Thursday, April 16, 2009 by Daniel

Strength Cycle, week 7 part 1

Back Squat x 5: 135 - 155 - 180(pr)
Back Squat x 21: 135(ow)
Bench Press x 5: 115 - 135 - 155(pr)
Bench Press x 21: 115

Ugh. The squats went OK, up until the big set. That hurt a lot. The bench felt really heavy, both the fives and the big set. I'm beginning to think that doing this at half weight last week may have been a bad idea - hopefully next week will feel back to normal.

Next week: 185/140, 160/120

Wow. Those numbers look big. Next week the failing might start.

4 comments:

MBL100 said...

How did you come up with the weight scheme? It seems like only one super hard work set. If this stops working I have some suggestions (accumulating volume works just as well if not better than going to failure).

MBL100 said...

Oh and 21 BS @ 135, fucking epic!

Daniel said...

The scheme is a hybrid of CFSB (CrossFit Strength Bias) and the Basic 5x5, designed to integrate with a regular affiliate schedule so we don't have to vanish from CFEB completely for 10 weeks.

The theory goes like this: work ascending sets (3x5 or 5x3) to a PR every week. It doesn't really matter what scheme you use, as long as you get the PR to stimulate the CNS response. Then you do a single very big set (21 consecutive) at a lighter weight, but still as heavy as you can manage. Hopefully this will translate strength gains into the sort of volume we typically see in a CF workout.

I don't know if or how well it will work. It's an experiment. 5.5 weeks to go and we can measure progress.

Unknown said...

I am real curious to see how this works out. I come from a strongman and powerlifting background and I have my own opinions on power cycles, but I know the CFSB works out for a lot of people, and I am anxious to see your end results.

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