Periodization.. Following an existent or creating your own?

[Rider91]

As the title says, what do you guys believe is better? Creating your own periodization program based on investigation, reading articles, experience & of course already existent programs... Or following an already existent program such as westside barbell, sheiko, jonnie candito's program, ed coan program and so on...

Also..
1. Do you train 100% intensity on every set? (What I understand by 100% intensity is, training to failure.
2. Do you train with 1RM percentages?
3. Regardless of the program, what determines the rep&set ranges week after week for a particular lift?


This might sound stupid as a whole but I really want to know people opinions on this.
In your particular opinion, what do you think is better...?
Creating your own, or following and already existent?


S: 415 lbs (might be higher a couple of lbs now though.)
B: 275 lbs (I really don't train this lift lol)
D: 530 lbs (It might also be a bit higher atm)


Thanks.

[young1wisdom]

To answer your question in the simplest of terms; if you know what you're doing then you could create your own program. If you don't really know, then it's probably best to follow a program. Before you go making a decision on a program (or making your own), you have to decide what your goals are. That will help with planning and choosing a program that will actually work. Too many times I've seen guys who focus too much on the heavy weight and not enough volume get stalled at certain numbers for a long period of time. Judging by your stats, at 5'10 you should be weighing a little more than 162lbs. My suggestion to you is to get on a program that has a good amount of volume and eat a **** ton while your on it.

Also keep in mind, westside barbell, conjugate, bulgarian etc. are just methods of training. It's really up to your as the individual to know what you need to work on and how to apply that in your training in order for those methods to work.

[JRMoore82]

1) Highest available intensity. But if rep 4 took too long to accomplish no shame in not hitting the 5th this week.

2) No. My percentages are very off. 5 reps is always WAY lower than what I can hit for 1 calculated out to. Linear progression with a 1RM test every 8 weeks.

3) I do each lift twice a week. One day it's 5 reps. The other is a variant not to exceed 3 reps. It's for speed and form. If I hit 2 reps on banded bench then the next 4 sets will be 2 as long as technique and speed are not compromised.


I did a lot of research on different programs and found a little from all of them that works for me. The hardest thing is doing what YOU know works for you. A lot of opinions on other peoples workouts. You have to decide if it's working and you have to know if it's too much/too little.

[NZninja101]

I believe the best thing is to follow an already existing program, and over time, to slowly transform it to your needs. Of course if you pick a bad program then that's going to take a while, lol.


1) No. Most sets I leave a couple reps in the tank.
2) Roughly.
3) Sets stay the same due to the fact that I've determined what my general work capacity is and how hard I can beat myself up to coincide well with planned deloads. Reps are programmed so as to generally leave a rep or two in the tank. Bad days = harder sets but the volume still gets in all the same. Weekly changes follow a simple linear periodization trend. Starting with 10 reps on main lifts, going down to 3-4, dropping a rep a week roughly.

[Partyrocking]

I think it's best to start with the latter (pre-made) and end eventually up with the former (self-made) based on what you found worked or didn't work for you when you did the pre-made routines over the years.

1) No. Most of my exercises are either at an RPE 8 or an RPE 9.
2) No. I'd drive myself nuts doing that since my lifts don't match up with 1RM calcs at all; I assume that if I used a program based on percentages, I'd just make a mess of it
3) I do the same number of sets for each exercise each week. I have rep ranges for every exercise, so once I hit the upper bound, I add weight and drop back to the lower bound.

[Dawes]

1) try programs
2) do research
3) trial substituting lift variations or adding accessories
4) make your own program

If after a few years you haven't worked out what works for you, are still using the program someone else made and not making any progress, you are doing it wrong.