Straight sets means more effective sets and reps than a regular pyramid sets. For me it works very well and I love these kinda sets beacuse of these reasons:-
No extra Junk volume.
It’s easy to see your progress and progress well with these sets.
Coach Thib, now it’s only you who can confirm that straight sets are the best thing that a natural lifter can do in their workout or what kind of sets you most recommend for Natural lifters???
-How is there no junk volume when you are wasting reps on all sets, which will then keep you from using a heavier weight?
-How is this easier to track as opposed to last week on my top set I got 100x6 this week I want 1 more rep or this week I’ll add 5 lbs?
Why should naturals train differently from enhanced lifters?
Here is a thought to keep in mind when doing your favorite routine: After 5 or 6 weeks the best workout is not the one you are doing.
You need to learn a lot of things to be fair. You’re asking why Naturals have to train differently than enhanced and let me tell you if you’re asking this question when 2022 is about to end then you have to learn many many more things nd gain knowledge because this is one of the most basic things you can ask on T-nation ( don’t get me wrong mate but it’s just the fact ). CORTISOL and RECOVERY are the main reasons for it. I can’t explain you everything you have to do your own learning and research from one of the top authors like Coach Christian Thibadeau
Click on this article from him. Natural vs Enhanced Training. Are There Differences?
After 1 week of Deload every 6 weeks, it can again be someone’s favourite routine like me because of the main reasons:-
Strength = Size is 100% correlated in my case.
Staright sets and Dynamic double progression are the best ways to do sets because you can see the progress + you can progress very well.
It was rhetorical. We do not need to train differently. The majority of natural bodybuilders hit muscles 1x a week.
Cortisol, recovery? Give me a break. You do not know what you are talking about. You are just parroting what someone else believes.
You did not even answer why there is no junk volume and how progress is easier
to track
I strongly disagree. There are multiple different aspects of training techniques: pyramids, rep tempo, volume, intensity, etc. and the mixing of these. Your body will strive to adapt to every workout. What you want is for the adaptation to be additional muscle, and not adaptation to the style.
Sure you must be concerned about cortisol. But not all natural lifters have identical cortisol response. Some are very gifted.
But the bottom line is that you asked CT. It is his response that you are asking.
I haven’t answered because it’s so basic if you’re training Naturally. I think natural guys are the most knowledgeable ones because they search every damn thing to get big or lean. Now let me explain it to you why there is a lot more junk volume in the high rep sets.
If you’re doing 5 rep set so there is a high mechanical tension from the start itself (One of the main driver if not the main
for hypertrophy) so there will be 3-4 effective reps because you’ll reach near failure at 5 rep.
If you’re doing a 15 rep set than it’ll take you 10 non-effective reps to reach the last 5 effective reps and firing of the big muscle fibres and if you’re doing 3 or 4 such sets look how much junk volume and non-effective reps you’ll end up doing.
Those reps are non-effective because that’ll produce more cortisol because you’re burning your fuel (Glycogen) more and more to get to those last 4-5 effective reps. The more glycogen you burn or the more volume you do (Junk most probably ) the more you’ll end up spiking your cortisol levels. (Looks like you’re not a natural bodybuilder if you don’t know these things or you’re a genetic freak for whom the high reps are really working).
And the progress is easier to track:-
• First week 3sets for 6-8 reps on Bench press-
100kg × 8reps
100kg × 7reps (Almost 80% reps are
effective reps here)
100kg × 6reps
• Second week-
100kg × 8reps
100kg × 8reps
100kg × 7 reps
• 60Kg × 15 reps
• 65Kg × 14 reps
• 70Kg × 12 reps
Almost 75% reps are non-effective reps.
(This is how it’s easy to see the progress on straight sets without burning your glycogen on junk volume and Dynamic Double progression is a more advance version of this)
You said this - “Sure you must be concerned about cortisol. But not all natural lifters have identical cortisol response. Some are very gifted”.
Some are gifted i agree but don’t you think that the percentage of those some lifters is way wayyyyy less (Only 2-3% at most). 97% of natural lifters are training very high volumes by just seeing those Pro bodybuilders but they’re seeing absolute no results (Or even decreasing in Muscle mass) just because of high elevates cortisol levels produced by their long duration of workouts.
Cortisol response is not digital, that is, favorable or unfavorable. It is more a continuous spectrum, from very poor to very good, and everything in between.
Still all natural lifters need to be conscious to the volume they can tolerate. This is not some magical formula, but can be approached from feedback. What’s good for one person is too much for another.
There is a place for a period of powerlifting training for all natural lifters. Maybe take a year dedicated to focus on a meet.
Maybe try a 6 week period just working on getting a muscle pump, e.g., Surge Challenge.
But the thing is that almost every Natural lifter look up to top Pro bodybuilders and train the exact way and they then end up overtraining , burned out or with elevated cortisol level.
I am trying to help you. Clearly you have crossed one of the greatest hurdles. You ARE conscious that overtraining is a negative. I just don’t believe straight sets is the only way to train effectively for natural lifters.
When did I said that Straight sets are the only way to train for Naturals??? I haven’t said that even once. All I’m saying is that Straight sets are very productive and one of the best ways or one of the best Loading schemes for Natural trainees. With all due respect I love debates with smart guys and coaches just like I’m having one with you so please don’t take it like I’m trying to argue with you (Take it like a compliment Haha just kidding). Can I have your Instagram???
I don’t do Instagram. This is the only digital place that I discuss weight training.
It’s dependent on the number of repetitions per set and the level of effort reached (proximity to failure)
If you go to failure on a set you’ll have 5-6 effective reps regardless of the number of reps you are doing.
Let’s assume that we stop 1 rep short of. failure and get 5 effective reps per set, regardless of the total number of repetitions.
A set of 5-6 reps might be optimal. But even up to 8-10 reps is fine. Just because a repetition is not maximally effective doesn’t mean that it’s worthless. For example, earlier reps can activate the nervous system to make the later reps more effective, they can tune-in the movement. to get better tension on the target muscle(s), etc.
So let’s say that 6-10 reps with 1 rep short of failure is the best, most efficient zone for hypertrophy (which is what most of the proponents of the “effective reps theory” say).
Whether you do…
You all get. the same proportion of effective to non-effective reps.
And if you use methods like rest/pause or clusters you can even get a higher ratio of effective reps. For example if you do a rest/pause set of 6 reps/rest 15 sec/3 reps/rest /15 sec/1 rep you get a total of 9 effective reps out of 10.
If I do a cluster set of 7 reps with my 4RM (with 20-25 sec of rest between reps) I get 7 effective reps out of 7.
So based on your own logic, heavy rest/pause and clusters are better than straight sets for natural lifters.
So to answer your question, no, straight sets are not necessarily best for natural lifters.
And you mention that natural lifters shouldn’t copy pro bodybuilders, and I agree. But most bodybuilders rely on straight sets.
I’ve written extensively about the double progression model and use it a lot. But it simply doesn’t work forever. In reality, as long as you are progressing in one way or another (i.e, increasing the training stress on your session) you’ll get better. I personally like to switch progression model (which variable I increase) fairly frequently and even before there is stagnation.
Fully agreed coach but I haven’t understood one thing.
As you’ve said above that rest pause set has more effective reps than straight sets. So let’s take an example :-
3sets of 6-10 reps
We have to use rest pause in the last set or all 3 sets ??? Because 3 straight sets of 6 have a combined effective reps of around 14-15 whereas if we do a rest pause set and it’s the last set of 6 reps / rest15-20sec / 3 reps / rest15-20sec / 1rep = it’s combined total of 9 effective reps. It’s less than the straight sets!
So are you talking about doing rest pause on the last set or all the 3 sets ?
I talked about this before. A rest/pause set counts as ONE set.
For example, if. you do 8 reps/rest 20 sec/3 reps/rest 20 sec/1 rep… that’s ONE set, not three and that ONE set gives you 9-10 effective reps where if you only do the initial 8 reps you have 5.
Now the question becomes: how many rest/pause sets can you do on an exercise in a workout? 1, 2, 3 , 4?
The answer is, as always “it depends”.
People don’t all have the same tolerance for volume.
For example, I once trained a bobsleigh athlete who could only perform 6-9 sets per workout TOTAL. Not per exercise, for the whole workout. And he could only recover from 2 or maybe 3 lifting sessions a week.
BUT he still ended up super strong for his size (bodyweight of 82kg, bench 190kg, squat 250kg, power clean 150kg).
I’ve always trained athletes (yes natural) who could handle 30 sets per workout and 140-150 sets per week total.
So it’s impossible for me to tell you now many rest/pause sets YOU would be able to recover from.
I personally like to periodize the use of rest/pause. For example:
*Just for the sake of the example, let’s say that a normal set is 8 reps and a rest/pause set is 8+4
Week 1: 3 regular sets/no rest/pause set (15 effective reps total)
Week 2: 2 regular sets/1 rest/pause set (19 effective reps)
Week 3: 1 regular set/2 rest/pause sets (23 effective reps)
Week 4: 3 rest/pause sets (27 effective reps)
Week 5: deload
Got it coach.
Fully agreed on this.
“It depends” is the most useful tool you can ever have when training for size and strength.
@Navv Im always contemplating this too.
I might give double progression a longer try because I’m not patient enough with it.
What fits me and motivates me is I pick a rep range and when I can exceed it I increase weight no matter what set I am on.
Skip Lacour and Jeff Willet the 2 best natural bodybuilders in my opinion did this and I also saw Charles Poliquin article on his website suggest this.
Here is an example:
Squat- 4x4-6 reps
Week 1
Set 1- 405x6
Set 2- 405x5
Set 3- 405x4
Set 4- 405x4
Week 2
Set 1- 405x6
Set 2- 405x6
Set 3- 405x5
Set 4- 405x4
Week 3
Set 1- 405x7 (cue to move up in weight)
Set 2- 410x5
Set 3- 410x4
Set 4- 410x4
Week 4
Start with 410
This may not be the best way to do it but thats what I like and what motivates me. Just throwing it out there if that helps anybody out!