prep phase

[joeaverage]

Over the course of 2-3 training cycles my squatting had started to regress, the weight felt heavy and I seemed fatigued. My gear was fitting properly, my weight was good, wasn't quite sure what the problem was. After my 26th cycle, I thought that maybe I needed to jerk around my CNS and do some off the wall stuff so I decided to incorporate a 3 week prep phase. Do mediocre weight and band tension, this is what I came up with leading into my 27th cycle.
week 1: SSB 330 x 7 + lg
week 2: SSB 750 x 5 plus speed work
week 3: SSB 420 x 4 + lg
cycle 1 day 1: SSB 740 x 10
740 felt easy and I just ripped through the 10 reps.

I also did a prep phase prior to my set of 10 with the reg bar.
week 1: squat 395 x 10 + med (too easy)
week 2: squat 775 x 5 + speed work
week 3: squat 395 x 10 + med & mini
cycle 4 day 1: squat 725 x 12
cycle 5 day 1: squat 785 x 7
cycle 6 day 1: squat 845 x 4

[mjc1021]

Nasty numbers Jim! 395x10 with the mediums is straight sick.

[joeaverage]

Thanks Mike, I hear you are strong as an ox yourself!

[mjc1021]

Hey thanks Jim. Very, limited with what I can do with tension at Golds though. Got a pair of larges and cannot use them to squat, only bench and deadlift. I had to start using chains with my bands to get more of an overload.

[joeaverage]

last cycle I benched 420 x 10, after a prep phase I did 420 x 12 today. When starting a new training cycle it is so important to make sure that your CNS is fresh and you are not fatigued, if you fail to get 10 reps your whole cycle just suffers and you usually can't recover.
This prep phase seems to be doing the trick for me.
week 1:
2b 225 x 5 + med
4b 275 x 4
6b 325 x 6

week 2:
bench 465 x 5
speed 135 8x2 + sm

week 3:
2b 95 x 6 + lg
4b 135 x 6
6b 185 x 5

just thought that doing board work for reps was the right thing to do. no matter what you decide to do, your second of three workouts should always be free weight for around 5 reps for both the squat and the bench.

[msiders]

Jim,
How does the prep phase work into the rest of the cycle? I thought I understood it to be you did the prep phase and then started a new cycle (extending the cycle to 15 instead of 12 weeks), but how does the reg bar squat prep phase fit in?

Also, how do you feel about taking time off after a cycle? Is it necessary or only when you think you need it.

Thanks for your answers.

[joeaverage]

time off after a cycle especially for drug free lifter's is a bad idea and not necessary. First, you lose strength too quickly when taking time off and second when on this system you get plenty of rest and recovery between workouts, workouts are short and quick, you should be conditioned from sled pulling, therefore time off is unnecessary.
Yes, adding prep phases can extend a cycle to as long as 18 weeks. Everyone may not need to do a prep phase. My first 25 cycles I did not do prep phase work. The idea of a prep phase for me is to make sure my CNS is reset, that I'm not fatigued from the previous training cycle. The idea of doing a set of 10 on cycle one for all 3 lifts was to reset your CNS, to get away from the max sets of cycle 6. Cycle 1 in itself was like a prep phase. But my sets of 10 began to regress and lately was not always mentally prepared to go right into another set of 10, (they suck) so I felt that I needed to do something in between cycles that was physically demanding but wasn't mentally draining. Basically when doing this system you are either doing a shit load of band tension or a shit load of bar weight and a prep phase for me is about a 50/50 split between both for some reps. I've somehow convinced myself that a prep phase are my fun workouts which give me a mental break. But, the prep phase work really does give your system a different feel which gets it ready for the set of 10 plus reps on cycle 1.
I have incorporated a prep phase between cycles 3 & 4. Now, each lifter has to decide how long they want to train for a meet. If you want to do all 6 cycles and both prep phases then you will need 18 weeks. Or you can do a 3 week prep phase then go right into cycles 4-6, that would be 9 weeks. Or no prep phase, cycles 1-3, prep phase then cycles 4-6 and that would be 15 weeks. If you are just starting out and you haven't struggled with your sets of 10 then just do cycles 1-6 for 12 weeks of training. You have lots of options within this fairly simple system, examine where you are physically and then plan your training accordingly.
I've lost the desire to participate in this sport but have not lost the desire to train hard and to be strong, so it doesn't matter to me how long my training cycles are. My goal is to have a quality workout each time that I lift so I do what is necessary to ensure just that.