stage you take a few weeks to creep back to your previous best working
poundages. Taking your time like this, using little discs, enables you to
return to your best weights without feeling that you are at the limit of your
abilities. is sets the scene for many weeks of venturing into new poundage
territory.. As always, your barometer of progress is poundage progression. If the
poundage gains are not coming, then cut back your training volume by
reducing total sets and/or exercises, and perhaps by training less frequently.
Less work but harder work, and less total demand upon your recuperative
abilities, will usually get the poundage progression back on track.. During the early stage of a cycle you may find that one exercise (or more
than one) is (or are) out of step with what you had planned. If so, reduce
the weight on the exercise(s) that is (or are) too difficult for that part of the
cycle, to get all your exercises moving along at a similar degree of difficulty.c. Growth stage
. is is the most important stage of each cycle, and what you have been pre-
paring for during the other stages. Prepare well, and then give your absolute
all to ensure that you extend the growth stage for as long as possible and
milk it dry of gains. e preparatory first and second stages are easy relative
to the rigors of the growth stage.. Each training program has its core exercises. Here are five sets of examples,
one with just two core exercises, and the rest with three:a. Trap Bar (bent-legged) deadlift and parallel bar dip
b. Trap Bar (bent-legged) deadlift, incline press and pullup
c. squat, bench press and partial deadlift
d. squat, prone row and parallel bar dip
e. squat, incline press and pullup. If you are gaining in your core exercises for a given cycle, you will be gaining
in size and strength generally. e core movements are what you need to
focus on as the cycle gets ever more heavier and demanding, and closes in on
its end.