Well I can do 10 pull ups so are you telling me I need to add weight now ha? I just can't do 2 sets of 10 pullups thats why I tend to stick to 3 x 5 or 2 x 6 or 7. I probably should add weight though, I'll be in the lookout for a cheap backpack to use right now.
Yeah, I would think you could do one or two lite days of 10 unweighted pullups, then one day weighted. If you have a lifter's belt, couldn't you use that to hang a plate from?
I think this is where are opinions might diverge on the heavy/light concept. I think I might prefer to use percentages of 1RM for the concept and try to keep all the worksets of the big 4 lifts at 70% 1RM minimum. If I choose to do the rep schemes I might follow this logic:
6x 1 - 90-95%
3x3 - 80-85%
5/3/2 - 80%/85%/90%
2x5 - 80%
The 6 x 1 at this point will likely only be used for the deadlift, if I want a heavy bench or press day I will use the 5/3/2 to get in extra volume. And squats will I will cycle 2 x 5 on my 6 x 1 DL day, 3 x 3 and 5/3/2 don't matter as much. I am also only going to use the 6 x 1 on DL.
DL----- 6x1 --- 3x3 --- 5/3/2
RW---- 1 x 15 - 2 x 10- 1 x 15
OHP-- 5/3/2 - 2 x 5 -- 3 x 3
SQ----- 2 x 5 -- 5/3/2 - 3 x 3
BP----- 2 x 5 -- 3 x 3 -- 5/3/2
PD----- 2 x 6 -- 1 x 10 - 2 x 6
I think we're talking about the same thing, although you have more variety in your rep counts. If you look at my chart, you'll see that there's a cline from heavy to lighter weights corresponding to number of reps in each set. So 5x1>5x2>3x3>2x5 = heavy>lighter. I don't know what the exact percentages are, but they're probably not too far off of yours. For example, my bench press 1RM is around 250, so 5x1 is 240, that's about 95%, right? Then at the lower end, my 2x5 is 190, which is about 75%. I haven't actually tried a full week or two of this scheme, so there will be some adjustments in the weight increments, but they should be roughly equal to the weights I was using in my 1/3/5 protocol last cycle, but possibly reducing a bit to avoid overtraining now that the frequency is up.
Glad you leg is doing better, and your gym is getting in order. I have some long overdo maintenance work in the gym I need to do too. Its frustrating looking at it each time I go out there.
Yeah, spent too long on the gym again yesterday afternoon, and missed another workout. If I had twice as much space I wouldn't have to think about the arrangement so much. And once again, I spent too much time trying to figure out a way to have the landmine permanently loaded yet out of the way. Couldn't do it. Then I set up an area for the kids' winter stuff to dry out near the garage drain. I also put a little dolly under the heavy bag so I can move it into position to hang more easily. The goal is to have everything accessible and uncluttered so I can move from exercise to exercise fairly quickly, and finally get in a full workout, including the plyo/mobility/martial/stabilizer stuff.
What do you think is the root cause of the leg issue?
I think it was probably overtraining the deadlift, but also possibly not massaging my lower legs enough after running. The last few weeks of the last cycle, I was doing heavy (for me) DL singles three times every two weeks. I know everyone warns about not overdoing the deadlift, but I thought I was within my capabilities for recovery. On hindsight, 335 or so began to feel heavier, which was a sign to back off. So, once I'm able to do heavy deadlifts again, I may just do them once every two weeks, instead of once every week, we'll see. I also think I need to bring my squats up before I can push the deadlift again. The fact that my deadlift 1RM is 90 pounds heavier than my squat may indicate that my knees and quads are underdeveloped relative to my hamstrings, which may lead the latter to overcompensate. I dunno, but ideally I would think my squat would be within 20-25% of my deadlift. I know for some of those powerlifters their squat is actually heavier than their deadlift.
It's also funny how the deadlift has a range of execution the bench press and squat just don't have. 365, my 1RM, feels heavy, but so does 335, even 325 and sometimes 315. So it's not as easy to identify what a good training 1RM should be. In the future, I'll err on the side of caution. It was cool this summer discovering I was capable of lifting more than I thought I could, but now I gotta get back to that workaday, 'let the gains come to me' mentality, and not chase goals so much. Set the weights, and when they start to feel easier, add 5-10 pounds. That's how I've always done it in the past.
It was a bit of a scare, I have to say, and I'm still unsure whether I've done something permanent. Only time will tell. I've never had that kind of thing happen in st before. The tightness is diminishing every day, even though I'm running short distances on it, so I take that as a good sign. Also, the injury wasn't acute, so I doubt I screwed up the cartilage or anything. Most likely a strain and the muscles stiffened to protect themselves while they heal. I probably gotta get better about using the foam roller on my upper leg as well, and get back to massaging the piri formis with a ball. Still, there's this occasional clicking in my knee when I get up that's worrying. It's getting better, and I used to have the same thing in my left shoulder, before st took care of it, so hopefully it's not an indication that something broke loose.
It's impressive that you can just go out and run 60K without any issues afterwards. You're in considerably better shape than I am. I'm a little bit frustrated right now, having to back off the lifting and having my running fitness set back so much, but I know it's just a matter of staying consistent and being a bit more moderate and it'll all work out.