But, what if a guy was able to use 400 lbs for 5 reps at the upper end of the cycle? If that guy used 75% of 400 lbs to begin his cycle, he would start the cycle with 300 lbs. If he used 5 lb increments, it would take 20 workouts to go from the lightest weight to the heaviest weight of the cycle. The last 4 or 5 workouts of this cycle would be with near max weights.
If a guy was only capable of using 50 lbs, (say for the bent press), then that guy would begin the cycle with around 40 lbs. If he used 5 lb increments, then he would progress from the lightest to the heaviest weight of the cycle in only 3 workouts. The guy wouldn’t be using max weights for very long before it was time to go back down to lighter weights to start the cycle over.
The point is, the more the weight a person can handle, the more 5 lb increments that person would do during the cycle. The lifter would be using vein popping effort for 5 or 6 workouts in a row. The less weight a person can handle, the fewer 5 lb increments that person would do during the cycle. There would be fewer workouts with near max effort.
I understand that the idea is to be able to use heavy weights, but to only use the heaviest weights for a short period of time. Should the amount of weight increase for each increment be kept at 5 lbs regardless of how much of a percentage of the total that represents, or should the increments be adjusted so that it takes around 8 or 10 workouts to go from the lightest to the heaviest weights of the cycle?
Thank you,
Jeff
