Can you send me some information on how lifts should process in the deficit. I’ve been training for longer than six months.
Thanks.
Your posts, bro
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You should be able to add reps, add weight, or both, or at a bare minimum - maintain your current strength.
How long have you been training, then?
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What @Andrewgen_Receptors said is very spot on. I am a big fan of dynamic double progression. Have a rep range, I generally like 6-10, 8-12 or 12-15 are all pretty classic ranges. Then you try to add a rep (or reps) every week until you reach or surpass the top of the rep range and then you add 5 pounds. That’s my strategy in both a deficit and a surplus. You should be trying to add muscle, whether you’re bulking or cutting.
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Test makes me hungrier agreed
I always was told you can’t add muscle in a deficit because your body can only grow with a surplus of calories.
For the last 2 weeks I’ve been able to hit 8 reps , 4 sets of 40kg flat Dumbell press. It’s hard and by the 8 I’m pretty much close to failure. Should I attempt something like 42.5kg for 6 next week?
You can definitely add muscle in a deficit. It’s not even until you’re advanced that you really can’t, and even then it’s not impossible, just really slow. Also, you’re blasting right now so it should be no issue.
With regards to your second point, Just train to failure. Do like 2-3 sets, all to failure. Training to failure is the best way to ensure maximum muscle growth. I would just focus on the progression on the first set. The following sets you’re going to probably lose reps and have to lower the weight either for set 2 or 3 to stay in the same rep range.
Another way you could do this would be going Really heavy on set one, shooting for 4-6 reps to failure, set two lower the weight and shoot for 8-10 reps to failure, set three lower the weight and shoot for 12-15 reps to failure. Again, The weight progression week to week is really focused on that first set. This is called the 5,10,15 method. I really like it. It kind of sounds like effort has been lacking in your training and pushing your sets to failure will really help push you to the next level.
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This is kind of eye-opening with all the “TRT” posts I see. I honestly had no idea what folks took in the “saner” days.
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Looks like 1 RIR is actually better than task failure
What I like to do with myself and my clients is to take a set until You can not perform a rep with the same form. I avoid any reps that require an orientation strategy to get another rep. So no arching, swaying, momentum or changing rib cage position to get extra “fake reps” that take tension off the target muscle. I also have the reps done in continuous fashion with no rest between reps. Basically chasing failure rather than delaying it. This is likely a different definition of “failure” From what many other people would use, so it’s hard for me to use research to inform my opinion Vs what I’ve observed to be effective with myself and my clients.
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This highlights a pretty important part on the discussion of training. As much as we want to make everything a science and prescribe numbers to it, there is a significant degree of “art” when it comes to training. There is a feeling you feel that you can’t put into words, yet both you and another accomplished trainee will know EXACTLY that feeling when talking about an effective set, and it’s something you, in turn, CAN’T convey to someone who hasn’t felt it yet. And you’re there TRYING to tell them how to feel that feeling so that they can get in effective training, and it’s just not happening.
SO you tell them to go do Super Squats instead and then they’ll figure it out.
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Beginners often have no concept of what a hard set is. My first time working with a new client I’ll ask them to take a set of Dumbbell Bench to failure, for example. They generally stop the set with about 10 reps in reserve. There’s no slowing of the bar speed and each rep is still moving explosively, they just stopped the set either because they were starting to get sore or they had set some kind of mental limit on what they thought they could do. When we try another set at the same weight, and really encourage them to push to their limit, they’ll end up getting 20, sometimes 30 reps with a weight that they thought was their 10 rep max AFTER a set in which I asked them to go to failure.
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