Always failing on week 11

Hey guys,

since a few microcycles in HBP2(15,15,15,15,12),RC3(10,10,10,10,8)&MN(15,15,15,15,13) I'm always failing in the 11th week!

Now I'm thinking of a diffrent rep scheme after my deload week as just repeating the microcycle didn't help me improving so far.

What do you guys think about just staying at the rep scheme from week 11(5x15 and 5x10) after my deload for the next 3 weeks?So instead of 4x12 at week 9 I will do 5x15 trying to get as many reps as possible in the 5th set and try to improve 1 rep each week.

Does anyone tried something similar?

Thanks for your help,

Andre

I tried that for the sls and it kind of made the focus on the mobility a lot harder, you look SO close to get it that i'd be surprised if you don't get it from sheer will power or another cycle

Andre737 said:

Hey guys,

since a few microcycles in HBP2(15,15,15,15,12),RC3(10,10,10,10,8)&MN(15,15,15,15,13) I'm always failing in the 11th week!

Now I'm thinking of a diffrent rep scheme after my deload week as just repeating the microcycle didn't help me improving so far.

What do you guys think about just staying at the rep scheme from week 11(5x15 and 5x10) after my deload for the next 3 weeks?So instead of 4x12 at week 9 I will do 5x15 trying to get as many reps as possible in the 5th set and try to improve 1 rep each week.

Does anyone tried something similar?

Thanks for your help,

Andre

I think it's definitely worth a try. 

I've been doing something similar for HBP2 for the past couple of months: 

14/14/14/13/13 --> 14/14/14/14/13 --> 14/14/14/14 --> 7/7/7/7/7 --> 15/14/14/14/14 --> 15/15/14/14/14 --> 15/15/15/14/14 (just completed this one last week). 

So far the last couple of reps are always a little tenuous, but I haven't failed a set since switching to this scheme, and am beyond what I could do a couple of months ago. I'm not sure if this is actually making a difference in gains compared to following the usual microcycle, or whether it's just psychologically easier because I feel like I'm making progress even if it's only by 1 rep per week. Whatever it is, even this tiny amount of progress feels better than failing every fourth week, and makes it so I don't feel like I'm spinning my wheels as much as before (I've been at this PE since February). 

I say stick with your plan and increase your last set by 1 rep every week. Let me know how it goes, hopefully we'll both be moving onto HBP3 in a month (though I may stay with HBP2 for an extra month if my last couple of reps continue to be a little "grindy"). 

Good luck!

M

I'm also failing on the mastery test of the pushups for the second microcycle in a row. The 4x12 is not too difficult, then I hit a wall at the latter sets of 15. Break tempo badly in the 4th set and fail in the 5th. Let me know if you crack this nut. I might also try to just keep repeating the mastery week and increasing reps on the last set for 3 weeks then 1 deload week, and do that as many times as necessary. Though I will probably attempt a third microcycle as prescribed before resorting to that. 

It worked for me on HBP PE2. I felt only getting two shots at mastery per cycle wasn't enough and I never failed on the 9th and 10th week.

However don't break form. 

I had trouble with bHBH and ABH on separate occasions. The first time I just repeated weeks 9-11 but this wasn't very productive for me. The second time I just did 60/50/40/30/20 and each session I increased the numbers so it went something like this:

60/50/40/30/20 - week 9 first session

60/50/40/30/30 - week 9 second session 

60/50/40/40/40 - week 10 first session

60/60/50/40/40 - week 10 second session

60/60/60/50/40 - week 11 first session

60/60/60/60/60 - week 11 second session

Deload

I'm having trouble with HBP:PE2, I've got the reps but I'm taking an extra minute rest between sets. I'm going to repeat doing 5x15r for the three weeks. 

Experiment and find what works for you.

dritar said:

It worked for me on HBP PE2. I felt only getting two shots at mastery per cycle wasn't enough and I never failed on the 9th and 10th week.

 

However don't break form. 

Mastery should be reproducible. It may be hard as hell, but you should be able to do it consistently. If you feel the need to take many 'shots', you can't really be said to have mastered the movement. 

If you're having trouble with the last week, there's a few things you could try. The first thing you should do is post a form check for the current PE and the previous 2-3 exercises to make sure you're doing it right. Also make sure you're not taking an inordinate amount of rest between PE and iM sets: this may seem counterintuitive, but I've found that taking too much rest time when progressing through the earlier weeks makes it harder to master the final minicycle. 

If and only if all of that is in order, then it's time to start playing around with cycles. You can try splitting the final mini-cycle into two. E.g. the 10-rep scheme becomes 4x8, 4x9, 5x9, 5x5, 4x9, 4x10, 5x10, 5x5. If you're really having trouble you could try doing a steady-state cycle at your current maximum sets/reps scheme. 

Joshua Slocum said:

Mastery should be reproducible. It may be hard as hell, but you should be able to do it consistently. If you feel the need to take many 'shots', you can't really be said to have mastered the movement. 

 

If you're having trouble with the last week, there's a few things you could try. The first thing you should do is post a form check for the current PE and the previous 2-3 exercises to make sure you're doing it right. Also make sure you're not taking an inordinate amount of rest between PE and iM sets: this may seem counterintuitive, but I've found that taking too much rest time when progressing through the earlier weeks makes it harder to master the final minicycle. 

 

If and only if all of that is in order, then it's time to start playing around with cycles. You can try splitting the final mini-cycle into two. E.g. the 10-rep scheme becomes 4x8, 4x9, 5x9, 5x5, 4x9, 4x10, 5x10, 5x5. If you're really having trouble you could try doing a steady-state cycle at your current maximum sets/reps scheme. 

It was reproducible. What I meant is when was doing the 4x12, 4x15, 5x15 cycle (did it like 3 times) my consistency in the 11th week wasn't very good. Sometimes I could complete the reps, sometimes tempo failed, sometimes the last reps were really grinding.

Did one cycle 4x15, 5x15, 5x15 and then one cycle 5x15, 5x15 and 5x15 and that fixed that consistency problem. Basically I needed to spend some more time getting used to 5x15 and the normal cycle wasn't doing it for me.

dritar said:

It was reproducible. What I meant is when was doing the 4x12, 4x15, 5x15 cycle (did it like 3 times) my consistency in the 11th week wasn't very good. Sometimes I could complete the reps, sometimes tempo failed, sometimes the last reps were really grinding.

 

Did one cycle 4x15, 5x15, 5x15 and then one cycle 5x15, 5x15 and 5x15 and that fixed that consistency problem. Basically I needed to spend some more time getting used to 5x15 and the normal cycle wasn't doing it for me.

Ah, that's perfectly fine. What I thought you meant was that you were doing something like a cycle of 5x15, 5x15 and 5x15, and then declaring 'mastery' because you manged to pass once or twice during the whole minicycle.

Thanks for your answers.I just completed the 11th week again and for me it worked out to increase 1 rep per week.So I ended up with 5x15 Push Ups and 5x10 Ground Row but as the last reps were grinding I will repeat one more microcycle.

After deload I want to keep the rep scheme from week 11 for the next 3 weeks to get better used to the high volume.Or is there any specific reason to drop the volume again on week 9?

Coach Sommer said:

Although both have merit, my personal preference is for repeating the 9-12 microcycle for three reasons;

 

1) physically it increases recovery

2) mentally it provides a break from the tedium of always using the same workout  

3) it also allows for a greater focus on bringing the lagging iM work up to par.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

From my asking the same question here; (F2 forum)

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/11341-when-im-limits-progression/

Andre737 said:

Thanks for your answers.I just completed the 11th week again and for me it worked out to increase 1 rep per week.So I ended up with 5x15 Push Ups and 5x10 Ground Row but as the last reps were grinding I will repeat one more microcycle.

After deload I want to keep the rep scheme from week 11 for the next 3 weeks to get better used to the high volume.Or is there any specific reason to drop the volume again on week 9?

Jon's post above tells you what Coach thinks is best - Do this first and see if it works for you. Though ultimately you'll find what works for you. For the PE1's I had trouble with I found repeating week 11 for a micro cycle worked best for me -  This might not always be true and in later PE's I might find repeating the whole micro-cycle more applicable. 

Use the right tool for the right job as the saying goes. Experience will help you figure this out.

Yeah, my go-to was just repeating the higher volume because I don't care about monotony if it makes me stronger, but if Coach thinks and can give reasons why it's more productive to consolidate this way then I'm definitely happy to accept that

But here coach is answering to what to do if the iM is lagging and the PE or SE is ok, not if your stuck reaching the full PE/SE mastery.

Andre737 said:

Thanks for your answers.I just completed the 11th week again and for me it worked out to increase 1 rep per week.So I ended up with 5x15 Push Ups and 5x10 Ground Row but as the last reps were grinding I will repeat one more microcycle.

After deload I want to keep the rep scheme from week 11 for the next 3 weeks to get better used to the high volume.Or is there any specific reason to drop the volume again on week 9?

Although both have merit, my personal preference is for repeating the 9-12 microcycle for three reasons;

1) physically it increases recovery

2) mentally it provides a break from the tedium of always using the same workout  

3) it also allows for a greater focus on bringing the lagging iM work up to par.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

My mistake, slightly different question. It comes to the same thing, same answer.