I am currently using 5/4/3/2/1 circuits 5-7 days a week consisting of 3-5 exercises depending on how I am feeling, IE if I am feeling great I do 5 exercises (Built for Bad), if I am fatigued I will do 3-4 with lighter weights (resembling a NC workout).
Anyways, I am using the Trap Bar for my first exercises. All of my chosen exercises are going up, except my TBDL. I am wondering if I should be doing this exercise every other day? I am thinking that legs don’t respond as well to this high of frequency, even at sub maximal weights.
Thoughts on this? I love training legs, but am not seeing growth or strength increases.
I am currently using 5/4/3/2/1 circuits 5-7 days a week consisting of 3-5 exercises depending on how I am feeling, IE if I am feeling great I do 5 exercises (Built for Bad), if I am fatigued I will do 3-4 with lighter weights (resembling a NC workout).
Anyways, I am using the Trap Bar for my first exercises. All of my chosen exercises are going up, except my TBDL. I am wondering if I should be doing this exercise every other day? I am thinking that legs don’t respond as well to this high of frequency, even at sub maximal weights.
Thoughts on this? I love training legs, but am not seeing growth or strength increases.
EDIT:
Using I3G, Plazma RTD, and MAG-10. [/quote]
It’s likely more a lower back or a CNS (bigger weights moved = more CNS stress) issue than a leg issue. I am personally using a high frequency plan with those lifts:
Bench press
Deadlift
Military press
Chin-ups
High pulls
And I noticed the same thing with deadlifts and switched to doing them every other strength workout.
When I did your Look Like A Bodybuilder, Train Like An Athlete Program, rather than Deadlift 3 times a week, I did it twice when I got my best results. I agree…the Deadlift is a different animal. I’d just front squat 4 times a week with no problems.
CT - I definitely need to bring up my quad strength and legs in general. So, I am happy you’ve currently got me suqatting and DL’ing 3x a week (M, W, F). I’ll be focusing on strength gains, so going pretty heavy each session with 3 sets of 3 at 3RM, plus drop sets after. With DLing AND squatting each workout, I don’t want to overdo anything and risk fatiguing CNS.
Should I alter the way that I squat/pull to keep things fresh? Like maybe pull traditional M, sumo W, narrow F? Or will that likely mess up my whole progression tracking of hitting my rep goals for that week?
[quote]Apothecary wrote:
CT - I definitely need to bring up my quad strength and legs in general. So, I am happy you’ve currently got me suqatting and DL’ing 3x a week (M, W, F). I’ll be focusing on strength gains, so going pretty heavy each session with 3 sets of 3 at 3RM, plus drop sets after. With DLing AND squatting each workout, I don’t want to overdo anything and risk fatiguing CNS.
Should I alter the way that I squat/pull to keep things fresh? Like maybe pull traditional M, sumo W, narrow F? Or will that likely mess up my whole progression tracking of hitting my rep goals for that week?
Don’t want to overthink anything, but it’s habit.[/quote]
No, keep the same variations. The key to becoming super strong in a movement, especially when you are not advanced is to practice that movement. If you need to “keep things fresh” start playing ping pong or doing another hobby! You do not do stuff to “keep things fresh”, you do stuff to progress. And right now you will progress more by working on the big basics themselves. Once you reach a higher level of strength you can start thinking about rotating exercises, but only to fix a specific issue, not to keep things fresh.
[quote]Apothecary wrote:
CT - I definitely need to bring up my quad strength and legs in general. So, I am happy you’ve currently got me suqatting and DL’ing 3x a week (M, W, F). I’ll be focusing on strength gains, so going pretty heavy each session with 3 sets of 3 at 3RM, plus drop sets after. With DLing AND squatting each workout, I don’t want to overdo anything and risk fatiguing CNS.
Should I alter the way that I squat/pull to keep things fresh? Like maybe pull traditional M, sumo W, narrow F? Or will that likely mess up my whole progression tracking of hitting my rep goals for that week?
Don’t want to overthink anything, but it’s habit.[/quote]
No, keep the same variations. The key to becoming super strong in a movement, especially when you are not advanced is to practice that movement. If you need to “keep things fresh” start playing ping pong or doing another hobby! You do not do stuff to “keep things fresh”, you do stuff to progress. And right now you will progress more by working on the big basics themselves. Once you reach a higher level of strength you can start thinking about rotating exercises, but only to fix a specific issue, not to keep things fresh.[/quote]
Perfect, thanks.
BTW, I meant keep “things” like the CNS fresh, not outside-the-gym things, haha. But that’s kind of what I figured, since I won’t be moving huge weights that it wouldn’t really be a huge issue at this point.