[ANSWERED] How Much Should I Train? 6 Days? 3 Days? How Many Set and Reps Should I Do? What Weight Should I Be Lifting?

Yesterday in our powerlifting workforce whatsapp we received to discussing training quantity, how a lot is an excessive amount of, ought to we be doing extra, and what’s optimum. 

I might write for days on this, however at this time can be a short abstract, hopefully opening the door to some Qs from you that I can broaden on later.

TERMS
Before entering into it, we have to perceive a few phrases;

“volume” – the full variety of lifts achieved of squat, benches and deadlifts (or shut variants) at or above 50%

“tonneage” – the variety of lifts (quantity) multiplied by the reps achieved at that weight

“weekly volume” – the full mixed variety of squat, bench, deadlift and close to variants achieved per week at or above 50%

“lifts per year” – your weekly quantity multipled by 52

“maximum recoverable volume” – the best quantity of training you COULD do and nonetheless get well (not essentially the optimum strategy)

“maximum adaptive volume” – probably the most quantity you should utilize in training and nonetheless proceed to get higher, for all intents and functions that is the the quantity you wish to intention for, as a result of further training received’t yield further enhancements (even if you happen to might get well from it)

So, the place to start is that this – as you turn out to be stronger and extra superior, your ablity to get well ought to enhance, and the full quantity of labor it’s worthwhile to do must enhance as nicely to proceed getting stronger.

This is the primary cause why I suppose leaping right into a hardcore 6 day / week program is mindless – you’ve nowhere to progress to from there.

WHAT’S RIGHT FOR ME?
If you agree it’s true that as you progress you’ll want to extend quantity, then there ought to most likely be some parameters for the place totally different courses of lifter ought to reside as a place to begin proper? An optimum vary.

And there may be. At least in my expertise. It comes from speaking to among the greatest powerlifting coaches in existence, dissecting packages to search out the numbers, and from studying about different individuals smarter than I who’ve achieved the identical.

Generally talking, for novice stage lifters the optimum is correct round 10,000 lifts per years (…or 192/week).

“Optimal” on this case is sufficient to maximise the difference course of with out unnecessarily beating the lifter into the bottom.

For different courses; (please bear in mind all numbers are approximate lifters per yr, and usually relate to the preparation part forward of a peaking cycle)

Regional (some expertise, however not qualifying for nationwide comps): 11-12okay

National (attending to the stage of qualifying however not successful): 12-14okay

Top ranked nationwide lifter: 14-17okay

International normal athlete: 17-20okay

Of course, relying on what a lifters desire in the direction of training is, and how heavy they raise every day – these numbers might be miles excessive, or a number of hundreds lifts a yr low.

For probably the most half, if you happen to’re averaging 70-73% of 1RM throughout a day, these numbers received’t steer you too far mistaken.

If you have a look at the variety of lifts included in Boris Sheiko’s programming, and the category of lifter these packages are assigned to, the acknowledged numbers tie in. As they do to Dietmar Wolfe’s prescriptions for his Norwegian workforce of powerlifting gods.

If you’re following a conjugate / westside precept – throw these numbers out as a result of the depth you’re working at is simply too excessive for that quantity.

Now, it’s possible you’ll have a look at that and thinkg “holy crap those numbers are high” and they’re, however that’s the worth of being good. If you need a fast breakdown of learn how to break up them up, simply do that (utilizing regional normal numbers of 12,000 lifts per yr):

Train: 4x
Lifts / Week: 230
Lifts / Day: 58
Squat: 18 reps (30% of whole quantity) – name it 60% x3, 70% x3, 80% 4×3
Bench: 26 reps (45% of whole quantity) – name it 60% x6, 75% 4×6
Deadlift: 15 reps (25% of whole quantity) – name it 75% 4×4

…and perhaps that doesn’t look too unhealthy, however do this 4x per week for a yr and inform me you received’t get higher, or that it received’t be powerful.

The fantastic thing about working at these barely decrease %s is that you simply get to apply and grove PERFECT approach on a regular basis.

WHEN TRAINING MORE OFTEN IS GOOD…
Closing off… whereas I was on the IPF Internationl Coaches License course in Spain final yr, Dietmar advised us a couple of research they did with Norwegian lifters.

All lifters within the research have been nationwide/worldwide normal, and assigned an annual workload of 20,000 lifts per yr in the identical depth vary. Some did it over 3 days, others did it over 6 days.

The guys who did it over 3 days received stronger, however misplaced muscle.

The guys who did it over 6 days received MORE stronger, gained muscle and misplaced fats.

So is 3 days higher than 6? Or are 6 days higher than 3?

Well it is dependent upon the place you’r at now and how a lot training you’re doing.

For newbies and intermediates, 3 might be higher than 6.

For superior guys and girls, 6 is sort of actually higher than 3.

As all the time – there’s no black and white. Just greys.

Facebook reside video of the dialogue in some extra depth right here;