Resume Hepburn Progression after Long Break

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
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Hi CT,

Been running your Strength Skill Circuit program for couple of weeks and think it will fit me well.
In December, I will finish my first full cycle.

However, immediately after that, I will not have access to a gym/weights for 3 weeks. For those 3 weeks, my plan is to stay active and do a lot of calisthenics, isometrics etc.

When returning to Strength Skill Circuit program, how do you advise to proceed?

Picking up the weights where I left them and starting a new cycle?

Going back one cycle? (In reality going back when I started the whole program).

Testing for 1RM and starting progression at 80% of that RM?

Thank you in advance for your time and advice.

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That’s what I’d do… ish… I would not test your real 1RMs on the lifts. That wouldn’t be smart after 3-4 weeks without lifting.

Simply pick a weight that you think you can do around 5 reps with and, after a proper warm up, test out how many reps you can get with that load.

Go google and search for “predicting 1RM” or “1RM calculators” there are tons calculators that can predict your 1RM from a weight and reps.

Start at 80% of the predicted 1RM, that’s good enough as a starting point.

OR simply start around 5% lighter than what you left off with.

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Thank you, Coach for making time to respond.

This is gold for someone who wants to implement Strength Skill Circuit program for long time and life will throw a curveball.