Late Novice Press & Bench Programming

[Sean Plant]

Hello,

I'm currently adding 1.25kg per session onto my press and bench and feel like 3x5 is going to stop working sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Should I keep adding 1.25kg to 3x5 until I fail, deload 10% and work back up before I start reducing the increases to 1, 0.75 & 0.5kg etc.?
Or should I lower the increases first to avoid failing?

(I've been doing 3x5 and running the novice program as written for 9 weeks and haven't failed any reps as yet. Squat has nearly doubled and have gained 7kg/15lbs.)

Thanks.

[Scott.Acosta]

Be sure to track your rest intervals and increase as needed so you don't miss reps.

I prefer to prevent the necessity of a reset as much as possible. If I were coaching you and you didn't show signs of accumulated fatigue I would try to keep the weight increases the same and take you to 5 sets of 3 reps. Then I would reduce the increases. After that, back-off sets can be used. Again, this can be done as long as recovery is going well. When a reset is called for you can revisit 3 sets of 5 and run it again. Maybe the next time you take it all the way to some heavy doubles and singles.

[Sean Plant]

Ok thanks for the advice.

After reading through the books I notice it says you can switch to 3x3 to prolong increases. Does 5x3 generally work better than 3x3?

[Adam Levine]

And what are the "signs of accumulated fatigue". It seems that being able to detect that before it becomes a major issue would be helpful.

-->Adam

[Scott.Acosta]

And what are the "signs of accumulated fatigue". It seems that being able to detect that before it becomes a major issue would be helpful.

-->Adam

What I notice is the lifter is sluggish in general. Not as motivated. lingering soreness, development of aches and pains. They stall for more rest between sets, warmup sets appear slower. I'll ask my lifters nearly every session how they've been sleeping and eating. They are required to track their diet (although not everyone does), so if i can see they're calories/macros have fallen off recently that can be a good indicator. A bad night of sleep and a few days of decreased calories is probably not a show stopper if the lifter gets back on track immediately.
I hope this clarifies.

[Adam Levine]

What I notice is the lifter is sluggish in general. Not as motivated. lingering soreness, development of aches and pains. They stall for more rest between sets, warmup sets appear slower. I'll ask my lifters nearly every session how they've been sleeping and eating. They are required to track their diet (although not everyone does), so if i can see they're calories/macros have fallen off recently that can be a good indicator. A bad night of sleep and a few days of decreased calories is probably not a show stopper if the lifter gets back on track immediately.
I hope this clarifies.

Thank you and helpful. If I understand right, if I feel like I usually feel the evening of my novice workout two days later when I'm doing the next one, that's accumulated fatigue.

Hasn't happened yet. 🐵. I'll watch for that.

[Sean Plant]

So does 5x3 work better than 3x3?

[Devyn Stewart]

So does 5x3 work better than 3x3?

If I may, I'll give this a shot. I believe the major difference between switching to 5x3 versus switching to 3x3 is whether what you're currently doing is too much stress or not enough. If you're having a hard time recovering, 3x3 is good for recovery and hitting some of those heavier PRs that you just can't hit with 5s. 5x3 is better if you're not accumulating fatigue, but rather the heaviest 3x5 you can do isn't enough stress for you to adapt. It sounds like you're in the latter situation, so I'm guessing that's why Scott recommended 5x3.

[Sean Plant]

Thanks.