I recently wrote a book that I titled, “Double Loading.” The concept behind the book is based on adding weight to your lifts on a weekly basis for sets of five reps and single reps. The weekly additions of weight take place over the course of ten weeks. By the end of the ten week cycle, you will be going for new personal records by lifting the maximum weight you can lift for five reps and a single rep. 

You can read the introduction to the book along with chapter one in this blog, and can click on the book cover at the end of this blog if you want to read the whole book for free. Enjoy the book. 

Introduction

A popular form of linear periodization is based on increasing the weight of your lifts each week until you end up lifting very heavy weights for a single rep. This strategy does seem to work extremely well for some lifters. Unfortunately, others don’t get the results they are hoping for and are left wondering what went wrong. If this is true of you, don’t lose heart as some simple adjustments may help you to start making progress.

One of the reasons linear periodization fails to work for some lifters is that the end of the cycle demands too much heavy lifting. At the same time, the low rep sets do not provide sufficient training volume for strength gains. You simply need more total reps. If you try to make up for it by doing a lot of heavy sets, it quickly leads to overtraining. Progress comes to a halt because the training lacks the correct balance between volume and load. This is not a problem for every lifter, but it is a problem for some.

If you are one of the lifters who suffers from the imbalance between volume and load when using linear periodization, one solution is to use Double Loading of 5s and 1s. This is a concurrent loading strategy where your training consists of sets of five reps and single reps and the poundages of both are increased every week. There are other double loading plans, but for the sake of simplicity, this book will focus primarily on a cycle in which part of your training is based on linear periodization with five reps, and the other part is based on linear periodization with single reps.

I must make it clear that the progressive loading process that is done with five reps and single reps is not conducted in two different phases that are done at separate times during a cycle. The plan is based on what many refer to as concurrent loading. In this case, concurrent loading means that you will increase your load for five reps from the beginning to the end of a ten-week cycle, while also increasing your load for single reps from the beginning to the end of the same cycle. When you reach the end of the cycle, you will be using the maximum loads you are capable of lifting for both five reps and a single rep.

Balance between Load and Volume

When you achieve the right balance between load and volume it will help accomplish two things:

First, it will help you avoid a huge drop in training volume towards the end of the cycle so that you can bypass the detrimental effects that low training volume has on strength gains.

Second, it will enable you to include enough heavy lifting in your training to gain strength without including so much that it causes heavy lifting burnout. 

The primary way to include heavy lifting without suffering from heavy lifting burnout is to do most of your training with sets of five reps, and a much smaller amount of training with heavy single reps. This is accomplished by doing sets of five reps in every workout, but only doing heavy single reps for one set once per week. 

Individualizing Your Workouts

If you want to enhance the effectiveness of your workouts even more, it is important to individualize your workouts. You can do this by adjusting various training factors according to how you respond. The process of individualizing your workouts requires training options that you can add or delete to find the best fit for your physiology.

There are three basic concepts that will help you to individualize the workouts according to what you respond to best.  A brief explanation of these concepts is presented below:  

1. Back-off Sets

At the beginning of the cycle, you will start with five sets of five reps for each exercise. However, as the cycle progresses, the poundages become heavier so the number of sets will decrease until you are only doing one or two heavy sets of five reps towards the end of the cycle.

Those who choose to do just one heavy set may find that one heavy set is enough heavy lifting, but more training volume needs to be added to the heavy set. If you find this to be true in your own experience, you will benefit from doing two lighter sets of five reps after a heavy top set. The lighter sets are called back-off sets. The reason this is done is to include sufficient training volume without suffering the consequences of overtraining from doing too many heavy sets that demand maximal effort to reach five reps.

Back-off sets are not a requirement for all lifters as some lifters respond well without including them. However, back-off sets are an option for those who find they need to do more than one set to stimulate strength gains.  

2. Lighter Recovery Workouts

You may need to intersperse lighter workouts between heavy workouts during weeks seven and eight of the cycle to avoid burnout. Lighter workouts are not a requirement for all lifters, but they are an option that is offered to lifters who recover better when they intersperse lighter workouts between heavy high intensity workouts at the end of the cycle.

3. Adjust the Number of Sets and Workouts per Week

While general recommendations will be made regarding training variables such as the number of sets and the number of workouts per week, these variables can be adjusted according to what you respond to best.

If you want to understand how to individualize your workouts while using a systematic process of weekly loading to boost your strength gains, the rest of this book will explain how.  

Percentage Charts With Poundages in Chapter 14

You will find that the workouts are based on using poundages that are based on a percentage of your single rep max. If you have never used percentage training before, you may not have easy access to the percentages of your single rep max, which is why chapter 14 provides charts that tell you the poundages that you should use based on a percentage of your single rep max. 

Chapter 1

An Overview Of Weekly Loading

The process of weekly loading when using sets of five reps and single reps is the foundation of this strength training program. The loading plan lasts for ten weeks and is simple if you can keep a few things in mind:

1. The first week starts with 70% of your single rep max for each exercise when doing sets of five reps. The first week also starts with 80% of your single rep max for each exercise when doing single reps. The term, “single rep max” will be abbreviated 1RM in the workouts and tables that tell you the weekly percentages of your single rep max.
2. The poundages of your lifts will increase by an average of two and a half percent per week when doing sets of five reps as well as single reps.
3. The weekly load for single reps will always be 10% more than the weekly load for five reps throughout the ten-week loading cycle.
4. The load of your sets for five reps will finish at 90% of your single rep during the final week of the cycle, and the load of your single rep will finish at 100% or more of your single rep max during the final week of the cycle.
5. Sets of five reps are performed in every workout and the recommended number of sets will vary from one to five sets per exercise. In contrast, only one set of one rep is performed for single reps for each exercise, and the single rep is only performed once per week.

Squats, Bench Presses, Deadlifts or Your Preference

Throughout the book, I will be giving an example of how to use the double loading plan in conjunction with bench presses, squats, and deadlifts. However, you can use the concept of double loading for additional exercises, or a completely different selection of exercises that match your goals and preferences.   

An Overview of Weekly Loads

A simple overview of the weekly loads that are to be used for five reps and single reps for ten weeks is shown in the table below. These loads should be used for squats, bench presses, and deadlifts, or for your own personalized selection of exercises that you want to use for your workouts.

You can read the rest of the book by clicking on the book cover below:

.

.

.May God bless you with the best of training.