Powerbuilding Workout Week 6
I reached the final week of progressive overload mixed with higher volume. Did I set new PRs or hit a plateau?
Week 6 of the powerbuilding workout was back to business as usual, and I completed all the planned exercises and sets. Overall, I felt good.
However, I only slept for 5 hours for a couple of nights, and I think this disruption impacted my recovery and strength.
From a high-level view, I added volume to the hypertrophy muscle groups while increasing the load. My volume stayed the same for the strength muscle groups, and I increased the load slightly.
Powerbuilding Workout Week 6 Overview
| Training Goal | Volume | Load |
|---|---|---|
| Hypertrophy | +12% (16 sets) | +3% (1 lbs) |
| Strength | -0% (0 sets) | +2% (2 lbs) |
It seems that I might be hitting a plateau in strength gains. Looking back at week 5, I hit a wall, and the weights started feeling heavier.
As a result, I kept the weight the same and aimed for 1 or 2 more reps on exercises like squats, as shown in the table below.
I didn’t increase the weight on any exercise for quads, but I did, on average, about one more rep per set. You can see similar trends in the other strength muscle groups, where the load went up slightly, and reps went up more.
Powerbuilding Week 6 Muscle Groups
| Training Goal | Muscle Group | Volume | Average Load | Average Reps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hypertrophy | Triceps | +8% | +1% | -1% |
| Hypertrophy | Biceps | +8% | -14% | +7% |
| Hypertrophy | Shoulders | +27% | +0% | -9% |
| Hypertrophy | Calves | +10% | +3% | -2% |
| Strength | Chest | -0% | +3% | -6% |
| Strength | Back | -0% | +2% | +4% |
| Strength | Quads | -0% | +0% | +9% |
| Strength | Hamstrings | -0% | +4% | +7% |
| Strength | Abs | -0% | +0% | +5% |
I increased volume across the board for the hypertrophy muscle groups, particularly for my shoulders, where I had fallen behind the week before.
The weight lifted in the hypertrophy workouts generally stayed the same or went down, except for calves. Additionally, the average number of reps decreased overall.
My gut feeling is that the workout volume and progressive overload are reaching a maximum recoverable level. That, combined with less sleep, has my progress slowing down.
However, my body weight continues to increase by 1/2 to 1 pound per week with a minimal calorie deficit, so this workout program still results in gains.
Therefore, I plan to hold this training volume for at least a couple more weeks. Staying at the same workload will give my body time to adapt and continue growing or lead to more fatigue.
Either way, I will be making a big adjustment later this month!
