Sets and reps are determined by the goal of the training cycle.  They are also determined by the weekly training percentages.  Truthfully, I don't change my sets and reps very much, but there are certainly options for you to use to change some things up.

I tend to approach every cycle, no matter what fancy name I've given it, the same way.

  • Main Lift: 5's (strength)/Olympic Lift: 3-5's
  • Supplemental Lift (if it's in the cycle): 5's for Lower Body/5-10's for Upper Body/Olympic Lift: 3-5's
  • Circuit: 3-5 Rounds of 5-10's for Lower Body/10-15's for Upper Body

The overarching theme to my training of athletes is "Athlete the Lower, Bodybuild the Upper".  This is a general guideline.  I have exceptions for certain things, but this is where I start.

Main Lift

I follow my version of a 5/3/1 program (that's the easiest way to describe it).  I use a 90% Training Max with weekly training percentages of 70-85%.  So, I know that 70-85% isn't "really" 70-85%.  It's actually 63-76%.  If I ever move up to 90% I know it's 81%.

This is one of the reasons I stick with sets of 5 on all of my Main Lifts.  I know it's probably easier to just adjust my weekly percentages, but this is how I do it.  I want the athletes to think about their Training Max as their Max - forget about the actual Max and just do the work.

The other reason is I'll adjust training Maxes and keep my percentages the same.  This way I can describe what a 75% week "means".  No matter what time of year the percentage they have should tell them what we're about that day.  So, 70% is a deload, 75% is a light week, 80% is a medium week and 85%... you guessed it.  Heavy.

Off track there for a second...

I know that the body can produce Maximal Force for 3-6 reps in this percentage range so ALL of my work sets should be incredibly fast and explosive.  And, they should NEVER struggle with weights, let alone miss.  You could look at it as a built in fail safe system.  Although, I've never actually thought of it that way until just now, that's kind of what it is.

A simple workout could look like this:

Main Lift

  • Squat: Warm-up 2-3x5
  • Work 5/5/5 (given weekly percentage)
  • You could use 3-6 reps on any of these weeks.  I generally stick with 5's, as I mentioned.  But, you could change reps if you wanted.

Supplemental Lift

  • Incline: 5x5-10 (work up each set - I usually give them a percentage range based on their Bench)
  • Pull-ups: 5x5-10 (based on their Pull-up Test numbers)

Circuit: 3-5 rounds

  • RDL w/shrug: x5-10
  • Dips: x10-15
  • DB Row: x10-15

In my next installment I'll go over the difference between my Hypertrophy and Metabolic Circuits.  If I'm doing a Hypertrophy Cycle vs. a Strength Cycle this is usually the only real change.