PRRS Training: Basic and Advanced

[SteveHinchee]

Sixthsense,

I was checking out PRRS and I was just curious what kind of weight you can put on with a workout like this and over what period of time it takes to see serious results. I know its a very general question, I've had about 1.5-2 years in the gym and am 6'6 205, so assuming I eat relatively well, what kind of time period am I looking at for serious gains?

I'm not Sixthsense but i have used his program now for over 4 years with great results. As far as gains go it depends on you. I am always able to increase at least 5-10 pounds with every rotation. To give you an example my last power week i hit 365 on deads for 5 reps. This cycle of power week i just nailed 375 for 5 then turned around and pulled 400 for the first time ever. I see gains with every cycle. Follow the tempos that set forth in the program, train balls to the wall every time, and eat clean and get your cals up above maintenence and you should see gains.

remember Rome wasnt built in a day....Done right you should see gains with every cycle...

[Wolverines21]

I'm not Sixthsense but i have used his program now for over 4 years with great results. As far as gains go it depends on you. I am always able to increase at least 5-10 pounds with every rotation. To give you an example my last power week i hit 365 on deads for 5 reps. This cycle of power week i just nailed 375 for 5 then turned around and pulled 400 for the first time ever. I see gains with every cycle. Follow the tempos that set forth in the program, train balls to the wall every time, and eat clean and get your cals up above maintenence and you should see gains.

remember Rome wasnt built in a day....Done right you should see gains with every cycle...

Thanks for the input man, I think I'll give it a try and see how it goes. Wish me luck.

[SteveHinchee]

Thanks for the input man, I think I'll give it a try and see how it goes. Wish me luck.

I know a lot of folks using p/rr/s and non have not liked it....

Best of luck and train hard

[sixthsense]

Sixthsense,

I was checking out PRRS and I was just curious what kind of weight you can put on with a workout like this and over what period of time it takes to see serious results. I know its a very general question, I've had about 1.5-2 years in the gym and am 6'6 205, so assuming I eat relatively well, what kind of time period am I looking at for serious gains?

Impossible for me to predict my friend. Everyone is different and has a unique capacity to add muscle. All I CAN tell you is that done correctly, PRRS is one of the most effective mass gaining programs you can possibly use. It has stood the test of time and has thousands of very satisfied users!

[Mr. Anderson]

Do you have to use the shock week or could you skip it and do a rep range or power week instead? Could you do P/RR/P repeat?

[sixthsense]

Do you have to use the shock week or could you skip it and do a rep range or power week instead? Could you do P/RR/P repeat?

You can do anything you want, but if muscle size is your goal then I recommend including shock week. If your goal is more geared toward strength, then you can go with P/RR/P/RR or P/P/RR.

[DlESEL]

sixthsense, can you pleae check out my other thread when you get a chance. And let me know what you think of this style 8-day split, running 8 days of power, 8 days of rep-range, and then 8 days of shock. If you like this, I'll run a P/RR/S experiment and post my feedback accordingly in the journal session. I'm thinking about running an 8 day split that looks like:

1. Horizontal Pull
2. Horizontal Push
3. Quads, Biceps
4. Rest
5. Vertical Pull
6. Vertical Push
7. Hamstrings, Triceps
8. Rest

Basically horziontal push is chest, horizontal pull is rowing exercises, vertical push is overhead pressing, or shoulders, vertical pull is pull-down or pullover movements. Let me know what you think, thanks.

[Wolverines21]

With this workout, I'm looking to about a half hour of cardio 2 to 3 times a week, mainly running, jump roping, or something along those lines, just to stay cut. Is this too much cardio? When do you suggest I do cardio, assuming I use the split:

chest/biceps
off
legs/shoulders
off
back/triceps
abs
off

[230plus]

Im starting my routine tommorrow w/ this.

[sixthsense]

sixthsense, can you pleae check out my other thread when you get a chance. And let me know what you think of this style 8-day split, running 8 days of power, 8 days of rep-range, and then 8 days of shock. If you like this, I'll run a P/RR/S experiment and post my feedback accordingly in the journal session. I'm thinking about running an 8 day split that looks like:

1. Horizontal Pull
2. Horizontal Push
3. Quads, Biceps
4. Rest
5. Vertical Pull
6. Vertical Push
7. Hamstrings, Triceps
8. Rest

Basically horziontal push is chest, horizontal pull is rowing exercises, vertical push is overhead pressing, or shoulders, vertical pull is pull-down or pullover movements. Let me know what you think, thanks.

Well, I am not a big fan of natural bodybuilders training any more than two straight days.

[sixthsense]

With this workout, I'm looking to about a half hour of cardio 2 to 3 times a week, mainly running, jump roping, or something along those lines, just to stay cut. Is this too much cardio? When do you suggest I do cardio, assuming I use the split:

chest/biceps
off
legs/shoulders
off
back/triceps
abs
off

30 min of cardio 2-3 days per week is fine. Try doing it first thing in the morning on off training days for maximum efficiency.

[SteveHinchee]

To everyone thats going to try p/rr/s you should think about popping over to the p/rr/s forum. YOu can get a lot of great ideas there from everyones logs. There are a lot of knowledgeable folks there concerning p/rr/s that can help you out if Eric is not available to...

http://prrsguru.proboards66.com/index.cgi

[Wolverines21]

I had a question about the biceps part of this workout. I have short biceps, and am looking to lengthen them if it is possible (cross my fingers for no bad genetics), and I am unsure where and how to incorporate exercises that will overcome this problem within my P/RR/S workout. Could I potentially do a separate bicep workout on a day off focusing on length or is that too much? I am doing a 3 day split. What exercises do you suggest for bicep length?

[sixthsense]

I had a question about the biceps part of this workout. I have short biceps, and am looking to lengthen them if it is possible (cross my fingers for no bad genetics), and I am unsure where and how to incorporate exercises that will overcome this problem within my P/RR/S workout. Could I potentially do a separate bicep workout on a day off focusing on length or is that too much? I am doing a 3 day split. What exercises do you suggest for bicep length?

I wish I had better news for you, but biceps length is set by genetics. It all depends on how far down the arm the biceps tendon attaches, and it cannot be altered by any exercises.

Still, I would tell you to make sure you use a full range of motion on all biceps exercises, making sure to start every movement at full stretch. Also, make sure to include an incline DB curl and some form of preacher curl in most of your biceps workouts.

[Wolverines21]

Big ups to you sixthsense, I'm on my 2nd week of this workout and loving it. Have never had such an intense workout before.

[sixthsense]

Big ups to you sixthsense, I'm on my 2nd week of this workout and loving it. Have never had such an intense workout before.

Very glad to hear you are enjoying it!

[Wolverines21]

Sixthsense,

During shock week, my workouts are lasting only a little more than a half hour. I'm not sure if this is too short and was wondering if I was doing something wrong. For example today I did:

Legs:

Superset Leg Extensions/Leg Curls 2 x 8-10
Superset Front Squat/SLDL 2 x 8-10
Dropset Squat 1 x 8-10, drop 6-8

Shoulders:

Superset Dumbell Lateral Raise/ Barbell Front Raise 2 x 8 -10
Superset Military Press/ Barbell Shrugs 2 x 8-10
Dropset Clean and Press 1 x 8-10, drop 6-8

I took minimum rest, probably intervals of 15-45 seconds (rarely 45), maintained my weights and flew through it in about a half hour. It is a very excruciating half hour, and my muscles are on fire the entire time, but is it too short? Should I add more? Focus more on taking longer breaks to pump out a higher weight? Or am I doing this right? Is a half hour good? I feel like it's too short and I want to make sure I have the idea of shock week down. Any suggestions or advice?

[Fitsho]

Sixthsense,

During shock week, my workouts are lasting only a little more than a half hour. I'm not sure if this is too short and was wondering if I was doing something wrong. For example today I did:

Legs:

Superset Leg Extensions/Leg Curls 2 x 8-10
Superset Front Squat/SLDL 2 x 8-10
Dropset Squat 1 x 8-10, drop 6-8

Shoulders:

Superset Dumbell Lateral Raise/ Barbell Front Raise 2 x 8 -10
Superset Military Press/ Barbell Shrugs 2 x 8-10
Dropset Clean and Press 1 x 8-10, drop 6-8

I took minimum rest, probably intervals of 15-45 seconds (rarely 45), maintained my weights and flew through it in about a half hour. It is a very excruciating half hour, and my muscles are on fire the entire time, but is it too short? Should I add more? Focus more on taking longer breaks to pump out a higher weight? Or am I doing this right? Is a half hour good? I feel like it's too short and I want to make sure I have the idea of shock week down. Any suggestions or advice?

There have been many days where I have blown through a Shock workout in anywhere from 20-30 minutes. As long as you are going to failure with each set that is perfectly fine to finish early. Supersetting exercises allows you to move through exercises quickly, thus you finish your workout in a shorter time frame. Don't worry so much, you are doing just fine.

[Griff79]

What would be a good example of a Rep workout for legs, I do my entire lower body on one day?

thanks

[SteveHinchee]

What would be a good example of a Rep workout for legs, I do my entire lower body on one day?

thanks

Here's is my rep range workout for legs using Erics system

leg ext 2x7-9
squat 3x10-12
unilateral leg press 2x15
*occasional insanity add in->walking lunges 2x20
SLDL 2x7-9
lying leg curls 3x10-12
unilateral leg curls 2x15

[IllPhill]

Whoa this program looks intense. I think I'll consider giving it a shot when I start stalling on 5x5. Gotta read it more in depth first though. It looks promising

[Griff79]

thanks Steve, I will give it a shot

[sixthsense]

Sixthsense,

During shock week, my workouts are lasting only a little more than a half hour. I'm not sure if this is too short and was wondering if I was doing something wrong. For example today I did:

Legs:

Superset Leg Extensions/Leg Curls 2 x 8-10
Superset Front Squat/SLDL 2 x 8-10
Dropset Squat 1 x 8-10, drop 6-8

Shoulders:

Superset Dumbell Lateral Raise/ Barbell Front Raise 2 x 8 -10
Superset Military Press/ Barbell Shrugs 2 x 8-10
Dropset Clean and Press 1 x 8-10, drop 6-8

I took minimum rest, probably intervals of 15-45 seconds (rarely 45), maintained my weights and flew through it in about a half hour. It is a very excruciating half hour, and my muscles are on fire the entire time, but is it too short? Should I add more? Focus more on taking longer breaks to pump out a higher weight? Or am I doing this right? Is a half hour good? I feel like it's too short and I want to make sure I have the idea of shock week down. Any suggestions or advice?

As VPX Sports said, yes, it seems to take much shorter to do a shock workout than power or RR. However, if you are able to get the same reps with the same weights from one set to the next in the same superset, then you are not pushing hard enough in my opinion. For example, if you are doing the following superset twice:

-incline bb press/flat db flye...2 x 8-10 each

If on the first set you are using say 200 lbs on incline press and 35 lb DB's on flyes and you fail at 8 reps on each...then you rest for 1 minute and do it again, there is no way you should be able to repeat that performance. The reps should come down by 1-2 or you should have to lower the weights a bit to maintain failure at 8 reps.

Make sure you are taking everything to absolute failure! I know myself that I need almost 2 minutes rest between supersets because I push so hard!

[Cam gettin huge]

I cant wait to start this program!! but i just had a couple of questions first......would this be ideal for mass building? I was also wondering if i read this right.....only 3 excersises per body part? Im 19 and suck at formatting a good workout plan...any help would be appreciated...thanks!

[Wolverines21]

Make sure you are taking everything to absolute failure! I know myself that I need almost 2 minutes rest between supersets because I push so hard!

So, do you stress absolute failure over short rest time? I felt like rest was a bad thing during this week, maybe I have the wrong idea. So the key is complete failure, and say I need 2 minutes for mental rest/catch my breath, that break isn't going to take away from the shock week concept?

[sixthsense]

So, do you stress absolute failure over short rest time? I felt like rest was a bad thing during this week, maybe I have the wrong idea. So the key is complete failure, and say I need 2 minutes for mental rest/catch my breath, that break isn't going to take away from the shock week concept?

The "shock" is in the supersetting and dropsetting. Go to failure on each movement. The rest period will still be shorter than RR or P week in most cases. However, there are times on leg or back day that I have needed 3 minutes break between supersets!

[SteveHinchee]

thanks Steve, I will give it a shot

you're welcome

[sixthsense]

I cant wait to start this program!! but i just had a couple of questions first......would this be ideal for mass building? I was also wondering if i read this right.....only 3 excersises per body part? Im 19 and suck at formatting a good workout plan...any help would be appreciated...thanks!

PRRS was designed as a mass gaining program, although many people report awesome strength gains as well.

3-4 exercises per bodypart is about the right number, with only 2-3 sets per exercise MAX.

[masterdine]

im use to 3 years of max-ot. I was wondering what would be a good warmup for power week, rr week, and shock week?

and by lifting tempo do u mean Lifting Tempo: 4/0/X up 4 seconds down 1 or what same with Lifting Tempo: 2/1/2/1*** and Lifting Tempo: 1/0/1

[sixthsense]

im use to 3 years of max-ot. I was wondering what would be a good warmup for power week, rr week, and shock week?

and by lifting tempo do u mean Lifting Tempo: 4/0/X up 4 seconds down 1 or what same with Lifting Tempo: 2/1/2/1*** and Lifting Tempo: 1/0/1

Warmup as you would before approaching any high intensity workout.

Lifting tempo is expressed in either 3 or 4 numbers, with each representing time in seconds:

negative/stretch position/positive/contracted position

(I generally will only list the contracted position if the movement has a peak contraction effect...example: leg extensions)

Remember that some exercises START with a negative, like bench press, and others, like curls start with a positive. However, this does not change how lifting tempo is expressed.