guardian7
Level 6 Valued Member
In the PTTP book it says that you can keep a cycle until you have two or three reps at that weight.
"Before you know it, things will get heavy. Do not attempt a rep unless you are 100% certain you are going to make it in good form! Just drop the rep or reps that you have not made and carry on the cycle until you are down to two or three reps. Another option is not to peak at all, but terminate a cycle once you have made a little gain, say five pounds per lift, over a previous one. Kindle location 974"
I have been following a two step linear cycle.
My recent days were bench KG 67.5/67.5/70/70 today was 72.5 but I got four not five reps. Failure on the fifth rep. Spotter needed to help me. I did 70 yesterday. Frequency 4 days a week. Wednesday this week was off.
There seems to be a big choice between keeping 72.5 and ending the cycle. What about changing to three step linear and doing 70 again?
I have already done one micro cycle taking two steps back to keep this very productive cycle going. My DL is still linear two step as of today.
Bench is something I have not trained except last year for a couple months. I am 50 years old and 75kg bodyweight.
1. Start a whole new cycle at 55. I started at 50. (I don't feel this is necessary)
2. See how repeating 72.5 goes on Monday after a weekend of rest.
3. Change to a three step cycle and repeat 70 then try 72.5 again.
4. Repeat 70 until I can get 6 reps. This is not PTTP but seems to be a good approach to really owning the weight and getting feedback on when you should add weight. It seems like the closer you get to bodyweight or multiples of bodyweight the harder it will get so keeping the same two step linear cycle may not be possible. I would rather go by objective feedback from the bar than what step is programmed.
Another consideration is I have either two weeks or 6 weeks left in my membership. I will go back to Muay Thai and KB and bodyweight after this. Barbell work is each winter.
I know it is not a big decision in the long run but I want to get an idea of how people think about knowing when to add weight or end the cycle.
Also, I am not that clear on what weight would you start a new cycle on? 5 pounds or 2.5 KG higher than what you started the last one? Would people really go down so much when they are at such modest levels like mine? I started at 50KG. Is starting a new cycle at 52.5 KG really necessary? I can understand for a more advanced lifter who squats or DL a lot, but for my modest bench?
What is my best option for Monday? Thanks.
"Before you know it, things will get heavy. Do not attempt a rep unless you are 100% certain you are going to make it in good form! Just drop the rep or reps that you have not made and carry on the cycle until you are down to two or three reps. Another option is not to peak at all, but terminate a cycle once you have made a little gain, say five pounds per lift, over a previous one. Kindle location 974"
I have been following a two step linear cycle.
My recent days were bench KG 67.5/67.5/70/70 today was 72.5 but I got four not five reps. Failure on the fifth rep. Spotter needed to help me. I did 70 yesterday. Frequency 4 days a week. Wednesday this week was off.
There seems to be a big choice between keeping 72.5 and ending the cycle. What about changing to three step linear and doing 70 again?
I have already done one micro cycle taking two steps back to keep this very productive cycle going. My DL is still linear two step as of today.
Bench is something I have not trained except last year for a couple months. I am 50 years old and 75kg bodyweight.
1. Start a whole new cycle at 55. I started at 50. (I don't feel this is necessary)
2. See how repeating 72.5 goes on Monday after a weekend of rest.
3. Change to a three step cycle and repeat 70 then try 72.5 again.
4. Repeat 70 until I can get 6 reps. This is not PTTP but seems to be a good approach to really owning the weight and getting feedback on when you should add weight. It seems like the closer you get to bodyweight or multiples of bodyweight the harder it will get so keeping the same two step linear cycle may not be possible. I would rather go by objective feedback from the bar than what step is programmed.
Another consideration is I have either two weeks or 6 weeks left in my membership. I will go back to Muay Thai and KB and bodyweight after this. Barbell work is each winter.
I know it is not a big decision in the long run but I want to get an idea of how people think about knowing when to add weight or end the cycle.
Also, I am not that clear on what weight would you start a new cycle on? 5 pounds or 2.5 KG higher than what you started the last one? Would people really go down so much when they are at such modest levels like mine? I started at 50KG. Is starting a new cycle at 52.5 KG really necessary? I can understand for a more advanced lifter who squats or DL a lot, but for my modest bench?
What is my best option for Monday? Thanks.