So has anyone tried out the “frequent and furious” workout yet? I plan to start today, but I have to admit I was surprised at the huge number of sets (30+ on day one!). I love the excersises but am concerned about overtraining. Plus, once you get to the advanced workout, you are doing chest (presses) everyday. ouch! Any thoughts?
Here’s what I just sent to reader mail:
It seems good, but I have some questions.
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What kind of rest times should I be using for this program?
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Since reps are changing every week, how do I know when to up the
weight? Or is it as simple as raising the weight upon being able to
complete the required reps for the week? -
How much should I up the weight by? Should I just assume that my 1RM
has gone up by 10 lbs? -
Finally, when switching reps, Mr. Sloan suggests that on Fridays, we
could switch to sets of five or triples, with less weight than on Mondays.
But, in the sample program he outlines, Fridays seemed to be designed as
near maximal effort days, using up to 90% of one’s 1RM!
So I’m completely at a loss as to how I should structure things next week.
But hey, if you know the answers to these questions, I’m up for it!
actually, I have similar questions - so no answers here. For starters some rest times would be nice. It seems like this is more power oriented, so longer rest times might be in order (2-4 mins?), but 30+ sets resting that long in between would be a long workout - oh, and that doesn’t even count abs on the first day!
The loads are fairly light, so I kept rest periods pretty short the first week. I am absolutely baffled as to how to construct Fridays, though 
bump
Ive been doing it for a week nephorm, I have just adjusted the weight accordingly to the reps, even though I did have a question about it too. As for rest sets, with such low reps I go when I feel im ready again, I let my tiredness dictate the rest period, For heavier weights ill res 5 mins (80 and 90%) for the very light weights ill rest 30 secs (50 and 60%) Just let the weight and reps dictate the rest periods ,With this type of program its better to rest all you need anyway rather than having a set time since the longer your rested the more you can put into the next set, since the goal is to gain strength, not burn cals or build muscle . Id just go when you feel ready again. The Benefits of waiting till your ready will far outweigh the benefits of hurrying through the workout( You’ll be able to focus more, lift more, last all 30 sets etc.)
Pugs
Woohoo! TC sent my questions to Mr. Sloan, and he graciously provided me with very thorough and helpful answers.
Read on:
I received a forwarded e-mail from T.C. Luoma with some questions you had about
my “Frequent And Furious” program. I’m going to do my best to answer all of
them.
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What kind of rest periods between sets? I didn’t include rest periods in the
routine because I believe it’s an individual thing. Some of my lifters do very
good with short rest periods (around one minute) while some take as long as five
minutes between each “work” set. There are some general guidelines, however.
If you don’t know what works best for you, then start off with two to three
minutes between each set, except for the “speed” work (like the 7 sets of 2 at
50%), which should be around 45 seconds. -
Since reps are changing every week, how do I know when to up the weight? How
much should I up the weight by? Should I just assume that my 1 rep max has gone
up 10 pounds? Your goal each week is to break your record from the previous
time you used the same rep scheme. In other words, if (on week #1) you hit 250
lbs for 3 sets of 5 (80%) on your bench press, then your goal the next time you
get back around to 5 rep sets (the sixth week) should be 265 (just an example)
for 3 sets of 5. It will still be around 80% (since your max will have went
up). Remember, the workout is a guideline. -
On Fridays, C.S. suggests we could switch to 5s or triples, with less weight
than on Mondays. But, in the sample program he outlines, Fridays seem to be
designed as near maximal efforts, using up to 90% of one’s 1 rep max. The
important thing with the medium workout is that its total workload should fall
between the heavy day and the light day. This can be accomplished by performing
the same reps as on Monday, just with a lighter weight, or by lowering the reps
and increasing the weight (but not the sets). In the example workout I
presented, I had you work up to 2x5 (10 lifts) at 70%, and 3x5 (15 lifts) at
80%, followed by 7x2 (14 lifts) at 50% on Monday, and then, on Fridays you would
do 2x2 (4 lifts) at 80%, 2x2 (4 lifts) at 90%, and, finally, 5x2 (10 lifts) at
50%. Friday is still a medium day, since the total workload is lower than on
Monday.
My suggestion for how you should structure things the next week is to
essentially follow the same program, just alternating reps?^?^?sets of 8 instead
of 5. If you don’t like working in the 90% range on Friday, then stick with
sets of 8 (the same as Monday) and perform the same amount of sets, but work up
to only 90% of what you did on your heavy day.
BTW nephorm when he said that friday was supposed to be a medium day I think he was reffering to volume not weight really , since the volume of work is less than that of monday and the 2 rep sets are alot easier than the 5 rep sets.
Pugs
I was hoping someone could help me out with a couple of questions on this program.
When the program says 5 sets of 5 @ 80% or whatever set scheme, does he want you to use a weight you can get all 5 reps on every set, or increasing weight until you reach your 80% max on your last set, or use 80% on your first set, and decrease the weight the remaining sets in order to get the recommended weights. Hope that made sense!
On Monday Bench, the 7*2 is also speed work? That wasn’t indicated in his article I believe, but it would seem to be the case.
What do you guys think of performing the benchpress Westside style (arched back, lats tucked, greater tricep emphasis, save the shoulders, etc…)?.
Thank you for your time!
Jeff Caldwell