I’m in an odd situation at the moment. After my first phase of dipping I entered a cutting phase with the rest of my training which basically means I’ve been getting lighter. What this means is that my original dip of 75kg is getting relatively heavier compared to my body weight.
I have also been putting in some huge volume in my training which left me with two possible approaches – polar opposites. Either I keep my dipping volume high (eg. A lot of repetitions) to match the rest of my training or I keep the volume low (eg. More weight and less reps) so I don’t burn out with the amount of work I am doing.
Honestly, there’s no right or wrong answer in training. I tried to make the best decision based on the situation I am in right now. I opted for more weight and less volume because my previous phase had higher reps anyway. There’s certainly strong arguments to suggest that this contrast in training can confuse the body (high reps sometimes and low reps at other times) about what it is trying to adapt to. However, it felt like the best option for me right now.
I haven’t included my other training programmes here because they were completely unrelated to this dipping programme. Very little to no accessory work like you will see in Andrew’s programming. Honestly, that’s not because I wouldn’t it’s just because I am working on a separate goal the same time.
So the plan looks like so:
Week 1 (or week 5 if you include the last phase)
8 sets of 6 – 8 reps
Week 2
8 sets of 5 – 7 reps
Week 3
9 sets of 4 – 6 reps
Week 4
9 sets of 3 – 5 reps
Through every phase I kept my tempo to a 40X0 which means 4 seconds to lower the weight, no pause at the bottom, e(X)plosive up and no pause at the top. This was my kind of half-way house between heavy weight and volume. 6 – 8 repetitions are not that high but doing 8 sets of it makes it still a lot of volume! Between each set I took 180 second rest to ensure I was getting full recovery and adequate performance each set.
I only performed this once per week. I think I would have got better results with once every 5 days or so. Each week the rep range got slightly lower so obviously my aim was to add more each week. Week 1 I managed to stay within the rep range of 6 – 8 reps, starting with 30kg attached and building up to 40kg attached by the last set.
By week 4 I was doing between 45 and 60kg for the 3 – 5 rep range. I am typically quite efficient at the heavier end of the rep range so I’m able to ramp up the weight quite quickly the less reps I need to perform.
I’ve felt good about this phase of training so far with the weights increasing nicely. I will be changing the programming for the final phase of 4 weeks but I have successfully done another phase of training with the same scheme in the past with increased weights.
An example of this for legs could be:
Week 1
Squats
8 sets of 6 – 8 reps – 100kg (examples)
Laying Leg Curl
8 sets of 6 – 8 reps – 55kg (examples)
Week 2
8 sets of 5 – 7 reps – 105kg (examples)
Laying Leg Curl
8 sets of 5 – 7 reps – 60kg (examples)
Week 3
8 sets of 4 – 6 reps – 110kg (examples)
Laying Leg Curl
8 sets of 4 – 6 reps – 65kg (examples)
Week 4
8 sets of 6 – 8 reps – 105kg (examples)
Laying Leg Curl
8 sets of 6 – 8 reps – 60kg (examples)
The pattern continues on. If you look at the weights for week 4, you will see that the reps have gone back up to 6 – 8 reps but you are now using the weight you did for 5 – 7 reps in week 2. This would continue on so you reach a new personal best for 4 – 6 reps at the end of week 6.
Anyway, see you next phase for the final workouts and the last one rep!
