Starting weights for Cat Herd- type workout

[fogle1]

I am a novice (45 yhear old) powerlifting enthusiast. I like the simplicity of the Cat Herd program. I was wondering what percent of my 10 rep max would be a good starting weight for the 3 lifts. (eg, if my ten rep max is 275# for the DL), what would be a good starting weight or percentage of 275? Thanks for your help. bf

[Lorrie]

I'm not much beyond the novice stage myself and I'm not sure that I quite understand your question. Are you talking about the first set of your warm up when your are going to do a 10 rep top set or the first day of a periodization program? Or something else? One thing that I just learned recently is that everyone has, at least to some degree, a different "spread" (Spread is my word of the day) Which means that the degree that the weight to rep ratio changes as the reps go up is different for each person. For instance I'm having a heck of a time trying to get up to a 140 bench, but I can do 125 with relatively high reps without a problem. My husband can't do as many reps as I can at 125, but his one rep max is much higher. So if your asking about warm up sets, I'd say just play around with it and find something comfortable that won't wear you out too much before you get to your work set and make sure that your jumps in poundage from set to set aren't too big. I hope this helps.

[fogle1]

I am just looking for a good starting weight for my first cycles. For instance, if we are going to do 3 sets of 10, we would probably want to do a percentage of the weight that is our 10 rep max, rather than the weight that would cause us to reach failure at 10 reps. bf

[Lorrie]

Hmmm, I'm not good at figuring that out myself. Why don't you write into Marty's chat today? That'll get you a good answer!
Btw, I *can't* do 125 for reps anymore.I tried yesterday and failed miserably. I've taken too much time off and currently I'm Sisyphus at the bottom of the mountain looking up and swatting the damn vulture.

[Tom]

Lorrie,

I must admit that I find the Sisyphean nature of fitness to be a bit annoying. On the other hand, I guess we're stuck with it.

If you could (at one time) rep out with 125 but were having trouble with 140, I'd suspect that you just needed some practice with higher weight for lower reps. Things are a bit different when you're doing 3 reps and under. Partly this is because your groove alters slightly, and partly it's because you really have to be able to fire every neuron in your muscles all at once to make the weight go up.

You might even look at something like the Westside barbell approach to training. They do 2 bench workouts a week, a "max effort" one, where you work up to either a max single or a max triple in some bench-press-like exercise (close grip bench press, floor press, cambered bar press, etc), and a "dynamic effort" one where you use a relatively light bar for 10 sets of 3 reps, trying to blast the bar as fast as humanly possible. This approach took my bench from a plateau at 250 up to 275 in 2 9-week cycles (it plateaued again after that, but it seems like they're onto something). I believe Scott Shetler follows this approach; check his log in the "logs" section.

If you're not into that approach, I'd suggest biasing your next 12-week progression toward more low-rep/heavy weight sets. Maybe something like 4 weeks of 8s, 4 weeks of 5s, and 4 weeks of 3s. Or doing some work with a pyramid progression (5-4-3-2-1 reps with increasing weight).

At any rate, I think you've got the strength; you just need to get better at using it.

[Marty]

-

1. if you are looking for a place to start - how about this - technique is stressed above all else - look at my posting today for how we attack a deadlift technically - by the way we rarely go above 8 in the deadlift and 5-rep sets are our staple...

week 1 220x8
week 2 230x8
week 3 240x8
week 5 260x5
week 6 270x5
week 8 280x5

Perfect technique particularly in weeks 1-3 when poundage is less

Tom - if you happen to read this could you contact me at mgso@supernet.com

[Andrew Smith]

Marty-

Do you use straight sets with the Cat Herd or do you increase/decrease the weight for the second and/or third sets?

Just curious as I work with young, inexperienced trainees.

Thanks for your time sir!

-Andrew
http://www.Modern-Athlete.com

[fogle1]

Thanks Marty. I like the simplicity of the three lift program. Properly done, the 20 or so sets for each workout is plenty!

[Marty]

you bet its plenty - particularly if you have ME standing four feet away exhorting you to give 110% - again - intensity is the force-multiplier; I've seen terrible programs yield results and sophisticated programs fail miserably on account of the degree of physical intensity bought to the table - small incremental steps grounded in technical perfection net huge results when placed in a 60-120 day timeframe - cardio and performance eating are inseprable from the lifting - each done properly stimulates the other elements.