set yourself up for a heavy set of 8 with wave loading

We have used Wave Loading a ton before just not with an Accumulation Block. Which should be both scary and exciting. It is scary based on us being able to recruit more motor units and stress more muscle fibers leading to more fatigue and soreness. It is exciting based on being able to recruit more motor units and stress more muscle fibers leading to more muscular development from our time spent.

Scary and exciting is going to be the theme, and that should sound fun to you. 

Wave Loading comes off as an overly complicated protocol, but it really is not. Think about it this way: you have one heavy set with the rest of the sets facilitating that heavy set as much as possible. In terms of how to manage your jumps from one set to the next, reverse engineer it from your last heavy set and it becomes easier to select your weights. 

We are going to 12, 10, 8, 12, 10, 8 reps with a 2010 tempo. What you can hit for your last set of 8 on that given day determines whatever you hit for the 12, 10, 8, 12, 10 sets before. So if you wanted to do something like 100kg for 8, and we want to make a 5% jump from one set to the next, you will go 12/85kg, 10/90kg, 8/95kg, 12/90kg, 10/95kg, 8/100kg. 

Notice on the first wave, the second set (10/90kg) and third set (8/95kg) become the corresponding fourth set (12/90kg) and fifth set (10/95kg). So whatever you hit for your second set will become your fourth set. Whatever you hit for your third set becomes your fifth set. You are effectively only using four weights for the six sets. 

Why do we use Wave Loading? With increasing intensity, we potentiate more motor units. Not only do we recruit more, we recruit faster and we organize them better. We are becoming more efficient with the increased weights we are using. When we drop the intensity, our body still perceives that we are increasing weight and recruits more at a higher rep or time under tension. This will challenge the muscle fibers associated with the motor units we are recruiting, creating more stress. 

We are effectively trying to hack our central nervous system to utilize more muscle fibers during a set. That will lead to better results from the time spent. But that comes at a cost. That increased recruitment can lead to more fatigue and soreness. Our bodies are not accustomed to utilizing that many muscle fibers and this creates more of a stress response in terms of acidity, muscle breakdown, and soreness. 

That fatigue and soreness is the cost of doing business when trying to hack a CNS that is designed to prevent overexertion. That right there is why it is really important to consider when organizing your week. We always talk about getting a workout every other day or every 48 hours which is to prevent residual fatigue from one workout to the next. However, we are introducing a fourth day to our program called Practice 4. This new practice does not change the rules, just amends aspects of the rules. 

Instead of going every other day, we want to engineer our week around getting Practice 1, Practice 2, and Practice 3 separated by 48 hours and Practice 4 when we have availability. We can do this because Practice 4 is kicked off with an upper-body primary (A1) instead of a lower-body primary like squat or deadlift. Bench and pull-ups are compound movements so they will recruit a lot of motor units and will create fatigue. Compared to squat and deadlift, they will be limited with their systemic impact. 

A protocol like Wave Loading will require some conscious thought when you come in, but we are given some latitude in the way we program our exercises. Practice 2 and Practice 4 have an upper body movement with less motor units activated with how we structure our week. Wave Loading with Practice 1 and Practice 3 will create a huge systemic impact and force us to prioritize rest between training days.

All this really means just come every other day (Mon/Wed/Fri or Sun/Tue/Thur or Tue/Thur/Sat) for Practice I-3 and fill in Practice 4 when you can. Just keep your routine and add Practice 4 and you will be great. 

Fear and excitement are a great way to kickstart a sluggish metabolism or slow-developing muscular system. If you like horror movies or roller coasters or anything that is considered ‘fun’ you will love Wave Loading. If you don't like having fun, that's ok, just embrace being tired and sore for a month. To each its own. At Allegiate we really try to cater to cool fun people as well not cool and not fun people. Regardless of your personal stance on fun, you're going to love Wave Loading.