Heavy one week, light the next?

[JKurz1]

Probably the strongest dude in my gym subscribes by this theory without fault. He does the exact same routine every week. Chest, Back/Delts, Arms and Legs with the other three days off, maybe some light cardio/grappling, etc....anyway, he swears by training extremely heavy one week and extremely light the next. Says the muscles and joints get stagnant and too much stress time and time again will reak havoc. Keep in mind, this dude skull crushes what many bench (arouind 155 for reps of 8-10), military DB is about 110lb for 10 STRICT, Bench is about 350 for 4-5 at the end, etc. you get my drift. BUT, the light week, he'll do 15lb kickback, skull crushers with maybe 25's, benches no more than 185, etc.......what do you guys think? Genetics or something to this training method? OH and his diet his sub-par from talking to him. Cares about nothing other than protein. Everything else is fair game. 1-2 bars a day, Wendy/BK before he trains sometimes, etc....he's probably 5'10, 225lb and 12%bf....looks like a bull........

 

[powerslave]

Me and my training partner started doing this last winter. On Tuesdays we squat and on Thursdays we deadlift. What we ended up doing was during a week we would have a heavy squat day and a not so heavy deadlift day. The following week it would switch. We liked it. There was a period where we were setting PRs every heavy day.

 

[JKurz1]

Me and my training partner started doing this last winter. On Tuesdays we squat and on Thursdays we deadlift. What we ended up doing was during a week we would have a heavy squat day and a not so heavy deadlift day. The following week it would switch. We liked it. There was a period where we were setting PRs every heavy day.

I sometimes incorporate a heavy and light training routine, but when I say "light" I mean this dude is doing MAYBE 1/4th of what he normally does. I'm sure you werent deadlifting 135 for 4 sets of 12.............he goes strictly for the pump........says its almost worse cause the burn from the pump is so much greater on light days......go figure.

 

[TRUEsoldier]

I think it sounds more like genetics! how long has he worked out, has he ever used gear, and has he ever tried other routines, or is just what he has always done!I hate those naturally strong ass bastards!!!

But it doest sound like a good idea for the joints, and on his heavy and light days, what are his rep ranges?? sounds pretty crazy though

 

[cwick0]

His body has adopted his training rituals, so you will probably see him benefit more. I not a big fan of switching light and heavy every other week. Ive done every 3 in the past, but my body doesnt transition that good. It takes me till the third week of a heavy routine to set prs. One of my latest things is to switch incline and flat bench every other week. So far so good, numbers are going through the roof on incline.

 

[ChinkNasty]

I agree with wick...different strokes for different folks...the strongest guy at my gym goes balls out every week...it all hinges on what your body is used to and how well you can manipulate that

 

[WalkingBeast]

Might be a good idea to cycle things like that. For me, its just no fun. I need that vent. Heavy weights are the only thing that bring me that satisfaction. It seems when I tone my workouts down and go lighter, especially with chest, that I start to lose size and strength. Thus, I only do it if I have an injury that prevents me from training heavy. But really, when you look at my routines youll see that I get a heavy and light day into each session. All sets are to failure though, aside from warm-ups. So at the end I might do some sets of 225x25 to failure to finish off the routine. I feel that hitting all the different rep ranges leaves no stone unturned. A light day for me, would likely be a day where I dont train to failure, and where I avoid 1-5 rep maxes.

 

[BOOEY]

I would never go THAT light .. light for me is a weight I fail at @ 10-12 reps. Heavy is failure @ 3-5 reps.

Also, I would be wary of the guys in the gym that say "Oh I eat like shit, I have fast food all the time." From experience, I've come to known a few guys who said this when they first met me and later on I found out a) they're on the sauce; and/or b)they pay so much attention to their diet its sick

 

[wnt2bBeast]

in theory sounds like a typical wsb routine..Max effort days (heavy) followed by dynamic effort (lighter) days...

 

[InTraining]

I am doing heavy and light days each week and it is working out well....

Heavy is around 5-8 light around 10-12...but I goto failure every set...