I will be progressing from one cycle to the next utilizing these extended zig-zags, SD will not be necessary. Progression is quite naturally more important than SD. The only "new" thing about what I'm going to experiment with is the pyramid of increasing loads/decreasing reps, as described above. All workouts but the last are meant to be submaximal (no failure).
Yup, for now. I have yet to be convinced that the extra effort to do more sets per exercise is required for progress.
Very interesting. That's pushing the envelope on what is considered "submaximal," but, I think, in a good way.
Well that makes a million times more sense than what I was doing. Now I'm really pumped to get to that point in my current cycle. Thanks.
1) what was you doing
2 weeks at 100% 5rm, as in 6 repeats of the last workout of the 5rm micro-cycle.
Have you ever experimented with lower starting weights? Just curious.
You could always buy some 0.5 kg wrist / ankle weights and wrap them around the bar.
Yes, just finished the cycle using 5kg (11 lb) increments for both 10s and 5s. Less strength gained in both, I couldn't even build up to my previous 10RM & 5RM loads (failed one rep short). For my incline bench press, that was a 7.5% increment for 10s and 6.7% increment for 5s. This is in line with Bryan's explanation that the lower the increment, the more strength and less muscle you gain, and the bigger the increment, the less strength AND more muscle you gain. I hope I didn't lose any muscle, though
Now I'm going to try out 5% increments during 5's and a bit more "reppy" submaximal run-up. Number of sets per exercise will still be limited to 1.
Have you got the ebook? link is below in case you haven't
Because this is what I want to develop the most.
I'm not a big fan of multiple sets per exercise.
A sufficiently heavy weight (I'm talking about optimal TUT also, so no heavier than about true 5-6RM) would require too lengthy rest intervals to repeat, prolonging the workout unduly (considering the unwillingness of going to the gym more frequently than 3 times per week). On the opposite extreme we have BB-style 3-4 sets with fixed short rest periods using lighter loads which are a bit impractical to implement in a semi-crowded gym. You tend to miss the proper time to do a set, get frustrated with potentially skewed progress tracking, etc. When you use different exercises, though, you no longer carry the psychological burden of the decreasing strength between sets, you concentrate on each exercise and do your best, having no idea how the load would feel when you're fresh. Especially when you alternate between sets on different body parts giving the just-worked body part some more time to rest.