Say I was hitting chest (or any muscle) 3 times a week with one exercise for 3 sets, would it be more beneficial to:
1) Use varying rep ranges each day e.g.
Mon - 1 set of 5reps, 1 set of 10reps, 1 set of 15 reps
Wed- 1 set of 5reps, 1 set of 10reps, 1 set of 15 reps
Fri- 1 set of 5reps, 1 set of 10reps, 1 set of 15 reps
OR
2) Vary the rep ranges throughout the week as in BBB e.g.
Mon - 3 sets of 15reps
Wed - 3 sets of 10 reps
Fri- 3 sets of 5 reps
Say I was hitting chest (or any muscle) 3 times a week with one exercise for 3 sets, would it be more beneficial to:
1) Use varying rep ranges each day e.g.
Mon - 1 set of 5reps, 1 set of 10reps, 1 set of 15 reps
Wed- 1 set of 5reps, 1 set of 10reps, 1 set of 15 reps
Fri- 1 set of 5reps, 1 set of 10reps, 1 set of 15 reps
OR
2) Vary the rep ranges throughout the week as in BBB e.g.
Mon - 3 sets of 15reps
Wed - 3 sets of 10 reps
Fri- 3 sets of 5 reps
Yeah, both schemes hit each group with the same three ranges just on different days... I like the idea of using different rep ranges on the same day...
What are the reasons why one would be better than the other?
King, although I can sense a hint of sarcasm in your response you are knowledgeable about this concept and would like to hear your thoughts on which you believe to be more 'optimal' and WHY?..
What are the reasons why one would be better than the other?
King, although I can sense a hint of sarcasm in your response you are knowledgeable about this concept and would like to hear your thoughts on which you believe to be more 'optimal' and WHY?..
I'll just give you my take... I would pyramid up in reps per set... heavy first, then lighter. Both have their own merit as both will target a spectrum of muscle fibers but in different ways.
I would think that hitting a multitude of muscle fibers in one session (heavier to lighter sets) would low for all the muscle fibers to be hit in one session and they would also recover and grow together.
Also, the reason i say go heavy to light is to fatigue the fast twitch fibers thus allowing the other fibers to take over in subsequent sets.
What are the reasons why one would be better than the other?
King, although I can sense a hint of sarcasm in your response you are knowledgeable about this concept and would like to hear your thoughts on which you believe to be more 'optimal' and WHY?..
No sarcasm intended that was a legit response. I have no idea if it would be better than micro-periodization.
There's only one way to find out. But like I said I've never thought about or heard of anyone training this way, as far as any OTS program goes that is.
You're basically just doing ascending sets. I just wouldn't try to incorporate it into any OTS program. That's why I think taking a 3 month break from whatever routine you're doing and try your idea is your best bet.
There are so many ways to skin a cat when it comes to weight training that it would be foolish to say that this wouldn't produce some kind of results.
Fair enough, thought you were being sarcastic as it is quite well known on this site that Phil H advocates his sets in this manner so I was curious why as opposed to one rep range per day.
I have trained like that in the past and the gains were great (strength and size) but after 4months the joints couldn't handle it as I was doing 6 days and doing a heavy set on each day takes its toll.
When the rep range is 8-10 for example are you going for failure at the top of the range at 10 reps then getting in the rep range with the next few sets with the same weight OR are you going to failure with 8 and stripping weight off for subsequent sets to get in the range? Or is this over thinking it..?
I don't follow Phil's training advice. I sold my weight training soul to OTS a long time ago. Heck, where do you think Phil learned half the stuff he knows?
If I'm shooting for 8-10 reps I pump out 7 reps fast, and controlled then take a deep breath and get the last one, two or three.
I think your second paragraph explains why most people don't like to lift heavy so frequently. Kills the joints. Twice a week is plenty.
I also follow the OTS principles as they are unbeatable for a natural trainee.
Only tweaks I make are I arrange it to do bi/tri on same day due to joint integrity issues so my split is:
A. chest/back width/back thicknes/trap/calves
B. delt/tri/bi/quad
another thing I do is on the A split day i swap out traps for back thickness that way its
day 1 - back width/traps
day 3 - back width/back thickness
day 5 - back thickness/traps
only other way to get even back work is to rotate each session width/thickness/width/thickness but that would mess up the periodization OR each session do 2 sets width 1 set thickness and next session 1 set width 2 sets thickness etc which is painful in a crowded gym and with the time periods.
I haven't tried titan in its entirety, only the muscle rounds as part of a program I wrote myself mainly because in a crowded gym it is a hard program to do correctly as it is intended using the compound sets.
The other thing is that the muscle rounds when I did then were overkill and hampered my recovery A LOT and I was only doing two sets i.e. 6 x 4reps with 10 second breaks.
I have read King has experience with this program and believes it may be more effective than BBB?
Titan is the best routine I've ever used, bar none. It doesn't need to be modified and shouldn't be. I'm tired of reading about how it's too tough and needs to be made easier. It will make you tough and then it will become easier, it should never be the other way around.
All you jokers trying to change the game just man the F up and work Titan the way it was intended. And it was intended to make you very strong and very big, very quickly. Consider it the Delta Force or Navy SEAL BUD/S of weight training, if you will. You can't handle it? then drop out but don't try to make it easier by cheating. Alright rant over.