Recently I’ve thought about different types of training and two main ideas are:
- Working up to a heavy set (low reps but can be higher) and then a ton of assistance after
- Something like 5x5 on the lift or whatever else, volume is on the main lifts.
What are your thoughts on these differences and what can work better?
For quite a while I’ve favoured #1. I’ve felt that you want to go heavy (90%+) on lifts because it teaches you how to really go for a single on the platform but then you do all the assistance work to build the muscle and work weaknesses/strengths.
Not really done #2 apart from very early on. I know there’s a lot of things like 5x5, Smolov, Sheiko which are more focused on volume and lower intensity.
Sometimes I feel I’ve shied away from #2 because reps can be harder on the main lifts. Going for a massive 10 rep max is harder than a 1 RM on squat I’d say. Although does that really help much? I mean, could you not do that 1RM and then kill it on assistance?
A lot of contradictions just because I don’t know myself how I feel towards all of it.