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anotherbutters
New member
I was writing the following in response to a PM, but I thought I'd put it in a post so that other people can chime in. The original question was about ramping up with a different set/rep scheme after stalling on the SF 5x5.
However, if you did flat sets, you might incur more overall fatigue and start to load up, as in periodisation. So you'd probably stall sooner because as well as trying to increase the weight, you're also dealing with extra fatigue. That's not necessarily a bad thing, so long as you manage that fatigue. Once you stall, you'd want to switch to another set/rep scheme that has lower overall load, so you can recover from the fatigue, e.g. 3x3. Then you've basically done a run of the DF5x5.
Here's a good link that explains how to calculate training load: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5017744&postcount=686
The SF 5x5 was designed with a moderate amount of load that most people should be able to cope with, without building up too much fatigue - you should be able to run it for weeks and weeks. So I would be inclined to ramp the weights up again on the new set/rep scheme.
As to how that would look on the Friday workout, well I'd do the same as the standard 5x5: choose Monday's weight and do a smaller number of reps on Friday. So if I was doing 8 sets of 3, I might do 5 or 6 sets of 3, then try a single or double at Monday's weight, then possibly a backoff set.
Whether you ramp up or do flat sets at the same weight is just a matter of managing volume. You could do either, so long as you stick to it week after week and try to get better at it.
However, if you did flat sets, you might incur more overall fatigue and start to load up, as in periodisation. So you'd probably stall sooner because as well as trying to increase the weight, you're also dealing with extra fatigue. That's not necessarily a bad thing, so long as you manage that fatigue. Once you stall, you'd want to switch to another set/rep scheme that has lower overall load, so you can recover from the fatigue, e.g. 3x3. Then you've basically done a run of the DF5x5.
Here's a good link that explains how to calculate training load: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5017744&postcount=686
The SF 5x5 was designed with a moderate amount of load that most people should be able to cope with, without building up too much fatigue - you should be able to run it for weeks and weeks. So I would be inclined to ramp the weights up again on the new set/rep scheme.
As to how that would look on the Friday workout, well I'd do the same as the standard 5x5: choose Monday's weight and do a smaller number of reps on Friday. So if I was doing 8 sets of 3, I might do 5 or 6 sets of 3, then try a single or double at Monday's weight, then possibly a backoff set.
