Failed set - how to proceed?

Hello all,

I am in the second week of the third block for hollow body hold. I wasn't able to hold ones of the sets for 60s. So how should I proceed now? Do I continue to the next week (which adds another set) or should I do some kind of microcycle?

As far as I'm aware, the intro articles don't say what to do programming wise when you fail a set.

Thanks!

This isn't anything official, but it has been working for me lately:

What I am doing is looking at each week within the 12 week cycle as being a goal into itself. Once I hit a goal, then I assume my body is ready to move on to the next goal. I have been sticking to the 4 week microcycle format, but not necessarily to the fixed version included in the course. If I were in your position my microcycle would look as follows:

Week 1- 5 sets of 36 seconds (light to moderate challenge, but definitely not maxing out, 2 steps back from my "challenge volume")

Week 2- 4 sets of 48 seconds (moderate to challenging, but doable, 1 step back from my challenge volume)

Week 3- attempt 4 sets of 60 seconds (challenge week which I may not successfully complete and may take me several microcycles to "master")

Week 4- 4 sets of 30 seconds (50% of challenge week's goal volume as a Deload)

Once I successfully "master" my "challenge week's" volume I would bump everything up one step and repeat.

This basic concept has allowed me to not burn myself out by not having every week be maximal intensity, still have weeks where I challenge myself, and work mostly within my capabilities so I don't injure myself or sacrifice form to get through the reps.

Hope this helps. Good luck

Zach Armijo said:

It may vary on what needs to be done. At what set and what time did you fail to reach the 60s? Did you drop the set, take 2-3 deep breaths then finish the set? Did you try the set over? Was it a matter of giving up too early?

 

There are a lot of things to ask, but you get the general barrage. If you were close to 60s...lets say around 50s, then I would run the way Keegan does his and stick with the same week's goals until they are reached. Ideally, this would be an additional week at most.

 

If you were further away from 60s, lets say around 40s, then I would drop to a modified microcycle of working sets of 50s. Again, the time will vary based upon the point of failure.

 

Statics for some people may just be a matter of prolonged exposure, needing additional 50% days to reinforce the CNS patterns needed for the statics.

Thanks for the feedback, guys! Zach, I read about your 50% days and I think that is a really good strategy for me. 

One more question. How do I keep my deload weeks synced up if I'm doing a microcycle for one exercise (hollow body hold) but progressing at a steady rate for the others?

Please link to another thread if this question has already been answered.

Many thanks!

The micro cycle still follow the same deload pattern. Every 4th week cutting work set reps in half.

Cole Dano said:

The micro cycle still follow the same deload pattern. Every 4th week cutting work set reps in half.

Gotcha. In hindsight, that seems a little obvious. Thanks!

I have done what Zach described in the past; say failing between weeks 9-10, which is a significant jump for higher-rep exercises.

As a general rule I would rather take the time to repeat the cycle and build up some momentum, but if I'm failing by a few seconds, or a mild form break that I can't quite bring home, I'll repeat either the same week target or a halfway point between the two to see out the cycle, then run it over again the next one. This has seen me out pretty well.

If you can't hit the target in the first week of a microcycle, of course, you are best off repeating the previous one, and ironing out issues with it. If this happened more than once without progress I would up the sets (NOT the reps or frequency, although the latter is something that stronger guys than me might play with) and build some more volume for a couple weeks.

I appreciate all of your replies, folks. I understand what to do now.

Cheers!

I'm failing week 6 of FL/PE1, the jump was too big for my capabilities, and because I like numbers I realize that all the templates in F1 have the same structure:

 
Where the percentages in reps and total volume are relative to the mastery week.

After seeing that, I'm not surprised that I'm failing week 6 and the OP is failing week 10. In both case there is a jump of 16% total volume from the previous week. The only jump that is bigger is from week 10 to 11.

So in my case I decided to experiment with a "week 5.5", that is a half jump between week 5 and 6 or a 8% volume increase. I was planning to do 4x30s, but Jon suggested to up the sets instead. Should I try 5x24s instead?

Either has worked for different people. I tend to respond better to the way I described, is all... better response to my learning style with more not-to-failure sets rather than fewer harder ones. But for most people I would imagine this is six of one, half a dozen of the other

Thanks Jon. I'll try your way, it does seem less daunting...

Wow some great approaches to try here,  I hadn't considered the 50% days for statics, nor extra sets.  Previously I've just repeated cycles until I got it.  I will try all of them and see what really works best for ME.  This is just GOLD!

I'm going to strongly agree with Keegan on viewing each week as a goal within itself.  By successfully completeing a specific week's goals I earn the right to go to attempt to the next week.  Strength is a skill. 

50% days are brilliant!  I've wondered if there was a way of doing supplemental work (to bring up weaknesses) that doesn't overtax the body and interfere with recovery.  Thanks Zach.

Great advice here