If you want to make it easy for your body to adjust to the changes you make in training, you can try the strategy of increasing just one training variable (i.e. one type of training stress) at a time from workout to workout. In order to do this, you must understand that there are training variables the constitute three different kinds of training stresses within each workout. These three training variables include:
- Intensity relative to max reps to failure. This refers to how close you come to hitting the maximum number of reps you can perform within a set. The more reps that are left in reserve at the end of a set, the less the intensity. The less reps that are left in reserve at the end of a set, the closer you are coming to reaching failure which will result in higher intensity.
- Intensity of load. This refers to the intensity of each set relative to the maximum amount of weight you can lift for one rep.
- Total workload and total reps. This refers to the total amount of weight lifted, and the total number of reps performed for an exercise when you combine all of the reps from each set.
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When increasing one training variable at a time, the other two variables either stay the same, or decrease. When the body only has to deal with an increase in one training variable, it will be able to focus all of its adaptive abilities on responding to a single variable. This signals your body to make a very specific adaptation, instead of having to make a flurry of different adaptations that result when more than one training stress or training variable is increased at a time.
In the five week plan presented in this article, two training variables will undergo an increase.
The first is intensity relative to max reps. This variable will increase in during weeks one and three.
The second training variable to increase is intensity of load, which will increase during weeks two, four, and five.
It is important to understand that intensity relative to max reps and intensity of load will never increase simultaneously, they will always increase separately during separate weeks so that only one variable will increase at a time.
In order to create these conditions with your training, the following two principles must be used:
- Each time intensity relative to failure is increased from workout to workout, the load and total reps per exercise must stay the same from workout to workout
- Each time the load is increased from workout to workout, the intensity relative to failure for each set will either decrease or remain the same in terms of reps in reserve, and the number of total reps per exercise will decrease.
These principles are used in the following five-week program which is based on building up to a peak in which you perform the maximum number of reps you can perform with 90% of your single rep max for the final workout.
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5-Week Program Increase One Training Variable at a Time |
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Sets x reps and % of single rep max When doing each workout, perform each exercise for the number of sets, reps, and percentage of your single rep max listed. |
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Week 1 3 Workouts |
Week 2 3 Workouts |
Week 3 3 Workouts |
Week 4 3 Workouts |
Week 5 3 Workouts |
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Workout 1 8 x 3 70% |
Workout 1 3 x 8 70% |
Workout 1 7 x 3 75% |
Workout 1 3 x 7 75% |
Workout 1 3 x 3 85% |
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Workout 2 5 x 5 70% |
Workout 2 4 x 5 75% |
Workout 2 4 x 5 75% |
Workout 2 3 x 5 80% |
Workout 2 3 x 2 87% |
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Workout 3 3 x 8 70% |
Workout 3 5 x 3 80% |
Workout 3 3 x 7 75% |
Workout 3 4 x 3 85% |
Workout 3 1 x max reps at 90% |
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Training Variable of Focus
Every week has one training variable that is the focus of a workout. The variable of focus refers to the specific training stress that is increased during that week. The training variables that are stressed for each week are listed below:
Variable of Focus during Week 1
Increase intensity relative to max reps
Variable of Focus during Week 2
Increase intensity of load
Variable of Focus during Week 3
Increase intensity relative to max reps
Variable of focus during Week 4
Increase intensity of load
Variable of focus during Week 5
Increase intensity relative to max reps and intensity of load.
The Last Workout is an Exception
There is an exception to the increase of one variable at a time, which occurs for the very last workout of the program. When doing the last workout, you will be going all out in intensity by going for max reps with an increase in load, which is an increase of two variables. The reason the last workout is an exception is that it is based on a testing procedure, not a training procedure.
Do What Works
The method of increasing just one variable at a time from workout to workout is just one strategy that can be used to gain strength. It is not the only way to train, but is an option that you can try if your current training is working. Always stick with what you are currently doing as long as it keeps working, but don’t keep repeating the same thing if it hasn’t been working. If you try adjusting one variable at a time and it works as suggested in this article, keep doing it. If it doesn’t work, adjust or try something different until you find something that does. If you want to become the best you can be, never stop training, and never stop learning. May God bless you with the best of training.