by Pete Arroyo

    In a previous article I touched base on how I developed my own training cycle by intertwining old school cycling with neo auto-regulatory concepts.  In this article I will explain the how, what, and why of scheduling and regulating your “heavy” days. 

    First of all, what defines a “heavy day?” By the old “go heavy or go home” battle cry of many a lifter it may mean that you basically work up to a missed attempt. Arguably, this may or may not produce the necessary effect.  In my opinion, this may produce negative results given that you may be over exerting the CNS too often and conditioning the mindset to fail.  So, I really would not put that down as an option but rather have one examine an interpretation of the maximal effort method.  Here a lifter would work up to a max for the day (in a prescribed exercise within a prescribed rep range) aiming to best a previous personal record.  Now this may seem simple at first glance but it is almost imperative that the lifter have some experience in evaluating their work up sets and work sets and/ or they are under the supervision of a distinguished coach.  The reason is that most lifters do not enter a training session truly knowing their readiness, or their current status approaching a certain type of workout.  Without a background in neuro-sciences or having the patience of tracking your recovery and preparedness on a daily basis, it makes this evaluation impossible.  So, a good approach to the “heavy day”  is for the lifter to aim for an overall stress that equals moderately high to high.  Here, the perceived effort on your work sets should equate to having one or no reps left in the tank (as per the philosophy of the RTS Rating of Perceive Effort chart) but not intentionally aiming toward a miss.  To make it simple we can examine the contest peaking approach used by legendary weightlifting coach Ivan Abadjiev of Bulgaria.  His lifters would workup to what was perceived as a max lift (usually singles that represented 90-100% or possibly more of the competitive best) for the day then backing the weight off 5-10% (of that sessions max) and performing sets of multiple reps (2-3 reps at most) until it felt heavy enough that the number of reps would diminish.  To put in practical terms the lifter uses a main exercise and works up to weight that feels like they could not get another rep (or possibly leaving a rep to spare) for the given rep range (1-3 reps is a good range) then performs back-off sets at a 5-10% drop-off in weight for 2-3 reps (I prefer to stay with the prescribed rep range for the day. IE- workup to a single drop down with singles) until the sets feel tough enough that the lifter cannot perform another rep.  Simply put, the heavy day is intended for the lifter to stress their muscular, skeletal, and neuromuscular systems with loads (and movement) that resemble competition conditions as much as possible; with the idea of preparing the body and mind to handle the stresses of a competition under any circumstances. 

    The important thing to keep in mind is that you must be brutally honest with yourself when employing perceived efforts to quantify your made attempts.  Too brave an evaluation may cause one to jump above their capabilities and risk an injurious situation or worse yet, a missed attempt. Too conservative a jump and you may wear yourself out before you reach your utmost potential for the day.  The key here is that even if you don’t reach personal best you can still make headway on your drop-off sets and increase your heavy tonnage.  You may also choose to perform reps slightly outside of your rep range (if you are feeling good) on the drop off sets which may earn you a multiple rep PR.



A summary:
What: Heavy Day (contest cycle)/ using the (modified) maximal effort method.

How:  Workup to a 1-3 rep max for the day with either no or one rep left to spare, then drop down to 90-95% of that session’s max and perform sets of 1-3 reps, depending on your schedule, until the sets feel like you have no reps to spare.

Why:  To specifically adapt the organism to competitive loads while developing the reserves in order to perform multiple maximal attempts at time of competition.  **It is my opinion that this Specific Preparation is what allows elite level lifter to finish meets without having to take an ample amount of time “off” from the emotional, mental, and physical stress that a meet induces.

    Now we can ask the question, “what do you do when a contest is not near?”  Well, the answer is simple as we still want to accomplish the same goal in terms of stress inducement, only in this phase we will achieve this through tonnage as opposed to purely intensity.  The only changes we may like to make are in exercise selection, rep range, and possibly drop-off calculations.  Given that this time of the completive calendar brings us to a period of evaluation, rejuvenation, and rehabilitation; we can program our “heavy day” to reflect on those themes.  For instance the period of contest peaking calls for the extremes in loading, exercise specificity, and gear use.  All of which wreak extreme havoc on the body.  So, given that we have an ample amount of time (let’s say 9-12 workouts for each type for H-M-L or whatever) before we train for another meet, a slight shift in daily training parameters will help us develop our those abilities neglected during our peak cycle.  Complimentary parameters to an off-season cycle include regenerative exercise, re-development of structural muscle mass, mobility, and general conditioning.  Options here include 1) Wearing looser or ditching the competition regalia to let the body “heal” from the extreme compression and heightened blood pressure (cite Pavel‘s PTP Proffessional). 2) Change the leverage advantage of the main drill to “rebalance”/ activate de-emphasized muscles effected by gear use.  Here we  can opt to perform a high bar, narrow stance squat with a heeled shoe to change the muscle emphasis but will not alter the technique or intrinsic timing of the competitive lift. 3) Employ larger rep ranges (3-6 reps) to induce improvements in specific hypertrophy.  Obviously using the same effort criteria with these rep ranges will force us to use less overall intensity; but will allow us to increase overall tonnage that is important to our reserves during the meet cycle.    4) Executing drills in a ROM slightly greater than used in competition to restore or increase joint mobility.  5) Condensing rest intervals and or executing drills in a continuous fashion to increase lactic acid tolerance and develop conditioning reserve. 
    Practically speaking we can workup to a top triple or set of 5 in the close grip bench (leaving a rep left in the tank)  followed by several sets in the 3-5 rep range at a drop off between 5 and 10% (which would equal approximately 60%-70% of a calculated max). **Coincidentally the intensity of the back-off sets both in the off-season and meet peak cycles corroborate with the intensity of optimal lifts in A.S. Prelipen’s chart.  The question of “what’s optimal?” lies in the ability to accurately asses your current day’s abilities.  While 5 lifts in the 95% zone may be optimal today, 1-2 may be tomorrow or 10 on the next.**  We may also pair our close grip benches with another drill that works or antagonist or supportive muscles (done for higher reps) between sets that will add to our overall stress, tonnage, and induce a local fatigue to help build our reserves.  I guess we can consider this Modified Heavy Repetitive Efforts.

A summary:
What: Modified Heavy Repetitive Efforts. Off-season heavy day option.

How:  Workup to a top 3-5 rep effort for the day with either no or one rep left to spare, then drop down to 60-70% of that session’s guesstimated max and perform sets of 3-5 reps until the sets feel like you have no reps to spare or your set time limit run’s out. Possibly pair main drill with a drill that works a supportive or antagonist muscle group

Why:  To regenerate structural tissues, “rebalance” the muscular system, and restore a conditioning reserve to the organism for create an improved foundation to use when entering a competition cycle. 

Pete Arroyo is a private strength coach and elite power lifter (sponsored by Overkill Strength Equipment) in the Chicago area.  Owner of Legacy Strength systems, Pete currently co-owns and operates the Overkill Power Pit in Plainfield, IL.  Aiding in the development of the area’s finest high school, collegiate, and professional athlete’s since 2002.  Pete is also available for consultations, programs, and other training services at test This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

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