Power Week x Hypertrophy Week

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I've got a quick question considering I had some great responses in my other post from some well experienced members here. Another problem I've ran into over my 30 months of training and wanted to raise question about.

So I prefer a balance of hypertrophy and strength. I've noticed, if I do hypertrophy sets first, my muscles burn to bad to allow me to maximize my lift or use maximum weight. So I usually mix, and start with strength sets, then work my way to higher reps with lighter weight when mixing both.

I've also noticed, on days I don't do strength sets, my 10rm is higher than when I would do strength sets at the beginning.

In other words, it seems when I mix my rep schemes on the same day. I'm either not getting the most of my hypertrophy sets or the most of my strength sets.


Would it be reasonable to divide my months into weekly block periods. For example, one week of maximum strength training. Second Week of hypertrophy training. Then Repeat? With a Maint. / Rest week every 6-8 weeks?

Ie. One week I'll do 7 Sets x 3 Reps then the following week switch to 4 Sets x 10 Reps?
 

CJ

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I like doing 4-6 week blocks of each. I've tried to mix them up within a week, but I found that I carry fatigue and soreness from the hypertrophy days into my strength days. If I'm killing myself with 10's one day, no way an I ready in a few days to hit heavy 3's.

I'll still mix rep schemes during the week, but if I'm really focusing on one, I put the other on the back burner for awhile. I think 1 week blocks might not be long enough to get what you are looking for. There is DUP training out there though, so it probably works well too. Daily Undulating Periodization.

But don't forget the SAID principle, Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. Build one up, then maintain it while you build up the other.
 
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Metalhead1

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I like doing 4-6 week blocks of each. I've tried to mix them up within a week, but I found that I carry fatigue and soreness from the hypertrophy days into my strength days. If I'm killing myself with 10's one day, no way an I ready in a few days to hit heavy 3's.

I'll still mix rep schemes during the week, but if I'm really focusing on one, I put the other on the back burner for awhile. I think 1 week blocks might not be long enough to get what you are looking for. There is DUP training out there though, so it probably works well too. Daily Undulating Periodization.

But don't forget the SAID principle, Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. Build one up, then maintain it while you build up the other.

DUP training is efficient, but much more taxing in my experience. 3 days of strength training, with two days of hypertrophy training from what we did. MWF were the strength focus days, with Tuesday and Thursday the hypertrophy/accessory days.

It takes a little time to build up to the workload as long as your nutrition and rest are good. Otherwise, it would be brutal to recover from constantly.
 
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snake

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Something I think that gets said a lot but not really understood is the "Mixing it up" or "Muscle Confusion". You're muscles are not going to get confused; they contract or they don't, it's all they know.

One problem with changing it up every week is you're body doesn't get time to adapt. "Oh but Uncle Snakey, that's the point." I got news for ya, if you don't give your body time to get use to the load, you'll have a hard time putting real weight in your hands or on your back. You want to mix it up, that's fine just give your body 8-12 weeks to reap the reps or weight that you have sown.
 
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Something I think that gets said a lot but not really understood is the "Mixing it up" or "Muscle Confusion". You're muscles are not going to get confused; they contract or they don't, it's all they know.

One problem with changing it up every week is you're body doesn't get time to adapt. "Oh but Uncle Snakey, that's the point." I got news for ya, if you don't give your body time to get use to the load, you'll have a hard time putting real weight in your hands or on your back. You want to mix it up, that's fine just give your body 8-12 weeks to reap the reps or weight that you have sown.


Snake, I can agree with your post once again and thanks again for putting your time and help in. If you don't mind, can I pick your brain for a bit? As far as the adaption being a good thing, I can thoroughly understand and relate to this. For the reason, I've made it far enough on my bench, deadlift, and some weighted dips and pull ups, that some movements became a a matter of the mental case for me. When I first started going down with 3 plates on the dip, if I told myself I was going to get it, I got it. If I had any doubt, I could never get it up because of mental blockage. This went on for several sessions over and over until I gave my body time to adapt or get used to lifting that 3 plates. I believe you stand correct, I have to give my body time to get used to the weight threshold to keep increasing it.

But I a question I ponder for you and wonder myself. Does there ever come a point to where you feel focusing on increasing hypertrophy for a while could aid you further down the road in lifting heavy and also give your joints and tendons time to catch up? Also, can you share with us what rep range you train in? Do you think I'd see a change in body composition if I switched to high rep or 10 rep range for a while?

With that said, I'm defiantly growing as I increase my lifts and get stronger, but I feel I could be much more defined and probably increase my mass a bit by utilizing high rep for a while.
 

brock8282

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Look up layne Norton’s PHAT training. I think it’s exactly what you are looking for in terms of programming strength and Hypertrophy in a routine.
 

snake

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Snake, I can agree with your post once again and thanks again for putting your time and help in. If you don't mind, can I pick your brain for a bit? As far as the adaption being a good thing, I can thoroughly understand and relate to this. For the reason, I've made it far enough on my bench, deadlift, and some weighted dips and pull ups, that some movements became a a matter of the mental case for me. When I first started going down with 3 plates on the dip, if I told myself I was going to get it, I got it. If I had any doubt, I could never get it up because of mental blockage. This went on for several sessions over and over until I gave my body time to adapt or get used to lifting that 3 plates. I believe you stand correct, I have to give my body time to get used to the weight threshold to keep increasing it.

But I a question I ponder for you and wonder myself. Does there ever come a point to where you feel focusing on increasing hypertrophy for a while could aid you further down the road in lifting heavy and also give your joints and tendons time to catch up? Also, can you share with us what rep range you train in? Do you think I'd see a change in body composition if I switched to high rep or 10 rep range for a while?

With that said, I'm defiantly growing as I increase my lifts and get stronger, but I feel I could be much more defined and probably increase my mass a bit by utilizing high rep for a while.

No problem buddy, you can pick my brain any time. I like these types of threads that actually related to diet(we'll get to that) and training.

Seems you understand how your body reacts to heavy weight. There's a term for it but when a maximum load is placed on the body, as in singles or even triples, the body has a fail-safe mechanism that will shut you down to prevent injury. Training for a long time with heavy weights seems to push this mechanism back a little. You're body is like, Yeah, I have seen this before, nothing to worry about. Downfall is you fool it too much and that Safe part goes out the window. So you see that sticking point you spoke of is both mental and physical.

As for hypertrophy helping heavy lifts and vice versa; hell yeah they play off one another. You won't see a many muscular guys who cant lift a lot nor a strong guy who is not big. The difference, diet. This is why I don't think changing to 10 reps will change your look that notably.

Injuries can happen with both heavy weight and high reps. I had a grade 2 quad tear squatting 315 and singled twice that without a problem in my hayday. A complete pec rupture on rep 2 of something I got for 6 the week before, you never know when you have overstepped until it happens. Regardless of weight and reps, you want to be on the fence; on one side is inadequate gains, the other side is injury. Paying attention to repetitive motion injuries is a help in preventing a serious injury. Tendonitis in the elbow or petella, bursitis in the hips and shoulder is a sign of needed a week off.

My reps for power were high by PLing standards; 5-6 with triples only being used for a 3 weeks or so before a meet. Singles were only done on game day. I don't like the term "Hypertrophy" because everyone equates growth with reps. An example, my lower back responds well to reps in the 6 range while my upper back needs reps of 15; it's just what I have learned about myself. My stubborn calves do not do well with reps or heavy weight, they respond to short rest periods. And for squats, it's not cardio. If your diagram fails before your quads, you're reps are way too high. Not to mention the invitation to injury that comes with losing form because you taxed your circulatory system.

I hope I answered you questions. If not or you have more, just ask.
 
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Look up layne Norton’s PHAT training. I think it’s exactly what you are looking for in terms of programming strength and Hypertrophy in a routine.


Going to take a look into it tonight..... Although I'm sure it's not going to do me much good right now. :mad: My gym shut down for a month as of today. 10FITNESS that is. :mad:
 
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No problem buddy, you can pick my brain any time. I like these types of threads that actually related to diet(we'll get to that) and training.

Seems you understand how your body reacts to heavy weight. There's a term for it but when a maximum load is placed on the body, as in singles or even triples, the body has a fail-safe mechanism that will shut you down to prevent injury. Training for a long time with heavy weights seems to push this mechanism back a little. You're body is like, Yeah, I have seen this before, nothing to worry about. Downfall is you fool it too much and that Safe part goes out the window. So you see that sticking point you spoke of is both mental and physical.

As for hypertrophy helping heavy lifts and vice versa; hell yeah they play off one another. You won't see a many muscular guys who cant lift a lot nor a strong guy who is not big. The difference, diet. This is why I don't think changing to 10 reps will change your look that notably.

Injuries can happen with both heavy weight and high reps. I had a grade 2 quad tear squatting 315 and singled twice that without a problem in my hayday. A complete pec rupture on rep 2 of something I got for 6 the week before, you never know when you have overstepped until it happens. Regardless of weight and reps, you want to be on the fence; on one side is inadequate gains, the other side is injury. Paying attention to repetitive motion injuries is a help in preventing a serious injury. Tendonitis in the elbow or petella, bursitis in the hips and shoulder is a sign of needed a week off.

My reps for power were high by PLing standards; 5-6 with triples only being used for a 3 weeks or so before a meet. Singles were only done on game day. I don't like the term "Hypertrophy" because everyone equates growth with reps. An example, my lower back responds well to reps in the 6 range while my upper back needs reps of 15; it's just what I have learned about myself. My stubborn calves do not do well with reps or heavy weight, they respond to short rest periods. And for squats, it's not cardio. If your diagram fails before your quads, you're reps are way too high. Not to mention the invitation to injury that comes with losing form because you taxed your circulatory system.

I hope I answered you questions. If not or you have more, just ask.


I never looked at things from the fail-safe mechanism viewpoint, but it makes sense now. I've had my share of injuries too, (rotator cuff, strain in my rhomboid area, and a few other minors. I've had to sit out from 4-6 weeks a few times and it was a major blow to the face, although I managed to find ways to work around those body parts over the weeks. I love lifting heavy and probably take a lot of risk doing it. I like to do a lot of heavy doubles and triples. So when I increase in weight I'll go up in weight to my 3rm. Then I'll work with that same weight until I can rep it out for 5 reps for multiple sets. Then go up in weight again. I've seemed to have less injuries by progressing more slowly rather than trying to increase it to quick.

When I mention trying higher rep schemes for a while, you just brought up another good point. My upper back was responding well to high rep light weighted pull ups + 5, + 10, +15 lbs. Then I kept going up in weight all the way to a few plates. I grew along the way, but I feel areas like my upper back might respond again, my dropping the weight some and increasing the reps. Hence, why I was talking about increasing rep ranges.

Also, if you have time over the next few weeks, I'd love to discuss diet with you some also. It's going to be a hard few weeks, my gym (10Fitness) shut down for 1 month as of now. So for now, it's back to the weighted pull ups, dips, push ups, barbell rows, and barbell squats at the house.
 

snake

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Also, if you have time over the next few weeks, I'd love to discuss diet with you some also. It's going to be a hard few weeks, my gym (10Fitness) shut down for 1 month as of now. So for now, it's back to the weighted pull ups, dips, push ups, barbell rows, and barbell squats at the house.

Sure, talking about diet is easy, implementing it is the hard part. lol I'm no expert but I'd be more than happy to offer some suggestions.
 
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Sure, talking about diet is easy, implementing it is the hard part. lol I'm no expert but I'd be more than happy to offer some suggestions.

Snake, so I'm interested on picking your knowledge for some things. Obviously, for me to gain 45 lbs in 3 years, I've did some serious eating. Especially, considering the fact I'm what you would call a hard gainer. I was 137 lbs when I started. My father is 135 soaking wet, and my mother 130'ish soaking wet. I also have a SUPER HIGH METABOLISM and work manual labor (Landscaper) all day. With that said, I came to conclusion, If I wanted to be bigger, I had to eat. So for the past 3 years, I've been calorie surplus majorly. Most days, consuming 6,000 + Calories a day / 300g Protein range + carbs and macros.

My diet is mostly: Milk, Gainer Powder, Chicken, Fish, Tuna, Steaks, Brisket, Beef Jerky for snacks, and more Milk.

However, I've been doing alot of reading. One of my favorite guys Gironda, had a diet of 36 eggs a day. And I've read that they can be anabolic due to the cholesterol levels. What's your take on this as a post work out drink?

Also, I've read into the kilo of spinach because of the compound inside the spinach. For most, obviously a kilo a day would be impossible. But I've had no problem the few days I've tried it. However, I'm confused about the spinach and egg thing. So apparently Spinach lowers your cholesterol, and eggs raise it? So would this kilo of spinach thing defeat the purpose of eating so many eggs, is it counter productive, or will the spinach just lower the bad cholesterol? And what's your opinion on adding both of them to my current diet?
 

CJ

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However, I've been doing alot of reading. One of my favorite guys Gironda, had a diet of 36 eggs a day. And I've read that they can be anabolic due to the cholesterol levels. What's your take on this as a post work out drink?

Please, please, please post up a video of you doing this!!!!!!!!!
 

CJ

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Pretty please.
 

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