[Rich Ellis]

Hi mate

I think it depends how much progress and development you achieved in that time.

I’d probably be inclined to go upper lower to learn the philosophies and take advantage of the high frequency.

[Rich Ellis]

Hi gang,

Still on a period of rest so not much to say thts of any interest

Got some shopping I’m ready for next week, I’ll do all the prep tomorrow

Just resting and getting everything lined up for next week when I go back to it

[Rich Ellis]

Hi mate

There’s some pretty good ones on the Elite FTS Instagram page

[Rich Ellis]

Hi Will

There’s no definites, but you need to understand your recovery capability when working with a failure approach before you look to add extra sets and intensifiers

Lots of the same principles still apply to what you’ve been doing, the key ones being that you will have a minimum adaptive volume, and a maximal recoverable volume.

You don’t want to start to the MRV side of this. Eek everything out of the MAV that you can, you will see strength progressions allow you to keep volume static whilst progressing

As you understand your recovery better and better, you can make informed decisions about where to add volume by way of extra sets, or intensifiers

I personally would start with the basic set up mate and get as much progress out of that as you can. You can add the fancy bits along the way, just understand that starting with them will limit your steps of progression.

Is that helpful?

[Rich Ellis]

Hi mate

I think coming from the RIR to JP’s philosophy will see you in a great position to make progress because of the contrast in styles, so I’m excited for you!

My responses to your questions….

1) I would think twice before putting all three sessions in a row mate. You’ll notice tht most of us break it up more. The most popular variation at the moment is push, pull, rest, legs, rest, repeat. Remember that you’ll be working to failure, and possibly beyond in some instances. I think a period of understanding how you recover is wise.

To answer the question, there’s merit to both, the defining reason will for me, be availability of good movement choices. If you have enough to cover two rotations, great, that’s a popular option and a good one.

2) Again, I think you’ll need to start from scratch here mate as those failure reps are something you won’t be conditioned to. The “must” here is to be able to take everything from the set. Give yourself a few rotations to understand how long you need. It’s a variable, so controlling it makes sense.

3) I think your structure makes sense. For me, I will have a couple of warm up sets, and then one to two “acclimation” sets to get accustomed to the coming stress. As you already do, dropping number of reps here is important. We don’t want to take away from the work, we want to be primed.

4) Looks good to me mate.

Enjoy mate, like I said, I think you’ll see some great progress given the contrast of stimulus.

[Rich Ellis]

Another day of not much.

Other than walking the dog, not much activity has taken place.

Been spending the time getting my training and diet sorted for the next block of lockdown training

[Rich Ellis]

Hi mate

I agree with Clare. For hypertrophy focussed training, I wouldn’t pre-plan deloads, but rather use them as and when you need to

Be prepared to substitute movements at times as you’ll likely get an uneven stalling of progress.

I think one of the keys though, is to not move too quickly with progressing a movement. Small consistent progressions in load and reps is conducive to sustained progress.

[Rich Ellis]

Happy new year gang

Not a lot to report from today. Day of rest, I have three more of those coming up before I can get cracking again on Monday.

I hope you’re all really well, here’s to a strong 2021

[Rich Ellis]

Well it was supposed to be a rest today, but given the news that we have moved into tier 4, I put a leg session in

I’ll have 4 days off now before I’m helped out with some kit from a good friend for the third time

Very much the focus of this next training block will be to get strong again.

Let’s see where it goes

[Rich Ellis]

Personally I’d prefer to see a push, pull, rest, arms, legs, rest, IF you need a stand alone arm day.

With this approach you could tag a little tri and bi work into push and pull respectively.

It all depends what you need to take from the split.

[Rich Ellis]

Push day today, really happy with how everything felt, could just do with being strong now ?

DB Lateral Raise
Pec deck
Overhead tricep ext
Decline smith press

I’ll rest tomorrow, then legs, then rest again on Friday

[Rich Ellis]

There’s not a right or wrong answer mate. Whichever one you connect with better.

[Rich Ellis]

Pull day today.

Was really strong on some stuff and utter rubbish on others

It went

Chest supported upper back row

Snatch Grip RDL

Barbell Row

Assisted pull-up

Ez curl

I need to switch barbell rows for dead stops. Lower back was too compromised after the RDL.

[Rich Ellis]

There’s lots of good options mate and in all likelihood, you’ll need all of them at some point to allow progression over time

It’s very much in the execution, but I think a cable lateral raise standing or supine is likely an “easier” way to target the muscle directly. You can focus tht further by using a cuff rather than a stirrup handle

All of these are really good options mate, just be exacting with your execution

[Rich Ellis]

I agree with Clare, if you’re prepared for your upper to take less specificity and really focus on pulling your legs up, that’s a great split

The fact you have an arm only day currently might though suggest tht arms a weakness also?