Working through 531 for hardgainers and just came to the end of my second cycle.
I managed to hit my required numbers on squat for the 95% PR set, but failed at the 75% widowmaker and had to rerack the bar after 12 reps before completing another 8.
Do I still increase the weight on the bar by 5lbs for my next cycle, or keep as it is for squats?
What stopped you? Strength or conditioning?
Id say drop your TM
When you say you hit your required numbers do you mean that you hit 5 on 5’s week, 3 on 3’s week and 1 on 1’s week? if so your TM is too high.
Plug the numbers into a 1 rep calculator and you will find that each week you really should be aiming for AT LEAST 2 more just to break even with your current one rep max
Also remember your TM is lower than your one rep max so again which equates to more reps.
So if you are only hittin 5 3 and 1 on the + sets and you also couldnt do the widow maker set in one go, this all points towards the TM being set too high.
conditioning.
the programming on hardgainers is a slightly different rep scheme, I hit the below for my squat on week 3, which is the last week of the cycle.
(warmup)
75% x 5
85% x 5
95% x 5+ (PR set)
How many reps did you hit at 95%?
I hit 5 - the last one was a bit of a grinder.
I would say your TM is to high you shouldn’t be grinding out the 5th rep on the + set in 2nd cycle.
Yep. Too high of a TM.
Alrighty, thanks guys. I’ve taken my 1 rep max down from 140kg to 130kg so hopefully that allows for some decent progress in the coming weeks.