Running two 5*5 loading phases back to back

[mdm1]

Hi Fellas,

I am sure I saw this mentioned on here a while ago, but I couldn't find the post, so I'll ask again.

What would be the effects of running a 4 week 5*5 loading period, deloading for a week or two and then running a subsequent 4 week loading period before deloading for a longer time? Is this just a silly idea, or would it result in good gains over the long term?

I guess it must depend on the individual characteristics of the trainee?

I am not saying that I am going to try this, but in a lot of the DFT articles I have been reading, loading phases are often sparated by as little as a week (e.g. DFHT) and I was just trying to get a better understanding of how this works.

Cheers guys,

Mdm1

 

[Madcow2]

It's a fine idea. I'd just make sure you have some experience with it and know what you are doing as you don't always allow for complete recovery and rebound (you probably should at first so error on the conservative until you get a good feel for it so setup for 2 weeks of deloading between blocks and even go 4:2, 4:2, and maybe even see how 3:1 or 3:2 works for you - just keep a chain on it and pay attention). For that reason as well as the fact that people like to see the proceeds of their efforts immediately I tend not to get too deep into it, but this is common and encouraged if it fits into one's plan and the person knows what they are doing. For example, the first time someone did this program, if I had them bust their ass through the loading and then jump back into it without seeing those nice triples peak and skyrocket, well - a high percentage would have told me to fuck myself.

A good read that covers dual factor theory and then implementations just like this further towards the bottom:
http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/showpost.php?p=48&postcount=3

you dont always want to allow peak performance. you may want to follow 2 or 3 consecutive loading cycles without every allowing complete recover during unloading, if you are really advanced... however i dont recomend this for beginners to this type of training... load then unload long enough to set new personal records... allow another week or two to get good and rested then load again.

now, of course in programming for elite athletes it gets much more complicated than thsi. you may also have a 6 month "overload" period, during which you have a series of 5 week periods each consisting of 3 weeks of hard work and 2 weeks of lower stress training. then you may have another 3 or 4 month period of "recovery" consisting of 1 week of "loading" or hard work, then 1 or 2 weeks of reduced training.

all this may be superimposed upon 3 years of slightly harder overall work, in other words slightly higher volume overall... then 1 year of slightly lower volume.

this fits into the fact that the olympics are every 4 years and athletes want to hit their highest performance at the olympics. the greeks do 3 loading weeks followed by 1 unloading week (approx 12 workouts a week during loading, and 9 workouts a week during unloading, also all weights are lowered by about 10kilos during the unloading week)... these are "loading" months, then every 4th month is an "unloading" month consisting of only 1 loading week and 3 unloading weeks. close to a big competition like the olympics... they switch to alternating weeks, 1 loading week followed by 1 unloading week.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

You can definitely do that, just be sure you get adequate rest in between - loading phases can beat you up pretty badly. I'd likely throw two or more of them back to back if my main goal was hypertrophy. Dropping to triples, as per the intensity phase, isn't as conducive to growth. You could even do the loading phase, but do 4x6-8 and maybe cut out deadlifts (very taxing and with the increase in volume, you may want to). The slightly higher reps would be better for hypertrophy, I'd think.

I look at it as Loading Phase = Size and Intensity Phase = Strength. I know it's far from that black and white, but if you want to prioritize, and you wanna stick with 5x5, do some loading phases for size.

 

[mdm1]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the fast responses. I am not sure whether I will try it or not, I just had it as a thought and wondered how the idea shaped up. I think perhaps I should wait until I have more experience with this method and have built up a better capacity for large demands.

Cheers again,

Mdm1