How important is it to do the peaking cycle?

[Deleted]

Hey all.
In the last 2 months I've been doing Sheiko #40 without squats.
I just ran the prep cycle and tested my 1rm.

It got me from 220kg on the deadlift to 240kg, and 125kg on the bench to 140kg.

Although the first months cycle I gained 15kg on the deadlift, this time round I only gained 5kg.

Would I be better of doing Sheiko #40 prep and then running #32?

I don't compete yet as I'm waiting till I get some decent lifts.

BW is 120kg.

Cheers.

[joeldibattista]

Hi there, I have been wondering this myself. Did you have any deload at all before testing your max? I would at the very least run the final week of #32.

[Deleted]

I have always ran the peaking cycle and have decided it is too much of not enough. I was always strong on skills evaluation and found on comp day I had lost skill and the attempts feel heavy.
I am only going to do prep cycles now and make comp day in week 9.

[joeldibattista]

Be very interesting to see how you go Kiwi, I am planning to do the same for a raw comp in Feb as a skills evaluation - I am thinking along the same lines as you....

[superaveragebro]

Personally I think that Shieko is meant to have you overtrained during prep and to have 4 weeks of deload during peaking to make the body recover and bounce back with exceptional power. If the lifter does not get "overtrained" enough during prep, the 4 weeks of deload will result in the body getting detrained instead of recovering and "bouncing back". This happens (in my opinion) because the lifter is more advanced than the programs he is using is meant to be. For example CMS lifter using ranked lifter programs. Therefore because the lifter has built a large work capacity and he is working in a comfort zone, rather in a zone which should make his body adapt to a higher workload. Another reason might be that these programs might be intended for athletes who do amounts of GPP work, but the athlete in question is doing just what is written on paper with very few GPP.

[starter20]

since we are on the subject of the #32 peaking cycle here.

i dont really understand the second day of the first week. i hear different things about that, i hear you just have to do 3x1 @ the 1rm you used in the cycle before #32. and i also heared that you have to hit a near max there.. so it kan also be 105% of the used 1rm. what is true guys?

[superaveragebro]

if you are a beginner go for a max. If you are advanced go for 95% and save the max for competition.
A beginner can get away with maxing every 3 weeks on the same exercise. An advanced lifter will burn out doing that.

[joeldibattista]

I think it also depends on how long your cycle has been. For instance, if you have recently done a competition and hit some PBs and then only ran an 8 week cycle (4 weeks of prep, 4 weeks of comp), then you probably can't expect to have built too much strength with 4 weeks of prep and would probably be best off just going to 95% to get a feel for the heavier weights and save the PB for the comp at the end.

However, you may be running a 12-16 week cycle and haven't tested your maxes for several months, then perhaps you can go for a PB at Skills Evaluation.

It's also a mental thing - some lifters feel more comfortable at competition after hitting PBs in training, some people do not.

Something to keep in mind is that generally people feel quite fatigued by the time they come to Skills Evaluation, so don't get discouraged if you don't get PBs.

[superaveragebro]

Joel, do you think it makes sense to do a 4 week comp cycle after only 4 weeks of prep work? I always got an impression that Boris Shieko planned the 4 week comp cycle to be performed after 12 weeks of prep ( he says prep must be between 8-16 weeks in his book). So I assume that after 4 weeks of prep you require roughly 1 to 2 weeks of comp cycle. 4 weeks of comp cycle after 4 weeks of prep in my opinion detrains you to the point where you lose all you gained from the prep.

[joeldibattista]

Jan 9, 2012 10:11:37 GMT -5 superaveragebro said:

Joel, do you think it makes sense to do a 4 week comp cycle after only 4 weeks of prep work? I always got an impression that Boris Shieko planned the 4 week comp cycle to be performed after 12 weeks of prep ( he says prep must be between 8-16 weeks in his book). So I assume that after 4 weeks of prep you require roughly 1 to 2 weeks of comp cycle. 4 weeks of comp cycle after 4 weeks of prep in my opinion detrains you to the point where you lose all you gained from the prep.

Yeah I agree. I would say after just 4 weeks of prep you may only need the final week or two or #32.