When doing my 15 reps in HT 1 I have had to drop the weight for a couple lifts on the final set. Does this mean I am going to heavy on the first two sets or is this considered ok?
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38 year old coach to my 8 year old son, 6 ft tall jungle gym to my 10 year old daughter, 184 lb husband to my wife of 15 years and a 11% BF fitness addict best friend to all 3 of them.
I've dropped weight and considered it a new PR when I can complete all sets at the same weight.
That was the goal I set also but wanted to make sure I was not doing something terribly wrong.
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Stats:
38 year old coach to my 8 year old son, 6 ft tall jungle gym to my 10 year old daughter, 184 lb husband to my wife of 15 years and a 11% BF fitness addict best friend to all 3 of them.
1. Better to fail on the last set and make it a PR to complete it next time.
2. Better to drop weight and make it a PR to complete it with the starting weight next time.
If you don't have a spotter, choose 2, if you have a spotter or can put the weight down without much fuss, do 1.
There is also the physchology...
What degree of failure is it to you? Is failing to complete the set a greater failure than dropping weight and finishing all reps of all sets?
When doing my 15 reps in HT 1 I have had to drop the weight for a couple lifts on the final set. Does this mean I am going to heavy on the first two sets or is this considered ok?
First I want to say that any way you choose to make progress is fine. It's all good. You're not doing anything "terribly wrong."
What makes sense to me for this hypertrophy program is to finish all the reps, even if you have to lower the weight. This is an undulating periodization program and what makes one day different from the other is the number of reps. You're looking for the high rep days to create a hormonal environment for growth, working synergistically with the low rep, heavy load days that came before.
Keeping a record of what you actually did will help you make a good decision about the load the next time you do this particular exercise.
If you were doing a fat loss program it would make sense to me to do it the other way around: stay at the same weight and complete as many reps as possible on the third set, and set a goal to finish all the reps the next time you attempt that exercise. The fat loss programs in NROL are linear periodization and you will ultimately be moving to lower reps anyway.
I don't think it really matters all that much, but that's what I'd do because that's what just seems right to me.
Great answer Lisa - you always have the best answers.
I was going to take a stab at an intelligent answer and then read your post. When I got to your "undulating periodization" explanation I thought - wow what an answer. In fact. I'm impressed by anyone who can actually use "undulating periodization" in a sentence .
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To begin, begin. Peter Nivio Zarlenga
Great answer Lisa - you always have the best answers.
I was going to take a stab at an intelligent answer and then read your post. When I got to your "undulating periodization" explanation I thought - wow what an answer. In fact. I'm impressed by anyone who can actually use "undulating periodization" in a sentence .
What makes sense to me for this hypertrophy program is to finish all the reps, even if you have to lower the weight. This is an undulating periodization program and what makes one day different from the other is the number of reps. You're looking for the high rep days to create a hormonal environment for growth, working synergistically with the low rep, heavy load days that came before.
...
If you were doing a fat loss program it would make sense to me to do it the other way around: stay at the same weight and complete as many reps as possible on the third set, and set a goal to finish all the reps the next time you attempt that exercise. The fat loss programs in NROL are linear periodization and you will ultimately be moving to lower reps anyway.
This helped me too.
I was considering dropping weight on an excercise or two to get all the reps in FL1. Now, I'm thinking I'll just push that weight as hard as I can and save the occasional drop set for HT1.
In Fat Loss I, I usually keep the weight the same and do as many as I can on the third set. If I do them all, then I go heavier the next time on that exercise. If I can't finish it, then that is the goal for the next time. As Lou says, you need to set a record of some type every time. I am glad to hear this is an acceptable way to go.
The only time I lower the weight is when I accept that I chose to high of a weight to start with and my form is not good or I just can't do enough reps to make it work.
My question would be how much should we be pushing the increases in FL I. Should I be trying for a higher weight every session? Just when the reps are decreased? I have just been adding when I think I can do it.
In the FL routines, I definitely dropped weights if I fell significantly short on the reps. My thinking: if it's a "high reps" routine, it's about the reps. On a lot of excercise my rep count would be very nonlinear, so I would get rep counts like 12,12,7 or something like that. If on set #2 I struggled to get 10, I would know there is no way I was going to get anywhere NEAR 12 on the last set, so I would drop down on the next set.
In Fat Loss I, I usually keep the weight the same and do as many as I can on the third set. If I do them all, then I go heavier the next time on that exercise. If I can't finish it, then that is the goal for the next time.
That is precisely what I do when determining whether I should move on the next week or not; there are already enough variables involved with numbers, weights, reps, tempo, etc., that further complicating it by adding another change in the weight during the third set (or final set) it really doesn't help me determine how I should change it for the next time.
Of course, if a pyramid or variable rep scheme is called for, well then I just suck it up and take it
15 reps weight
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Linear Mode
