How long should one’s max strength phase last? 8 weeks? 12 weeks? or would it depend on the need of the athlete and any weaknesses he may have?
Fabio, sorry I didn’t notice this question earlier. There are many variables to consider with max strength. I think your max strength phase depends on the type of athlete you are and how much experience you have with training.
I can only go by my experiences when I was competing in olympic lifting. My coach, in the beginning, would have me do a 4-5 week general, base training with higher number of reps/sets. Then, once I had a base, we moved on to developing max. strength levels by doing several sets of very low reps. Maybe like five sets of 2 or 3 very heavy reps. This phase would go on for about four weeks, then we would have a week of lighter weight and maybe one more day off. Then, after that “rest” week, I may try for a pr.
I have also had success with three weeks hard/two weeks easy, repeat. During the three “hard” weeks I focused on the deadlift and would do two sets of five reps–one set with 70% of max, the 2nd set with 85% of max. 10 total reps; I would do this four days per week for three weeks. Take two weeks easy, then go back with a slightly heavier poundage for the next three week cycle. Doing this, I raised my deadlift to 425 lbs. max. very quickly.
“Them boys are trapped like two foxes in a hen house with a sack fulla eggs.”