For point system, I vote for modified block system.
Definitions:
Light rep: a rep that can be done 20+ times without resting.
Medium rep: a rep that can be done 10 times, with reps 8-10 being challenging
Heavy rep: a rep that can be done 5 times, with reps 3-5 being very challenging
Very heavy: a rep that can be done twice
Scoring:
100 light reps = 1 BP
50 medium reps = 1 BP
25 heavy reps = 1 BP
5 very heavy reps = 1 BP
Post workout, tally up everything and see how many points you have. Tally everything DAY OF only; nothing done another day counts.
Some extra thoughts:
It might be a challenge to determine what category of weight you're using, especially the in between rep range (12, 6, etc).
This can be applied to body weight stuff as well. If you can do 50 pushups in a go, it's a light weight. 10 pullups straight, it's a mid weight.
What's everyone's final vote?
Sorry to bail from the brainstorming for a bit, life got busier.
I like the proposed system, Qeth. You're right, some rep ranges will need defining. Physiologically, there's not much difference between a set of 7 reps and a set of 12 reps; they both primarily target the same muscle fibers and the same energy system. Because of this, I propose opening up the rep ranges as follows:
Light - 15+ reps
Medium - 7-14 reps
Heavy - 3-6 reps
Maximal - 1-2 reps
I know this drops the 'light' category by five reps. However, based on everything I've read, there's little phsyiological difference between 15 and 20 reps (this is a purely slow-twitch muscle fiber range, which primarily causes increased endurance) whereas the body responds somewhat differently to a 10-rep exercise (this range triggers muscle mass and some endurance response.)
Every rep range will have some bleed-over in adaptive response, but certain rep ranges have been consistently found to
generally trigger a primary type of adaptation.
As for weekly Becker Points goals, there are many ways we can group the goal. Two that come immediately to mind are:
- one mass amount of points for ALL resistance exercises
- one amount of points for upper body exercises and another amount for lower body exercises
I'm partial to the single weekly point total, because it'll be easier to manage. My own goal is to increase my weekly reps of bodyweight exercises, primarily push-ups, pull-ups, and crunches, so a total point allotment works well for my goals. Of course, my voice is one of many. What do y'all think about weekly or monthly goal points? The MYB averaged out to 1.67 miles/points per day, which was quite feasible. We all broke it up according to what worked best for the individual situation. MYB was a monthly goal, but mileage can accrue somewhat easier than lifting points. All that rambling leads me to the conclusion that I believe this resistance exercise challenge should have a weekly goal instead of a monthly goal.
Seriously though, I think once we have set the point conversion, we'll be set and I can go ahead and start a preliminary "who's interested?" thread, and then start up the challenge on the first.
