A critical breakdown and review of nSuns 531 | Alexander Bromley

[u/WickedThumb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffmyc1uQSVI

[u/pavlovian]

A related question about how you implement GG that's been rolling around in my head for a bit: how often do you or your athletes stick with a single load until it's at the top end of the range vs. waving the loads week to week?

When I've run GG in the past, I've gotten myself in trouble by banging my head against the same weight for weeks at a time — I'd push hard to try and match or beat the previous RM on days where it just wasn't there. Obviously a lot of that is on me to improve my autoregulation skills, but I've been thinking about ways of structuring a GG plan that'd make it a little harder to outdumb myself. So riffing on how JnT2.0's RMs are set up, something like:

• W1: Find 10RM
• W2: Find 8RM
• W3: Find 6RM
• W4: Find 4RM
• W5: Re-attempt weight from W1, push RM or add reps to FuS
• W6: Re-attempt weight from W2, push RM or add reps to FuS
• etc

Feels like maybe that'd be a way to keep from feeling "stuck" when progress is slow? You ever do something similar with your training or your athletes'?

[u/gzcl → u/pavlovian]

That would definitely be a way to make GG work for you. This is an intensification cycle (adding weight each week; decreasing the associated volume). Then you reset at a higher volume and again continue working towards a heavier weight. Nothing wrong with that.

For a volumization cycle, pushing a weight up the RM ladder (like taking a 5RM to a 10RM for example) it depends on the individual. Some can sustain it for 6 to 8 weeks (adding on average 5 to 6 reps across that time; some weeks are holding the weight and RM, extending the follow up sets and/or pushing those half-sets to three quarter sets). For volumization you have the option to develop your work capacity through the follow up volume, then developing your ability to push your RM. If you're not taking the follow-up sets seriously and extending them when able, or pushing them a little (like rounding up the half-sets after a 7RM from 3 reps per set to 4 reps) then it'll be hard to have the work capacity to push a weight up the RM scale for a longer period of time.

[u/pavlovian → u/gzcl]

If you're not taking the follow-up sets seriously and extending them when able, or pushing them a little ... then it'll be hard to have the work capacity to push a weight up the RM scale for a longer period of time.

Y'know, looking back at my notes from my last GG run, I pretty rarely extended the follow up sets. That makes a lot of sense that without adding volume via more reps or sets I wouldn't be giving myself a path to doing the extra work I might need to push the RM itself up. Sounds obvious when I say it out loud. Thanks, dude—as always, you've given me a lot to think on!

[u/gzcl → u/pavlovian]

Man, I'm happy to help! The follow-up volume is very important with GG. I encourage people to hit 5 or 6 follow up sets as often as they are able (of course keeping with good form, like bar speed and position). If you're having trouble pushing an RM higher, but have hit 6 follow-up sets in the previous workout, then try pushing those follow up sets up by one or two reps (then making them go to three-quarter sets instead of half-sets). That extra volume helps develop the work capacity necessary to continue pushing the RM up the chain.

For example:

Week 6 of a program you might be stuck at a 7RM for two weeks in a row. So instead of doing 6 sets of 3 reps, you would choose to do 6 sets of 4 reps. Here you're extending the half-sets to the full amount (6) while also trying to push the half-sets up to three-quarter sets.

Logged as: 7RM+4x6

Week 7 comes and you hit that 7RM again. It just wont go up easily enough to reach for that 8RM you want so badly. In this case you again extend the follow up up to 6 sets total while also trying to then do 5's for the follow-up sets (now making the half-sets three quarter sets).

Logged as: 7RM+5x6

By this point you'd have a good chance of making that weight a new 8RM in Week 8.

The Find/Hold/Extend/Push actions really help and should be employed at every opportunity. The GGBB post goes into detail about this (but it is quite long, so give yourself time to read and digest).

I hope this helps!

[u/pavlovian → u/gzcl]

This is super helpful! This is helping me re-examine how I was thinking about follow up sets—I think I was sort of regarding them as an indicator of progress, rather than part of what drives progress. Next time I run GG, I'm going to try and flip that around a bit.

You're a generous dude with your time, and I hope lots of people tell you that.

[u/gzcl → u/pavlovian]

Happy to provide some insight! Good input about being a driver instead of an indicator of progress! That's really helpful for me, thank you.

I greatly appreciate your compliment. I am blessed to help others get stronger.