Section 4 of 6
The reasoningThis is the reasoning behind the program. You do not have to read it to run the plan, but if you understand why the loading works the way it does you will make better decisions when life gets in the way.
If you never increase the stress, you never increase the strength. That is the whole principle. Small consistent increases beat big random ones every time.
Within one session, reps go down as the weight goes up. You start at eight reps and finish on a heavy double. That lets you accumulate real work before the heavy set, and it means the heavy set happens when you are warm and sharp rather than cold.
The rep scheme never changes. Only the weight does, week to week. That is the part people get wrong. They chase a different workout every session and then wonder why nothing moves.
8, 6, 4, 2. This is the one you run almost all the time. It builds the strength. Add 5 pounds to every set each week and let it ride.
6, then 4, then doubles. If the first two sets are leaving you too gassed to do anything on the heavy ones, cut the volume out of the front and take as many doubles as it takes to reach your max.
Use it for a short stretch when you are hunting an all time PR, not as your default. Fewer reps on the way up means you arrive at your top set fresh, which is exactly what you want when you are trying to hit a number you have never hit. Once you have it, use 8, 6, 4, 2 to keep building. The low rep version is a tool for peaking, not for getting stronger.
A deload is a planned week where you cut the work back so your body can catch up. Skipping them is why people plateau or get hurt. You come back stronger, not weaker.
Every 4 to 6 weeks. Cut your weight 20 to 30 percent. Keep the movement and the rep range. Spend the week on form and mobility.
Deload sooner if you are overly fatigued or sore, your performance is declining, you stop hitting your target reps, or you feel actual pain rather than soreness.
If you have failed the same weight two weeks in a row, drop back 10 percent and build up again. That is the rule and it is not a punishment, it is a run up. You will pass the old number on the way back through.
Now the part nobody wants to hear. Most plateaus are not caused by anything you are doing in the gym. They are caused by what happens the other twenty three hours. Before you start rewriting your program, be honest about these:
You cannot get stronger without enough food and enough protein. If your weight has been flat for a month and your lifts are flat too, that is not a coincidence.
Recovery is where the adaptation actually happens. Seven to nine hours. If you are running on five, the bar will tell on you before anything else does.