Thread: Heavy/light days VS top sets for strength & hypertrophy?

There are some splits (PHAT, PHUL etc) that use heavy/light days to help with recovery to acquire both strength & hypertrophy. Do you think ramping to a top set (1-5 reps) on a main lift each day and then filling the remainder of the workout with hypertrophy work is better for recovery demands while still achieving the same goals?

Eg. Having squat, bench, deadlift, press days and ramping to a top set (1-5 reps) in each of those lifts VS having a day of all low rep work on main lifts and assistance lifts

Originally Posted by Filmbuff81

Try both and see which one is tougher for you to recover from.

Both are effective but some people can only handle higher intensities on a small timescale before breaking down.

If you’re smart and wave the RPE or loading it can work better.

So 1 @ 5-6/6-7/7-8/8-9 the go back to rpe 5-6

Edit: I mean waving this over weeks.

Thanks dude. By wave loading do you mean reps change but rpe stays the same like in 5/3/1?

I imagine waving is better suited to heavy top sets for main lifts on each day as opposed to an entire heavy day since a heavy day has you rely on lower reps for accumulating volume on multiple lifts that day.

What’s your preference of the two styles? Could be wrong, but one top set for each main lift doesn’t seem like it would cause significant breakdown. I’ll have to try it. Fierce 5 for example has you doing 3x5 each day which I could understand something like that burning someone out. Thanks again