I like that concept . basically what my 'activation' sets do to a certain degree. its getting blood flow to the muscle I want to work, pre-exhausting it a bit with some isolation work,, then move onto the heavier compounds moves for that muscle and you can feel that muscle much better.
it starts out 'fatigued', then the heavy weight the last couple sets 'destroys' it
							
						
					
					
						I've talked about this before and even broke down the math once on another post about 'volume' - with these high volume + heavy weight routines you CANNOT go to failure on every set. you have to pick your battles. IF I went to failure on every set then I'd of been done only 30 mins into this workout. by going to failure on only select sets at select times, I'm able to accumulate more overall volume in a single workout.
by doing this I get the hypertrophy benefits of total volume (as volume is a must for hypertrophy) and I also get the hypertrophy benefits out of intensity .
example from my routine-
Lat pull downs , 6 sets for 6 reps .. well set number one was like 185 pounds, I could of done like 10 reps and failed at 10, but I used an RIR (reps in reserve) of 4. then next set the weight went up to like 205, I did 6 reps again, but maybe I could have failed at 8.. but then the next couple sets, sets 5 and 6, the weight was at like 225 and 6 reps WAS failure for those sets.
so on that exercise I planned it so I would get in plenty of overall volume, still work with plenty of total load and mechanical tension, and still have a set or two where I hit failure.
IF I would have hit failure to early on in the workout, or too early on in this set, then my reps would have fallen off very quickly and I would not of been able to accumulate the volume I wanted for the day.
ALSO - my first two exercises were 'activation' exercises. The goal of the cable pullovers was just to get blood into my lats to activate them so they'd be ready to go for the rest of the workout when I start to go heavy. sets and reps here were NOT to failure at all, just activation.
Last edited by GearHeaded; 10-13-2018 at 11:58 PM.
							
						
					
					
						sure thing, I don't mind repeating myself at all (my point was simply that other people on the boards had been curious and asked about my style as well).
the workout took two hours.. BUT you have to keep in mind that I'm the owner of the gym and so my workouts are longer then what they should be a lot of time because of small things that may come up , or I run into a client that has a question etc. etc..
If I was not interrupted I could prob of knocked it out in an hour and 35 mins.
yes most muscle groups are hit at least 2 times per week. though the stimulation and workout style may be different from the first time they are hit to the second time they are hit. some muscles are hit 3x per week. I actually don't have a 'weekly split' per se.. my workouts are planned around meso and micro cycles. so I may have a long (3 month or so) meso cycle planned out that includes 'micro cycles' . a micro cycle may be a series of 8 or so different workouts I need to hit (these workout may take me longer then a week or shorter then a week, all that matters is I get them done and move on to the next micro cycle). so which day of the week it is or how many days in a week there are is irrelevant to my workout cycles. the calendar doesn't dictate my workouts. the plan of micro cycles does.
hope that makes some sense
right now I'm in the part of my micro cycle where mechanical tension is the focus .. I just came out of a micro cycle where blood flow and contraction was the focus.
							
						
					
					
						Gear headed your post about mechanical tension this micro cycle etc... just literally transformed how I plan my mesocycles. Thank
You!
							
						
					
					
						
So give me a little more insight here... do you pick two altering training stimulation focus’s and alternate them each micro cycle, or do you cycle through 4 or 8 or however many different ones? For example, do you switch from mechanical tension to contraction and blood flow each micro cycle for a mesocycle then pick two different methods for the next meso or what’s the yearly training cycle like if you wouldn’t mind posting it up... I follow a lot of your posts and I to use mesocycles, micro cycles etc to periodize my training, but I usually just hear about rep or execsize periodization and hadn’t considered periodizing my training stimulus in that way.
							
						
					
					
						sure thing .. good to hear someone else out there is as methodical about programming as I am.
ok so right now I'm in a strict 'hypertrophy' meso cycle. all my micro cycles are focused on that goal right now. when I'm done I may move on to a strength phase or metabolite phase, just depends on where I'm at with my physique.
so micro cycles are like this -
micro cycle 1
Blood flow and contraction emphasis
workout 1 - Press focused - chest, front delts, side delts, triceps
workout 2 - row focused - mid back, lower traps, traps, rear delts, biceps
workout 3 - legs - volume focused, always do some hamstring and quad work together plus calves on all leg days
workout 4 - Arms - lots of volume, some super sets, high reps
workout 5 - isolation focused - test, fronte delts, side delts, tricpes
workout 6 - pull focused - lats, rhomboids, traps, rear delts, biceps
workout 7 - legs - still do hamstrings but focus on quads as a weak point
Micro cycle 2
Mechanical tension focused
same as the above 7 workouts , but all workouts are heavier weight, overload focused, compound focused, BUT still with very strict form and contracting the muscle properly . for me 'failure' is when you can no longer properly contract the muscle your working.
I'll repeat these cycles for 8 or so total cycles (10 weeks or so) . that will end my meso cycle and will move onto a new program and a new meso cycle with all new micro cycles planned.
The rep schemes for these micro cycles are based on the cycles focus itself, so for example if I'm focused on a contraction and blood flow day, I may not even count reps (they could be in the 20's) where as a mechanical tension and overload day I will have a set amount of reps, like 6, that I need to hit on every set
my next meso cycle will probably be set up with a 2 a day training split. and I may split things up and combine hypertrophy and a strength phase, so for example I may do some chest isolation work in the AM, but then come back in the PM and push some heavy weight for chest and shoulders.
not precisely sure yet, we'll see
							
						
					
					
						Amazing buddy! I love the split! I’ve been doing a ppl just like yours without the arm day, even down to the point that my push days are decided between one pressing day and one isolation day and my back days between vertical and horizontal pulls as well, but adding in the arm day perfectly fixes the issue I’ve been having! I’m stoked to add that into my routine, which would put me from a 7 day micro cycle to 8 like yours.
Lr p
							
						
					
					
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