5x5 Dual Factor Tweak For Power?

[VermontLifter]

Madcow, I want to thank you for introducing me to this program. I'm about to start my third consecutive cycle tomorrow. I've made good strength and bodyweight gains over the first two. Power gains have continued but not at the rate of hypertrophy or strength. To address this, I've already added a workout at the end of the cycle to do singles or max. My thought is also adding a singles or max workout on Friday of the fourth week. Any thoughts?

 

[Madcow2]

Power is all about strength (velocity too if you want to get technical) so if you are saying strength and hypertrophy have both been good, maybe you can clarify what exact aspect is missing? I'm thinking you mean your 1RM lifts?

 

[VermontLifter]

That's it madcow, limit strength or 1 rep maximum strength.

 

[Madcow2]

Well, welcome to specificity. For 1RM performance to be optimal you have to train for 1RM's. That's not to say that you can't make a lot of progress on your 1RM by training in 5's or 5x5 or whatever over a period but you won't perform at your potential best and fully realize that progress on your 1RM by just going in and doing it randomly after a 5x5 program. So to fully realize 1RM performance at a given point in time, you have to train for it and 'time' for it assuming a periodized program (i.e. a point of low fatigue rebounding off a previously higher level).

Hopefully this is making sense. You can get a lot stronger in 5's, and it really will translate into a bigger 1RM eventually but if a 1RM is really your barometer you have to train more specifically for it at a given point in time to expect optimal performance. Looking at Westside's ME days, they are using this to keep 1RM style lifting on decent frequency within their program even though the lift itself may not be a competition lift. Looking at the Korte 3x3, the loading period is followed by a deloading period of what effectively becomes practice and maintenance work while the big lifts are geared up week to week - to where a final compeition week and day exist. This gearing up is crucial. The ME days are crucial in Westside's conjugate system. So for the 5x5 you'd have to alter it. Maybe that would be a deloading phase similar to Korte's where a series of singles are done post 5x5 loading. Maybe a phase like that after the 3x3 phase where one has peaked to records and assumably loaded up again (i.e. make sure you do even if you have to add work - this is kind of a personal tolerance but you'd effectively have teirs of deloading where the first phase would culminate in very high fatigue, a breif respite, middle teir would still peak out and keep a moderate amount of fatigue, and then this would disipate as the singles were brought up).

That's an option, if 1RM is really important to you, maybe look more closely at a Westside template which can be altered as needed as it's fairly flexible.

Hope that helps explain why an issue exists and gives some line of thought on how you might handle it if that's something important to you in each phase you do or over a longer period.

 

[VermontLifter]

Thanks for your insights madcow. Let me follow up a bit. First, have you ever seen a 5x5 template adapted for 1rm? From your explanation, it sounds like you may think other programs might be the way to go for 1 rep training. My plan is certainly to do that. At the end of this third cycle, I'll undertake some MM training. But in the meantime I was hoping to integrate a bit of power work into the 5x5.

So if I were to modify the 5x5 are you thinking it might be something along these lines:
4 weeks 5x5 loading
1 week 3x3 deload
1 week singles
4 weeks 3x3 intensity
3 weeks progressive singles

Hopefully, I'm not too confused. Although, I probably am.

 

[Madcow2]

The main issue is we are taking pre-made pieces and trying to alter them and your work capacity comes into play. Meaning, how much could I add before you drop? I don't know. If you've never run this before and we screw it up, you bomb and get nothing (at least running it you add to your strength base and then are just left with the task of realizing these gains later). Maybe a series of progressive singles within the 3x3 phase in place of or in addition to 1x3 days, then backing off on the weights to 60% and maintenance volume while singles ramp again in the 2-3 weeks afterward. I don't know. This is why cookie cutters don't work so well. I'd be inclined to say, run it out with the 3x3 without changing it and then think about how you'd alter it in the future (i.e. can you tolerate more volume in 5x5, i.e. M/W both at 5x5, can you tolerate some ME work, can you tolerate adding a layer of singles to the 2nd phase, will those singles be enough?). I wish I could help more but I feel like I'm in a pitch black room with ear muffs and thick gloves being pitched a baseball with the expectation that I'm going to connect solidly.

 

[VermontLifter]

I understand what you're saying. I'll probably do the typical 5x5 template and worry about power gains when I start MM. Thanks for responding.

 

[Madcow2]

No prob, I wish I could give you something perfect but that just doesn't exist. If this is working for you, you will certainly notice a commensurate kick to your 1Rm once you get it in shape, it's just that doing both simultaneously can be tricky. That said, once you get the feel and see where you stand, lay out your plan and we can take a look at it if that's something you'd want to do in the future.

 

[VermontLifter]

Thanks for the offer!