I don't bother with heavy day of the ROP anymore from the pressing perspective. 75 reps each side for a 51 year old man is a recipe for an injury waiting to happen. ...
It's a great program, but as you get older you need to tweak it. For those who say, that's not the ROP, tough, I ran it all the up to a 36. Once i got to a 32, and ran for 3 months, I start getting nicked up. I'm 195 lb. middle aged male, not some mutant.
In the last week, the total volume of C&P is 155 reps, done in 3 days. I was wondering if the result would be the same, but with the following split:
- 6 days
- roughly 26 reps a day
I may be the Rite of Passage's biggest fan and I feel the need to comment on both the above.
First,
@pet',
I think the ROP is best thought of as being based on the good', old-fashioned idea of one really hard day per week. It has more in common with programs that do each lift only once per week than it does with something like S&S. That "one really hard day per week" in the ROP's case is made hard with volume, not weight, but the concept is very much the same, IMO.
The volume in the ROP's final week is unsustainable by most mortals, so I don't think it's a good idea to just divide it up. The consequence would be needing to use a lighter weight, but then you're doing another program. There really isn't any changing the heavy day in the ROP, in my opinion, unless you change to a heavier weight but still keep a substantial volume of lifts and, again, then it's not the ROP. Part of why the heavy day in the ROP works, IMO, is because "to press a lot, you have to press a lot."
@BrianCF,
The ROP is a press peaking program - it will get you to a better press, but it's much too much volume to sustain and one should change to another program when one feels the goal, e.g., a 1/2 bw 1-arm press on both side for a single, has been achieved.
I weigh 68 kg, about 150 lbs., and I'm currently doing a version of the ROP I've done before, which is two passes through, the first with 20 kg and the second with 24 kg. For the 20 kg pass, I go much more quickly than the 13 weeks the program takes "by the book". I am, as mentioned here before, using a heavier weight for some of my singles and doubles as I feel I can, so I know already I can press a 24 kg for a single, and I expect to be able to press a 28 kg for a single when I'm done the 20 kg current cycle. And I expect to be able to press a 32 kg when I'm done the 24 kg cycle, and then I'll be done with high volume pressing for a long time. And I'm 65 years old, and I'm no "mutant," just an ex-runner with a crappy bench press, a crappy squat, and a decent deadlift for an old, skinny guy.
75 reps each side for a 51-year-old man isn't a recipe for any kind of bad thing, but it's a thing to be worked up to no more than once every 3 months because that's how long the program takes, and after you've gotten your 1/2 bw press or achieved whatever else you want to from it, put it away. I believe this is my 3rd time through the ROP over the past 10 years, and that seems about right to me.
NB: I don't handle my ballistics as prescribed in the ROP but I still do them, but along A+A/S&S/Q&D lines, and on ROP heavy day, I do nothing but a short warmup, all those presses, and take a nap. I work on the weekends but have Monday's off, so Monday is my ROP heavy day.
Timing - I have been using a very simple formula to make sure I get enough rest between rungs and between ladders. Here it is:
00:00 - 1 rep L/R
01:00 - 2 reps L/R
03:00 - 3 reps L/R
and you rest as many minutes as were in your last rung at a minimum, more if you need. So if I'm doing ladders to 3, the next ladder would start at 06:00, 07:00, or 08:00, depending on how I felt. Applying the formula to ladders to 4
00:00 - 1 rep L/R
01:00 - 2 reps L/R
03:00 - 3 reps L/R
06:00 - 4 reps L/R
rest until at least 10:00. I just did 5 x 1-2-3-4, so each ladder started on the 10 minutes. The week before, my ladders to 4 started on the 12 minutes because I needed more rest
When I do ladder to 5 it will be
00:00 - 1 rep L/R
01:00 - 2 reps L/R
03:00 - 3 reps L/R
06:00 - 4 reps L/R
10:00 - 5 reps L/R
and start the next ladder at 15:00 or longer if need be
A session of 5 x 1-2-3-4 takes 44 minutes. A session of 5 x 1-2-3-4-5 takes 1 hour and 15 minutes
Rest periods explained - formula is: your next start time is your previous start time plus the number of minutes equal to the rep count you just did.
00:00 - 1 rep L/R
add 1 min to 00:00 and start next rung at 01:00
01:00 - 2 reps L/R
add 2 min to 01:00 and start next rung at 03:00
03:00 - 3 reps L/R
add 3 min to 03:00 and start next rung at 06:00
06:00 - 4 reps L/R
add 4 min to 06:00 and start next run at 10:00
10:00 - 5 reps L/R
add 5 min to 10:00 and start next ladder no sooner than 15:00
The above formula for determining rest periods is something I consider middle-of-the-road, not a new ladder every half hour, but also enough rest to allow you to feel well-rested before attempting the next set.
I hope this is helpful to someone's practice of the ROP. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
-S-