I must learn how to cycle my workouts

[SkinnySadMan]

For cycling workouts, is it okay to just cycle the rep ranges for the big three ?

i.e. weeks 1-8 (Cycle 1) would be geared more towards strength. For example 3x3, 5x5, 8 x 3, singles, etc.

weeks 1-8 (Cycle 2) would be higher reps on big three. 3-4 x 8-12

All assistance/isolation work would stay the same. Or should I also cycle these also ?

Most of my assistance work is 3-4 sets of 5-10 reps.








.......in the end, it's actually food that really matters ?

[Hazerboy]

unless you're trying to gain mass, I don't think your diet matters as much in powerlifting as it does in bodybuilding. Although it doesn't hurt to eat pretty clean, just look at Dave Tate - That guy puts up huge numbers and his diet is AWFUL! There was an article somewhere on it awhile back.

As far as cycling your rep ranges, there are many, many things you can do for that. What you have looks pretty good, however I prefer to cycle my "working sets." For instance usually I'll do 5 x 5, with the first two sets being progressivly harder warmups. When I stop making progress for awhile I'll move to 3 warmup sets and 2 working sets, then to 4 warmups and 1 working set. From there I may go to 5/4/3/2/1 or something like that. I got this from the Book "Dinosaur Training."


Some powerlifters, for instance those who train Westside, prefer to cycle excercises instead of workouts.,For instance you could flat bench for awhile then move to barbell bench, lockouts, board presses, incline etc. Unless you're pressing really, really big numbers I don't think it matters too much of what you do, just vary it from time to time, keep track of your progress, what works for you and what doesn't.

As far as assistant work, just keep track of whatever you're doing and either change the excercise or the rep range. Again, follow the KISS method - Keep it Simple Stupid! change whatever isn't working, but don't change it TO often, for instance if you're changing whatever you're doing ever two workouts or so its kind of hard to gauge progress.

[Guido]

Thsoe are a couple ways you can cyle it Skinny, but yoiu can even cycle within training program. For instance, if you are training for a specific meet, you could do the first 4 weeks using higher reps (relatively) on the big three, then slightly lower rep ranges over the next 4 weeks, then finally do heavy doubles and singles the final few weeks before taking a rest week before your meet. I usually just cycle the rep ranges for the big three and stay fairly consistent or just go by feel on the assistence exercises. I've attached my training program for an upcoming meet in September as an example of how I structure my training. I did something similar for my training cyle before a meet I did June 10th and I added 17 lbs on bench and 27 lbs on my deadlift in only an 8 week cycle.