RIDING THE WAVE: ARE YOU UTILIZING THIS POWERFUL STRATEGY?
By Shane Robert
There are so many different ways to set up a strength program that it would be impossible to cover them all. And, sometimes frustratingly, they all seem to work. One method that seems to work quite well, perhaps better than others, is wave loading.
Wave loading is a technique that involves lifting progressively heavier weights in successive sets, before dropping back to lighter weights and repeating. This building up and dropping back resembles a wave-like pattern, hence the name. By gradually increasing the load, wave loading effectively “primes" the central nervous system (CNS), improving neural efficiency, which helps you lift lighter weights more explosively, and prepares you for the heavier weight that comes in later sets. It is time efficient and stimulates hypertrophy, as well as strength gains, with lower volume by doing much work in the 85% plus range. This range stimulates all the fibers of a muscle, even without a close proximity to failure. When doing work with 85%+ weights, you are also getting a lot of specific practice that carries over to higher one rep maxes, which is why this program is intended to end with a single, using 105% of your starting max. For this reason, you must use a very achievable starting max.
The program below is intended to increase strength as well as muscle and makes use of wave loading for the main movements. As such, it’s important to pick big exercises that require a lot of muscles and coordination. I suppose you could use it for something like biceps curls or whatever, but that sure seems like a waste to me.
In addition to using the power of wave loading for the main movements, this program also implements a few variations of wave periodization, where each week sees a change in the weight, sets, and/or reps, before waving back and starting the build up process over again, for secondary and supplemental movements. Accessory work uses a volumizing wave on each block.
MAIN MOVEMENT
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
SECONDARY MOVEMENT
(Alternate to the main movement, i.e. if you squat as your main movement, this would be a deadlift variation)
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
SUPPLEMENTAL MOVEMENT(S)
(Variation of the main movement that helps build the main movement)
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
ACCESSORY MOVEMENTS
(Pressing on pulling on lower body days; lower body on upper body days. All accessory movements are supersetted with sets of the main movements.)
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Here is an example of what a week might look for lifter who has the following conservative maxes:
Squat - 300
Bench - 210
Deadlift - 345
Overhead Press - 135
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
Day 4
This program is great for natural lifters because switching the accessory movements to the alternate days from the main movement turns each day into full body workouts. The more often we train a muscle, within reason, the more frequent the trigger gets pulled for muscle protein synthesis, aka growth.
The exercises listed in the example are just that—examples. Swap in whatever suits your goals or desires, but just remember to be conservative with your starting maxes.
