Beyond-Brawn-2nd-Edition

HOW TO SET UP YOUR TRAINING CYCLES FOR BIG RETURNS
on both squats and deadlifts, if your original cycle included both. If it only
included the squat or deadlift, take the break when progress ceases on that
single movement. In either case, start a new cycle after the break.
7.111 How practical these variations of intensity cycling are will depend a great
deal on the circumstances of your life, how much stress you have out of the
gym, and how successfully you are able to meet the out-of-the-gym contributions
to training success. In other words, one approach may be perfect for
you during some stages of your life, but be useless at other stages when your
circumstances are radically different.
B 27
Conservatism, with few exceptions, is the way to go for most
people who lift weights. Erring on the side of greater conservatism
rather than less, is the best choice. Haste nearly always makes
waste. Make haste slowly.
An independent cycle within an “orthodox” cycle
7.112 ere are times when specific exercises can run in their own cycle independently
of the overall cycle. Grip work is a clear example. Most trainees have
so much untapped potential there. is is because so few people do specific
grip work, and are used to using straps for deadlifts and shrugs. Intermediates
and even some advanced trainees can, if they set about it properly—i.e.,
by progressing gradually—gain continuously in two or three grip exercises
for over a year. eir regular exercises cannot progress linearly for so long,
and thus need to fall into several cycles over the same period.
7.113 Another example of an independent cycle within an overall orthodox cycle
is with an exercise that necessitates special care in progression, perhaps following
recovery from an injury. Starting very light, and adding only a small
increment each week, would mean that the cycle for that specific exercise
could continue unbroken for over a year before reaching the point when a
more orthodox cycling approach should be adopted.
Double-progression method
7.114 ere is an alternative to the use of little discs, to be used either for training
variety or for trainees who do not want to invest in little discs. is is the
system of repetition and poundage progression—the double-progression
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