Cycling rep ranges on a bulk

[bkoman]

I know it's good to cycle rep ranges in most situations to keep the muscles guessing, but I'm a bit confused on if I'm supposed to bump weight or drop weight when going from hypertrophy range to strength range.

To clarify, I've heard some people suggest that if you're doing rep ranges of 8-10x3 then its good to drop down to the 4-6 range, but then I hear them say DROP the weight and do a 5x5. <----- Dropping the weight for the lower rep ranges is what confuses me.

Technically 4-6 reps is our strength range correct? So shouldn't I be increasing the weight? The whole concept to me would be to increase strength so when returning to hypertrophy range we can increase the weight more easily, thus leading to more gains. But according to what I have heard I would be doing something like this....

Deadlift - 250x10x3 (hypertrophy)
then....
Deadlift - 225x5x5 ???

I'd think it would be more effective to increase the weight, but maybe its suggested to drop the weight and do 5x5 because that creates more volume. That's only speculation to me.

Could someone please clarify this?

[chris mason]

There are a couple of ways to do it, but if you want to do both on the same day I suggest you warm-up and then do 2 sets of 3-5 reps and then 2 sets of 10-12 reps. That way you get both an excellent strength and hypertrophy stimulus.

FYI, I don't recommend more than 4-6 post warm-up sets per body part. The reason so many people never progress is because they overtrain.

[bkoman]

Im sorry, I can be really bad at constructively writing my posts. I meant to specify cycling rep ranges every 4-6 weeks or so. I was unsure when starting my new rep range tonight (previously was just at 8-12 for the last 4-5 weeks), so I just went ahead and did what I thought was best which was bumping up the weight and sticking to 4-6 reps.

I will continue to do this for the next few weeks and then I will switch back to my 8-12 range as this seems what most people do and it makes the most sense to me anyways.

Thanks for the reply though!

p.s. I bought some nitrean a while back and requested some free samples of another product and you guys came through! Thanks for that!

[yayeti]

FYI, I don't recommend more than 4-6 post warm-up sets per body part. The reason so many people never progress is because they overtrain.

Is this per workout if you work a bodypart twice per week or total sets per bodypart per week?

[chris mason]

Per workout, not per week.

[greemah]

To clarify, I've heard some people suggest that if you're doing rep ranges of 8-10x3 then its good to drop down to the 4-6 range, but then I hear them say DROP the weight and do a 5x5. <----- Dropping the weight for the lower rep ranges is what confuses me.

You are confused or have misheard - if you lower the rep ranges you would increase the weight e.g. you might do 3x10 200lbs and then if you decide the next week to do lower reps you might do 5x5 230lbs or something

[bkoman]

You are confused or have misheard - if you lower the rep ranges you would increase the weight e.g. you might do 3x10 200lbs and then if you decide the next week to do lower reps you might do 5x5 230lbs or something

I definitely misheard what others had said.

I bumped the weight up anyways, and I went from 245x8x3 to 270x5x5. I know my DL is weak (also just started to DL 3 months ago) but we all get there eventually. Im hoping to hit 400 sometime by fall of next year. My long term goal is to be able to deadlift 3x my body weight.