yesterday I did my first strength focused layer. SGHP in this format:
Ramp to 1RM
3 sets Cluster with 90%
Ramp to 2RM
2 sets Cluster with 90% (of 2RM)
Ramp to 3RM
1 set cluster with 90% (of 3RM)
80% of no.5 Hard 5 x 1
to make a long story short, it felt like too much for me. i felt trashed afterwards and was still feeling it this morning. today i did the same thing with slight decline pressing from pins but i was much more conservative with the poundage’s and chose to only do 2 clusters on no. 2. it seemed to work better for me today.
my question is… how would you generally structure a strength layer for dead squat (which i am doing tomorrow morning)?
im considering dropping the first round of clusters from 3 to 2 sets like i did today and doing away with no. 7 completely but id love to hear your 2 cents.
yesterday I did my first strength focused layer. SGHP in this format:
Ramp to 1RM
3 sets Cluster with 90%
Ramp to 2RM
2 sets Cluster with 90% (of 2RM)
Ramp to 3RM
1 set cluster with 90% (of 3RM)
80% of no.5 Hard 5 x 1
to make a long story short, it felt like too much for me. i felt trashed afterwards and was still feeling it this morning. today i did the same thing with slight decline pressing from pins but i was much more conservative with the poundage’s and chose to only do 2 clusters on no. 2. it seemed to work better for me today.
my question is… how would you generally structure a strength layer for dead squat (which i am doing tomorrow morning)?
im considering dropping the first round of clusters from 3 to 2 sets like i did today and doing away with no. 7 completely but id love to hear your 2 cents.
thank you[/quote]
I used to call this method “death by” as in “death by squat”.
It is a lot of work and not everybody can handle it. Start with only one cluster set per portion for a total of 2 or 3 per work out. Do that for 3 weeks to see how your body responds
No, seriously bro I was overwhelmed by how long my first strength session lasted. Way longer than the “regular” layer protocol. For me, I think I was completing far too many ramping sets on rounds 2 and 3. I was doing 8-10 ramp sets for each wave. I ended dropping down to 3-4 ramp sets for the 2rm and 3rm and it not only knocked a considerable amount of time off the workout, but I left feeling “good”, relatively speaking.
[quote]jbalplayr02 wrote:
Take a couple Crylenol and keep going!!
No, seriously bro I was overwhelmed by how long my first strength session lasted. Way longer than the “regular” layer protocol. For me, I think I was completing far too many ramping sets on rounds 2 and 3. I was doing 8-10 ramp sets for each wave. I ended dropping down to 3-4 ramp sets for the 2rm and 3rm and it not only knocked a considerable amount of time off the workout, but I left feeling “good”, relatively speaking.
[/quote]
That is an important point, the initial ramp’s role is to activate the nervous system, but after the first ramp the cns is on and the subsequent ramps are just to add more volume at a high intensity level
Same here. I ended up autoregulating the strength layers to some degree for the first two weeks - sometimes I would skip the final ramp, sometimes do fewer cluster sets, etc. But after a while I got used to it and was doing everything 90% of the time.
@CT - I am only doing the strength layers for 2 weeks in between my hypertrophy phases. Im thinking that if i keep it to 4 or 5 clusters tops (instead of 6), cut down on the 2 and 3rm ramps, and remain a little more conservative overall when choosing loads, i wont overextended myself.
NOTE: my traps are still sore after doing the full prescribed strength layer for SGHP on monday. Not the worst feeling ever!
Tried this out today on Push Press… wasn’t really feeling it; bombed out with 80% of my previous 1RM.
Having a really bad week this week - urgh @ feeling bad.
Stood there in the squat rack for 10 mins debating just getting out of there; decided on back squat to see if the day was retrievable… copied from log;
Done ! By far my best day of the week. I love this layer setup - seem to do well with 90% and up.
After the 2RM; I got that “on” feeling mentally - all the crap in my head just got pushed aside. Definitely sticking with strength for the next 2 weeks.
[quote]jbalplayr02 wrote:
Take a couple Crylenol and keep going!!
No, seriously bro I was overwhelmed by how long my first strength session lasted. Way longer than the “regular” layer protocol. For me, I think I was completing far too many ramping sets on rounds 2 and 3. I was doing 8-10 ramp sets for each wave. I ended dropping down to 3-4 ramp sets for the 2rm and 3rm and it not only knocked a considerable amount of time off the workout, but I left feeling “good”, relatively speaking.
[/quote]
That is an important point, the initial ramp’s role is to activate the nervous system, but after the first ramp the cns is on and the subsequent ramps are just to add more volume at a high intensity level
[/quote]
Same thing also happened to me but I have a question for CT.
Is it common to actually get a litter stronger on the 2rm or 3rm clusters. Not sure if my nervous system takes a longer time to wake up but on occasion I actually got slightly stronger on the subsequent layers.
[quote]Voluminous wrote:
Tried this out today on Push Press… wasn’t really feeling it; bombed out with 80% of my previous 1RM.
Having a really bad week this week - urgh @ feeling bad.
Stood there in the squat rack for 10 mins debating just getting out of there; decided on back squat to see if the day was retrievable… copied from log;
Done ! By far my best day of the week. I love this layer setup - seem to do well with 90% and up.
After the 2RM; I got that “on” feeling mentally - all the crap in my head just got pushed aside. Definitely sticking with strength for the next 2 weeks.
Thanks JM for starting this thread ![/quote]
No prob Vol! Glad I could help. I definitely deserve 100% of the credit for your killer training session. (Sarcasm). Nice work brutha.
[quote]jbalplayr02 wrote:
Take a couple Crylenol and keep going!!
No, seriously bro I was overwhelmed by how long my first strength session lasted. Way longer than the “regular” layer protocol. For me, I think I was completing far too many ramping sets on rounds 2 and 3. I was doing 8-10 ramp sets for each wave. I ended dropping down to 3-4 ramp sets for the 2rm and 3rm and it not only knocked a considerable amount of time off the workout, but I left feeling “good”, relatively speaking.
[/quote]
That is an important point, the initial ramp’s role is to activate the nervous system, but after the first ramp the cns is on and the subsequent ramps are just to add more volume at a high intensity level
[/quote]
Same thing also happened to me but I have a question for CT.
Is it common to actually get a litter stronger on the 2rm or 3rm clusters. Not sure if my nervous system takes a longer time to wake up but on occasion I actually got slightly stronger on the subsequent layers. [/quote]
I once mentionned that the nervous system has 2 main caracteristics, and that there is a lot of variance within thèse 2.
