Hi, so i am prepping for a my first meet which is in november, and was going to use Candito 6 week program to do so. I’ve heard he uses/used this himself to peak for his meets, would i make any adjustments to do this? As it would i start the program 8 weeks out so i can do the program, then take my openers on the 6th week which is typically a deload or just restart the cycle, then take a deload week then compete? Or should i just do the program as written and use the heavy week 5 where u do max rep i think around 90-95% and if i get 3-4 reps use that as my opener and then just straight deload? Thanks for any help and advice you can give
If you don’t like the program then don’t use it. Last I heard this candito program had you doing sets of 8 or 10 at the start and then peaking in week 6, that doesn’t sound good to me but perhaps some people have gotten decent results.
Erm it’s not at all that I don’t like the program, I used it before and I loved it and got me great results. The question was really; do I need to leave a week to take my openers, or do i not need to do my openers at all. It’s my first meet so i have no clue
I don’t remember the exact details of this program, but normally the week before the meet should be a deload. You could work up to openers early in the week or do some lighter work, some people would take a whole week off but that usually works best for much bigger and stronger guys and even then might not be the right way to go. Your openers should be a weight that you have already lifted and could still manage on the worst day, but you don’t necessarily have to do them for a single on the week of the meet.
I was off for two weeks my last meet. First week off was vacation and the second week was sick with bronchitis. Still hit my biggest squat and deadlift ever and couldn’t breathe for crap.
Meet prep is overrated. If you’re training is correct throughout the year, you shouldn’t need long to go hit some big numbers.
Openers are the key. With 8 weeks to go, you definitely need to be hitting an opener a couple of times and possibly a second attempt. I would work it something like this:
Wk8 - opener
Wk7 - second attempt
Wk6 - mild triple
Wk5 - opener
Wk4 - mild triple
Wk3 - mild triple
Wk2 - light 5 maybe 60% no higher
Meet week - off - go tear it up at the meet.