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Well, you had already had 2 sets in the book. All you needed was 5 more reps. Sometimes (actually, oftentimes) a failure is due to a temporary form breakdown. Maybe you didn't initiate good hip drive on that rep and couldn't get out of the hole. Or maybe your stance wasn't perfect. Or maybe the bar slipped a bit down your back. Or maybe you just lost concentration for a second.Originally Posted by tweakxc03
Look: you're at the gym, you have your belt, you're warmed up, you're not injured, and you already have 2 of your 3 sets in the book. Why WOULDN'T you try again for the 3rd set? Now you gotta do 245x5x3 again next workout.
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don't wear a belt right now. probably should get one. will that help at all with the lower back fatigue? it just seems to accumulate rather than recover.
I did fail to get out of the hole, but yeah, you make some good points.
i'm chalking it up to a bad day.
Member
No, this is bad advice.
A set of 5 is an uninterrupted set of 5 consecutive repetitions of a lift without a break. If the bar is racked at any point during the lift, be it rep 2 or rep 4; the set is over, put it in the books.
It doesn't matter if you're certain that you could have gotten it on another try, the fact of the matter is that you weren't physically or mentally strong enough to complete 5 uninterrupted and consecutive reps that day, so you're going to have to try that weight again on another day.
A temporary form breakdown, inability to initiate sufficient hip drive, imperfect stance, bar instability on the back, and/or loss of concentration that is sufficient enough to cause you to not make 5 reps in a set is an indicator that you were not strong enough that day to complete the set.
Just do the weight again next time but be sure to work on perfecting whatever issues you have on the lift. If your recovery is on point you should be stronger and more able to address whatever form issues you are having the next time you try that same weight, and in the end move forward with more chances at future success.
Resetting is necessary when you cannot improve enough to compete 3 sets of 5 after about 3 tries or so. You'll know when it's time to do this.
Attack that shit next time, you'll get it.
And consider switching to the Onus Wunsler program, your lower back probably needs a break from pulling so much.
Member
Tweak,
How often are you deadlifting?
You might want to go to a program like this (basically 4 different workouts repeated):
Mon- Squats, Press, Deadlifts
Wed- Squats, Bench, Chins
Fri- Squats, Press, Cleans
Mon- Squats, Bench, Chins (or pullups)
Wed- Squats, Press, Deadlifts
Fri- Squats, Bench, Chins
I got this template from PP (not sure of the page cuz I am at work right now). This way you are pulling from the ground every other workout but only doing deadlifts once every four. This might help your lower back recovery.
Member
yeah i've been thinking about switching to one of those programs. what's strange is the squats seem to fatigue my back more than the deadlifts. Not sure what that is about.
first thing that i think might help is adding in a belt for the squats. so far i've been doing fine without the belt, but the weight is getting up there to the point where now it makes sense.
Member
Yeah, there is absolutely no reason NOT to use a belt so definitely go ahead with that. That plus the shoes plus maybe deadlifting a little less frequently should all be helpful in your training I think.
Member
Duh. That's why I said he had to re-rack and do ANOTHER SET.
So if the fire alarm went off in the middle of a set, you're not allowed to re-rack it, come back, and bang out another set?!?!?
Member
real men are fire-proof. or at least fire-resistant.
Member
Tiburon, stop.
Adding a 4th set because of a failure to complete 5 reps in set 3 is bad advice.
Listen, you can do it if you want but do not advise others to do it.
The paradigm of this program is completion of 3 sets of 5 reps and you only get 15 tries to do it, not 20.
And since you seem to lack common sense, let's continue with the hypothetical situations. I'll help you out too...
What if:
A lion busted into the weight room
There was an earthquake
A comet hit the earth
The guy next to you farted really loud
You were abducted by aliens mid-rep
Bat-boy flew into your face
Come on, let's keep making stupid shit up; fuck using common sense.
Member
There have been many many workouts where I have failed during a set (sometimes even the first or second set), for a variety of different reasons, and then re-racked the weight, taken my rest, collected my thoughts, and then banged out the rest of the sets.
It has happened on squats, usually if I relaxed at the bottom, didn't get a good hip drive, and got stuck down there.
It has happened on the bench, usually when I couldn't keep my shoulders back and one of them "slipped" forward during the set (or even at the beginning if I got a bad lift-off).
It has happened on the power clean more than I can remember, especially when I was first learning the technique.
It has even happened on the press, the most recent time when my breathing somehow got off-cycle and I couldn't stay tight enough to finish the set.
Now, obviously, if Tweak is overtrained or if he made too big of a jump or if he is suffering from H1N1 then he should just go home and try the weight next workout. But my point is that there are MANY reasons you might miss a rep, and a lot of them just require you to man up and do another set.
Hahaha, I actually have a great video of me farting at the bottom of a squat rep and laughing so hard that I needed to dump the bar. I'll post it.
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