Week 6 - Ramp Loading

1. The weight increases every set by a set amount.

2. The key lift is every second minute.

3. There is a paired antagonist movement each odd minute.

1. Main lift.

This will be a compound movement that works many muscle groups.

2. Secondary movement

This movement should have a reduced range of motion or be an isolation exercise so it doesn't take away too much from the main lift.

The spread is the starting weight as a percentage of the goal weight.

eg. If the goal is 100kg and we start at 60kg the spread is 40%

Tight Spread >>

Tight spread means more intensity and a harder session. It gives you more reps around that top weight so it's more precise with measuring strength. Last week I did Bench presses from 115kg in 1kg increases up to 126kg. This is a very tight spread which means lots of near maximal practice. I was fried later in the week! Upper body barbell movements tend to be better on tighter spreads. Snatch is also a movement that works well on tighter spreads.

Big Spread >>

A bigger spread means you reach the peak with less intense sets and more easy practice. Today I did squats from 70kg x3 to 140kg x3 in 5kg jumps. This 50% spread gives you a great chance to warm into the session and be a little fresher when you get to the top because the early sets were relatively easy. Deadlifts and squats are good on these bigger spreads.

Choose a single repeating interval to increase by set to set eg. 1k, 5kg or 10kg. Generally the more total weight being used the bigger the jumps you will take.

Extend the ramp by jumping from:

1) 5's to 1's > work to a heavy 5 then keep adding weight getting single reps until a daily max is reached.

2) 5's to 3's to 1's >

3) Decrease the jump intervals when you get near the top to get a more true max.

4) Add a high rep drop set or cluster set straight after the top set.

Dense Strength (Flat) it's very easy to get the intensity right because otherwise you don't complete the block.

Ramp loading it's more of a challenge.

Do we want to go to failure?

Technical failure?

Concentric bar speed goal?

It really depends on the individual / group / time of the week / training cycle etc.

You don't want to be missing a lot of reps and you don't want to be getting 5second concentric phases too often. You want to be getting nice smooth reps. Build confidence and come back better the next session.

Start at 30-40% of max.

Perform a single repetition at each 5-10kg jump.

Take 1 minute off (approximately 2 minutes rest) before your top set.

You should have done 7-11 sets by this stage.

Perform maximum repetitions at your 80-85% weight.

Record the work set and observations.

Post in the group.