I’m planning on doing Poliquin’s 1,6 routine then following it up with a higher rep hypertrophy routine, per his suggestion. Can anyone chime in with their experience and results following his protocols for this plan; eg general program efficacy, rest or diet observations, etc? Thanks!
Tough call, I think Poliquin is such a strong believer in this routine because of the relationship the 1 rep set and 6 rep set have with one another. As you climb up the “rep scale” and move away from your maximal strength reps and into the traditional hypertrophic range I’m not sure if you’ll find a similiar relationship. Meaning, for arguments sake,if your heavier or lower rep set ends at 8 reps then how many reps do you do for next set? 12? Or is that basically the same range? 15? Borderline hypertrophy/muscular endurance depending on 20 other variables. 25? or maybe 48, at least the ratio is the same. You can see why I think it’s such a tough thing come up with. I even did exactly what you’re thinking of doing. I did it bodypart by bodypart based on different ideas I’ve formed over the years. For example, I designed the triceps set as 12/25, as higher reps just always give the tris a great “feel”. I really used the 25 rep set as more of a set up set for a heavier 12 rep set. I trained quads in the same way for the same reasons. Most other groups I stayed in 6-8/12-15 range, trying to focus mainly on the hypertrophy staying strong. You can really play around with it a lot but I guess what I really tried to do was keep some kind of coorelation between the 2 rep ranges. Use one to set up the other, if you push hard on both you’ll probably fatigue much faster in higher rep ranges. Imagine doing a ball-busting 12 rep set of squats only to rest and do a hard set of 20 or 25? With another bodypart thrown in the mix? There isn’t enough thermospeed or carboforce in the gym after your your 6th or 7th set,at least there wasn’t for me and I quickly had to re-design my workout. I’d love to hear from someone at T-mag on this, especially on the rep relationship that is so puzzling, at least to me.