I agree with waterfall on this one.

Only a small percentage of lifters need to do 1 rep max efforts to break through plateaus.

In the grand scheme of things, from an academic point of view most of us still rank as "novice" lifters (myself included). I've dipped my toe into "intermediate" when I was training 6 days/week for months. But, only the "advanced" lifters really benefit from 1 rep max. And that's after YEARS of training with dozens of resets.

Read Rippetoe's 2nd book on the subject: Practical Programming for Strength Training

Also, unless you are training as a weightlifter for weightlifting competitions, 1-rep max does not mean anything to a track racer.

It's almost as meaningless as max wattage.

Both are nice to brag about, but there are so many more factors that go into making us faster on the bike.

I feel like you've misunderstood me. I'm not using the 1 rep max to break a plateau. I'm using it as a tool to evaluate whether I'm actually progressing. I've found that personally my 5 rep weight has previously been changing from workout to workout by quite some margin (when i was stuck at 100kg there were some days when I was able to do more but still could not beat a previous 1rm from days where I could not push 100kg for reps) I've found that for me at least when I cannot complete this 1rm I'm not going to be able to manage the next weight increment unless I make sure I'm eating enough/more. I'm at university currently and I have a highly variable timetable which makes it difficult to plan my nutrition ahead of time which often means I end up not getting enough into my system. If I can tell empirically that I'm not getting enough in I can make adjustments to counter it. This seems to be working for me because since I broke my plateau my squat weight has gone up and up and up with no stalling. That said if I do encounter another plateau I'm quite happy to go back and evaluate the process from the ground up but this does seem to be working extremely well for me and I am advancing as fast as is possible for most programs that I have encountered(+2.5kg each workout).

If you happen to be in Southern California and want an excellent weekend of barbell coaching for a cycling audience, this can't be beat. I can highly recommend Mr. Horn, and Mr. Hill is Quinn8it's longtime coach.

https://vmac.smugmug.com/photos/i-rx.../i-rx5vWW5.jpg

1) I think you are doing it wrong.

2) It's mental.

3) I think you should still focus on 5 reps and not touch 1 rep maxes...for whatever reason.

Your 5 rep working sets should not change from workout to workout. I suspect this is your problem.

You should set your 5 rep target load before you even set foot in the gym. Your warmup sets will be a certain fraction of this target load. Then you attack the 5 rep working sets. If after the first set, you can add more, then add more. If you fail the assigned working set, then you should try again. If you fail again, then you should reset.

You shouldn't be doing any "max" efforts. 1 rep max, 5 rep max, etc... Just working sets.

Just my humble opinion.

[QUOTE=carleton;18286578]1) I think you are doing it wrong.

From all the stuff the Australians have put out there and to the extent that hasn't changed, it seems like you need a solid 8 or 9 second contraction in the muscle to be doing any good. Doesn't seem like a 1RM would get you there. My $.02.

Started 2016 with a squat PR. And deads, after a few hiccups, are heading back up. The numbers are nothing to write home about, but the lifting contributed to some noticeable speed gains the past 2 years, and with my FTP on a 3 year decline, the lifting is all I got going for me!

.beCan I get a form check? I'm not sure about my final rep(looks iffy to me) but given my back doesn't round is it ok?
Carleton you were right. Going to take it as a valuable lesson.

Looked like you came too far forward on the last two. Weight shifted from heels to over your toes and your knees bobbled a bit, which suggests to me you need to back off the weight a hair. First one looked solid though.

Hips rising faster than your shoulders means you're using your low back muscles to extend and lift the weight. Try to keep your low back and core locked and have hips and shoulders rise at the same rate. In other words, your back is rounding at the bottom of the lift. This has definitely happened to me in the past and unless you correct it, you might get hurt a bit (as I have). Depth looks good, can't really see from this angle but knees appear to be tracking over feet (knees out enough).

How did you fix it in your case?

Honestly, it's a constant struggle. I have a tendency to "butt wink" right at the bottom of the lift, which doesn't help things. Hamstring flexibility is something I'm constantly working on. Any time you approach a max lift, you are bound to experience form breaks. So one fix, which is obvious but maybe not what you're looking for, is to reduce the weight you're lifting. You can do this while still working hard by increasing the number of reps. It looks like you're doing triples, how about going to fives? I would never attempt heavy triples at LBBS with the history of back challenges with that lift that I have.

All the form cues in SS will be important for this too. Neck and head neutral, feet slightly wider than shoulder width, with toes pointed out naturally, and knees tracking wide in line with the toes. One thing that has helped me, is to really keep it tight on the way down, stick your butt way back, feel a hard stop when you reach the point where your hamstrings bottom out on your pelvis, and then power straight up, with the weight on your heels. Rocking forward onto your toes (like it looks like you're doing in the vid) is a sure way for your back to get out of form (and also endangers your knees), because now you've lengthened the lever (which is your back) and it now has to lift a bigger percentage of the weight on the bar.

If I was you (and this is just personal advice), I'd back off the weight a little, get that form perfect (take more vids), and then start moving up in poundage again. I know it's frustrating to de-load, but trust me, it's better than getting hurt and losing weeks of training recovering. I've been there!

Back off the weight 10% and use that as your starting point for building back up on the poundage. It's hard to tell from that angle, but it also looks like you can widen your stance a bit. This helps you to "sit back" into the hole, making it harder for your hips to drift up while the weight stays put.

I have to ask this as I'm fresh off a terrible session on rollers: Do you all experience declines in wattage on the bike while you're in sprinter base building season? That is, when the focus is on gym work, do you notice your wattage come way off on AT type efforts?

I'm confused. You are measuring your wattage on the rollers?

Wattage is a function of torque and cadence. With rollers, torque is minimal (depending on tire pressure and roller barrel width).

At like aerobic threshold? If yes, what does that have to do with sprinting?

HAHA. I'm sort of on a hybrid approach now so I can't focus on JUST 30 second efforts as much as I like. I have to toss in some AT work. So maybe once a week I get in a 5x5 where I'm north of FTP.

I'm measuring power via a powermeter on my track bike. I'm using the 3" drum Kreitler's and the 2.25" drums. So plenty of resistance and I can usually back into what gearing/cadence I need to be running on each to hit the wattage target for the workout.

Ah. As an enduro who's poorly adapted to lifting weights I've done a lot of rides the past several weeks where power was down about 10% for the same rpe vs when I'm not torn up from lifting. I'd say you're normal.

To answer your question:

Progress isn't linear. You will have ups and downs within training blocks based on volume, intensity, rest, etc...

Remember, training is simply Stimulus to promote a Response which is usually Super-compensation. That's why it's important to always try to do slightly more than your body is currently capable of doing. Ideally, your body will respond by supercompensating (becoming stronger than you needed it to be before). It's really interesting how it works.

It's basically like climbing stairs two steps up, one step back...all the way up a mountain.

I agree it is EXTREMELY fascinating but can be remarkably frustrating at this time of year. :-D

This old thread still going!?!?

Squats for the Watts....
Same as it ever was

No. Lifting weights is so 2014...:lol:

Welcome back Quinn.

Hahaha, welcome back, Quinn.