Fine-tuning First Cycle

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Whatever works for you mate but in general lower reps works better for me. I train for strength primarily though... There's a good writeup in the training section on muscle fibers and rep ranges check it out.

Thanks for the reply. I understand that lower reps is better for strength gains. Indeed, I need to improve a lot on the big ones like squat and bench press. My PR on the squat is 5 x 250lbs and on the bench it is 6 x 225lbs. However, currently it is tough for me to reach these numbers, so I do 8 x 235lbs on the squat and 8 x 205 on the bench.

Maybe my question would be better formulated if I put it this way. Is there an optimum strategy during a lean bulking cycle? Such as focusing first on strengh (6 weeks), then deloading max weight but increasing reps (last 6 weeks)?