What is your training routine?

[MarkIV92]

Linear progression is hit or miss for me. Like, I did it for OHP for a while, got it up to 170, then it stalled and 5/3/1 wouldn't do anything for it... then jumped on a routine with monthly gains built in... worked fine

lost linear gains for my bench... did westside for a while, built some top end strength, then all of a sudden linear gains came right back



For legs, most linear routines have just too much volume, if I were to be pulling over 600 2x a month (I"m still natty) I'd burn out fast

Volume doesn't seem to work long term... but after a long prep up to a meet (powerlifting) I usually find falling back to volume can give some nice results - at least for a while

 

[MN87]

^ One of my favorite things about juicing (halfway through my first cycle) is that it made linear progression possible for my bench ones again. Just go in, add some weight, and do some more reps. Life is simple... getting better at the lift by doing the lift

Linear progression stalled out for me a long time ago on bench but I still have some success varying my volume schemes... youd be surprised how creative you can get with volume manipulation. You say you would get burned out given some of these volume routines, but have you ever tried? A lot of people underestimate their recovery ability and have preconceived notions of what they can and can't do, natty or not

Other than that, yeah, lift cycling is the only thing that works for me. Generally I try to keep the variants as close to my comp bench as possible... so my bench variants are mostly just grip variations, whether width, bar (football bar vs straight bar, etc), etc.

 

[MarkIV92]

I've 'discovered' (this might be overkill for you guys on juice, but I've kept up with the progression natty) a little training cycle that has worked well for my upper body lifts (worked well for one cycle lower body, then burned me out too quickly, couldn't keep up with it)

Will give you an example of my OHP cycle:

5 x 5 at straight weight: 145 x 5 x 5 (then one drop set @ 125... should be easy day but will get you accustomed to new volume. Though this day is easy, this is the only day that matter. Imagine a standard increasing 5 x 5, only the other weeks just serve to make it possible.
5 x 5 ascending: 135 x 5 145 x 5 155 x 5 165 x 5 175 x 5 - should be one of your hardest days
5 x 3 ascending: 145 x 3 155 x 3 165 x 3 175 x 3 185 x 3 - with a drop set at 135 x however many for extra volume
3 x 3 flat sets at 185 or 190, however heavy you feel

Then raise week one by 10 lbs, then go after it again.

It doesn't matter if you can keep up with the full progression of weeks 2-4, as long as your week one keep going up 10 lbs per cycle, there is no problem. Helped me get my OHP up 50 lbs, pretty happy with it so far

 

[China_Wall]

most of u guys sound way too much like powerlifters (haha, sorry for my judgement boys)...

I'm on the bodybuilding side of the fence so... it's not all about "how much u lift or press", it's more about how your muscles are responding and diet of course

 

[WestCoastActive]

i'll get back at this in a min!