onsdag 8. februar 2012

Technique - Apeshit - Hypertrophy

I use this setup when I want to prioritize hypertrophy.

Let us use the squat as an example to describe each phase of the setup.

Technique

In the TAH setup we will use the Big 21 for our technique work. This is because the three sets of five reps in the beginning of the big 21 makes it suitable for hypertrophy training.

Let look at a typical session for a 200kg squatter.

150x5
152,5x5
155x5
157,5x1
160x1
162,5x1
165x1
167,5x1
170x1
172,5x1
If the last set feels to easy you can continue in the same fashion, and take it as a sign to up the starting weight in the next session.


Apeshit

Pick an exercise close to the squat and work up to a maximal set of 5-6 reps. If you feel good continue to a maximal set of 1-3 reps.

Let us continue our example with the 200kg squatter. He picks the front squat as his apeshit exercise and does the following:

80kgx5
90kgx5
100kgx5
110kgx4 The exercise still feels good so he continues.
115kgx3
120kgx3
125kgx2
130kgx1 This felt like a maximal lift for the day, so the lifter stops here.

Hypertrophy

For the hypertrophy phase of the workout you can do a lot of different stuff, like 5 sets of 8, 4 sets of 10, 54321 rest/pause, or the Horace. Nothing is written in stone. You will do this with an exercise close to your main lift. For the sake of simplicity I prefer to just use the same exercise that I used in the Apeshit phase. You can however choose another exercise if you would like more variety.

Lets say that our 200kg squatter uses the front squat and does the Horace:

70x5
75x5
80x5
85x5
90x5
95x5
90x5
85x5
80x5
75x5
70x5

After the hypertrophy phase of the workout you should just do some isolation training for the muscles that are relevant to your main lift.