Strength Life Legacy
Monday, January 7, 2013
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff
Offseason training and my broke'd ass -
Well I strained my adductor earlier in the week doing fronts, and Saturday I totally jacked up my lower back doing, well, basically nothing as I was benching and merely bent over to pick up a 25 pound plate when I felt all my shit get locked up. A little better this morning as I have been doing all the mobility work I can do all weekend, however I feel it's just going to be one of those things that takes time. Which sucks, because I had already planned out my entire offseason and meet prep. This doesn't totally detail it, or at all really, but it's just disheartening to have the flu, then have two injuries in the same week.
Speaking of offseason training, what you are going to see is my normal over warm up stuff, plus a higher load of volume work, of course, at a lower intensity. This will rotate a little bit, mainly based on feel. Again, this is still a rough work in progress however to give you an idea, I will have a couple of different intensity workouts I rotate through.
For example on bench it will be 315x3x8 all reps paused or it will be 365x5x3 all reps paused. All depending on feel. Once those are all too easy I will either just up the number of sets, or I will go to 335x3x8 and 385x5x3. That simple. Before the meet I'd ideally like to be at 405x5x3, but that's not really required in order to hit what I want to hit for the meet. I'd also like to hit 365x10 all reps paused, and I think that one might be more of a requirement. However if I'm knocking out 385x5x3 that should be easily doable. See how that works?
For front squats I have a few workouts to rotate through. Namely, 225x5x8, 275x5x5, and 315x5x3. Again, WELL under what I am capable of. I'm sure I could go in and bang out a rough set of 405x5 however I want to stay away from grinding and max effort style work. My back squat will follow this up with 50-90 pounds more than front squat work. So as the fronts get easier and easier the squat will move up similarly.
I also need to reiterate to people that you cannot just get your reps in like this. You have to explode the concentric portion of the reps as violently as possible. A good way to remind yourself of this is to either do your negatives slow, or pause all of your benches. Which is a good idea anyway because touch n go reps on bench are pretty worthless IMO for powerlifting transfer. I have stopped touch n go all together because well, no one gets to touch n go at a meet unless it's at a shall we say, at a meet run by a less than reputable fed. So for squat, lower slowly and under control then EXPLODE against the weights. When you can move 60-70% of your 1RM as violently as possibly on every rep for 5-8 sets, you will be stronger, or at minimum you will be primed to start peaking for strength.
Same for deadlifts, probably lots of triples with nothing more than 515 for a while even though I can knock out a set of 12 with that. Over the next few months, that'll end up being 550 for lots of triples, then 565. I will end up working up to my second attempt (660) before the meet, but that's as heavy as I will pull. I'm also going to move good mornings back into the rotation, but yes, light. My guess is 185-225 for lots of sets of 8. The other movement that is going to get a lot of work is Yates rows. I had been doing Pendlay's for a while, however for nothing more than a nice change I'm going to attack the Yates traditional underhand row using the 350 method for a while. My goal there will be 365 I think. On these I am more upright however, as usual, no hip or knee movement. So once I get locked into place I don't do that bouncing shit. Speaking of rows.........
More row controversy.....because I want to create it
Ever noticed a row can't just be a row anymore? It has to be named after someone? Kroc rows, Yates rows, Pendlay rows.........maybe this is why people fight over rows so much. Naming rights. Oh and can we at least get it straight that a Kroc row is a HIGH REP db row, and not just a db row? The whole reason that movement got recognition is because Kroc did a set of like 38 with the 175 pounder. Not 10 reps. 10 reps is not a god damn Kroc row. That's a db row. Also, it's not sloppy or cheated either. Go back and watch the original video. Nevermind, I will embed it..........
Matt is pretty strict here. Not sloppy and certainly not shortening his ROM. He gets a good stretch on the negative, and pulls the plates into his chest. I'm not sure where "a kroc row is a sloppy db row" came from, but I don't see that happening here. Just a lot of reps, which helps build grip, and upperback strumpf. So if you're going to do a Kroc row, I think it's 20+ reps. I don't know, but it can't be 10. Even if Kroc is doing them.
We also can't keep moving the goalposts on row naming rights. Whatever it is, it has to be that. So if Pendlay says a row is strict with no knee or hip movement, he can't back track later and say "well, some is allowed." Well which fucking one is it? Make up your god damn mind.
Chaos and Bang your earballs returns -
Jamie and I will be doing a podcast tomorrow FINALLY, now that he is over Ebola, Mutaba, and cancer of the AIDS. It's possible we will also have a really really awesome fucking guest on. Not promising anything yet, but it'd be epic. So I won't be doing a Q&A for this podcast in case this happens, so don't start asking.
USSF - Listen to IronRadio on the 19th
Phil Stevens and I have launched a new powerlifting fed. I will be on IronRadio on the 19th to talk more about it.
I know, I know "just what we need another fed..." but hold your fucking horses, Lone Ranger.
This fed will be quite different.
First off, only two divisions. Junior, and open. None of this god damn "Masters Open Police and Fire" shit or "Open "I never had any parents that loved me" Bastard" division, shit. Juniors....and open. If you're 20 you're going up against 44 year old elite level lifters. Deal with it.
The only person getting a trophy or cash prize will be whoever wins their weight class. That's it. First place will mean something again. Enough of this "everyone's a winner!" bullshit. No, not everyone is. The Redskins aren't playing again next week are they? Nope. And you don't get a fucking trophy for taking 4th in the "Masters Super Heavyweight" where only 2 people competed. Fuck that.
The other thing that we will be doing is recognizing world records. Phil and I both hate people talking about their "national level lifting" and "world records". If you want the 220 deadlift record, you will need to out pull Coan. That means better than 901. So if you have a "world record" in the USSF, it will be a REAL world record.
The other great thing about this fed? Full meets only. No more of this gay ass "bench only" bullshit. Or "push pull" nonsense.
There is nothing worse, than being at a meet and having squats go smooth, then have 47 bench only fags show up and it takes 8 hours to bench before you can get your first pull in. I hate that shit with a passion. We will NOT do bench only, nor push pull. FULL MEETS. You know, POWERLIFTING??!?!?!
All squats will be walked out. Yes, we will have a monolift, however it's only for height purposes. Makes it easier. Guys, Capt. Kirk and Coan walked out 1,000+ pound squat virtually raw. You can walk out your squat. Stop being a baby.
If it were up to me, because I'm a zealot and an asshole, there wouldn't even be hand offs on the bench or sumo deadlifts. If you can't take it off the racks to bench it, you probably have no business trying to bench it. I can tell you that you will never see a soft handoff or that spotter will get foot broke off in ass. Phil also wanted to nix sumo pulling however there was no way to acknowledge the records top to bottom and not take it into account. I do think however, that we will distinguish the difference on whether a deadlift was done conventional or sumo however. Now whether you like it or not, it doesn't matter but I can tell you for a fact that a conventional pull is always given more respect across powerlifting than sumo deads. If you like pulling sumo that's cool. Just don't expect it to be held as in as high a regard as conventional pulls. Just the way it is.
This fed also has the backing of my good buddy Wendler, and there are some other "names" that are getting on board with it as well. Stay tuned.
That's it for a Monday. I think.............
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Programming, Dietary Fat, and Low Back Pain
For those of you that didn't see the link on the LRB FB page, there was an interview on allthings gym with phenom Mikhail Koklyaev. The link is here.
Basically Mikhail talked about the fact that if you really want to get stronger, you need to learn how to program light, and manipulate your volume. Something I have been driving home for some time, however the "singles" crew and 90%+ ego lifters get pissed off about such things. I'll get back to them.
If you do the math on the numbers he gives, he's talking basically 80% or so, which is really about the sweet spot for strength building over a long term period.
Now, the dogmatic "go heavy, or go home" assholes think I'm saying you never need to venture into the 90+% range. Not true. When peaking you will need to do so. You just don't need to do so, in order to build your baseline or foundation level of strength. I really don't give a rats ass what some blowhard who has an inflated fucking opinion of himself tells you. When the strongest guys in the world have consistently trained in the 70-80% range for the majority of their lifting career, that's all you need to know. I don't care about anomalies. The Russians have been handing us our ass in powerlifting for a long time, and they don't train in the 90% range but very seldom.
The reason why my programs work for people is because they push you into the 90% range for just a couple of weeks, after spending many weeks building strength. Not demonstrating it. There is a very clear difference.
Back to the interview....Mikhail goes on to note that he got trapped in the same rut for a long time, training wise, because he was training too heavy. This is not something I would have agreed with years ago, however having set lots of PR's this year, even with a busted quad, it seems pretty obvious to me through application that you can get stronger and stronger, without beating yourself up with high intensities.
If you disagree, that's fine. However, the method works. Choose which one you feel suits you best.
If you choose to go with the lower intensity route, this is about what I suggest if you run training over a longer period and only need a short peak. These are figures I have been playing with however I'm setting up my entire offseason cycle based around a lot of it.
Base strength -
70% for 3 sets of 8 for bench with an overwarm up to 80-85%
70% of 5 sets of 5 for squats with an overwarm up to 80-85%
70% for 5 sets of 3 for deadlifts with no over warm ups
Ramping -
80% for 5 sets of 3 for bench with an over warm up to 85%
75-80% for 5 sets of 5 for squat with an overwarm up to 85%
75-80% for 3 sets of 3 for dead with an overwarm up to 85%
Peaking -
Overwarm ups to singles at 85%, 88%, 90%, 93% over 4 weeks.
The work sets after the over warm up would be in the 80-85% range through the 4 weeks.
These are general guidelines. Feel free to play with them if you are not running 365.
Dietary fat and test levels -
I came across this article from Layne Norton, about higher fat diets and test levels. Basically, it just confirmed what I already thought. A really low fat diet decreases levels, however a medium and high fat diet doesn't INCREASE test levels, it just gets them back to a normal or healthy state.
There is no diet to "increase test" levels. Just because cholesterol and testosterone are linked, doesn't really mean anything. If eating dietary fat made your test levels higher then guys eating McDonalds and Burger King would be fucking jacked. They are not. You also won't find any jacked dudes that got that way eating high fat and low carb. We've beaten this horse a lot, but I enjoy beating it because people can be fucking stupid about this shit.
Carbs = insulin = mass
That discussion is over. If you want to get big, manipulate your carbs. I am using carbnite and backloading again for that because I don't want to get any bigger unless it's lean mass. If that means a pound or two a year, I'm ok with that at this point.
Funny enough, if you want to get leaner, manipulate your carbs. It's not really about carbs, it's about what they do to you and the role insulin plays. Manage your insulin for what your goals are. More mass? More carbs. Less fat? Fewer carbs. That's it. That's all.
Low back pain -
Most low back pain is related to a strained piriformis. However my shit got locked up badly today and thankfully I mentioned it and Jim Steel sent me a link on how to reset the SI joint. This shit worked and I felt it pop. Apparently it's supposed to be good after a nights sleep now.
Here is the link.
Basically Mikhail talked about the fact that if you really want to get stronger, you need to learn how to program light, and manipulate your volume. Something I have been driving home for some time, however the "singles" crew and 90%+ ego lifters get pissed off about such things. I'll get back to them.
If you do the math on the numbers he gives, he's talking basically 80% or so, which is really about the sweet spot for strength building over a long term period.
Now, the dogmatic "go heavy, or go home" assholes think I'm saying you never need to venture into the 90+% range. Not true. When peaking you will need to do so. You just don't need to do so, in order to build your baseline or foundation level of strength. I really don't give a rats ass what some blowhard who has an inflated fucking opinion of himself tells you. When the strongest guys in the world have consistently trained in the 70-80% range for the majority of their lifting career, that's all you need to know. I don't care about anomalies. The Russians have been handing us our ass in powerlifting for a long time, and they don't train in the 90% range but very seldom.
The reason why my programs work for people is because they push you into the 90% range for just a couple of weeks, after spending many weeks building strength. Not demonstrating it. There is a very clear difference.
Back to the interview....Mikhail goes on to note that he got trapped in the same rut for a long time, training wise, because he was training too heavy. This is not something I would have agreed with years ago, however having set lots of PR's this year, even with a busted quad, it seems pretty obvious to me through application that you can get stronger and stronger, without beating yourself up with high intensities.
If you disagree, that's fine. However, the method works. Choose which one you feel suits you best.
If you choose to go with the lower intensity route, this is about what I suggest if you run training over a longer period and only need a short peak. These are figures I have been playing with however I'm setting up my entire offseason cycle based around a lot of it.
Base strength -
70% for 3 sets of 8 for bench with an overwarm up to 80-85%
70% of 5 sets of 5 for squats with an overwarm up to 80-85%
70% for 5 sets of 3 for deadlifts with no over warm ups
Ramping -
80% for 5 sets of 3 for bench with an over warm up to 85%
75-80% for 5 sets of 5 for squat with an overwarm up to 85%
75-80% for 3 sets of 3 for dead with an overwarm up to 85%
Peaking -
Overwarm ups to singles at 85%, 88%, 90%, 93% over 4 weeks.
The work sets after the over warm up would be in the 80-85% range through the 4 weeks.
These are general guidelines. Feel free to play with them if you are not running 365.
Dietary fat and test levels -
I came across this article from Layne Norton, about higher fat diets and test levels. Basically, it just confirmed what I already thought. A really low fat diet decreases levels, however a medium and high fat diet doesn't INCREASE test levels, it just gets them back to a normal or healthy state.
There is no diet to "increase test" levels. Just because cholesterol and testosterone are linked, doesn't really mean anything. If eating dietary fat made your test levels higher then guys eating McDonalds and Burger King would be fucking jacked. They are not. You also won't find any jacked dudes that got that way eating high fat and low carb. We've beaten this horse a lot, but I enjoy beating it because people can be fucking stupid about this shit.
Carbs = insulin = mass
That discussion is over. If you want to get big, manipulate your carbs. I am using carbnite and backloading again for that because I don't want to get any bigger unless it's lean mass. If that means a pound or two a year, I'm ok with that at this point.
Funny enough, if you want to get leaner, manipulate your carbs. It's not really about carbs, it's about what they do to you and the role insulin plays. Manage your insulin for what your goals are. More mass? More carbs. Less fat? Fewer carbs. That's it. That's all.
Low back pain -
Most low back pain is related to a strained piriformis. However my shit got locked up badly today and thankfully I mentioned it and Jim Steel sent me a link on how to reset the SI joint. This shit worked and I felt it pop. Apparently it's supposed to be good after a nights sleep now.
Here is the link.
Training - Press
Bodyweight - 245
Close Grip Bench all reps paused -
barx40,30
135x12
185x5
225x4
275x3
315x2
365x1
315x8,8,7+1f
When I went to pick up the 25 pound plate for the single with 365, my low back completely locked up. I couldn't move for about 10 minutes. Then it slowly let up but never completely subsided. I couldn't get tight in my setup because of it, however I still almost hit the 3 sets of 8 with 315, all paused. So I feel ok about that.
Rear Delt Machine - 175x20,10,7 = 37 reps
Poundstone Curls - bar x 100
Notes - Cut the session a little short because of the back. I'm sure it'll be fine in a day or so. I still don't feel 100% since the flu but I'm dealing with it.
Met some nice peeps at a little backyard meet at a cool gym near the house today, including Becky Rich, who antagonizes me often.
Close Grip Bench all reps paused -
barx40,30
135x12
185x5
225x4
275x3
315x2
365x1
315x8,8,7+1f
When I went to pick up the 25 pound plate for the single with 365, my low back completely locked up. I couldn't move for about 10 minutes. Then it slowly let up but never completely subsided. I couldn't get tight in my setup because of it, however I still almost hit the 3 sets of 8 with 315, all paused. So I feel ok about that.
Rear Delt Machine - 175x20,10,7 = 37 reps
Poundstone Curls - bar x 100
Notes - Cut the session a little short because of the back. I'm sure it'll be fine in a day or so. I still don't feel 100% since the flu but I'm dealing with it.
Met some nice peeps at a little backyard meet at a cool gym near the house today, including Becky Rich, who antagonizes me often.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Training - Legs
Bodyweight - 245
Leg Ext -
25x20
50x20
75x20
100x20
75x20
50x20
25x20
Fronts -
225x5
275x5,5,5,5,5,5
1 Legged Squats - bodyx20,20
Notes - Strained the right adductor ever so slightly on the last set of front squats. My guess is it's from being dehydrated from having to take shit for the flu all week. My legs were pretty dead the whole time, even though the weight of course was super light.
I don't think it's anything serious. Should be fine to squat again next week but I will do some rehab work on it this week anyway. No big deal.
Leg Ext -
25x20
50x20
75x20
100x20
75x20
50x20
25x20
Fronts -
225x5
275x5,5,5,5,5,5
1 Legged Squats - bodyx20,20
Notes - Strained the right adductor ever so slightly on the last set of front squats. My guess is it's from being dehydrated from having to take shit for the flu all week. My legs were pretty dead the whole time, even though the weight of course was super light.
I don't think it's anything serious. Should be fine to squat again next week but I will do some rehab work on it this week anyway. No big deal.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Programming with the 350 method
So I wanted to elaborate a little bit more and give some examples of what I am going to dub the "350 method" here. The only reason I have to give it a "name" is because otherwise every time I talked about it, I would have to say "well, 3 sets of as many as possible with 2 minutes rest between sets, until you can do 50 reps with it."
I feel like shortening is warranted.
This idea is not revolutionary of course, but it is a combining of ideas, which is where revolutionary ideas come from. So I guess we're full circle and so yes, the 350 method is completely revolutionary. That's a joke in case you're suffering from a NYE hangover and your sarcasm meter is broken.
But seriously, it's completely revolutionary.
Obviously this method can be applied to any movement. However the way I am going to show you how to implement it is as programmed assistance work. I think the 350 method lends itself very well to assistance work because it forces you to go light, get a lot of work in in a short period of time, and should give a nice boost to hypertrophy.
I will also show you guys that are running 365 how you can implement it right away this week.
So let's be clear about how to use this. You are going to perform 3 sets of the same weight, with a 2 minute rest between sets shooting for a total of 50 reps across those three sets.
"How do I decide what weight to pick?"
I am going with 225 on incline. I have been hitting around 22-23 reps on the first set. After that it's been 12-13. Then a whopping 6, because on that third set, the bottom really falls out for me. That's a total of around 42 reps. So I still have 8 reps to make up. I think in order to make the 50 I'll need to get to 28/15/7 or something like that.
So I would suggest you figure out something that allows you to hit 40-42 or so, just like me, the first time you give it a run and stick with that until you get to 50. It's that simple.
Don't cheat your rest periods like a weak bitch. Two minutes. If you have a training partner, I'd just go back and forth non stop until the 3 sets are done. This will really make you think about the proper weight to pick.
Application -
Basically, the best way to set this up, is to perform your main big 3 with the normal programming, via the strong-15 then pick a compound secondary movement to use the 350 method with afterwards.
For example -
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 350 method @ X weight
After I started writing this up, the thing that immediately jumped out at me, is that after that, I could pick from my stable of 100 rep movements and shit looked tight as a muh fucka.
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 350 method @ X weight
Front Raises - 100 reps
Curls - 100 reps
Noice!
Now since I can't bench every week, I will do my 350 method on incline every other week when I'm not benching, and I don't get beat up. I still do the overwarm up on incline however since I'm just repping 225, I will probably bring it back down to 315 for the top single, instead of 365. I just don't need to "warm up" that much in order to rep 225.
So how would I implement this on the other days?
Something like this.......
Deadlifts - strong-15
Barbell Rows - 350 method
Hamstring Curls - 100 reps
That pretty much takes care of all of your back and deadlifting issues.
What about squat day?
Squats - strong-15
Leg Press/Front Squats - 350 method
1 Legged Squats - 50 reps per leg
That shit is going to kick your nuts in. I can tell you that by looking at it. Which is good. Everyone needs their nuts kicked in by a leg workout now and again, otherwise you forget what you're in the weight room for to begin with.
"What about overhead work?" cries all of the overhead zealots.
What I like here for overhead is to stay with the lift and do that as the "assistance". More overhead work essentially.
Overhead Press- strong-15
Overhead Press - 350 method @ x weight (you figure this out through some play)
Front Raises - 100 reps
Curls - 100 reps
This is fantastical and will make your shoulders blow up like pumpkins, no doubt. If you wanted it get even fancier you could just use the Klokov press for the 350 method after the overhead work.
Overhead Press - strong-15
Klokov Press - 350 method
Front Raises - 100 reps
Curls - 100 reps
See what I did there? No big deal, in case you were going to "ask" if you could do that. Of course you can. There are no rules.
If you just wanted to follow up the main lift with the 350 method, you would have to be really smart because 22+ rep squats and deads are going to take some serious shit out of you. This is why I suggest picking movements that don't even ALLOW you to use as much weight in order to do this.
Incline uses less than bench.
Fronts use less than squats.
For back, do a row. If you were really frisky that day, do elevated stiff legs with it but go LIGHT.
You could also substitute chins if you are good at chinning. You could even do both really.
Deadlifts - strong-15
Rows - 350 method
Chins - 350 method
That gives you 6 working sets of almost 100 reps for your support work. That's solid in every way. Throw in a 100 rep set of leg curls after and you're talking almost 300 reps for support work after the deadlift.
Who the fuck keeps writing that I'm a low volume guy? Oh yeah, the guy that does 8 sets of 5 (40 reps) when I usually talk about doing 100-200 reps for support work. Just in fewer sets. You know why? Because it's harder, and I don't want to be in the gym training lazy.
365 implementation -
For those of you that started 365, it's perfectly fine if you want to implement this technique this week. Just make sure to bastardize the 350 method as the phases go along.
So for example in phase 1......
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 350 method @ x weight
Phase 2 -
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 2 sets instead of 3
Phase 3 -
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 1 set to AMAP
Again, remember as the intensity on the main lifts climb, you have to lower the volume/intensity for the support work. You have so much recovery ability and the more effort you pour into assistance the less effort you can apply to your big 3 over time. Something WILL take a hit.
I do not recommend getting crazy with this method. Pick 1 movement per day you'd like to try it with, and start light.
I feel like shortening is warranted.
This idea is not revolutionary of course, but it is a combining of ideas, which is where revolutionary ideas come from. So I guess we're full circle and so yes, the 350 method is completely revolutionary. That's a joke in case you're suffering from a NYE hangover and your sarcasm meter is broken.
But seriously, it's completely revolutionary.
Obviously this method can be applied to any movement. However the way I am going to show you how to implement it is as programmed assistance work. I think the 350 method lends itself very well to assistance work because it forces you to go light, get a lot of work in in a short period of time, and should give a nice boost to hypertrophy.
I will also show you guys that are running 365 how you can implement it right away this week.
So let's be clear about how to use this. You are going to perform 3 sets of the same weight, with a 2 minute rest between sets shooting for a total of 50 reps across those three sets.
"How do I decide what weight to pick?"
I am going with 225 on incline. I have been hitting around 22-23 reps on the first set. After that it's been 12-13. Then a whopping 6, because on that third set, the bottom really falls out for me. That's a total of around 42 reps. So I still have 8 reps to make up. I think in order to make the 50 I'll need to get to 28/15/7 or something like that.
So I would suggest you figure out something that allows you to hit 40-42 or so, just like me, the first time you give it a run and stick with that until you get to 50. It's that simple.
Don't cheat your rest periods like a weak bitch. Two minutes. If you have a training partner, I'd just go back and forth non stop until the 3 sets are done. This will really make you think about the proper weight to pick.
Application -
Basically, the best way to set this up, is to perform your main big 3 with the normal programming, via the strong-15 then pick a compound secondary movement to use the 350 method with afterwards.
For example -
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 350 method @ X weight
After I started writing this up, the thing that immediately jumped out at me, is that after that, I could pick from my stable of 100 rep movements and shit looked tight as a muh fucka.
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 350 method @ X weight
Front Raises - 100 reps
Curls - 100 reps
Noice!
Now since I can't bench every week, I will do my 350 method on incline every other week when I'm not benching, and I don't get beat up. I still do the overwarm up on incline however since I'm just repping 225, I will probably bring it back down to 315 for the top single, instead of 365. I just don't need to "warm up" that much in order to rep 225.
So how would I implement this on the other days?
Something like this.......
Deadlifts - strong-15
Barbell Rows - 350 method
Hamstring Curls - 100 reps
That pretty much takes care of all of your back and deadlifting issues.
What about squat day?
Squats - strong-15
Leg Press/Front Squats - 350 method
1 Legged Squats - 50 reps per leg
That shit is going to kick your nuts in. I can tell you that by looking at it. Which is good. Everyone needs their nuts kicked in by a leg workout now and again, otherwise you forget what you're in the weight room for to begin with.
"What about overhead work?" cries all of the overhead zealots.
What I like here for overhead is to stay with the lift and do that as the "assistance". More overhead work essentially.
Overhead Press- strong-15
Overhead Press - 350 method @ x weight (you figure this out through some play)
Front Raises - 100 reps
Curls - 100 reps
This is fantastical and will make your shoulders blow up like pumpkins, no doubt. If you wanted it get even fancier you could just use the Klokov press for the 350 method after the overhead work.
Overhead Press - strong-15
Klokov Press - 350 method
Front Raises - 100 reps
Curls - 100 reps
See what I did there? No big deal, in case you were going to "ask" if you could do that. Of course you can. There are no rules.
If you just wanted to follow up the main lift with the 350 method, you would have to be really smart because 22+ rep squats and deads are going to take some serious shit out of you. This is why I suggest picking movements that don't even ALLOW you to use as much weight in order to do this.
Incline uses less than bench.
Fronts use less than squats.
For back, do a row. If you were really frisky that day, do elevated stiff legs with it but go LIGHT.
You could also substitute chins if you are good at chinning. You could even do both really.
Deadlifts - strong-15
Rows - 350 method
Chins - 350 method
That gives you 6 working sets of almost 100 reps for your support work. That's solid in every way. Throw in a 100 rep set of leg curls after and you're talking almost 300 reps for support work after the deadlift.
Who the fuck keeps writing that I'm a low volume guy? Oh yeah, the guy that does 8 sets of 5 (40 reps) when I usually talk about doing 100-200 reps for support work. Just in fewer sets. You know why? Because it's harder, and I don't want to be in the gym training lazy.
365 implementation -
For those of you that started 365, it's perfectly fine if you want to implement this technique this week. Just make sure to bastardize the 350 method as the phases go along.
So for example in phase 1......
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 350 method @ x weight
Phase 2 -
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 2 sets instead of 3
Phase 3 -
Bench - strong-15
Incline - 1 set to AMAP
Again, remember as the intensity on the main lifts climb, you have to lower the volume/intensity for the support work. You have so much recovery ability and the more effort you pour into assistance the less effort you can apply to your big 3 over time. Something WILL take a hit.
I do not recommend getting crazy with this method. Pick 1 movement per day you'd like to try it with, and start light.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - 365 kick off version
Well 2012 is gone. No need in belaboring the point about how much it sucked anymore.
2013 is here, and it's time to kick off 365 for many of you. I touched on some things to making each phase work. Here I want to throw out a couple of things you could do in order to SHOW how each one worked.
2013 is here, and it's time to kick off 365 for many of you. I touched on some things to making each phase work. Here I want to throw out a couple of things you could do in order to SHOW how each one worked.
- Track your EDM (every day max). At the start of each phase and then roughly what it is at the beginning.
- Take measurements. Chest, waist, hips, legs, arms. Make sure you do them "cold" (not with a pump) and relaxed.
- If you can get your bodyfat done, get it done. Not on one of those god damn scales you step on. That shit it awful. Get it done by a reputable trainer, or in a bodpod. Don't ask me where to find one either, JFC use google.
- Take pics. From, back, and side.
Do all of these things at the beginning of each phase, and at the end of each phase.
If you don't follow the diet correctly and become one of those "bacon and bacon and beer" dumbasses, don't expect to look jacked and awesome. Dieting is a big part of what you look like, in fact, it might be the most important thing you do in that regard, and how you feel in training. How many incredibly jacked looking dudes do you know, that they tell you they "eat bacon and drink beer"? None. And you won't be one doing that. Stop being like every other dipshit on the internet and become something more than a god damn bacon eater/beer drinker.
Other things -
I now have an official date on the USPF Nationals. It's May 10-12th. My guess is I will be competing on the 11th, which would be that Saturday. So I can now sit down and plan out my training cycles leading into the meet. I'm pretty excited to get this planned because I don't get to compete a lot because competing is both expensive and timely for me. So to have this much time in advance to plan is good.
I'm still tinkering with some ideas in my training however, and I think I'm going to implement the strong-15 in an "every other week" kind of basis for the most part. It actually stretches out over that period rather perfectly. So I'm probably going to do that.
I will tell you that the foundation of the stuff I will be doing is as follows, and some goals -
Benching every other week - The template here will be 5x3 one week then 3x8 two weeks later. 385x5x3 would be the goal on that one, and with all reps paused that would really put my bench in the high 400's I believe.
Deadlifting every other week - Strong-15 will be used here. I will probably run the deficit deads for a while after the main over warm up pull.
Front and back squatting every week - 405x3x5 for fronts and 500x10 on squats after that. May not hit this but that's the goal.
Lots of rows - I am going to be really going after the rows the next few months. I feel like bringing my rows up can and will help my deadlift even more. I am also going to try and put a bigger emphasis on some 'strang work. That's hamstrings for those of you who don't get that lingo.
Lots of rep work for pressing - 225x30+ on incline press, 275x8 on press behind the neck
Lots of abs - I'm finally giving up the ghost here and going after ab work seriously. I have always hated ab work but as a beltless guy, it's been pretty stupid of me to neglect it. So, lots of ab wheel and good ol fashioned sit ups.
There's also a little thing I've been doing with my incline that I'm going to start implementing on "rep" days. And that's, whatever light weight I am repping, for 3 sets of AMAP until 50 is reached, before I bump the weight. So on incline if I do 225x25,15,10 that would be 50 total. I'd bump the weight the next time and start over. ONLY two minutes rest between sets.
For you guys running 365, this is not a bad way to run your assistance work if you want to implement it. Just make sure you start a lot lighter than you think. The first set needs to be taken close to failure, so expect a big drop off in reps after that. Pick something you can get 20-22 reps with the first time you try it, and stay after that weight for a while.
The more I massage the routine the more it looks like this -
Week 1 -
Day 1 - Back
Good Mornings - 4x10
Yates Row - 4x10 with working weight
Shrugs - 2-3 sets of 20
Day 2 -
Leg Ext - 8x30
Fronts - 5x3 or 3x5
Squats - 1x10 or 2x5
1-Legged Work - 1x10
Day 3 -
Bench - 5x3 or 3x8 all paused
PBN - 3x8-20
Upright Rows - 4x10
Week 2 -
Day 1 - Deadlifts
Deadlifts - strong-15
Stiff Legs - 4x10 (light here)
Day 2 -
same as previous week
Day 3 -
Incline - 3xamap @ 225
Seated Db Press - 3 x amap @ 100's
Skullies - 4x10
On "off" days I will be doing abs, biceps, calves, cuff, and some other work. So "small" sessions again to get the prehab style work in. This is something I feel benefits me greatly in terms of work capacity and just overall conditioning.
Don't expect this routine to "last" the whole time. I fully plan on dropping most shit and JUST doing the big 3 lifts for my competition cycle this time. As it gets closer that's what will happen.
Mind you, you won't be seeing any big lifts from me for some time. I'm totally sold on the lower intensities for strength gain and better recovery. So that's going to be a real big part of my programming now. Getting in, getting the volume and work in, but saving a lot in the tank and always feeling better leaving the gym than when I got there. Walking out of the gym, or barely being able to walk out of the gym, I have found takes too big of a toll on my recovery. And I'm 38 now (almost) and have 24 years of mileage on these tires, so recovery, and not getting injured are the biggest factors for me. If you are younger, it might not be for you, so your own mileage may vary.
That's just a quick hitter to start 2013. I woke up today feeling 100 times better than I have all week from this nasty flu, so it's already a good start to the new year.
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