I found this link which is what I'm going to use. You or others may find it helpful. I may tweak it a bit. Just fill in your own numbers and it'll calculate a workout. https://blackironbeast.com/5/3/1/calculator
Nowadays, because I on purpose use lighter weights after a break, I don't really feel such severe soreness anymore. But sometimes I'm too "enthusiastic" when training calves after a break. During the training it doesn't feel too heavy. But about 36 hours later I get a lot of soreness and have pain in my calves for two days. Pain while walking, pain to the touch, and the calves really feel very hard (difficult to find the appropriate English word). Telling me that next time I have to be more careful. Generally I am having one day per week where I don't do anything. The other days are mostly split between four for the gym and two for paddling (rowing) at sea. The latter training is good as back training and as cardio training: short interval training of about 1~3 minutes of high intensity effort followed by 1~2 minutes of rest, for about 60~80 minutes. The gym sessions are only strength training, I don't do any cardio in the gym. I use a rotating schedule of (a) legs, (b) back&shoulders and (c) chest&arms. Each of a, b and c has about 8 exercises. And I alternate between using 3 sets of 8 reps and 3 sets of 12 reps, where the weight gets adapted to the number of reps. The total cycle thus takes six training sessions: a3x8, b3x12, c3x8, a3x12, b3x8, c3x12. As you can see do I keep the reprange rather high. I noticed over the years that I like this better than training programs where you do 3~6 reps per set.
Thanks for the response. I'll say this: you're quite active! That's a lot of intervals for your two HIIT rowing days. And you do 4 strength training workouts each of which comprises 24 sets. Damn! How close to failure do you go on your sets? And, for context, how old are you, if you don't mind my asking?
Q1: it depends on how I feel at any particular training. I keep a record of the weights I use for each set of each exercise. That enables me to see what I did the previous training cycle. So I don't need to waste time "figuring out which weight to use today". On a day where I feel weak I'll simply repeat what I did the previous cycle, most often resulting in an RPE8 at the third set. If I feel good and try heavier weights than the previous cycle the third set will be difficult to complete, RPE9 I would guess. If I can't complete the third set (i.e. not able to do 8 or 12 reps) I'll add a fourth set to do the remaining reps. Q2: 54.
Okay, thanks. But regarding Q1, can you ballpark how often you go to full failure, or how close you come to it, say within 1 rep or 2 reps, or whatever? Because, at least for me, the proximity to failure is a better gauge of intensity than the amount of weight lifted. So that's the thing I best relate to and understand.
Seems complicated. And for older guys or anyone with any joint issues, the rep ranges seem rather low. Just my opinion. And as an aside, lifting a heavier weight for a very few reps to failure is cool and looks cool, but I personally find it more challenging to reach the same level of failure using a lighter weight for more reps, within reason. I find it more exhausting, you approach the same degree of failure with a finer granularity (for lack of a better term), and I suspect it may have a better metabolic effect. Again, Just my opinion.
It can be as complicated as one chooses to make it. I'm just going with the 65/70/75 percent week one, add 5% to each week two, add another 5% week three, deload to 50% week four, add 5 lbs. to the bar and repeat cycle for the next month.
Yes, I agree with you that proximity to failure is a good indicator to use. At the same time is that indicator a bit subjective: the feeling of being close to failure might differ from one person to the other. It is not often that I go to full failure. I only allow that to happen on days when I feel strong, having a lot of energy. Most training sessions I would have 1 rep remaining at the end of the third set of each exercise.
Absolutely. That's why going to actual failure, such that no further concentric movement is possible, is about as objective as we can get. Even then, it's not a perfect equalizer because trained lifters are better at achieving focused intensity (and, therefore, "truer" failure) than less trained or untrained lifters. So how close would you normally go to failure on the first two sets?
Although I don't mind answering your questions I feel that we are hijacking this thread. We have drifted far away from it's title (Deloading) and the questions from the opening post.