Yeh I had fun on the muscle clean and press, really gets you going. Following that with step ups make it a really tough session.

Cheers Rich I am pleased with the improvement, hopefully see more and more steady gains.





Session 3 (Week 1)

1.A Squats (Full Depth)

Barx8
40kgx5
60kgx5
80kgx5
100kgx5
120kgx5

130kgx6
135kgx5
142.5kgx4
135kgx5
130kgx6

Nice work, all nice and smooth reps. Enjoying working at the lower intensity and building up the volume.
Do you think this type of work at the lower intensity should show strength increases?

2.A Floor Press

60kgx5
60kgx5

70kgx6
80kgx5
85kgx4
80kgx5
70kgx6

These were fun, will increase the weight next week as these were a bit too easy.

3.A RDL

120kgx6
125kgx5
130kgx4
125kgx5
120kgx6

All nice, good range and felt strong.

4.A Chins

6+5kg
5+7.5kg
4+10kg
5+7.5kg
6+10kg

Nice fun session, the volume makes it tough!

Coop_de_Ville wrote:Nice work, all nice and smooth reps. Enjoying working at the lower intensity and building up the volume.
Do you think this type of work at the lower intensity should show strength increases?

Ah... the 64 million dollar question Basics are - Low reps high intensity helps strength - High reps lower intensity helps hypertrophy - After that it's the 'grey' area lol.

At the rep range in your session - 4 to 6- That's typically in the strength building range, but if intensity is too low then you're not going to improving strength - Once you go above 6 rep you're heading towards hypertrophy - But whilst there's black & white at thd extremes there's a big grey area on the middle and beyond a certain high rep range you move away from hypertrophy as you simply build up the slow twitch fibres and improve endurance - But we're not going to go there now are we

Bear in mind that to build strength you would normally be looking at at doing reps of at least 70% of your 1RM and probably more towards 80% - I'd have to go look it up to be sure but I recall that Oly lifters do the majority of their work in around the 70% - 85% range. Above 85% helps strength but you fry your CNS if you try to go too heavy for a prolonged length of time - So probably no more than a few weeks at 90%+ (say) before a deload's needed.

Whilst there's a lot of science I think there's also a lot of art involved because we're all different and respond differntly to different regimes, so you need to work with the basics and see what works for you. Welcome to the world of strength training.

And at the end of the day sometimes doing what feels 'nice'/'good' has a good chance of being right (assuming you're not just doing 50% of 1RM for 3 reps 'cos you're lazy )

in terms of building maximal strength the intensity is more important that the volume/amount of sets (sounds obv i know), stuff around 80-85% 1rm. Added volume and slightly reduced intensity may help the rate of force development though (providing your rests are long enough). When you get to higher volume and reps then your gonna be approaching the whole muscle building zone. What i said might be obvious but though i would say it anyway lol. Obviously throughout the year you need to use all three of these though at some point with perhaps all three at same point during each week.

My cycle this time consists of week 1 and 2 at rep range 6,5,4,5,6 at around 80% 1RM then week 3 and 4 at rep range 5,4,3,4,5 at around 85% 1RM then week 5 at 4,3,2,3,4 at around 85-90%. So as volume decreases intensity increases.

Having not worked much volume in the past these 2 weeks at 80% just feel strange as I didnt feel I was busting the reps out as I have usually done most cycles at a very high intensity. I expect to see some gains from this programme as I am in the right rep ranges for strength building, however the volume aspect should allow hypertrophy which is good for this time of pre-season.

Week 2 (Session 1)


1.A Box/Bench Squats

Barx5
60kgx5
100kgx5
130kgx5

150x6
155x5
167.5x4
157.5x5
152.5x6

Felt good, stronger than last week! Love these!

2.A Bench Press

70kgx5
80kgx5

87.5kgx6
92.5kgx5
95kgx4
92.5kgx5
87.5kgx6

All felt good, nice and easy.

3.A Clean High Pull

70kgx3

95kgx3
100kgx3
105kgx3
110kgx3

The reps on 110kg felt great they came up to just underneath my shoulders, if I had dipped I would have easily caught them. Quite pleased.

4.A Pull Ups

BWx6
+5kgx5
+7.5kgx4
+5kgx5
+2.5kgx6

Really fun session today! Tough but good.

progress and sessions looking good mate, i dont understand the downsets your doing though which are only slightly lighter? If you want more volume i would stcik with same top weight for longer or do a higher rep downset with something significantly lighter IMO.

Nice work, you really do love those boxos don't you

Cheers guys. I have found the pyramid set structure has worked well for me in the past as I would usually just go to top set and leave it there. Having to come back down with the volume increasing after doing all the previous sets makes it tough work. The last time I did this structure I only used it with box squats and I got a 25kg increase over a month and a half (whilst on season doing only 2 sessions per week). Having it been successful there I thought try it over a wider range of exercises and see what happens.
Just enjoying experimentation, especially at this time of the season.

Karlos, I do love dem boxos

Session 2 (Week 2)

1.A Deadlifts

60kgx5
100kgx5
140kgx5
160kgx1

170kgx6
175kgx5
180kgx4
175kgx5
170kgx6

All nice and smooth, sat a bit further back pulling the bar into me, felt more hammy and glute usage.

2.A Muscle Clean to Press

52.5kgx6
55kgx5
57.5kgx4
55kgx5
52.5kgx6

3.A Step Ups onto box

80kgx6(reps per leg)
95kgx5
100kgx4
95kgx5
80kgx6

Really good fun!

4.A T-Bar Rows

70kgx6
75kgx5
80kgx4
75kgx5
70kgx6

Changed position on these slightly and was leaning more over the handles as if in a pendlay row position. Felt a bit better.

Good session all round.

mighty step ups!!

what height is your box?

Thanks C. The box is about 2 foot tall, when i step up on it my leg is at 90 degrees.

I have just done a mini track session with the old sprint coach I was working with last year. I did a 10m timed sprint and I equalled my seasons best last year! I am made up because I have done no jump work, I am in the middle of a general strength phase and I am over 10kg heavier than I was when I got the seasons best last year.

Even though it is early days I am extremely happy to have this performance indicator to tell me that I am on the right track and what I am doing is working.

during your first 10m do you focus on driving hard with full extension or are you thinking more about leg turnover?

I think about driving hard and keeping my body position low. Really aiming to transfer as much power into the ground as I can.

That's great stuff coopla. Good for me cause that means i'm probably running well too.

Yeh i was thinking that too!

Looking good all round Coop. Very strong step ups.

Well done on the track session. Like you say, it sounds like what you're doing is working well for you.

Did the sesh in the dawgs gym today.

Session 3 (Week 2)

1.A Squats (Full Depth)

Barx8
40kgx5
60kgx5
80kgx5
100kgx5
120kgx5

135kgx6
140kgx5
150kgx4 (Form was okay, slight tilt on the last 2 reps but nothing too bad)
140kgx4
135kgx6

Squats felt good, strange not having a mirror to check form but got used to it.

Vid of the 150kgx4



At the beginning I am telling a wood-pigeon sitting on the fence outside the gym how easy the squats are going to be. I think he was impressed.

2.A Floor Press

60kgx5

80kgx6
85kgx5
90kgx4
85kgx5
80kgx6

3.A RDL

125kgx6
130kgx5
135kgx4
130kgx5
125kgx6

Form got better in the latter sets. Felt good, nice hammy pump.

4.A Chins

7.5kgx6
7.5kgx5
7.5kgx4
BWx5
BWx4

Was shattered by this point and chins suffered for it.

Nice session, good to be in k-dawgs gym. Will try to do at least one session a week here as its more fun than the other gym I use.

'Nice', i sound like a full on frog.

I like havin you there for the heavy stuff, seem to psyche better.

Frog Squat Frog Squat.

Coop_de_Ville wrote:At the beginning I am telling a wood-pigeon sitting on the fence outside the gym how easy the squats are going to be. I think he was impressed.

You blasted them up Coop. Looks like plenty more in the tank.

Coop_de_Ville wrote:Squats felt good, strange not having a mirror to check form but got used to it.

Squatting in front a mirror isn't really a good thing - You need to be able to focus on a static point- preferably straight ahead or slightly up - When you have a mirror you tend to look at yourself and so you end up looking down as you check you depth - I know 'cos I train in front a mirror and it's crap.

Ader wrote:Squatting in front of a mirror isn't really a good thing

^^ x2

Cheers Rich they felt really nice.

Yes I see what you mean, I will bear this in mind, hopefully most of my squat sessions will be at the dawgs.

Thats why i won't get a mirror. It's also better as you rely on the feel of the movement which is more useful.

Weighed myself today, 103.7kg.

Aim is to drop to 100kg in 9 weeks.