Looking for opinions on time between training cycles

[vdizenzo]

OK, I have just come off two bench meets within a month. I am one week out and already chomping at the bit to start training for my next meet. I am going to be competing July 30th. Personally I'd rather start pushing hard again right away and then coast in to the meet a few weeks out. I am really curious to hear everyones opinions on this. Thanks.

[mikesbench]

Vin,
I tend to go by feel to decide when / how much to push it coming off a meet. I'd say if you feel good, joints aren't bothering you, and your lifts are explosive then you can get after it right away. What's coming up next? another raw bench meet, or are you shirting up? If raw I'd take a week or two to build some volume back up, then get to business as usual. If you're shirting up obviously you'll need to start hitting some lifts to bring up your lockout. Congrats on that big 600, can't wait to see where you go from there.

[BloodandThunder]

Maybe take some time and allow your weight to settle, increase GPP, and build some volume at your sticking point and related muscles? Two meets in four weeks time is alot of stress on the system, and the fact you're demolishing 6 and handling near that over that timeframe is crazy.

I like to spend a bit of time after a meet on focusing on things like rows, overhead presses, and dbs versus actual pressing to give myself a break from the tons of benching volume done pre-competition. Try to get my floor press and other variations up. Then towards a meet, gradually increase my competition bench volume to hone in technique.

Then again, I don't raw bench 600 lol.

[barryisawinnah]

well you're way more experienced than I am, but my thinking is that I start to literally lose my mind (I get so bored and literally just get in a shitty mood) if I am not training for an extended period of time. It's why I have to do something 6 days a week (2 of those days are GPP stuff) unless I am on vacation for a week or something or hurt, I am always "pushing" it. Don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it's how I feel. Now I do take scheduled deloads, but hate them, lol

[Travis Bell]

I normally jump right back into it with little or no breaks.

But I do lots of dumb crap so take that with a grain of salt lol

[Rob Luyando]

All depends on how your CNS feels. Raw shouldn't depleat you too bad so you should be able to jump right back into the swing of things. Just remember to leave some room to grow as far as your strength levels go. If you start full bore its goin to be harder to make gains.

[ScottYard]

I like to deload after the meet then do a mini cycle that is used as a base cycle. Ill plan out my 531 but only do reps prescirbed the first cycle. After that its full tilt.

[MarcusWild]

I like to take a week off after a meet. I'll focus on foam rolling, stretching, and recovery. Then I'll start the next training cycle.

[SELK]

I usually back it off for about a month or two then build back slowly.. Right now I am trying something different and I pretty much just started a new training cycle a few days after the meet, my strength is good but my body is certainly more beat up. When I backoff my training its still training which gets me stronger, I just back of the intensity. So instead of doing singles > 90% I am doing 3-5sets of 3-5 reps at a lower percentage.

The only real problem with doing things this way is I can only really be ready to compete 2x a year. I am fine with that though.

[vdizenzo]

I did reverse band bench last night. Just used light bands with 315 for 10x10. I definitely did not feel explosive at all with that weight. So I clearly needed to take it easy. So that's all I did, no other supplemental or accessory work. I found reverse band bench very interesting with lighter weight for reps. I'm used to doing it solely as a max effort exercise. It's almost like benching in slow motion. I worked with various grips. Tried to feel which muscles were doing the pressing and when. I have excellent pressing power from the bottom. If my finish was as strong I think I'd be good for a lot more weight. So I am really going to do a lot of homework, research, etc. in breaking down my bench.

Thanks for the responses guys.

[mastermonster]

Hey Vin! I've had my guys on Wendler's 5-3-1 for about 5 months now since I shut down for the shoulder surgery. They have all made the 4 week cycle goals each month and have fit 3 meets into that time frame. They have all chosen not to take off after the meets. I agreed sort of to see if they'd still keep gaining (they are all competing raw right now). They all hit PR each meet (full power). Now as my own lifts get nearer to normal I'm going to try the 5-3-1 myself. I've never been a fan of periodization, but this one has impressed me. It appears that this one might just support a near continueous positive strength curve. I'm very curious to see where we are after a year on it. For whatever that's worth! It feels weird offering advice to you because 'you da man Vinnie!'. Keep bustin' the big benches big guy! Good luck!

[Sensei]

IMHO, it's really important to take at least a couple weeks off to recharge and do something different. If you must lift, then do some bodybuilding work or work some different angles for a few weeks. I think your joints and CNS will thank you in the long run.

[vdizenzo]

OK, I am going to take at least two weeks off from max effort. Maybe this second week I'll take a triple instead of a single. That would really give me three weeks off from true ME. My DE is starting on the second week, but will be really light. This looks to be the plan so far.

[theBarzeen]

If you feel ready, go for it.... at this point in the game you should know your body better than anyone else.

Are you shirting up for your next one or going for that 715 raw?

[chris mason]

I would say take a week of rest from the weights. Just do some light conditioning stuff. Then get back to it.