Hey everyone,
I am trying to run a 10x3 Waterbury style program and am having trouble finding the progression of the program anywhere. I know that you do 10x3 with 80% of your 1RM, but what comes after that? 10x3 with 85% of your 1RM? 10x3 with 80% of your 1RM but with an increased theoretical 1RM?
Thanks
His articles are archived here. Or you can get one of his books. He usually espoused progressing 2.5% of weight every week.
Both these articles explain the loading with the 2nd article explaining other forms of progression.
I did one his his 10x3s back in college. The progessions was from one workout to the next go up a rep. Example 10x3 with 150 lbs week 1. Week 2 go 10x4 with 150 lbs.
Beware of week 4 with 10x6 deadlift. Puke city.
[quote]BrickHead wrote:
He usually espoused progressing 2.5% of weight every week. [/quote]
So then at what point do you increase your 1RM? I’m still in the mindset of 5/3/1 so I’m used to increasing my 1RM after reaching 95% of your previous 1RM.
[quote]IronOxide wrote:
So then at what point do you increase your 1RM? I’m still in the mindset of 5/3/1 so I’m used to increasing my 1RM after reaching 95% of your previous 1RM.[/quote]
Taken from page one of the Article Discussion in the “Art of Waterbury” article linked above:
[quote]science wrote:
Great article,i can see more clearly now!
But there is one thing I miss:
What about a recommondation of TOTAL reps (of all muscle groups) in one session related to the specific %1rm?
f.ex: 24-72 total REPS of 80-90%rpm in one session.(this would be 1-3 exercises using the 24-36 scheme)
@progression:
So is it possible, when I will pick up the range of 36 reps and work myself up to 50 reps (same weight used) and then when 50 is reached, I increase the weight and drop the reps to 36 again? (this will be more practical, because it is not possible for me to realize a 2,5%increase every time.(limited weight options-regardless of platemates)
When the article is going to be a “First site” article, it would be good to mention,to avaoid failure training-this is also a point of chads art;)
Thanx chad when you take the time to answer my post-you are the greatest!!![/quote]
[quote]Chad Waterbury wrote:
The “total reps” that you’re alluding to is already set within my set/rep guidelines. Your question is similar to “how many sets in a given session?” Adhere to my set/rep parameters and everything will fall into place.
The progression you mentioned about 36-50, then dropping back down to 36 with a larger load is correct. Use it.[/quote]
Funny enough, I’m actually halfway through his first ABBH program. One day is 10x3 (reps increase each week) another day is 5x10 (weights increase each week). I can’t give a very scientific explanation, but I like it. I like it a lot.
I like this idea of increasing a rep per set a week. So if I wanted to use the 4th week as a deload, would this be a suitable program for my compound movements?
Week 1: 10x3
Week 2: 10x4
Week 3: 10x5
Week 4: Maybe something like 5x10 at 50%
Also, if I like to pair push and pull for upper body days, would the volume, especially on the 3rd week, be too high?
[quote]IronOxide wrote:
I like this idea of increasing a rep per set a week. So if I wanted to use the 4th week as a deload, would this be a suitable program for my compound movements?
Week 1: 10x3
Week 2: 10x4
Week 3: 10x5
Week 4: Maybe something like 5x10 at 50%[/quote]
This article has several coaches’ thoughts on deloads, including Waterbury’s:
As he says,
[quote]“It’s important to know whether you get bogged down with intensity or volume,” Waterbury says. “If you struggle with high intensities, your back-off week should consist of lower-intensity sets. If volume runs you down, you’ll benefit from less of it for a week,” he says.
Waterbury recommends the one-third rule: Drop your weights by a third while keeping volume constant, or drop volume by a third but use the same weights.[/quote]
Certainly not too much since he generally recommends that level of volume per bodypart. So in this case it’d be 10x5 for one exercise for chest, 10x5 for one exercise for back, etc. It’s not like you’re doing 10x5 for 2 or 3 exercises per bodypart in each session.
A recent upper body day I did on ABBH was:
A1) Flat barbell bench press 10x5
A2) 2-arm Hammer Strength DY Row 10x5
B1) Barbell curl 5x5
B2) Lying french press 5x5
Done.
That seems like a good set up.
But now let’s say I want to focus on strength and not so much hypertrophy and I wanted to come up with my own little program based off Waterbury’s. Would this be a decent program?
Week 1: 10x3 @ 80%
Week 2: 8x3 @ 85%
Week 3: 6x3 @ 90%
Week 4: Deload
If you want to lift really high 1rm percentages then this program is not for you. Chad specifically says it’s about the speed of the rep and when you start to slow down you’re done. I would do a different program entirely if pure strength was the goal.
Similar, with the progression all laid out…
I do my own progression because I do mainly weight pushups for my horizontal press. Basically it’s a version of an olympic squat program I found on dragondoor.com. I do a variation of push-up 3-5 days a week and the set-up looks like this:
Day 1 100x2x8
Day 2 100x3x8
Day 3 100x2x8
DAY 4 100x4x8
etc. Since it’s push-ups I have the flexiblity to work up to 20 reps or more a set depending on when I get too bored of this program and try something else. I keep the rest at 70seconds but will lower to 30 sometimes. I can add weight but two 50lb vests maxes out my tolerance of wearing them both for 15mins.
[quote]JRT6 wrote:
I would do a different program entirely if pure strength was the goal.[/quote]
Pretty much, yep.
Waterbury has an entire Strength-Focused Mesocycle for, um, focusing on strength:
It’s significantly lower volume because when the goal is to “focus on strength and not so much hypertrophy”, low volume training is the way to go.
Iron, the way you laid it out just above - increasing weight and reducing sets while keeping the reps the same - doesn’t make much sense and looks like you’re trying to tweak the 10x3 concept for something it’s not best-suited for.
I did a similar program to this with my training partner and saw some great chest gains over 8 weeks or so.
Think we started with 10x3 @ 70%1RM and put the weight up 5 lbs every week while knocking off any sets not completed in the previous week. Its important to accurately measure rest periods. We stuck at it until we were doing around 5-6 sets of three but then felt like we were overtraining. Guess with hindsight we were not ready for the intensity as we were beginner to intermediate at best.
We then hit 5x5 for a few weeks then back to 4X8 with some really solid muscle and strength gains!