taken from chris thibaudeau’s article on this website:
Monday: Quad Dominant Training
A) Powerlifting squat
Load: 90-95%
Reps: 3
Sets: 10
Rest between sets: 180 seconds
Am I mistaken, or are you really supposed to perform 10 worksets of 3 reps at 90-95%?
haha yeah its pretty scary. I tried it myself… uh… 95% was impossible… my max back squat is about 475. I managed to do several sets of 390x3 up to several sets of 415… but no more… and i ached for days after… haha just do your best… im sure CT wun come after you:)
regds
Jonathan wong,
singapore
thanks for the response,
guess i wont be trying this program, 1 set of 3 at 90% is extremely difficult for me. I would certainly be dead or hospitalized before i ever reached 5 sets.
This is a well thought out and effective program.
I’ve been using the pendulum system with my beginner/intermediate athletes since CT first posted his articles, and I have had great success with the system.
Check out my previous posts for more info.
boss,
have your athletes been able to perform the 10 sets of 3 at 95%?
It does say 90-95% and you should be able to get 3 reps with 92% (a standard number) so give 90% a try. Obviously some people are suited to more reps with highers %'s. Last week I nailed 8 with 94%in a max out.
For those that have tried the progam are better off starting at a lower weight, say 80-85% and then working your way up to 90%, or did you jump straight into the 10 sets w/ 90-95% of your 1 rep max?
Folks, understand that I never use percentages in the training of my athletes. I go with the RM system… so you are basically doing 10 sets at 3-4RM … 90-95% being an approximation of that in most individuals. However, depending on fiber dominance and work capacity 85-90% might be more appropriate.
thanks for the response chris. although i feel i have ok singles strength, i have a much harder time w/ multiple heavy sets of reps.
[quote]ChrisThibaudeau wrote:
Folks, understand that I never use percentages in the training of my athletes. I go with the RM system… so you are basically doing 10 sets at 3-4RM … 90-95% being an approximation of that in most individuals. However, depending on fiber dominance and work capacity 85-90% might be more appropriate.[/quote]
Wow…the best I could possibly get 10 sets of 3 reps with is about 75% of my gear-less max…for some reason I was thinking the 90-95% was a typo…I guess we’re all different and everyone needs to adjust these workouts to fit there own needs.
DPH,
i think i’m in the same boat as you, i guess my work capacity isn’t what it could be. this program would definitely address that weakness.
CT’s Black Book has a very interesting discussion on fiber dominance. Basically, a person with a high percentage of slow twitch fibers can crank out reps with a high percentage of 1RM while a person who is fast twitch dominant will struggle to crank out 6 reps at 75% 1RM. The rep max charts that show you how many reps you should be able to with a certain percentage are based, I believe, on a “mixed fiber” individual, i.e., a person with a fairly equal mix of fast twitch and slow twitch.
I know a guy who’s doing the Pendulum PL and he says he basically works up to a 3RM for the day, then backs of and continues to do sets of 3 until he reaches 10 total sets.
mike the bear,
i certainly could not do more than one set w/ my 3 rep max, i simply have nothing left. but backing off until i complete 10 sets sounds like a good way to implement CT’s program.
[quote]Ralf wrote:
boss,
have your athletes been able to perform the 10 sets of 3 at 95%?[/quote]
No, my athletes arent powerlifters! But I?m currently trying this pendulum. It is one tuff program but very rewarding.
[quote]MikeTheBear wrote:
CT’s Black Book has a very interesting discussion on fiber dominance. Basically, a person with a high percentage of slow twitch fibers can crank out reps with a high percentage of 1RM while a person who is fast twitch dominant will struggle to crank out 6 reps at 75% 1RM. The rep max charts that show you how many reps you should be able to with a certain percentage are based, I believe, on a “mixed fiber” individual, i.e., a person with a fairly equal mix of fast twitch and slow twitch.
I know a guy who’s doing the Pendulum PL and he says he basically works up to a 3RM for the day, then backs of and continues to do sets of 3 until he reaches 10 total sets.[/quote]
hey mike, I had a similar experience. My max squat was about 160kgs and I was going for 150x3. But I nailed 8. Thought my max was wrong so went for 160x6 next week but only managed 3 with very poor form on the last. Perhaps I am slower dominant in lower body work (some reason I feel the opp about upper but…). Does it say how one should adjust training if they are slower dominant?
Thanks
Cal