Dog Pack Cycle #4
Dog Pack Cycle #4
This is the start to a huge 12 week block. If you are in on that action now, you got in at the perfect time. Over the next 3 months your lifting is going to absolutely transform. When we start these large training cycles, its very important that we start with a high volume phase, the reasons for this, to build a base that allows us to attack hard training going forward. If you have a weak base, you have nowhere to build. There will be plenty of volume spread between the squats pulls and lifts, Dosed in a way that will allow you to continue to attack each session with good energy, but still accumulating enough work along the way to make the following two months feel like an absolute breeze.
Some very important things to consider going into this phase.
1st. In volume phases it is very normal to gain a couple extra pounds, do not stress out about that, this is very normal. It was normal for me to gain about 3kg in the early phases of my competition prep as an athlete. This is the weightlifting equivalent to a “bulking phase” in bodybuilding. This allows you to pack on muscle and properly recovery through all the reps. I would strongly advise against doing any sort of weight cut throughout the next 4 weeks.
2nd. Its very normal in volume phases to stiffen up. Due to the high levels of hypertrophy you will be experiencing, the muscles will stiffen up and shorten throughout this phase. Make sure you are taking care of your mobility and recovering in a way that allows the body to function and move properly,
3rd. A lot of the sets you see are going to be RPE based, especially in the squats. All that is, a 1-10 difficulty scale. 1 being weightless 10 being absolute max effort. So if you see RPE 7, for example, that means it should be a 7-10 difficulty. Meaning it shouldn’t be a walk in the park, but at the same time you shouldn’t be grinding through every rep. RPE 8, there should be a little more grind, RPE 9, should be a grind, RPE 10. Absolute max effort. Hold yourself to these standards and do NOT get ahead of yourself and go to a true max too early. That can derail the whole phase.
The reason I like doing RPE based squats for these phases is because everyone recovers differently. With perfect recovery, a set of 5 at RPE 8 could be 80% of your 1RM. But say you don’t sleep well, didn’t get breakfast and just recovered poorly, a set of 5 at RPE 8 could be closer to 70% of 1RM. What matters is the stimulus more than the actual weight on the bar at this point, if you are working as hard as you are supposed to, that is going to allow this program to work its magic no matter what the circumstances.
Get ready for some hard work, get ready to feel those legs blow up and start kicking!