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Barbell PTTP What to do after a four rep day?

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guardian7

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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.
 
Yes start over. The light weights will do good. Your goal was 75? I recommend start from 55 and raise 2,5 every time

Yes, goal was 75KG rep max by March 16th, so I am basically there. Now, I would like to have 75 as my training weight for five.
 
Scaling back doesnt mean you are getting weaker. Going back to 55 and working towards a new high gives your body and cns proper rest.

You can hone your technique and create more and more tension, e. g crushing the bar harder.

If you happen to have the book Beyond Bodybuilding there is a possibility to combine pttp and ladders, specifically for the bench...
 
Scaling back doesnt mean you are getting weaker. Going back to 55 and working towards a new high gives your body and cns proper rest.

You can hone your technique and create more and more tension, e. g crushing the bar harder.

If you happen to have the book Beyond Bodybuilding there is a possibility to combine pttp and ladders, specifically for the bench...

Since I am not advanced and have not been using weights all my life I may be too used to making rapid improvement. If feels like I am at the end of the beginner gains stage, but have not mentally adjusted to that.

I want to stick to the PTTP basic plan. It is working well and obviously my bench is not that great.

Yes, good point. I will try to focus on bar speed or something instead to remain motivated. A week on form and then a hard push to reach my goal by the deadline.
 
Getting stronger is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep going at it and your hard work will certainly be reflected in the mirror and your strength in daily life. It's a remarkable journey!
 
Yes, goal was 75KG rep max by March 16th, so I am basically there. Now, I would like to have 75 as my training weight for five.
Good, you are very close already. If you start from 57,5 you'll end the second week with 75. You have been using weights of around 80% or over for two weeks.

It doesn't sound like a big difference, to go down. But it will make a difference. You will be at the same weights where you want to stay all the time after this lighter week. But you will be refreshed.

It would be optimal to go even lower, remember you will be raising weight faster, but you are running out of time.

Eight is minimum number of workouts in a cycle acc. to PTTP. If you had 6 weeks you could have 2x12 workouts. Then you could go up to 5x80.
 
Start a whole new cycle at 55. I started at 50.

New Cycle

As Timo stated, you need to start a new cycle.

You then need to progressively increase the load until you stall out again.

This is...

Periodication Training

This method is use by athletes. It works for everyone.

All new cycles start of with light easy load, progressive increase the load to maximum intensity load in the final wee.

You then start a new cycle, start over with a light load, increasing it until you hopefully hit a new personal record.

Once that occurs, you start another new cycle, as you did before.

Active Recovery

Periodization Training allows for Active Recovery; reovery is where strength and hypertrophy occur.
 
Scaling back doesnt mean you are getting weaker. Going back to 55 and working towards a new high gives your body and cns proper rest.

You can hone your technique and create more and more tension, e. g crushing the bar harder.

If you happen to have the book Beyond Bodybuilding there is a possibility to combine pttp and ladders, specifically for the bench...

I decided to take the unanimous advice and start the new cycle at 55 and extend my gym membership a month. It was strangely sufficiently challenging, so I must have been tapped out. I just concentrated on bar speed and it did not feel too light.
 
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