Plateu Breaker!

[themondtster]

Tell me what you think. Some people said high volume training and some said partial rep with heavy weights on the exercises lagging, so I decided to combine both together. Just got done with a 5*5 10 week program and gained some strength but mainly just in Squats. This last week I only checked my maxes on Deadlift, bench, and squat with a day off in between....so pretty much a really light week. Wanna try this for about 4-8 weeks then take a week off then start the 5/3/1 program.

Day1-BB press and Squats

BB bench- 8*8
BB standing shoulder press-8*8
Olympic style back Squats- 8*8
Dips-4*8
Overhead cable ext.-4*8

Day2- BB pull and lift

BB bent over row-8*8
Deadlift-8*8
Upright row-8*8
Pullups-4*8
Preacher curls-4*7

Day3- partial heavy reps.

Partial squat-4*6(last set to fail)
Partial BB bench- 4*6(last set to fail)
Rack pull- 4*6(last set to fail)
Power shrugs- 4*6(last set to fail)

Day4- DB press and squat

DB incline press-8*8
Standing shoulder press-8*8
Olympic back Squats-8*8
Dips-4*8
Overhead cable ext.-4*8

Day5 DB pull and lift

DB row-8*8
DB Deadlift-8*8
DB upright row-8*8
Pullups-4*8
Preacher curls4*8

Day6- partial heavy reps.

Repeat day 3.

Taking a day off in between each workout and then after day 6 back to day 1, So every 12 days repeat. So any comments or advice? Is this a good idea to do?


From My Droid!

 

[Tblock1]

Thats seems like way too much volume. I feel like following that routine would only plateau you more.

 

[lweaver]

Seems like it would be detrimental...I'll take a look at your log when I have time and post there if I can think of anything that might help.

 

[themondtster]

Ok. Would this make more sense. Since its mainly my bench I'm working on for now could I keep the volume on it, knock of half the sets for everything else, keep the heavy partial day and just do days 1, 2, & 3, then two days off and repeat.(Mon,Wednesday,friday for ex.)

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[Tblock1]

well my question is are you going for strength or size more? If you just want to bust through strength plateaus I would suggest something like a 10x3 for bench (10 sets of 3). This will help you reach greater neural strength efficiency and you will definitely bust through some plateaus just dont start too high.

So what are your goals and what are you plateau'd in?

 

[themondtster]

Strength all the way...don't care about size....want to be a beast on the weights.

From My Droid!

 

[themondtster]

well my question is are you going for strength or size more? If you just want to bust through strength plateaus I would suggest something like a 10x3 for bench (10 sets of 3). This will help you reach greater neural strength efficiency and you will definitely bust through some plateaus just dont start too high.

So what are your goals and what are you plateau'd in?

I want to press 250#+ by December. My bench is the one that has pretty much plateaued. Had to deload twice on it with my 5*5 program and never got above what I should have progressed to like the rest of my program.



From My Droid!

 

[Tblock1]

so I took a look at your log (looking sweet I'll be following it from now on) and I see

bench: 240x1
squat: 300x1
deadlift: 365x1

Those lifts are pretty proportional and I wouldnt worry about the bench. However if you really want to get it up (say shoot for 275) I would suggest a heavy strength based routine. I made some large gains on my bench by converting to low rep sets. You should try out 10x3x210 or 205 or so. Or perhaps 5x3x225 or 220. I would give rep ranges like that a try and see if it doesnt help. Also I would definitely suggest some heavy standing military press and lifting 3 days a week. This is just me personally, but at your strength I would do something like this:

Monday Day 1
---Barbell Bench press: 10x3, 5x3, etc
---Squat: whatever works for you, preferably low rep since you are going for strength
---Dips: 3x8 or less reps
---any other assistance work

Wednesday Day 2
---Deadlift: 1x5, or maybe 2x5
---Overhead press: 3x5-8
---weighted pull ups: start higher reps lighter weight and move to heavier weights
---rows if you want them 3x5-8

Friday Day 3
---Floor press/Board press/cbgp: choose any of these or vary them 3x3-5 to 3x5-8 for cgbp
---triceps power work: stuff like skull crushers, db floor extensions, etc 3x5-8
---if you have the energy: squats or other leg work
---assistance work for upper body

It depends on where you are at but some people benefit a lot from dropping too much extra assistance and just working on the lift, while extra assistance lifts sometimes help people through a plateau. At the least I would suggest trying out some low rep bench. I used to make a lot of progress off 3x3 to 5x3. Ie one week I would do 3x3x240, then the next week 5x3x240. Then you move the weight up so 3x3x245. It's a slow progression but it could really help you bust through

 

[themondtster]

This what I did today.

Day1-

Squats145#(8*8)4*8,4*6
(Fast with slight pause at top, below parallel 4" off ground, 90-120 sec. Rest between sets.)

BB bench- 185#(10*3). 90sec between sets.

Dips- BW 3*10

From My Droid!

 

[Tblock1]

very nice. What did you think of that workout? Did the bench feel good you definitely dont want to start too heavy