Quote:
Originally Posted by Rmtt
I've found the easiest way for me to get a rep count up on any lift is to pyramid up my weights, then one back off set.
Let's take squats. I would basically do the same weights over an over.
135 x 8-10 (warm up)
185 x 6-8 (warm up)
225 x 8
275 x 8
315 x 6
365 x 6
The drop to 225 again and spend each workout just trying to beat the previous week's reps.
Of course weight is relative, but when you can take 100lbs or more off the bar, you can rep out like crazy. Just get into a "grove" with a piston like movement....and grind them out.
You will find that your endurance goes up a lot faster than continually pushing for heavier weights.
Years ago I squatted much heavier with a belt and knee wraps. Never used knee wraps until I was using 4 plates. When I started using wraps, my weight that I was using exploded.
Honestly....I found that they were more of a "Crutch" than anything, and inflating my lift as much as they were probably helping keep things safe.
Figured that if I couldn't do that weight without the wraps, then I was using more weight than I really needed to and tempting fate. So for the last few years I had just stayed around 315 and just hitting reps. Not really trying to progress as I am built bottom heavy. My legs grow way faster than my upper body.
Also I am short, so I don't have nowhere near the range of motion you guys have to go through to hit ATG. Couple that with being a natural low bar squat guy...I'm at the bottom while you guys are probably still about midway down.
It's the only time I think where my height gives an advantage...oh and also when you are short...everything looks bigger!  |
You know I would do back off sets occasionally, but other than that I worked out in a complete opposite manner than you. I used to pyramid down instead of up as I felt my strongest working my way down instead of up. I know everybody is different, and we all get in our comfort zones but with shorter rest intervals (2 min max) I found working my way down got me the best results. For instance I'd do couple of warm up sets to get my knees warmed up and then would go straight for my max. By doing that I had all my energy reserved for my heaviest set and didn't have to take long rest periods in between sets to do my last and the heaviest set.
Now, I just do two warm up sets, and two working sets. For instance today I am doing back. So, my first exercise today will be wide-grip pullups (3x7-8). From there I go straight to deadlifts and do two warm up sets (2x10), and then will most likely jump to 255 lb for two sets of 10. From there I go to lat pulldowns (3x10x120 lb), and my last exercise will be cable rows (3x10 of 140 lb). Since it is a back day I throw in some bicep exercises for good measure.
What do you think?