Before to start i just whant to present myself : my name is Thomas and i’m from Belgium and i’m bench press competitor. BW 83 in competition and today 86 ^^
I just whant to share my experience with the 8/6/3 template. So, at first i used 5/3/1 but the result was not so great : lack of volum even with BBB. Thus i switch for 8/6/3 and everything change.
My Training Max was 110 kg in september 2018
Now i did yesterday (25-06-2018) 8X120 kg.
I bench 3 time a week : one day heavy (5X5) another medium (8/6/3) and the last one 4X10.
Squat and DL are done only one time a week. I do other exo for the bench press like Military press and few sets of glose grip bench press. In total i do 19 sets/week for chest.
I just whant to say that this program work wery well for me.
Someone try ?
Do you have any more info on the 8/6/4 version he spoke about in the video? My main goal is hypertrophy and the 3rd set in 8/6/3 would be out of the hypertrophy rep range. Or would this be better since it will lead to both an increase in strength and hypertrophy when combined with the preceding sets as opposed to 8/6/4 which is more hypertrophy oriented?
Hi, I thing 8/6/3 or 8/6/4 is the same struggle. The point is there is no out of rep range for hypertrophy because if you whant hypertrophy you have to lift heavy (3-5). Not only of course, the main part of hypertrophy program come from 6-12 reps but lift heavy one time each 3 weeks will generate good result for size.
About strength i’m happy for the result and about size it is realy great too. Go for 4 reps at 110 to 8X120 make my chest, triceps and front delt bigger than before.
MarkKO,
Two questions. Why everyone seems hate so much this program ? And why people dont try and trust ?
You know like said a famous french musculation specialist “the better coach is not perforce the biggest but that one who understand you”. It was more or less smgt like that ahah
So you’re saying I’m getting the best of both worlds since I’ll get both myofibrilla and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy? I really don’t mind being unfunctional as long as I get the aesthetic look but I don’t want to leave gains on the table. As per Zatsiorsky, studies have shown bodybuilders are weaker than powerlifters because they maximize sarcoplasmic hypertrophy at the expense of myofibrilla hypertrophy. Plus, we’re missing out on slow twitch fiber growth training with 8 reps and below. Would it be better if I also find my MRV by wave loading so I get the required volume in both the strength and hypertrophy zones? Like: 12, 10, 8, 10, 8, 6, 8, 6, 4, 5, 3, 1? Should I increase the frequency to take advantage of MPS while milking my beginner gains since I don’t think I’ve fully maxed them out for my legs and arms yet?
So, it is realy not easy to debate in english ahah ^^
First, this discrimination between myofibrilla and sacroplasmic hypertryphy is not obvious at all. The no contractil elements (i dont how to say it in english) make just a litle part of hypertrophy. And if you look in the book “science and developement of muscle hypertrophy” in the chapter “load” you will see many studies and experiments about people who worked with 80% of 1RM and 70% etc. And the conclusion is clear. No différence in the mass gain. But i cant explain here, is too much.
Ok can you show me a big bodybuilder weak ? Jay cutler lifted 180kg for 10 reps in incline bench press ! It is like 10 times at 200 kg in bench press Of course he is not strong like a powerlifter because neural adaptation is a important factor for strength.
So, if you whant hypertrophy it is better to stimulate all fiber of muscles.
About wave loading : it is exacly what i did and doing ! Find your MRV and acheive it at the end of a hypertrophy cycle : like in week 4 or 6. Whatever you whant. In the same book it is explain and justify by studies.
So basically you’ve been benching 3x per week and are attributing the success to a rep scheme you’re using on one of the 3 days that’s a redundant tweak of the program you said you didn’t have success with?
I didn’t had good result with 5/3/1 but the program was different. But why it is redundant ? All the reps scheme are different. 5X5 // 4X10 // 6-8. And 15 with isolation. The succes is certainly link to the HFT, periodization, and large reps range i suppose…
I think you may be right but I looked in the book and there’s like vertical and horizontal lines with x and y on them with 2 other lines, one sloping upwards and the other sloping downwards. I’m not sure what that is but it says “training itself does have an impact though the details are unclear.”
I think it depends. Some could be using more strength steroids like trenabol so they’re stronger. But I think there are enough anecdotal evidence from internet forums which we can extrapolate from to form an accurate conclusion where a beginner(natty of course) can squat more weight than than big bodybuilders on brosplits in the gym just by doing a good beginner strength program like Starting Strength.
Yeah! I think Mike Isreatal is a genius! His explanation on how one can target different parts of a muscle fiber in that preacher curl video really opened my eyes to real science.
11-7-3. That is the strongest set of numbers that can be gotten. There are 3 of them, they can’t be divided, and they’re evenly separated by 3 digits between each prime number.
Of course he is not strong like a powerlifter because neural adaptation is a important factor for strength.