Increasing reps?

[Timy7]

Following a basic steady state cycle.

Im not a beginner, but definitely not advanced. To date I can hold a back and front full lever, no piking or sagging. Iron cross, just nailed my straddle planche after over a year of work, full ROM hspu's, almost have a good straddle L.

Anyways, I really like the physique changes I have seen, but still not quite enough. Would say increasing my set and rep scheme to 7-10 sets of 3-5 instead of 3x5 help with this?

I can do 3x5 smooth strict muscle ups, flat tuck planche pushups, bulgarian dips, handstand pushups, full ROM GHR, rock bottom pistols, etc and I feel like I have stagnated. I dont want to add a weighted vest as I enjoy pure bodyweight. But I dont want to be bigger.

Also side note, I am not a competitve gymnast, not do I ever plan to be. I do however love learning new skills, and I love these methods, just not sure where to go from here.

Thanks to anyone for any help you can offer, or any random thoughts as well.

[Neal Winkler]

You said that you don't want to get bigger, so is your goal to lose more fat?

[Joshua Naterman]

Additional resistance is honestly your only ticket to actually gaining strength in these movements. Either go to a harder progression, which if you've noticed in the book sometimes DOES involve weighted vests, add weight to what you are currently doing, and/or where possible start working on one arm variations.

Adding volume WILL add muscular size, that's just how the body works. I'd suggest you slowly increase the volume one set of 3 per week and then turn them into sets of 5 if that's the route you choose to go, just to avoid overloading your body too much.

[Timy7]

Well I want to be a bit bigger, say 5-10lbs tops. I think the added hypertrophy would really help as I keep hitting walls.

[Guest Ido Portal]

Actualy I am a big believer in increasing work capacity in order to upgrade intensity.

Increasing your volume and experiencing 'over reaching' for a certain amount of time combined with a subsequent supercompansation and recuparation can allow you to burst through plateus in strength and intensity later on, when pushing for more and more intensity simply does not work.

We all wish it was as simple as continuing to increase the intensity on and on in a linear fashion, but this is simply not the reality. Increasing volume is another tool in the tool box, and can produce great results, espcialy with intermidiate/advanced trainees.

Ido.

[gymrob]

Timy7,

Although my accomplishments are not as good as yours, I can attest to what Ido has said above. What he has described works extremely well. For me personally, I had a poor work capacity (still needs a lot of work) and this was really holding me back. So I took on a higher volume approach. This really helped as when I used higher intensities I didn't reach the critical drop off point as quickly. Also, I could complete more sets. More sets leads to faster strength gains and of higher magnitude.

Give it a try and let us know how it works for you. Best of luck.

Rob.

[Joshua Naterman]

I agree too, I definitely notice that every so often, usually when I feel like my progress has stalled, I increase the volume and frequency for a short period of time, usually 2-3 weeks. I find that I need about 6 days of off or light/moderate working out after that to allow for recovery but then my abilities shoot up. I probably end up doing that every few months, at least lately, and the extra volume absolutely helps my strength gains in the long run. It does produce some increases in muscular size, but the strength gains far outweigh the "weight" gain. I don't think you should be concerned about getting "too big," especially if your workout is mostly gymnastics. As long as your performance is increasing you shouldn't worry about an extra pound or 5 of muscle.

I was pretty much strictly making suggestions in terms of you staying exactly the same weight you are at. The main reason why I suggested increasing your volume slowly was because I have no idea what your work capacity is, and nearly doubling your volume may be too much. You'll just have to find out

And, realistically, your body can't build more size if you don't give it more food. So if you kept your caloric intake steady you shouldn't put on hardly any actual weight. I do wonder about that sometimes, because I eat the same things pretty much all the time in pretty much the same amounts, and when my volume goes up so does my weight. I don't know what the hell that's all about.

[Timy7]

Ido- Thanks for your input, can I ask what you mean by increase work capacity? I know what work capacity is, but in the GPP, conditioning for bjj and competition work capacity, I have no idea how to increase work capacity in a gymnastic sense?

Do more static holds throughout the day, workout more times a week, etc? I am very well aware that nothing is linear and I appreciate that, just feel like its too early to be hitting a wall in progress.

Not looking for a magic pill as I am willing to put in the work.

[gymrob]

Slizzardman,

Just a suggestion...instead of taking 6 days off, try having a de-load workout at the end of the three weeks. In this workout simply half the volume...e.g cut the number of sets in half. Then go onto the intensification cycle where higher loads and lower reps are emphasised.

Hope this helps.

[Joshua Naterman]

Work capacity means how much work you can do in a set period of time. So, if your workout is 30 minutes long you could increase your work capacity by doing more total work in the same 30 minute period, or taking that 30 minute workout and completing it in less time, like 20 or 25 minutes.

Additional volume can also help you to increase work capacity even if you are not compressing the workout time. I don't know how Ido structures this, I don't have much experience with this sort of thing.

[Timy7]

Slizzardman- Thank you very much, makes more sense.

Most of my gymnastic workouts take nearly an hour, and thats just 3x5 of a push and a pull for upper body, then static holds of planche and usually front lever.

Guess maybe I'll keep the workout similar and decrease my rest for the remainder of this steady state cycle, then reassess what I need to do.

Thanks guys, definitely much appreciated.

[Joshua Naterman]

Slizzardman,

Just a suggestion...instead of taking 6 days off, try having a de-load workout at the end of the three weeks. In this workout simply half the volume...e.g cut the number of sets in half. Then go onto the intensification cycle where higher loads and lower reps are emphasised.

Hope this helps.

I haven't tried this before, I'll do that my after my next increased volume period. Thanks

[Guest Ido Portal]

The simple idea of interspreading intensification cycles with accumulation cycles will provide very good results for most people.

Accumulate more volume with non-maximal intensity work and then push the intensity to new heights. Rinse and repeat.

Simple, effective but obviously... not easy. I wish more people would understand this simple concept alone will provide 80 percents of the results they are after.

Ido.

[Joshua Naterman]

I've never done it specifically like that, I'm looking forward to it For some reason, my body has always gravitated towards alternating the intensity and frequency with the accumulation, but I never really did it systematically until recently. Thanks you guys for the more specific info I'm looking forward to using a more structured approach.