Long story short, I planned on doing my first competition in April, but I have to work that day and will not be able to compete. A team USAPL competition (Swolemates Challenge in TN) has started accepting singles for the meet, but it is Feb 16th. 6 weeks away from this Saturday. I am currently finishing up Week 4 of the 4day Hypertrophy and was wondering if I should just switch to the last 5 weeks of the strength template (starting at week 8)? Next competition after April could not be until August or September and I would like to get my first one under my belt, but I would like to be somewhat prepared. Any advice will be well accepted. Thanks!
Grats on signing up for your first meet! I’d probably just do Week 5, 6, and 7 of the hypertrophy template and then do the 3 week peaking template (advance fast or slow). I wouldn’t change your regular programming block much (switching to strength template mid hypertrophy block) just to maybe perform a little better at an impromptu meet that doesn’t mean much other than getting your feet wet in the sport and having fun. That said, you’d probably be fine jumping to week 8 of the strength template too if that’s gonna make you really excited about training and competing.
Thanks for the post and the answer. I’m also in week 6 of the 4 day hypertrophy template and want to sign up for my first meet. There’s a novice meet coming up on 2/23 and a novice meet seems like a good option for my first meet.
For prep, I was considering moving to the 12 week strength template doing up to week 3 and then doing the peaking template. Since I am still cutting and like my results so far, Re-running the tail end of hypertrophy again and then peaking seems like a good idea.
Since I’ve been following along for about a year, my thinking was that either template is fine for my purpose. Your answer confirms this for me.
Thank for the response! I might just give that a try. If I do, I will try the fast peak. I did the slow peak version back in November, but I am thinking my body might like the extra volume the fast template gives.