Wave loading involves progressively building up to lifting heavier weights- heavier than you currently lift, even – in “waves” of 3 sets each, eventually peaking with a final wave above your current max
Charles Poliquin defines the protocol as “a ramping system used to progressively excite the nervous system.”
Here are 6 common mistakes of ‘wave training’ that amateur strength coaches tend to make
Mistake 1️⃣- Using Wave Loading on Isolation Exercises. Waves should be used for your main compound moments such as Squats, Deadlifts, Chin Ups + Bench Press
Mistake 2️⃣ – Using waves with super high reps. Wave training is a strength building system designed to help athletes express new found levels of strength. Waves such as 5,3,1,5,3,1 or 3,2,1,3,2,1 are fat better ways to use waves rather than 20,15,10,20,15,10 which I recently seen in someone’s program
Mistake 3️⃣ – Beginners starting too advanced with 3x waves. The first exposure to waves should be just 2 waves. If you’ve never done waves before opt for 5,3,1,5,3,1 rather than 5,3,1,5,3,1,5,3,1
Mistake 4️⃣ – Introducing waves in an Intensification 2 Phase for your first exposure. Although wave loading is a peaking system clients should ideally experience waves prior to putting it in a Peaking Phase, so they can experience the post tetanic potentiation. Personally I like using waves on an 8,6,4,8,6,4 rep scheme initially making it perfect for 83% intensity (6 reps)
Mistake 5️⃣ – Having short rest periods with wave loading. Wave loading requires rest as it’s a system that involves exciting the nervous system. The nervous system requires 5-7 x more rest than the muscular system so rest periods would probably fall between 180-300 seconds depending on the training priority and rep intensity selected
Mistake 6️⃣ – Choosing waves that don’t cause post tetanic potentiation . Yes 7,6,5,7,6,5 or 10,8,6,10,8,6 are forms of waves in rep presentation but these rep schemes don’t work and they don’t potentiate the following set successfully as there is only a 2-3% intensity variance in reps. From experience 5% intensity variances are the minimum you’d use with wave training such as; 8,6,4,8,6,4
We hope todays post has given you insightful information on wave training and will help you in getting the biggest return on your efforts with this training system.
