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Hey guys, I am following Op I/A right now simply because it fits my schedule better, not necessarily because I have exhausted gains on Op. I run an 8-day week that looks like this:

Op I/A + abs
HIC
Op I/A
Rest
HIC
Op I/A + abs
E/GC (alternating)
Repeat 3x for an Op I/A cycle.

Since I'm not on a 7-day week, I decided to go with Op I/A as it offers more flexibility. That being said, here's my question:

Why couldn't you do Op percentages on this schedule as well (70 3x/wk, 80, 90 for a 24-day cycle)? You could then do a second cycle with 75, 85, 95. Or a second question would be what is the reason behind the 75,75,75,80,80,80,85,85,90 of Op I/A?

This is more curiosity than anything. I'm running Op I/A as written because I've figured out that KB is smarter than I am. But the science/experience/reasoning behind it is of interest to me.

EDIT: Additional thought. I do realize that Op I/A allows for higher volume with more sets so it makes sense that you would work at lower percentages on the high end. However, with time constrains on my workout I never go over the allowed 5 sets on regular Op even when doing Op I/A.

You could probably go for it with the percentages from Operator and see how it works out. You did mention it's just more convenient to run the 8 day week. If you had exhausted the ability to maintain the higher frequency of operator and needed that extra recovery afforded by Op I/A, then you might be wanting to work at those lower percentages and take a bit longer to progress.

From memory Operator is a 6 week cycle at bare minimum and Operator I/A works out to 4 or so weeks.
That means less time to adapt to the higher percentage and probably also has to do with the lower percentage towards the end of the program.

I am in no way an expert, but looking at your post that would be what immediately sticks out between the two cycles.

Maxrip13 wrote:You could probably go for it with the percentages from Operator and see how it works out. You did mention it's just more convenient to run the 8 day week. If you had exhausted the ability to maintain the higher frequency of operator and needed that extra recovery afforded by Op I/A, then you might be wanting to work at those lower percentages and take a bit longer to progress.

From memory Operator is a 6 week cycle at bare minimum and Operator I/A works out to 4 or so weeks.
That means less time to adapt to the higher percentage and probably also has to do with the lower percentage towards the end of the program.

I am in no way an expert, but looking at your post that would be what immediately sticks out between the two cycles.

Hey, Maxrip13. To clarify why I run the cycles the way that I do, it's for 2 reasons. First, being 43yo, I appreciate working 3 days on / 1 day off. Second, I like placing equal weight on strength and conditioning. I'm not training for my job or for competition. Just trying to stay fit as I get older.

For my next cycle I'll be doing the 8 day week very similar to yours. I'll be doing the standard Op percentages though. My reasoning is I won't be going beyond the standard Op volume. I suppose I have nothing useful to add other than I'll report back with my experiences.

G2B, I look forward to hearing your experience. Thanks.

mikhou wrote:Hey guys, I am following Op I/A right now simply because it fits my schedule better, not necessarily because I have exhausted gains on Op. I run an 8-day week that looks like this:

Op I/A + abs
HIC
Op I/A
Rest
HIC
Op I/A + abs
E/GC (alternating)
Repeat 3x for an Op I/A cycle.

Right now my schedule works best if I train on a seven day week as much as possible. Otherwise, my plan would work a lot like this.

J-Madd wrote:

mikhou wrote:Hey guys, I am following Op I/A right now simply because it fits my schedule better, not necessarily because I have exhausted gains on Op. I run an 8-day week that looks like this:

Op I/A + abs
HIC
Op I/A
Rest
HIC
Op I/A + abs
E/GC (alternating)
Repeat 3x for an Op I/A cycle.

Right now my schedule works best if I train on a seven day week as much as possible. Otherwise, my plan would work a lot like this.

If I didn't have a home gym, I wouldn't use this, but having a home gym offers SO MUCH flexibility. I would probably go to a 5-day schedule if i had to go to a commercial gym, and i would likely use regular OP, and 2 HICs per week with an additional long run sprinkled in occasionally.

Green2Blue wrote:For my next cycle I'll be doing the 8 day week very similar to yours. I'll be doing the standard Op percentages though. My reasoning is I won't be going beyond the standard Op volume. I suppose I have nothing useful to add other than I'll report back with my experiences.

G2B and maxrep13, hey just something interesting that I noted here. By working in the 75% range and the 85% ranges and by keeping the 85-90% range work at 3 reps for only one week out of 3 (or 2 weeks out of 6), Op I/A is actually more volume in total than regular Op on both a 3-week comparison and a 6-week comparison. This is true even without exceeding 5 sets (and as you know up to 10 sets is allowed. So all things being equal, Op I/A offers more volume than Operator but without working in the 95% range. I can see using this with forced progression to take you quite far.

mikhou wrote:

Green2Blue wrote:For my next cycle I'll be doing the 8 day week very similar to yours. I'll be doing the standard Op percentages though. My reasoning is I won't be going beyond the standard Op volume. I suppose I have nothing useful to add other than I'll report back with my experiences.

G2B and maxrep13, hey just something interesting that I noted here. By working in the 75% range and the 85% ranges and by keeping the 85-90% range work at 3 reps for only one week out of 3 (or 2 weeks out of 6), Op I/A is actually more volume in total than regular Op on both a 3-week comparison and a 6-week comparison. This is true even without exceeding 5 sets (and as you know up to 10 sets is allowed. So all things being equal, Op I/A offers more volume than Operator but without working in the 95% range. I can see using this with forced progression to take you quite far.

There you go, so higher volume but at a lower intensity. That higher volume is crammed into a shorter time frame also.
It's not so applicable in your case, but for someone using it to manage things like shift work and other work related things(Police/Military), you can see why they might stay at the lower percentages.

I guess I do a bit of both, but I just think of it as operator+ conditioning + life. I use the operator percentages personally, but a training max always.
I try and get my 3 strength sessions + a finisher and then whatever conditioning I can through the week.
One of those will be a longer(5 km+) run or loaded walk. I try and do this in a hilly area if possible.

I have a pretty reasonable schedule up until feb next year and then it's back to shift work.
I will then do the Operator I/A percentages.

Now I'm really battling with my decision to do an 8 day week. I was thinking about it and that's less than 3 days a week of lifting. As a guy with a heavy background in weightlifting that's a tough pill to swallow. That's very low frequency.