08-19-2009, 10:25 AM
Balthazar and myself have been talking about applying some of the other Russian-ish stuff (namely Prilepin's Table) to Mike Tuchscherer's Reactive Training System.
I've been playing with a lot of spreadsheets lately and I've attached a first-draft version of one I've come up with.
This is very powerlifting-oriented, and it includes three separate cycles: three weeks of volume emphasis, three weeks of intensity emphasis, and then one separate four-week wave cycle.
The volume and intensity phases are meant to be done back to back, while the four-week wave is more standalone.
What this does it take a basic loading/intensity zone, whether 60-70%, 70-80%, 80-90%, or 90%+, then assigns a working rep range and a target RPE number. The total volume is up to you, based on the weight used and how it feels (RPE).
The fatigue drop-offs are explained loosely, but basically what these are is a measure of how much your performance should decrease before you call it quits. Once your working weight becomes more difficult (i.e., it slows down, starts grinding, "feels harder", etc.), you'd reduce the load according to that fatigue drop-off value - which Mike T calls a fatigue stop.
So if it says 5% and you're working with 100x5, then your drop-off would be 95x5. In the volume phase, you'd immediately reduce the the weight to 95x5 and work until that became difficult (the second fatigue stop). In the intensity phase, you'd lower the load incrementally until you reached that fatigue stop. So you might go 97.5x5, then 95x5.
In practice each exercise is going to have a time limit (which I haven't included in this first spreadsheet), though you'd do well to think of that as "go no longer than X minutes" rather than "must work to X minutes". If you hit fatigue first, stop. You don't have to keep going for 20 minutes just because the exercise says go for 20 minutes.
If you hit the time limit first, stop. The time limit is there to make sure you don't take 10 minute rests between sets and go all day long. You'll have to keep up a reasonable rate of work.
I'll probably put up more of these in the future as I try them out in the gym and see how effectively they translate to reality. In the mean time, feel free to play around with this one and see how it works out for you.
Also that version is for Office 2007, so if you're using an older version, use this one.
I've been playing with a lot of spreadsheets lately and I've attached a first-draft version of one I've come up with.
This is very powerlifting-oriented, and it includes three separate cycles: three weeks of volume emphasis, three weeks of intensity emphasis, and then one separate four-week wave cycle.
The volume and intensity phases are meant to be done back to back, while the four-week wave is more standalone.
What this does it take a basic loading/intensity zone, whether 60-70%, 70-80%, 80-90%, or 90%+, then assigns a working rep range and a target RPE number. The total volume is up to you, based on the weight used and how it feels (RPE).
The fatigue drop-offs are explained loosely, but basically what these are is a measure of how much your performance should decrease before you call it quits. Once your working weight becomes more difficult (i.e., it slows down, starts grinding, "feels harder", etc.), you'd reduce the load according to that fatigue drop-off value - which Mike T calls a fatigue stop.
So if it says 5% and you're working with 100x5, then your drop-off would be 95x5. In the volume phase, you'd immediately reduce the the weight to 95x5 and work until that became difficult (the second fatigue stop). In the intensity phase, you'd lower the load incrementally until you reached that fatigue stop. So you might go 97.5x5, then 95x5.
In practice each exercise is going to have a time limit (which I haven't included in this first spreadsheet), though you'd do well to think of that as "go no longer than X minutes" rather than "must work to X minutes". If you hit fatigue first, stop. You don't have to keep going for 20 minutes just because the exercise says go for 20 minutes.
If you hit the time limit first, stop. The time limit is there to make sure you don't take 10 minute rests between sets and go all day long. You'll have to keep up a reasonable rate of work.
I'll probably put up more of these in the future as I try them out in the gym and see how effectively they translate to reality. In the mean time, feel free to play around with this one and see how it works out for you.
Also that version is for Office 2007, so if you're using an older version, use this one.
