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All athletes want to see results. Nobody hopes to pursue bodyweight strength training for ten years without progressing. You're probably reading this book to progress-or to ensure that the athletes you are training progress. We've covered an overview of the theory behind programming, now let's introduce some concrete methods for programming future workouts to get stronger. These factors can make or break a bodyweight strength routine.
There are two distinct methods of progression with bodyweight exercises: intra-exercise progression and inter-exercise progression. Intra- focuses on improvements within the same exercise, while inter- focuses on moving through the various progressions of an exercise.
The first way to improve is within an exercise itself. This would be working with, say a pushup, and improving your ability from five to ten repetitions or from five repetitions with zero pounds to five repetitions with twenty-five pounds.
The second method of improvement involves advancing incrementally from one exercise progression to the next. For example, mastering frog stand and then moving to tuck planche then to advanced tuck planche and finally to straddle planche; or from pull-ups to wide pull-ups to L-pull-ups.
There are various ways to progress using both of these methods. Think of each of these methods as simple "programming" to increase strength and hypertrophy. This "programming" or "progression" is basically a manipulation of the variables that exist within a routine: repetitions, sets, rests, tempo, intensity/load, volume, and frequency. When you manipulate these correctly, you progress.
Intra-exercise progression is one of the easier concepts to grasp regarding progression and programming in bodyweight training. This is the transition from lower repetitions at higher intensity to higher repetitions at lower intensity within the same exercise. Most people grasp this intuitively when they begin working out: "I used to be able to perform five pull-ups, but after my last workout I can now perform six pull-ups." While this is easy to grasp when you first begin to work out, it can be difficult to figure out if you are plateauing with more advanced exercises later on. So let's walk through several means of progression.
Expect to progress at variable rates in the many different exercises in your routine. You may even progress at different rates for exercises that work the same muscle group. Treat each individual exercise as a completely separate entity when considering intra-exercise progressions.
Linear progression is perhaps the simplest form of progression. If you have access to a weight vest, backpack, ankle or wrist weights, weight plates, or another way to load weight onto your body, you can use this progression to gain strength. This type of progression originated for use with barbells and dumbbells, but it can be used effectively with bodyweight exercises. You will see this most commonly with weighted pull-ups and dips. These are effective exercises for improving brute strength and muscle mass. You can also perform pushups, rows, and other bodyweight exercises with weights. In the example below, the notation 5-5-5 means three sets of five repetitions.
Linear repetition progression is the easiest method for beginners that does not use external weights. This method aims to increase all of the three-set repetitions from five to six to seven in consecutive workouts.
You perform 3x5 in one workout, 3x6 in the next workout, and 3x7 in the workout after that. This is the recommended progression scheme for beginners, as you will be able to progress relatively quickly with basic exercises. This is also the reason that typical beginner bodyweight training routines are noted with a range of repetitions (e.g. 3x5-8 or 3x5-12 or 3x5-15)
Linear repetition progression is what the arrow (➔) from the 5➔15 repetitions means. You will systematically work your way from five to fifteen repetitions in subsequent workouts in order to progress. If you are focused on hypertrophy the 5➔15 repetition range works effectively. The higher repetition range allows more volume, necessary for increased hypertrophy.
You should be able to progress quickly when you first begin training. However, after a few weeks of solid progression, you may find yourself plateauing. This is your body adapting to the method of exercise you are using. You may need to change your programming in order to progress further.
Repetition addition is a much slower method of progression that aims to increase the repetitions in all three sets over a period of a week or two. This method assumes you are performing a full-body routine three times per week.
As you can see, your first workout will be 5-5-5, your second workout will be 6-5-5, and your third workout will be 6-6-5. The following week, your first workout will be 6-6-6, which completes the progression from 5-5-5 to 6-6-6. If you cannot improve all of your repetitions in every set, using this method is one way to bridge the gap.
Before moving along, let us note some basic facts about these progressions. Most of them consist of completing three progressions before you reach the next set. However, there is nothing prohibiting you from utilizing progressions between sets. Indeed, with programming, your sets and repetitions do not have to look like nice, rounded numbers. They do not even have to have a certain amount of sets. Here are two examples from actual workouts:
You do not have to perform the progressions listed here the exact way in which they are oudined. These are only examples to give you an idea of different methods for progressing. Depending on your body's performance, you may progress faster or slower than the examples given. Knowingyour workout ability is important. Use it to make a plan that will help you improve in future workouts.
Last set to failure is an interesting method of progression because it stays short of failure on all of the sets except the last one. This may be one of the more effective ways to progress with strength, as strength can be built effectively by staying short of failure. It is also a good measure of overall fatigue and can help you know when to progress. If you can perform at least two more repetitions on your last set than you did on your first set, you can most likely move forward to the next level.
Another quality of this method is its adaptability; you may be able to progress over a couple repetitions if you can perform 5-5-8 and go straight to 7-7-7 or 7-7-X in your next workout. Basically, if you can make a bigger jump, then the last set to failure will indicate that you can make the bigger jump in progressions. If your last set to failure is limited, you may not be quite ready to progress. This method is also effective far deloading. Your first few sets will not be to failure; perhaps not even close to failure. However, your last set will show you where your limits are. This will allow you to be sure that your sets will remain short of failure during subsequent deloads. If you are having a difficult time flguring out how to program a routine or if simpler methods such as linear repetition progression have brought you to a plateau, Last Set to Failure is a good method to try.
The additional set method is a straightforward way to add more volume to an exercise. This method is particularly effective for pulling exercises, such as pull-ups and row progressions. For newer athletes or those moving beyond a simple "beach muscle" workout for the first time, the back is usually their weak link. The additional sets help bring more volume to the back, which strengthens the scapular muscles. This often helps restare progress.
The additional set method is also effective for hypertrophy if you need to add volume. To stimulate hypertrophy, extra volume is frequently necessary when repetitions are between one and eight.
Restpause is good technique. In this method, you rest for a determined amount of time after going close to or to-failure. The extra rest after a set allows you to perform a few extra repetitions. The rest can be systematically decreased in order to progress effectively. For example, 5-5-4 and the last set was to failure. After the fourth repetition, perform 1 more repetition after a 20 second rest. 5-5-4 and the last set was to failure. After the fourth repetition, perform 1 more repetition after a 10 second rest. 5-5-5 A full three sets of five repetitions. No rest between the 4th and 5th repetitions. This allows you to hit your target amount of repetitions for the set with a very short rest time. Since you hit the repetitions that were planned, your body will slowly adapt to the load. Eventually you will unify the split repetitions into a single set.
Density is the concept of performing the same amount of work or "volume" [of a single exercise] in a shorter period of time. Density = Volume/Time with the time component decreasing.
Initially, the volume of sets and repetitions is kept consistent at 5-5-5. As the workouts progress, the amount of rest time is decreased. Essentially, you are doing the same amount of repetitions in less time, which means your overall capacity has increased. Technically, a consistent time component with an increasing volume of work is also an increase in density; however, this is not the definition used in workout literature, even though you are still doing more repetitions in a set amount of time. If you want to think of any of the previous methods as an increase in density, that's fine. You will simply have to explain your definition when you are discussing your training.
Tempo change is another way to progress your workouts. In this example, the eccentric component is lengthened in subsequent workouts. The first workout has a one-second eccentric component far all of the repetitions in the set, the second workout has a two-second eccentric component far all of the repetitions in the set, and the last workout has a three-second eccentric component far all of the repetitions in the set.
Lengthening the eccentric component of time under tension is one way to progress. With a one-second eccentric you are spending a total of 15 total reps * 1 second = 15 seconds of eccentric time under tension. With a 2-second eccentric you are spending a total of 15 totalreps *2 seconds = 30 seconds of eccentric time under tension, and with the last you are spending 15 total reps * 3 seconds = 45 seconds of eccentric time under tension.
This progress with time under tension allows you to increase the number of repetitions in the next few sets. There is nothing prohibiting you from changing any of the other components of tempo, aside from the eccentric component. The reason why the X is included in this example is because the X tends to be the most effective tempo far strength training. However, you may change the X component if you desire to train movements that look cool, such as slow muscle-ups.
There might be other reasons to change the tempo during certain exercises. If you are doing pseudo planche pushups in your routine, you may want to pause the movement at the top in order to get a bit more time in the pseudo planche hold position. This would change the tempo from 10x0 to 10x2 if you desire a 2-second hold at the top, between repetitions. This is one of the ways to use rings pseudo planche pushups to work up to the straddle planche on rings. On the other hand, you may decide to eliminate the muscle rebound-the stretch shorten cycle-which seems to make the movements easier through the bottom of the
range of motion. The way to do this is by eliminating the immediate concentric after the eccentric is finished. This would manifest from a 10x0 to an 11x0 or a 12x0 repetition.
Tempo change is one of many changes you can explore in programming in order to progress toward particular goals. It should always be considered alongside changes in repetitions, sets, rest times, and overall volume.
Frequency modifications are not usually classifled as methods of progression, as they typically modify your workouts so you have extra sessions to work on movements. The most common way to implement frequency modiflcations in your routine is a method called Grease the Groove (GTG) outlined in Power to the People by Pavel Tsatsouline. The GTG method has been amended by many people over the past decade. Here is the Overcoming Gravity version:
The GTG method is typically utilized outside of a workout. With this method, you do frequent sets of one particular exercise multiple times throughout the day, almost every day during the week. The concept is to apply a very high frequency to a single exercise to "grease" the neurological "groove" of particular neural adaptations (covered in chapter two) to rapidly increase strength or endurance in that specific exercise. Using this method, an athlete can, far example, rapidly increase strength by bringing pull-up numbers up from a small amount to a large amount, or increase endurance by doing many sets of many repetitions of pushups in a day. This is similar to military boot camp, where one is told to do many pushups or sit-ups in a day. This method will result in increases from low double digits to triple digits of a movement very quickly.
One way to do GTG is by doing 6-10+ submaximal sets interspersed throughout the day at about 60-80% of your maximal amount of repetitions. Using dips as an example, if your maximum is four dips, you do two to three dips far one set each. You will then perfarm dips every hour or two, far a total of six to ten times over the course of a day. This leads to roughly thirty dips per day. Contrast this with only doing dips during your workout, which would likely result in completing no more than five sets of three dips before you become unable to do more. With this method, it may only take a few weeks far you to acquire the skill to do ten or more. Staying submaximal with your sets will help you avoid overworking your body while still giving you plenty of practice so you become skilled at a movement in a short period of time.
The main limitation of the GTG method is that while using it, you will typically only be able to do one pushing exercise per day without burning out. It's a good idea to eliminate all other pushing exercises from your workout routine far the duration of GTG, leaving in the pulling exercises and leg workouts.
If you need to gain strength or endurance quickly far a particular exercise, this method may work well far you. As mentioned earlier, the military uses this method effectively far the pushup and sit-up portions of PT conditioning tests. Likewise, it has been used successfully to obtain dips or pull-ups very soon after gaining the ability to do a few concentric exercises. The static movements it works best on are the back lever and front lever. Use this method to build up to about eight to ten repetitions, then work on strength or specific endurance to differentiate toward your goals. Please note that this method does not work wellfar the planche, so do not attempt it on that exercise. The planche has an enormous relative strength component and uses smaller muscles, so it is almost guaranteed that you will burn out before you are able to noticeably increase your abilities. There are some who can do it, but it is not recommended to attempt unless you are at advanced strength levels where your relative work capacity is much higher.
All of the methods described can be used effectively for isometric holds and eccentric exercises. For example, a linear repetition progression would look like this:
Any of the other methods can also be used, including but not limited to: repetition addition, last set to failure, additional set, and density. For example, for isometric holds, the last set to failure progression may look like this:
It is easy to use these progressions for every type of exercise in your routine. There is no shortage of options to consider to help you break through a plateau in your routine.
When it comes to bodyweight training, the process of inter-exercise progression is one of the most difficult to master. At low levels of progression, if you can perform ten pull-ups, you will most likely be able to perform at least three to five wide grip pull-ups. There is an easy bridge from one progression to the next because you are already performing enough repetitions of the next exercise. However, once you progress to some of the more difficult variations, the strength gap between one progression and the next can seem enormous. This section aims to give you techniques that will help you handle the bigger leaps as you begin to perform more difficult movements.
Adding weight while performing an exercise is one of the easiest methods to bridge the gap between one progression and the next. For example, if you can perform ten pull-ups with no weight, you will likely be able to work up to performing ten pull-ups with the addition of fifty pounds. If you can successfully achieve this, you should be able to perform a significant amount of the next progression on the charts, wide grip pull-ups.
An athlete having trouble progressing from a tuck planche to an advanced tuck planche could add a few pounds of ankle weights to help improve their strength capability and muscle mass while performing the tuck
planche. After removing the weight, the advanced tuck planche would be much easier than if they had gone directly from the regular to the advanced movement without using weights. An alternative to ankle weights could be a weighted vest. Be creative!
Assistance is a method that can help bridge the gap between one progression and the next by making the more advanced movement easier. For example, a long rubber band hung over the pull-up bar can assist you in the advanced tuck planche. This allows you to move from one progression to the next right away, rather than remaining at the lower level.
Be sure your assistance methods are measurable. Pulley systems are anexcellent method of assistance. They allow you to set how much weight you want on the other end of the pulley, which will tell you how much assistance you are receiving. This can be noted in a workout log, allowing you to systematically decrease the amount of assistance over subsequent workouts, until you are performing the movement without assistance.
Methods that are difficult to measure-such as partner assistance, bands, or finger assistance for unilateral exercises-present challenges in evaluating progress and determining future programming and should be avoided if possible.
As mentioned previously, eccentric exercises are one of the most common ways to bridge the gap to the next progression of a concentric exercise. Eccentrics work particularly well for pulling exercises such as pull-ups and one-arm chin-ups. Here is our example again:
Generally speaking, when you can perform three ten-second eccentrics in a row you can also perform at least one concentric exercise of the same movement. In other words, if you can complete three ten-second L-pull-up eccentrics in a row you can probably do at least one concentric L-pull-up. You may have periods of rest between each of the sets in the beginning, but systematically decrease the rest time while increasing eccentric time as you move forward. Eccentrics of the next progression are an excellent way to bridge the gap from one progression to the next.
One of the common complaints regarding the front lever rows progression is that it can be quite difficult to move from tuck front lever rows to advanced tuck front lever rows or from advanced tuck front lever rows to straddle front lever rows. One of the ways to bridge the progression gap between these movements is to work an intermediate skill between them.
Instead of working the tuck front lever row-pulling up to the bar and then lowering yourself down-try using an extra range of motion along with a bit of momentum. Start in a pull-up position, pull up to the top
of the advanced front lever row position, then lower to the bottom of the pull-up position. This takes your shoulder musculature through a much larger range of motion, and you can use the strength from the pull-up position to assist your muscles to pull up into the top of the advanced tuck front lever row position. Once you are proficient with this, you can start reliably working the advanced tuck front lever position from a static position.
You can apply this to planche or handstand pushups by moving in from a dip position. There are multiple ways to take your muscles through an increased range of motion to bridge a progression gap.
Exercise modification isan interesting way to bridge the gap between progressions. This technique is commonly applied to make an exercise more difficult in the range of motion that is the easiest. Far example, if you are working with planche pushups, the most difficult part of the movement is the top of the motion, where you lock your arms straight to finish the pushup. When you modify this technique, it makes the bottom portion of the exercise more difficult, which will work your muscles harder through the full range of motion. Similarly, if you are pertorming an advanced tuck planche pushup, you may move into a straddle planche pushup in the bottom of the movement, and then back into an advanced tuck planche pushup at the top of the movement.
This type of exercise modification works best if you add on the associated isometric of the movement you're performing. In other words, if you are working tuck planche pushups with the bottom as a scraddle planche pushup, you may want to work straddle planche at the same time. Generally, your planche progression pushup will be one level lower than your planche isometric progression, so optimally you'd work the straddle planche isometric along with the advanced tuck planche pushup progression combined with straddle. Ido Portal popularized this one for the planche.
This modification aims at making the previous progression extremely easy by adding additional sets to an exercise while slowly decreasing rest times between sets. If you recall, strength = neuralfactors * cross sectional
area of muscle mass. Decreasing rest time aims at landing within hypertrophy range in order to increase cross sectional area of muscle. Additional sets aim to increase the neural factors that elicit strength. This increases the two components that lead to increased strength simultaneously.
Take pushups: While you might be able to perform three sets often pushups with three minutes of rest between sets, it is not guaranteed that you can perform three repetitions of diamond pushups. However, if you build up to five or six sets often pushups with one minute of rest between sets, two things are likely. First, if you can do that many sets with only a short period of rest, you can likely do more than twenty pushups in a single set. Second, it is likely that pushups have become much easier to perform, which means your muscles are equipped to move on to the next progression.
This example increases the number of sets before decreasing the length of rest times in subsequent workouts. However, you may choose to decrease the length of rest times first and only then increase the number of sets. You may also choose to increase the number of sets and decrease the length of rest times simultaneously. There are many ways to manipulare the variables in your workout; you just need to know your limits and challenge them.
Here's another example, using the planche. You may be able to perform three sets of twenty-second tuck planche holds with three minutes of rest between sets, but find yourself unable to progress to the advanced tuck planche. If you increase the number of sets from three to five while simultaneously decreasing the rest times between sets to one minute, you will become stronger and better able to perform tuck planche holds. This will make it easier to progress to the next level.
Since Overcoming Gravity was originally released in 2011, hybrid sets have become a popular way to bridge the inter-exercise progression gap. This method combines the two progressions that you find yourself stuck between. A hybrid set for bodyweight training uses the "drop set" technique to create one "set" of the next progression with follow-up repetition work from the previous progression. This forms a hybrid of the next progression so that you are building strength for it while also increasing volume to stimulate hypertrophy.
You may need to read through this sample progression and the next few paragraphs more than once to gain an understanding of why hybrid sets can be an excellent method to help you progress.
In the first workout, you will perform three sets often pull-ups. In the next workout, you will perform one Wide Grip Pull-up followed immediately by six: pull-ups. You then rest and repeat that set three times to complete your workout for the day. Then, in your next workout, you will perform two Wide Grip Pull-ups followed immediately by four pull-ups. Rest and repeat three times. In your next workout, you will perform two Wide Grip Pull-ups followed immediately by four pull-ups. Rest and repeat three times. In your next workout, you may be able to achieve three sets of four Wide Grip Pull-up repetitions.
This method of progression should be performed so that each exercise and drop set of the exercise is slightly short of failure. The last set can be performed to failure so you can learn your limits and can adjust accordingly in the next workout. The progression may not be as smooth as the example given. It could look more like this:
The main thing to keep in mind is that this doubles the factors that you can progress on. For example, moving up from one Wide Grip Pull-up to two Wide Grip Pull-ups is making progress. However, performing one Wide Grip Pull-up and five pull-ups, moving to one Wide Grip Pull-up to seven pull-ups is also making progress, as long as you are staying short of failure. Progress in the "drop set" portion of the exercise signals that your strength is increasing; it indicates that you have more reserves after the difficult set. As the reserves build up, you will find that you are able to perform more of the primary exercise in subsequent workouts.
This is a great method because it is a tangible way to make progress. Hybrid sets combine the effectiveness of practicing the next progression with the volume of the previous progression, focusing on both strength and hypertrophy at the same time in the same set.
If you ever find yourself stalled on any inter-exercise progressions, utilize bodyweight drop sets to help bridge the gap.
Hybrid sets with eccentrics are another favorite way to bridge the progression gap. This is an effective method that many people find intuitively. It is a proven way to progress when you are only able to do a very low volume of the exercise that you want to improve. Let's say you want to focus on pull-ups: Simply perform as many full range of motion pull-ups as you can without assistance. Then, to get enough extra volume to obtain both a strength and hypertrophy stimulus, follow those repetitions with a predetermined number of eccentric movements. L 3 sets of(1 L-Pull-up, followed by S L-Pull-ups Eccentrics for 5s each)
In this example, you increase the number of L-pull-ups in each subsequent workout, if you can. In any case, you will finish each set with a predetermined number of eccentrics that decrease in number as you become able to perform increased amounts of the concentric movement. Note that the numbers of repetitions andsets willprobably not look this neat in practice.
As you can see, hybrid sets can be used effectively with eccentrics. They can be used equally effectively with density and tempo.
These examples of intra-exercise and inter-exercise progressions should give you an idea of how to modify your workouts as needed to make progress using simple methods of progression. Now we will cover more complex methods of progression.
Simple hybrid sets are the easiest method to apply to your training if you do not want to combine the movements from the next progression with those from the previous progression. Here are two sample variations, each containing four workouts. For these examples, let's use a muscle-up.
In this simple hybrid set workout progression you perform as many repetitions of the next progression as you can. As you start to work muscle-ups, your limit may be 3x1 or three sets of one repetition in the first workout. Since this is not enough volume to stimulate strength adaptations after you finish the muscle-up concentrics, follow up with muscle-up eccentrics or assisted concentrics. Since you have already performed some of the exercises of the next progression, you can cut down on the eccentrics or assisted concentrics as you progress. The goal over time is to add singles until you can do doubles and slowly decrease the volume of the eccentrics or assisted concentrics.
If you are having trouble implementing true hybrid sets in a session, this is an easy alternative. This particular inter-exercise progression allows you to maximize the amount of work you perform with the next progression, important for strength gains. The simple hybrid sets method is the best option for gaining strength among the inter-exercise progressions listed. However, it may result in significantly longer workouts. For those without time constraints, it is highly recommended.
Accumulation and intensification are ways to say that many factors are changing at the same time. As you recall from chapter five, Russian training programs are structured into microcycles, mescocycles, and macrocycles. Each microcycle focuses on a particular phase of training, such as preparation, hypertrophy, strength, and power. Here is a refresher:
Accumulation training happens when multiple factors, such as sets, repetitions, tempo, rest breaks, and volume, are all manipulated at once. During an accumulation phase, the athlete is intentionally overworked by systematically increasing the sets and repetitions while decreasing the rest times and modifying the tempo to make the exercises harder. This takes place all at once. Dependingon the coach, the workouts may be modified to the next workout by a number of sets, or by effort level or fatigue. Usually, an accumulation phase means you are modifying at least two factors within a single workout, if not more. This is an advanced training technique.
Intensification is typically described as a reduction in overall repetitions and sets, modifying the tempo and rest breaks toward their strength and hypertrophy ranges, and drastically increasing the intensity or difficulty of the exercise. As with accumulation, multiple factors are modified at once.
The Russian structure of mesocycles into microcycles was one of the precursors to the method of accumulation and intensification protocols. If you are training a specific attribute such as hypertrophy, your routine will follow a predictable pattern. Generally, your intensity will be moderate (60-85% 1 RM), your sets and repetitions volume will be relatively high (4-6+ sets of 8-12 repetitions), your rest times will be moderate (2-4 minutes), and your tempo may be longer, with pauses (S1x1). You can see the similarity between accumulation and specific attribute training-such as hypertrophy work-in a typical microcycle.
Now, compare this to an attribute phase geared to develop strength. If you are training a specific attribute such as strength, your routine will also follow a predictable pattern. Your intensity will be higher (80-100% 1 RM), your sets and repetitions volume will be relatively lower (3-8+ sets of 1-6 repetitions), your rest times
will be higher (3-5+ minutes), and your tempo will be shorter (10x0). Did you notice any similarity to an intensification phase?
The example below alternares accumulation and intensification. One way to think of it is that an accumulation phase is modifying your workout for hypertrophy, and an intensification phase is modifying your routine for strength.
If you are having difficulty in your routine, incorporating this method is a good way to implement progress on a week-to-week basis. Train one attribute for a week and then switch to a completely different attribute the next week; this typically works well. Schedule accumulation first, followed by intensification on similar exercises. You should see gains in both strength and hypertrophy from 1 Week to the next.
The light/heavy model of progression is basically the same method as accumulation/intensification performed with alternating workouts. On light days, your workout consists of low-intensity (light) exercises, performed for fewer sets and more repetitions. On heavy days, your workout consists of high-intensity (heavy) exercises, performed for more sets and less repetitions. Like accumulation/intensification, this method works very well for intermediates.
Light/heavy differs slightly from accumulation/intensification in that the focus on strength and hypertrophy alternates within the week (intra-weekly), rather than from 1 Week to another (inter-weekly). Most 'modern' periodization structures tend to vary workout factors within the week. For example, you may have workouts that alternare between light and heavy:
First Week
Second Week
The light/heavy method tends to alternate your focus within a particular week, as opposed to having a weekly block of accumulation or intensification phases. On the hypertrophy days, you aim on increasing the overall volume through the repetitions and sets compared to the previous volume you performed. On the strength days, you focus on either moving up in progression, increasing the weight, or staying within the
strength range and improving there. The specific goal with this method is to improve each routine for both strength and hypertrophy. Here's an example:
There are two lines of progress here. In hypertrophy, you are moving up from 3x10 to 3x11 to 3x12. In strength, you are moving up from +20 pounds to +25 pounds to +30 pounds. These two qualities feed into each other. Recall the strength equation: strength = neutral adaptations "'cross sectional area of muscle. During your strength-focused workouts, you are addressing neural adaptations. During your hypertrophy-focused workouts, you are working on increasing the cross-sectional area of muscle.
Since working that cross sectional area of muscle also helps increase strength, you can improve on the strength workout by increasing weight in the next workout. Likewise, since strength helps to lower the intensity by which you are performing a single repetition, you can perform more repetitions at a certain bodyweight. The adaptations feed into each other and create a cycle where you can make good progress while alternating between light and heavy workouts.
There need not be two lines of progress in every light/heavy routine. Once you get strong enough, you could work both 3-5x5 and 3x10 days and increase the weight for both of them. Generally, the ten-repetition day will lag about 20-30 pounds behind the five-repetition day. However, you will increase strength as long as you continually increase the weight to obtain a new max.
Over the course of a mesocycle that contains three workouts per week, there are nine total hypertrophy and nine total strength workouts.
Mesocycle
If you progress in strength in all nine workouts, you will increase by 40-45 pounds in a single exercise. If you progress in hypertrophy in all nine workouts, you will increase by 9 repetitions in a single exercise. Obviously, this manner of progression may not continue indefinitely, but even half of this over six weeks would be extremely good progress for most athletes. This is an extremely effective intermediate technique.
In reality, "light" can refer to any amount of exercise, whether it be total volume (sets and repetitions), intensity, or frequency. The same is true vice versa for "heavy." Indeed, there is even a "medium" amount of volume, intensity, and frequency that we have not even touched upon! If there are three categories for volume
(light, medium, and heavy), three categories for intensity, and three categories for frequency, that means there are twenty-seven different variations of potential implementation for the same workout! This massive amount of variation in these three categories will be the topic of the next section on modern periodization.
Periodization refers to any method used to vary the volume, intensity, and frequency of a workout to produce constant gains and avoid plateaus. This includes tempo and rest times, which can also be modified as necessary. Traditional periodization has been deemed inferior to 'modern' methods. However, the concepts that you learn for traditional periodization are the same concepts that underlie much of the more modern periodization principles. Planning your routines becomes less about hoping it will work and hoping you do not plateau to knowing it will work and what to do if something goes awry.
When you reach an intermediate or advanced level of strength, it's common for your progress to stall. Applying a constant stimulus-similar or same workouts even with improvement in progression or repetitions-may fail to produce resulting gains in strength and hypertrophy. Your progress may taper off from one workout to another for an entire week. Once you reach the upper advanced range, your progress may stall for two weeks or more. You may not see strength or hypertrophy gains until you have completed an entire cycle and fully recover from the fatigue after you deload.
Varying the amounts of sets and repetitions-and therefore intensity and volume-have a number of effects on the body. Training the tougher progressions closer to 1 RM takes more of a toll on the nervous system to produce benefits. Dropping the intensity and working more hypertrophy or endurance tends to work more of the muscular component while not stimulating the nervous system as heavily. Therefore, alternating between these two can allow you to maintain your overall training volume for gaining strength without overtaxing the neuromuscular system. If this sounds similar to accumulation/intensification and light/heavy, it is because the same basic underlying structure spans across all periodization.
The method that works effectively in bodyweight training is called daily undulated periodization (DUP). This method is not for beginners; it undermines their ability to make good progress with linear progression, linear repetition progression, or other simpler forms of progression. It is also not for elite athletes; better options for the elite athlete would be either the conjugate method or concurrent models. DUP is unquestionably good for athletes in the advanced strength range, however. Plus, it is very easy to implement, which makes it a good choice for our purposes.
On a basic level, DUP alternares repetitions and sets from one workout to another. The recommended iteration of DUP is a schedule of three workouts per week, which is basically a light/heavy routine expanded to three days. This is similar to the traditional periodization model where you move from less intense phases to more intense phases (preparatory ➔ hypertrophy ➔ strength ➔ power). However, the training is varied from one workout to another (instead of in weekly microcycles).
Modern periodization-such as intra-weekly variation-is superior to the traditional inter-weekly variation because of the SAID principle, covered in chapter one. When you reach the strength or power phases of the traditional periodization model, a few weeks will have passed since you were in the preparatory or hypertrophy phases. Your body has started to lose the specific adaptations that it gained in those phases. Modern periodization models blunt this effect by modulating the variation weekly and repeating the same variation
the next week. This allows you to constantly train hypertrophy, strength, and power, which helps mitigate any loss that may occur in each of chose phases. Here's what it looks like:
On Monday, you may use exercises with a 3x8-10 repetition scheme; on Wednesday, you may use exercises with a 3-5x5 repetition scheme; on Friday, you may use exercises with a 5-8x3 repetition scheme. As the week goes on, you begin with higher repetitions at easier progressions and then you move toward lower repetitions at harder progressions, with more sets. This works well with exercises where you can add weight, such as barbells; however, now that you have been working out enough to know your abilities, you can readily vary the intensity of the exercise.
For instance, if you are unable to do eight repetitions of a full front lever pull-up on Monday, you may drop down to eight repetitions of a straddle front lever pull-up. Likewise, you may not be able to do five repetitions of a full front lever pull-up on Wednesday, so you have to drop down to a straddle front lever pull-up again and add some weight to increase the difficulty. However, you may be able to do three repetitions of the full front lever pull-up on Friday, so you can do the 4x3 full front lever pull-ups that day. In this instance, your DUP schedule would look something like this:
Typically, a modern DUP model utilizes a structure of three workouts per week. Performing four workouts per week is unusual, but it is an option. If you were to choose this 4x/week model, you may want to alternate with a double light/heavy structure. Perform 3x8-10 on the first day and 5x5 the second day. This alternates light and heavy. Your other two workouts could either both be the same (3x6-8) or bias more toward strength (6x3). In this instance, your weekly schedule would look like this:
Likewise, a modified frequency plan such as a 3/1/2/1 plan (3 days on, 1 day rest, 2 days on, 1 day rest) or a 5/2 plan (5 days on and 2 days off) can be performed: 3x8, 3x5, 5x3, 3x8, and finally 5x3. Your personal preference and the exercises you choose are the deciding factors. If you do not have access to a weighted vest or ankle weights it may be harder to modulate intensity, so you may have to rely on the limitations of the exercises themselves to determine the repetitions.
The recommended workout repetition ranges begin with the hypertrophy range and move to the strength range at the end of the week. The first range chould be 8-10 for the high repetition days, 5-7 for the medium repetition days, and 3-4 for the low repetition days. This allows you to cycle from a musculoskeletal focus in the beginning of the week toward a neural adaptation focus by the end of the week, which is consistent with working both sides of the strength equation mentioned in part one: strength = neural adaptations * muscle cross sectional area.
Experiment to discover the type of repetition range that works best for you. Some athletes might do better alternating between the 8-10 range and the 5-7 range, not using the 3-4 at all. Some athletes may need only the 8-10 and 3-4 ranges. You could move from 15 repetitions to 10 repetitions to 5 repetitions. Based on observation, the more genetically gifted athletes tend to work best with the lower repetition ranges. A wide variation in repetition ranges may work well for hypertrophy focus.
The repetition ranges may also vary depending on which muscles are being worked. For example, posture muscle groups such as the core and back-as well as muscles that are used for lower level activity such as the calves and forearms-respond better to higher ranges since they are composed of more slow-twitch fibers. For these muscles it may be best to work with ranges of 15+ on high repetition days and 5-8 on lower repetition days. Based on experience, muscles that cross multiple joints such as the hamstrings, glutes, biceps, and so on respond better to the 8-10 high repetition days and 3-5 low repetition days.
After you have trained for a period time, you tend to have a better idea of what types of ranges your body works best at, so choose accordingly. If you are just starting, use a standard templare (such as 3x10, 3x7, 5x3 or 3x12, 3x8, 4x4) and modify as necessary. Experiment with some of these concepts over a few different sixweek cycles, followed by a rest break. See what works best for you. If you are confused and do not know what to pick, repetition DUP work M/W/F by itselfworks well for the iron cross progressions, as well as all of the exercises at that skill level.
As previously stated, concurrent and conjugate systems of periodization are more advanced than weekly variation systems, such as DUP. An irony of training is that athletes who already have a high amount of strength and muscle mass have trouble getting better at all exercises at the same time.
Concurrent periodization handles this challenge by managing recovery correctly. For example: when developing a light versus heavy system, place all "heavy" exercises for push, pull, and legs on the same day at first. This means that all of the exercises would be geared toward strength. Granted, this is going to be difficult for the body to recover from, since it is a massive amount of work on the body. It is, however, possible to cycle the intensity of push, pull, and legs so that they are all offset onto different days. Here is a look at the difference between these two examples:
Monday: Light Push, Light Pull, Light Legs
Wednesday: Medium Push, Medium Pull, Medium Legs
Friday: Heavy Push, Heavy Pull, Heavy Legs
Monday: Heavy Push, Medium Pull, Light Legs
Wednesday: Light Push, Heavy Pull, Medium Legs
Friday: Medium Push, Light Pull, Heavy Legs
Structure a routine along these lines and you will be able to manage recovery much more effectively. The light day focuses on the hypertrophy aspect of training, or even endurance. This is coupled with a medium day that is hypertrophy/strength focused or power focused. Finally, a purely strength-focused day completes your week. It is more effective in terms of recovery than just throwing hypertrophy training all on one day, power training all on one day, and strength training all on one day.
Concurrent periodization tends to be most effective working in "blocks"-you cycle exercises in and out of the routine during the mesocycle and provide deloads within the mesocycle to progress. It basically encourages multiple phases of accumulation and intensifkation within the mesocycle itself. This allows you to progress with multiple exercises while balancing recovery.
Conjugate periodization is one of the most advanced periodization methods. Westside Barbell is an example of conjugate periodization. The conjugate system is geared toward improving one lift at time while maintaining strength on all of the others. At elite levels of strength, you need a massive stimulus on the nervous system and muscles in order to provide enough stress for adaptation to take place. Recovery is usually the limiting factor, as all of your recovery is poured into training one particular lift at high intensity or high volume to give your body the necessary stimulus for adaptation. Your other lifts are maintained with the smallest possible volume to maximize recovery for the main lift. Usually this small volume is achieved by reducing the amount of practice with the main lift while increasing the number of supplemental lifts.
For example, the main lifts (such as deadlifts, squats, and bench press) may be practiced only a few times or even once a week. The weight is extremely heavy, so it literally destroys your recovery capacity for days afterward. Because of this, you will likely only practice your main lifts once a week (with a lot of supplemental work) instead of in every workout. An example using bench press for the main lift would involve working this movement once a week but following it up with specific muscular work (such as dips, tricep press downs, and other isolation work) to ensure that your muscles are prepared to practice the main lift.
Additionally, the main lifts may be trained for more than just strength. Westside employs dynamic ejfart (DE) and maximal ejfart (ME) days. On DE days, you would use a much lighter weight and work on bar speed. This helps train your neurological factors for strength, but is not as taxing on the body as a maximal effort lift. On ME days, you work on maximal strength and grinding out the really heavy lifts.
This model has led many powerlifters to great success, making it worth a mention should you choose to research it further on your own. You can apply this model to bodyweight training by focusing all of your training on one exercise, say advanced rings concepts like the planche or inverted cross. However, with pulling or leg work, seek only to maintain it: perform minimal amounts of isometric holds with back lever, front lever, iron cross and supplement these with considerable scapular strength work. Once you become strong, you cannot continue to optimally train a large number of high-intensicy strength movements or holds every day of the week. This model will apply more when you begin to work beyond the C-level, or with elite isometric holds.
Modern periodization is where you start applying concepts of multiplicacive variation in training. For example, one choice may be to load a high amount of frequency with a high amount of volume and intensity onto one particular movement. With the other movement there may only be a light or medium frequency with a light or medium volume and a light or medium intensity. At elite levels, you have to make these tradeoffs in order to progress effectively. At that point, it is vital to know when to adjust frequency, volume, and intensity in your training.
By the time you reach this level of training you will likely be familiar with DUP and other advanced periodization methods. Once you reach that level, Overcoming Gravity will no longer be able to function as
your coach. You will know more about your body and how it responds to different amounts of frequency, volume, and intensity than anyone else who is not deeply involved in your training. This is why it is strongly recommend that you keep a log of all your workouts and training methods. It will enable you to see how you have progressed with certain routines over the course of weeks: changing the frequency, volume and intensity. Unless you have a coach with significant experience training elite athletes, who has the time and is willing to design a program that is unique to you, you will need this information in order to be able to construct your own routines. (Unfortunately, most coaches of that caliber are busy coaching their athletes in the Olympicsif you can find one who has the time, don't pass them up!)
For additional reading on different periodization methods, this article covers the basics: https://www.elitefts.com/education/training/powerlifting/overview-of-periodization-methods-for-resistance-training
This is a key chapter to understand. It shows how the method of progressive overload works and how to get unstuck from plateaus.
Simple lntra-Exercise Progressions
Simple lnter-Exercise Progressions
Complex Methods of Progression
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