Lowest rep range

[mcr]

What is the lowest rep range you can work with continually?

In other words, I have heard that if you go for your 1rm every week, you will overtrain your CNS fast and your results will suffer.

I know Westside gets around this by switching up the exercise each week.

But what if I did squats every week working up to a 3rm. Would I overtrain? And what about if I went up to a 1rm?

Thanks.

 

[Sammy Sosa]

Anything 90% or greater will have the affect. I would stick to your plan but when your squat weight doesn't move up, switch exercises the following week. Try doing good mornings instead, they really help strengthen the squat. Then when your strength stagnates with them, try another squat variation.

 

[wnt2bBeast]

westside doesnt squat or pull..they may test their maxes once every 8 weeks..and yes they switch up exercises every 3-4 weeks..they realy heavily on box squats and good mornings as well as a bunch of other exercises..check this out!!
http://www.elitefitnesssystems.com/documents/westside-deadlift-training.htm

 

[WalkingBeast]

Welcome to the boards brother!! I hit the entire spectrum of rep ranges on all muscle groups, aside from one rep maxes on non-compound movements. I also include one rep maxes every week. Since Im not deadlifting, and dont have a good spotter for inclines anymore, I only do the one rep maxes on bench press once a week. I used to do them 4X a week on 2 different types of deadlifts, incline and flat. Worked well for me. It comes down to your recovery and seeing how you respond to different types of training. My focus cycles however. For example: One month/week on bench my focus may be repetition PR's like 275x18,315x12 for example. So on these days Ill try to hit as many rep PR's as possible. I go by feel to decide which weights I will be going for PR's on. Then once Ive exhausted any possibility of a rep PR Ill throw in one rep maxes at the end. So Im not fresh when I do those on that training cycle. Then some weeks/months Ill switch the focus to one rep maxes. For this training cycle Ill warm-up solely for the purpose of all out one rep max attempts. Once those attempts have been exhausted Ill go back down in weight and go for rep PR's. This way I get the full variety every week and dont lose any one type of strength. The focus that particular week or month is what changes. Also since I have a good feel for my strength Im able to manipulate my routine to get lots of PR's with any small increase in strength. I should be good for more in the following weeks using this adaption technique. It all comes down to experimentation though and seeing what works best for you. Best of luck!