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Cynical Simian
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Re: Sarge hits the 5x5 for Ginormous Soleus Muscles!! - Log
I'm going to go against the grain and say, at least for the ramp-up, to stick to the plan. You should feel like you can do more than your top set in week 2: it's sub-maximal. You start conservatively, build up some progression as you increase to your max, then pass it and set new PRs. Think about those guys who go into the gym every week and try to hammer away at their max without any progression: they're the ones who say stuff like "I usually bench X pounds". In other words, their maxes aren't going anywhere.
As you get into the PR weeks, you can play it by ear more with the increases. Depending on diet and other factors that affect recovery, you may be able to do more or less than the standard ~5 lbs/week for squats/deads and ~2.5 lbs/week for presses/rows. If you get to rep 5 on your max set and think "is that all?", instead of trying to see how many more you can do, just make a note to yourself to take a larger jump the following week. Again, the key to this program is gradual, steady progress, which really adds up if you can keep it going for even a month after reaching your old PRs.
I'm going to go against the grain and say, at least for the ramp-up, to stick to the plan. You should feel like you can do more than your top set in week 2: it's sub-maximal. You start conservatively, build up some progression as you increase to your max, then pass it and set new PRs. Think about those guys who go into the gym every week and try to hammer away at their max without any progression: they're the ones who say stuff like "I usually bench X pounds". In other words, their maxes aren't going anywhere.
As you get into the PR weeks, you can play it by ear more with the increases. Depending on diet and other factors that affect recovery, you may be able to do more or less than the standard ~5 lbs/week for squats/deads and ~2.5 lbs/week for presses/rows. If you get to rep 5 on your max set and think "is that all?", instead of trying to see how many more you can do, just make a note to yourself to take a larger jump the following week. Again, the key to this program is gradual, steady progress, which really adds up if you can keep it going for even a month after reaching your old PRs.
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lol. (Squats and OHP are on the list as well)
