I was at 375 weighing 230. I lost weight, stopped lifting i’m not about 215.
I started lifting again. First workout was 265 x 3 sets of 5. Next workout was 275 x 3 sets of 5.
Is using 3x5 a good way to reacquire strength at 10 pounds increase per week working out once a week or is there something that could give me much better results?
I was going to transition to either 10 pound increases twice a week or 5 pound increases twice week just for the sake of more frequent squatting.
If i have to, should i go as far as lowering the weight to have more frequency?
at one workout per week at 10 poudns i could be as strong as i was in ten weeks. I"m aware at some point once a week squating shouldn’t be enough to add weight to my 3 sets of 5. Lowering it to 5 pound increases would be the next step but i think i’d get jammed up.
I think once i plateou i’d need to start squatting 2 times a week. At what ever weight that is it should be too heavy to suddenly go from one day a week to two
Just about anything is going to work for you right now since you are coming off a layoff. Personally I’d recommend 2x a week squatting to get more frequency in to familiarize yourself with the movement again. Just keep it simple and don’t overthink it at this point, squat A could be 3-4 sets x3-5 reps at around 80%, then your squat B could be something like just working up to 1 heavy set, front squatting or any squat variation you think you need. From my experience everyones squat responds to much different stimulus (crazy I know), for me my squat starts to fall off if im not doing alot of volume.
If had a lot of success running high volume programs, like Smolov base with a reduced number of sets at two workouts per week, effectively doubling the length of the program.
It cuts down on the brutality of it, but it is still high frequency and high volume compared to 5x3, and focuses specifically on getting your base squat strength back up.
[quote]theuofh wrote:
If had a lot of success running high volume programs, like Smolov base with a reduced number of sets at two workouts per week, effectively doubling the length of the program.
It cuts down on the brutality of it, but it is still high frequency and high volume compared to 5x3, and focuses specifically on getting your base squat strength back up.
It’s just another option.
[/quote]
Thats interesting and something I’ve thought about a lot, how did you breakdown the 4 sessions though, like 4x9 and 10x3 one week, then the following 7x5 then 5x7?
[quote]theuofh wrote:
If had a lot of success running high volume programs, like Smolov base with a reduced number of sets at two workouts per week, effectively doubling the length of the program.
It cuts down on the brutality of it, but it is still high frequency and high volume compared to 5x3, and focuses specifically on getting your base squat strength back up.
It’s just another option.
[/quote]
Thats interesting and something I’ve thought about a lot, how did you breakdown the 4 sessions though, like 4x9 and 10x3 one week, then the following 7x5 then 5x7?
[/quote]
I think it was
Week 1: 9x3, 7x4
Week 2: 5x5, 3x6
Every workout is +20 lbs, then every cycle it’s +20/+10 depending on how light you start.
I did this years ago and my squat responding very positively and rapidly.
I ran the regular Smolov not too long ago, and it worked but my knees got very, very sore. I pushed through the last workouts but it was pretty reckless. By the time my knees felt OK again, I missed any gains.
I’m a fan of this type of cycle. It’s still hard, but not borderline insane like full blown Smolov.