PTC

That chart is a dogs breakfast, are the weights really going backwards from day one

regressive training reintroduced

forget your pretty charts and go lift

RhysG

No, theyre not. The weight progression either went down when I was feeling shit due to the cold or the maximum stayed the same or increased. If you look at the progression that I WAS doing: it was increasing with each set to a maximum that either went down AFTER day 1 because I couldn't get 8 reps out of it since then or was sick, but since then has increased to either match day 1 or exceed it. What's a dogs breakfast about the chart other than that? If I understand it then that's all I care about, helps me to see my own progress for the future.

PTC

6 sessions after your first, you still havent matched your original output in the squat

36kg x 9
36kg x 10
36kg x 10


six sessions later

26kg x 10
31kg x 10
36kg x 10

Thats called regressive resistance training

Same story with the bench press

Paullie

RhysG, I appreciate you all enthusiastic with charts and the like, thats great. But Im going to tell you something Markos told me when I was first starting out. 40kg does not constitute a squat .. ever .. go back to the gym, load up 70kg and pump out 5 x 10.

I did, and have never looked back .. now go do it :P

Kyle Aaron

A journal is good, Rhys. Charts not so much. Sometimes we can get caught up in the details a bit, whether it's weights and sets and reps, or calories and grams of protein and so on. We worry about doing the wrong thing, and think that if we plan it all on a neat spreadsheet it'll go brilliantly.

Unfortunately, the human body is not a machine which reacts in these sorts of easily predictable and exact ways. We just end up doing our head in with all the numbers.

So you just have to go lift. There's a mantra of Markos' that he didn't invent, so I'm happy to steal it from him, I always repeat it to clients and anyone I give advice to: always do more. In every workout, more than you did last time - more weight, or more reps, or more sets.

Your body changes because it encounters a stress it could only just handle. You provide that stress in the form of weight training. So you stress your body, it adapts, it can handle more stress. If you want it to keep changing, you have to stress it again. It won't be stressed by doing the same thing again, you have to up the stakes. Do more. More weight, more reps or more sets.

One of my clients said the other day, "I thought this would get easier." If we did the first workout he ever did, well it'd be easy. But that would be pointless. The body would not be stressed, so it wouldn't adapt. If you're not stressing the body, why do the workout? All you're doing is lifting up iron and putting it down again a zillion times, what's the sense in that? Weightlifting is inherently a stupid and pointless thing. It's only useful if it's stressing your body. Which means...

Do more.

If you're sick, miss the workout. Your body has enough resources to adapt to stress, or to get better, not both.

__________________
Recent clients' best results: BW +10kg/-27kg ... BF-11% ... ♀/♂1RM/kg SQ65/145 OHP30/65 DL75/170
"fitness and lifting is just an interest I have. Plain and simple. Some people like music, others like shopping, I like deadlifts." - a client[/SIZE]

dave

I think that was just his pretty log, not a chart of what he will lift. Rhys just go back to the basics I think you have confused yourself by complicating a simple plan. Also listen to Paulie, I am very sure you have more than 40kg in you. Also I just posted a Dan John video that teaches a lot about squatting, watch it and fix up your technique.

RhysG

Ah OK I understand now. I was thinking only in terms of maximum weight lifted at one time when I should be thinking total weight over all sets for a particular exercise. Thanks for clearing that up Markos.
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RhysG

Thanks for all the replies people, I appreciate the advice. Yep dave, that is just my log not a plan for future lifts. Will report back how I go after the next few weeks. Gotta get me a squat rack!

Cheers,
Rhys
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PowerBuilder

like Kyle said, always do more

__________________
Mobility/Flexibility - Strength - Conditioning. These 3 things are paramount to any training program no matter who you are. - Jim Wendler