strength, speed & power with the 1-6 method

This is an intensification block, so get your CNS ready! 

Before we get started, the volume will drop considerably but you still need to pay attention to Wellness Scores of Fatigue, Mood, Sleep Quality and Stress. Soreness should not be that high, but the others clearly indicate how your Autonomic Nervous System is Responding to Training. 

Good reminder to follow the Allegiate Habits: 

Why having a robust set of habits is important in this particular instance is that we are going to focus on intensity through rate of force development. We are using a protocol called the 1-6 method. This is a potentiation strategy where we alternate between heavy and moderate loads to tax the nervous system more completely. You may not feel as fatigued, as much tension, or soreness but your body is going to experience some other incredibly stressful challenges. 

The nervous system takes six times the length of the muscular system to recover. If it is higher intensity through high external load or moving at a faster rate, the nervous system’s recovery will be the rate-limiting step in recovery. CNS fatigue is the silent assassin in regards to optimizing this protocol. 

The way this protocol will work is we are going to maintain the same load on the bar, but change a component such as compensatory acceleration or range of motion. Compensatory acceleration is a method that we use to accommodate resistance such as chains to increase load through concentric contraction. The increase in concentric load leads to increased intent to accelerate through the strength curve. We have a natural tendency to want to decelerate the bar during the concentric phase to control momentum. Compensatory acceleration overrides that and forces us to push a sticking point. 

The other method we will use will be adjusting ROM. Increasing the ROM increases the demand concentrically. Both compensatory acceleration and increasing ROM will increase the recruitment from the nervous system in the form of rate coding, motor unit recruitment, motor unit synchronization, and muscle fiber recruitment (specifically fast twitch fibers). This will increase output during a set without accommodating resistance or at a lesser ROM. 

Don’t downplay the significance of how much this will tax your CNS. Going back-to-back days or training on lessened sleep will significantly impact your performance in the later weeks. Not eating enough protein or drinking enough water will compromise performance during each session. 

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Allegiate