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Barbell Light and Heavy Days Question (Reload)

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@Benjamin_K, I want to suggest, nothing against @kennycro@@aol.com, that if your purpose is to understand and better follow what is in Reload, you pay attention to what Fabio is asking and telling you.

Kenny's post is fine as the opinion of a knowledgeable and experienced strength athlete and coach, but it seems to me to be unconnected to Fabio's questions as he tries to help @Benjamin_K follow Reload.

My apologies to Kenny if he has read the book and I have misunderstood his post.

Reload puts forth its principles within the first few pages, but the rest of it is a phenomenally detailed, real-world-based set of guidelines from a phenomenally skilled coach who not only walks the walk as well as talks the talk, he has co-written a book with Pavel, which is about the best endorsement I can imagine an author having.

The purpose of Fabio's detailed guidelines is to supply what is the missing ingredient in so many training programs: testing to determine for yourself all of the variables that are necessary for _you_ to have the best chance of success.

Forum threads can necessarily get off-track for a variety of reasons. My suggestion, @Benjamin_K, is that you continue to try to do what the book suggests, which is what Fabio is trying to guide you through here.

Tough love over. :)

-S-
 
Yes, so this is where things went awry. Everything was tense, good depth, solid at 235. Then I barely did 2 reps at 250. Because I'm stubborn I did 3 bad reps afterwards.

Thank you for your report, Benjamin.

Probably not the best idea going forward and doing three bad reps afterwards. The test was assessing how many good reps you could perform after the prescribed ramp-up in order to set your 5/5@Week#5 goal, so there was no need to do more reps.

Ok, so moving forward this is how your heavy squat day will look like for the first 5 weeks:
Week #1: 175
Week #2: 190
Week #3: 205
Week #4: 220
Week #5: 235

You might argue that on week #1 your heavy day is lighter than your light day and that on week #2 they are equal. Well, that's ok and the plan will work anyway. Just consider that on week #1 your light day will be the heavy day and your heavy day will be the light day and that on week #2 you have two "medium" days. Everything will catch up starting from week #3.

With all that said, your situation is very uncommon. The reason for all this is that you were able to complete very few reps with 80%1RM, and this is very unusual. Not impossible, but very infrequent. So I do have the doubt that your 1RM could be not accurate. Are you sure that the form and depth of your 1RM squat with 315 is exactly the same as the ones of your 80%1RM squat with 250 and your 60%1RM squat with 190? In these cases I usually ask to see a video of the squat performed with different %1RM. So I suggest that before going forward with the plan you make sure that 315 was actually your technical 1RM. It is very important to understand that the more precise are the 1RMs and the data acquired through the prescribed tests, the more effective will be the plan.

I hope that you will find my answers useful.
 
Thank you for your report, Benjamin.

Probably not the best idea going forward and doing three bad reps afterwards. The test was assessing how many good reps you could perform after the prescribed ramp-up in order to set your 5/5@Week#5 goal, so there was no need to do more reps.

Ok, so moving forward this is how your heavy squat day will look like for the first 5 weeks:
Week #1: 175
Week #2: 190
Week #3: 205
Week #4: 220
Week #5: 235

You might argue that on week #1 your heavy day is lighter than your light day and that on week #2 they are equal. Well, that's ok and the plan will work anyway. Just consider that on week #1 your light day will be the heavy day and your heavy day will be the light day and that on week #2 you have two "medium" days. Everything will catch up starting from week #3.

With all that said, your situation is very uncommon. The reason for all this is that you were able to complete very few reps with 80%1RM, and this is very unusual. Not impossible, but very infrequent. So I do have the doubt that your 1RM could be not accurate. Are you sure that the form and depth of your 1RM squat with 315 is exactly the same as the ones of your 80%1RM squat with 250 and your 60%1RM squat with 190? In these cases I usually ask to see a video of the squat performed with different %1RM. So I suggest that before going forward with the plan you make sure that 315 was actually your technical 1RM. It is very important to understand that the more precise are the 1RMs and the data acquired through the prescribed tests, the more effective will be the plan.

I hope that you will find my answers useful.

Thank you, Fabio for all the help and detailed answers. I'm fairly certain my form was solid at 315, but I could be mistaken. When I get to the end of the plan I will retest and video tape my max. I should have been doing that anyway. :/

Again, thank you!
 
I'm fairly certain my form was solid at 315, but I could be mistaken.
@Benjamin_K, I have been with this program for 16 years and a member of its leadership for almost a decade - and I have been "fairly certain my form was solid" and then absolutely horrified when I watched what I thought was "solid" on video.

It is an important tenet of our school of strength that safety and performance go together up to a high level of achievement - competition-winning performance may require compromises, we must all admit, but until you are at that level, consider that the advice we'll give you will make your lifting both safer and stronger. I therefore humbly suggest that you let those of us who have experience watching and coaching lifters be the judge of what is "solid" by StrongFirst's proudly high standards.

Not trying to give you a hard time, but just sayin' ... :)

-S-
 
@Benjamin_K, I have been with this program for 16 years and a member of its leadership for almost a decade - and I have been "fairly certain my form was solid" and then absolutely horrified when I watched what I thought was "solid" on video.

It is an important tenet of our school of strength that safety and performance go together up to a high level of achievement - competition-winning performance may require compromises, we must all admit, but until you are at that level, consider that the advice we'll give you will make your lifting both safer and stronger. I therefore humbly suggest that you let those of us who have experience watching and coaching lifters be the judge of what is "solid" by StrongFirst's proudly high standards.

Not trying to give you a hard time, but just sayin' ... :)

-S-

That's what I said: I could be mistaken. Perhaps my response came across as argumentative or proud in your eyes, but that is not what I intended. Although I have had olympic level coaches in the military, and some instructors from organizations like Strongfirst teach us different lifting movements, running and swimming techniques, I definitely don't consider myself having learned it all. And that was 10 years ago.
There are no StrongFirst instructors in my town, and the ones I've contacted nearby are too expensive for me. I have been training and hoping to get certified myself, but that too is expensive. I'm thankful for this forum and its many expert and kind instructors. I feel this thread got a bit out of hand. I don't know how else to say it. Thanks.
 
In these cases I usually ask to see a video of the squat performed with different %1RM. So I suggest that before going forward with the plan you make sure that 315 was actually your technical 1RM.

I therefore humbly suggest that you let those of us who have experience watching and coaching lifters be the judge of what is "solid" by StrongFirst's proudly high standards.

Perhaps my response came across as argumentative or proud in your eyes, but that is not what I intended.

I think that Steve was referring to the part of Fabio's post that I quoted. That is, he is asking that you please make a video before you complete the plan you started. For what it's worth, I don't think you came across as argumentative or proud.

Please excuse me if I put words in anyone's mouth that they didn't intend. I am watching this conversation with great interest since I enjoy studying good programming and part of that is developing good protocols for setting training loads.
 
Thank you, Fabio for all the help and detailed answers. I'm fairly certain my form was solid at 315, but I could be mistaken. When I get to the end of the plan I will retest and video tape my max. I should have been doing that anyway. :/

Again, thank you!

You are very welcome, Benjamin.
 
Perhaps my response came across as argumentative or proud in your eyes, but that is not what I intended.
No, I didn't find what you said argumentative or proud - I took what you said literally, and I meant no offense by my response, sorry if any was taken.

-S-
 
I have a calculating spreadsheet should anyone want it - saves a lot of work as you just need to add 1RM figure, 5RM and a figure which is calculated from your rep max with 80%.

Can email it to anyone who wants it (very simple to do though as only took me around ten minutes to set up)

Glen,

I good using EXCEL but not at setting it up. I would appreciate you sending me your version.

andyshelton475@gmail.com
 
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