slow and heavy rotation

kellyes

Member
I've read on this forum that many of you benefitted from 3 weeks or so on a slow and heavy rotation. I decided I'd try this after a year of doing the Intensities, PH, Rhythmic Step, Imax, bodymax,and now SS/PP. My question is this: Do you alternate days doing S&H with cardio in between or do S&H on consecutive days leaving 3 days to either repeat it or do endurance (ME or PH) or cardio? My goal is to increase strength, muscle mass, and break thru a plateau. I am maintaining well with what I'm currently doing (and having a blast), but I feel I need to change things up. Thanks for your help! Kellye
 
Kelly:

You could do this in any way that feels organic to you!

I think last time I tried it I planned to do cardio one day, then Slow & Heavy lifting the next, then cardio, and on like this alternating.

I like to space it out throughout the week. One reason for this is that the Slow & Heavy pace demands huge concentration. If the kids are in and out asking for drinks and snacks every five minutes, it can be quite off-putting. So, alternating days worked for me. It's also good to alternate if you think that the shoulders are used on more than just exercises designed to target the shoulders. Mine get used a lot during bench presses, etc, so alternating days gave the shoulders adequate time to rest before they were taxed again and so could perform optimally.

But on some days life got out of hand and I ended up doing the entire S & H lifting in just 2 days because I had fallen behind with my lifting and had to squeeze it all in before the designated week came to an end!! Hey, life happens. So, whatever works for you! Actually doing it like this was pretty intense and I got quite a pump!

The Slow & Heavy series did great things for me. I had never been so strong in all my life as when I did this rotation in July. Of course, going back to endurance work after that was a killer! My body had forgotten how! Plan for this to happen and you will be able to handle it psychologically better than I did! It threw me somewhat...

Enjoy!

Clare
 
Hi Kellye,

I started a Slow and Heavy rotation last week. Below is what I'm doing.

Sunday - Cardio
Monday - Slow & Heavy Chest and Back
Tuesday - Slow & Heavy Biceps and Triceps plus cardio
Wednesday - Slow & Heavy Legs and Shoulders
Thursday - Cardio
Friday - Muscle Endurance

I'm keeping a log of the weights I'm using, so that I can up my weight as needed. I'm going to try to do this for 2 more weeks.
 
I didn't have a problem doing them all in a row, but I like to put the Legs and Shoulders between the Chest/Back and Bis/Tris. If I have time, sometimes I do shoulders with one of the other two, then use the SH Legs with PLB floor work tacked onto the end for an all lower body day between the two upper body days.

Angela
 
Thanks for the replies - all this info is very helpful. This series is more flexible than I thought. I just finished SH legs and shoulders and I feel like a noodle ( in a good way!). Good idea, Angela, to do PLB floorwork with SH legs - I'll have to try that.....maybe next week!


Kellye :)
 
I got inspired last night and did Chest and Back first, then shoulders. I pushed myself really heavy. Hubby got me some cool new adjustable dumbell sets for X-mas, so I was able to go heavier than I ever have. I use the SH series like the pyramids: first set medium weight, second set heavy weight and third set heaviest. I drop a rep or two on the second and third sets if I hit muscle fatigue.

All I can say is "Wow!" Funny how much a workout can change if you really challenge yourself. After it was over, I had to open something by pulling on it and my chest muscles were trembling.

I really like tacking floorwork from PLB onto SH Legs because that hamstring ball work is more effective for me than deadlifts and hams are a weak spot for me.

Angela
 
Kellye -
Cathe posted a rotation a while back that I really liked using the SH series. You do one body part per day and then half hour of cardio, basically. I loved this rotation and I think I gained strength with it. I'm not a big fan of a solid hour of weightlifting so this worked really well for me - spiced it up! good luck!
:)
 
Another way is to do only 1 set of each exercise, skipping through the chapters. I go as heavy as I can when I do it this way because I don't have to worry about wearing out before I'm done. I can do the whole thing in one day, and have time for plenty of cardio and an endurance workout during the week, too. If I skip endurance for too long, it is not pretty when I go back to it.

PennyLaney
 
>Another way is to do only 1 set of each exercise, skipping
>through the chapters. I go as heavy as I can when I do it
>this way because I don't have to worry about wearing out
>before I'm done. I can do the whole thing in one day, and
>have time for plenty of cardio and an endurance workout during
>the week, too. If I skip endurance for too long, it is not
>pretty when I go back to it.

PennyLaney, I love this idea! I just might try this soon. You're right... I've been purely strength training since Nov. and my endurance is shot. I have to work up to it again. Thanks for this great idea. I can do this on days when I can really use both strength and cardio.

Pinky
 

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