Phase 2 FORGE| Week 2 Day 5| Glutes, Hamstrings & Abductors

Week 2: You’ll continue building on last week’s foundation by reducing rep counts while increasing the load across all working sets. Primary Focus: All strength sets will now be performed at 80-85% of your 1RM. Last week you tested this challenging load for just one set, now you’ll demonstrate your improved strength endurance by maintaining this intensity throughout your entire deadlift session. Superset Upgrades: • add 2-5% weight on all lifts —————————————————————- Whew, holy glutes Batman! Today is 🔥 This lower-body strength session targets the posterior chain with deadlifts, hip thrusts, Romanian deadlifts, back extensions, cable kickbacks, and cable crunches. Reps are lower to focus on strength, so it’s essential to use weights that challenge you, you shouldn’t be able to do extra reps beyond what’s prescribed. If your weights are too light, increase the load until you feel proper fatigue and get the most from the session. 👉🏽 Phase 2: Strength & Growth Overview: • 4 weeks of strength-focused training with hypertrophy & endurance elements • Rep ranges 3-12, with compound lifts maxing at 7 reps for strength focus • REST increases and is IMPORTANT for your strength compound sets • Same 5-day structure: 2 Lower, 2 Upper, 1 full body • Your main lifts remain: Squat, Deadlift, Bench, Overhead Press, Pull-ups/Chinups • Blended approach: strength as the priority, growth as the foundation 👉🏽👉🏽RIR (Reps in Reserve) Guide: • 3-4 reps (87-95% 1RM): 0-1 RIR (maximum strength) • 5-6 reps (80-85% 1RM): 1-2 RIR (strength focus) • 7-8 reps (75-80% 1RM): 1-2 RIR (strength-hypertrophy) • 9-12 reps (70-75% 1RM): 2-3 RIR (hypertrophy focus) 👏🏼👏🏼Critical for Success: Your last rep should be extremely challenging with only 1-2 reps left in reserve for most exercises. If you don’t have appropriate weights to challenge yourself and reach that RIR threshold, slow down your tempo and increase reps to achieve the same intensity. The challenge must be there for strength gains. Ready to discover how strong you can become? Let’s forge ahead. Note: I’s crucial to rest 2-3 minutes between sets to let your nervous system fully recover. While it might feel like you’re not working hard enough during these rest periods, adequate recovery is essential for maintaining maximum effort and lifting the heaviest weight possible in each set. Rushing through sets without proper rest will actually limit your strength gains and reduce the weight you can handle.