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Balancing the programme?

Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 8:47 am
by mj77
Hi, New guy here. I am looking at starting the 3 week grey man from mass protocol. Is this intended to be run over a 6 week timeframe so all sessions get done equally at the various percentages?
ie A1 and B1 get done at 55% but then A2 is at 55 and B2 is at 60% so the A and B do not get done with equal loads. This only balances if you get to workout 9 and then carry on the A/B progression from there for another 3 weeks.

Sorry if this has been asked but I cannot see an answer. I can see this is the same issue in the operator template in TB1. Does this inequality matter or do people just ignore it?

Hope this question makes sense.

Thanks

Re: Balancing the programme?

Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 8:30 pm
by TBPenguin
Welcome MJ. Don't worry about the imbalance in loading. You aren't going to run any of these protocols for just 3 weeks, your body doesn't change that fast. So when you hit the second block of it, since you are alternating, what was B in the first block becomes A in the second block.

B1w3: A4, B4, A5

B2w1: B5 (done as A1), A6 (done as B1) ...

After two blocks you will have done A and B nine times each.

Re: Balancing the programme?

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 9:58 am
by mj77
Brilliant thank you for that. So its essentially a 6 week cycle. I take it weights should therefore also go up every 6 weeks. Are folks reassessing their 1RM to do this, or just adding x amount of weight ie 5 lbs to the 1 RM and then recalculating the various percentages? Last Q. are folks generally using a training max Wendler style, or basing the percentage off their full 1RM

Thanks

Re: Balancing the programme?

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 3:28 pm
by TBPenguin
MJ, KB has said that a TM is not required for the Mass Protocols, but that there is no problem in using one.

Notice that Grey Man says to do 4-5 sets. My suggestion is to handle progress like this. Start with 4 sets, run it through. Repeat the block using the same weight, but 5 sets. Then for the next block, add 5 to the upper body lifts and 10 to the lower body lifts, and use 4 sets again. This way you should be able to go for a long time, which is key to this. I wouldn't bother with testing, because the exact percentages aren't that important.