Training mindset part 3 - Letting PR's come to you

"But man, I just wanna get laid." Brian told me.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Even if that's the case, your approach is all wrong." I said.

"How so?"

"Well, that puts you in the wrong mental state.  And women can tell when you're just trying to get into their pants."

Brian laughed.

"I don't think so.  Every time I'm out and start talking to a woman, the conversation ends up being about sex."

"And how's that been working for ya?"

"Well....not so good.  Like, they start talking about sex, and...."

"And within five minutes they jet.  Right?"

"Yeah." he said.  "But they always take the conversation there."

"I bet they don't.  I bet you do and you just don't know it.  You find a way to somehow make the conversation about sex don't you?"

Brian pondered for a bit and then realized what I was saying was indeed correct.

"Yeah, I suppose I do."

"Well, if you just met a girl and within a few minutes you're taking the conversation to sex, she knows what you're after.  And she's going to spurn you more than likely.  She doesn't know you.  She doesn't have comfort with you.  So here you are, some guy she just met in a bar, and within five minutes you're talking about sex.  How in the hell do you expect to get a woman with that approach?"

Brian shrugged.

"Let me ask you a question." I said.  "When you're going out, and you're thinking "I gotta get laid", put yourself in that mindset.  Think about going out with the purpose of trying to find a chick to sleep with.  Now, what does your approach to that feel like?"

Brian closed his eyes, and thought for a minute.

"Rushed.  Anxious...." Brian laughed.  "Desperate."

"Right.  So how do you think that kind of energy is going to manifest itself in how you interact with her?"

"Yeah, not good." he said.

"Now think about this.  Think about seeing the most beautiful woman you've seen in a long time, sitting at a table.  You decide to talk to her.  But your mindset is one of seducing her.  What does that feel like?"

Brian closed his eyes again, and thought.

"Relaxed.  Comfortable.  Like, getting to know her."

Brian opened his eyes and the look on his face said it all.

"Man" he said.  "I see what you're getting at.  Simply changing your mindset totally changes how you feel in your approach."

"That's right.  And how do you think she'll respond to your approach if it's encompassed by all the things you just described?"

"Probably really well, man." Brian said.  "I believe so."

Yes this was a real conversation.  I have no idea if Brian changed his approach to "getting laid" after that but the point was made.

Getting the things you want in life often have to do with your mindset and your approach in attaining them.  Whether that's seducing a woman, or getting a better deal haggling with the car salesman, or getting a raise at your job.

This same concept isn't lost in the realm of lifting weights.

If you are after certain goals then your mental approach to reaching those milestones is paramount.

The parallel between Brian trying to get laid and trying to seduce a woman do indeed have a distinct relation to training.

When his mindset was one of just trying to get laid, he felt rushed, anxious, desperate.

When his mindset was one of seducing a woman, he understood there was a clear process involved.  And it was made up of patience and "putting in the work" to make it happen.  He had to allow HER to come to him by giving her the things she needed.  There wouldn't be any instant gratification of simply walking up to a woman, throwing a few lines down and then expecting her panties to hit the floor.

But this is often how a lot of guys approach their training.....and women too.

They get a goal in mind, then spend a few workouts or just a few weeks of training, then start testing and testing and testing to hit a new max.

They switch routine after routine to see if there will be some magic involved that allows them to finally hit that coveted three plate bench or four plate squat.  Then it doesn't happen, and doesn't happen, and doesn't happen.....and doesn't happen.

Or maybe it does one time, but for the life of them they can't figure out why they can't replicate that ability each week.

I swear every gym has that bench guy that maxes out every single week, and year after year he comes in, and his max doesn't move.  But there he is, testing it every single week.  Sometimes he gets it, and sometimes he doesn't.  It's very hit or miss.  And he often complains of the fact that his bench has been stuck at X amount for Y long, and doesn't know why.

Then he comes in next week, and does the same shit.  And bitches the same way he bitched last week, and the week before that.  That his bench doesn't move.

Much like Brian trying to get laid, these guys find themselves getting caught up in the "chase".  They start chasing a number week in and week out, and then training stops becoming "training" and becomes testing.  Then "testing" becomes a very hit and miss ordeal.

Yeah you get laid sometimes, but more often than not she's turning her back on you or checking her phone five minutes later.

In the case of seduction, it's about letting her come to you when she's ready.  And hitting PR's is really no different.

There is a process behind getting to new levels, and that process involves patience and the understanding that training in a consistent and productive manner is what will "get you laid" on a more consistent basis, than simply walking up to the bar and asking..."you want some sex?"

Everytime I found myself losing sight of the process, I found myself stuck for long periods at a time.  I needed to hit certain numbers in order for my mind to believe that training was being productive.  But hitting a certain number isn't the only way to measure meaningful progress.  It can be in a myriad of ways like bar speed, volume, and even performing the lift with better technique.

Mainly, you have to put the work in, and let the numbers eventually come to you.  This has been the most effective way that I have found to hit PR's on a consistent basis.  In other words, stop worrying about the max single, and worry about the quantity and quality of work you are putting in on a consistent basis.  If you approach the bar week in and week out with THAT mindset, then the PR's will come rather easily.

If your mindset is one of chasing something, then you can lose the appreciation and understanding for the process involved in obtaining what you seek.  Come to terms with the fact that you're in the gym to TRAIN.  Not to test all the time.  Testing can be a measuring stick but it should only be used as a PART of determining if training is efficient and effective.  It shouldn't be the last word or the all encompassing factor in how you measure the quality of your training program.  

Strength, Conditioning, and Nutrition seminar in Overland Park, KS

Mike Israetel, Alex Viada, and myself will be doing a seminar at I35 Crossfit in Overland Park, KS on July 26th and 27th.

We will be covering a multitude of topics for those two days and this is a can't miss weekend if you're interested in getting stronger, eating better, and learning how to get into bad ass condition.

Sign up here.....

http://store.lift-run-bang.com/crossfit-i35-seminar/

Meadows shrugs for bigger traps - video

Enjoy.

If you're fat and lose weight, you're probably gonna get fat again

So I came across this article this morning, and I found it quite interesting.

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/fat-officially-incurable-according-to-science/

If you don't feel like reading it, here is the high level overview....

Basically multiple studies showed that only about 2 out of a 1000 people who lost enough weight to get down to what was considered a "healthy weight" (I'm taking some liberties here), actually kept it off.

At first, my bullshit meter wants to go off, and say there is no way that's correct. But then I sat and thought about it for a while. And I realized, that's probably more accurate than I wanted to initially admit.

Now, I'm sure there will be lots of people chime in to say "I was X amount, and now I'm Y amount and have been for so many years." That's fine. What the article is starting is that through studies they found that is exceptionally rare. That the GREAT MAJORITY of people who were obese, then lost weight, became obese or at least "got fat" again later.

With more thought, I came to the conclusion that well, that's probably correct.

Virtually all of the people that I know that lost a significant amount of weight, gained most of it back later. Not always all of it, but a good degree of it.

The initial parallel that entered my mind was the relapse rate of drug addicts.  So, I went and researched what that rate was.  

According this this........

The NIDA estimates that 40 to 60 percent of recovering addicts will backslide, meaning that relapse is not only possible but likely.

Wow.

So if you're addicted to crack, you're more likely to stay clean than a fatty turned thin person is to stay thin.

Well, that's the initial thought.  However that's taking all of these studies at face value without applying real world context to the situation.  

So let's expound a bit, and get back to that later.

First off, there's sort of a willing level of ignorance by many of us that doesn't get applied to the physiological portion of why this epidemic exists.  And I don't use the word epidemic here haphazardly.  

According to the CDC roughly 35% of American's are currently obese.  That's more than one-third of the population.  

The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.

To put it in terms that might make this jump out at you more, if obesity were replaced with a zombie virus, that would mean every third person living on your block or street would be infected.  

So about, 106 million zombies nationwide.  Give or take a bite.  Pun works all sorts of ways here.  

The reason why I say there's a certain amount of being willfully ignorant by many of us (at times, myself included) is because we narrow down the cause of obesity to nothing more than a lack of discipline.  And at the heart of it, that indeed is how someone generally becomes obese.  But what keeps them obese, or causes them to become obese again after losing weight, is probably a little more than that.  

I don't think I'm reaching here when I write that food can most certainly be a drug.  At least for many it most certainly looks like a drug, insofar as how the body ends up reacting to it.  However food addiction is still a controversial topic in the dieting and health industry.  

What we do know is, certain foods like cheese, chocolate, shitty cuts of meat, etc tends to release dopamine, the feel good chemical in the body, in massive amounts.  This is what's known as the "reward system".  You eat shitty food, and the body releases massive amounts of dopamine to let you know "hey, I like this shit.  Feels good, man.  Eat more of it."  

Over time, just like any addiction, the body ends up lowering the amount of dopamine released by eating these foods, and the dopamine receptors down regulate to basically keep the body in balance.  So now, in order to get that same "feel good" reward system that you got before, you have to eat more junk food to make that happen.  

Now ol fatty-in-the-making has to eat more of what he or she craved before, in order to "feel better" than they once had to.  So instead of eating a small slice of cheese cake, now one needs two slices, or some ice cream to go with it as well.  And that's after a meal that's already laden with fat and sugar.  

And the cycle begins.  Just like with drug addiction.  

Over time, the brain actually becomes rewired to seek out these foods.  From this study.....

Dopamine (DA) regulates emotional and motivational behavior through the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. Changes in DA signaling in mesolimbic neurotransmission are widely believed to modify reward-related behaviors and are therefore closely associated with drug addiction. Recent evidence now suggests that as with drug addiction, obesity with compulsive eating behaviors involves reward circuitry of the brain, particularly the circuitry involving dopaminergic neural substrates. Increasing amounts of data from human imaging studies, together with genetic analysis, have demonstrated that obese people and drug addicts tend to show altered expression of DA D2 receptors in specific brain areas, and that similar brain areas are activated by food-related and drug-related cues.

There are lots of these studies that back this basic physiological response, yet we're still at a point where food addiction is still "controversial."  Mainly because, in my opinion, it wouldn't be very financially sound for the fast food industry, which is roughly a 200 billion dollar a year industry, to agree with such claims.

And we as American's, or people in general, would probably have trouble buying in anyway despite all the facts.  Once again, we just fall back on ol fatty not being disciplined enough without understanding it may indeed more complicated than that.

Since drug addicts relapse at a rate of about 40-60 percent, it might be hard for us to reconcile that it's more than a lack of discipline.  But upon further examination, the person suffering from crack addiction isn't being bombarded with commercials and advertisements to go smoke crack on a daily basis.  They don't have to drive by "legal crack houses" on every street corner.  They don't walk into a store, and see crack readily available on the shelves.  They don't have to go to a casual gathering at a house warming and watch everyone else "light up" and enjoy the festivities.  

My guess is, and it's just my guess, that if you replaced all the fast food chains with crack stores, and put crack in every Quick Trip and every grocery store, that the relapse rate would probably be much higher. 

On top of that, some people appear to be more wired for addiction than others.  I personally can start a diet, and eliminate junk, and never crave junk after a couple of weeks of "eating clean".  I quit smoking back in 2000 cold turkey, and never once did I ever crave a cig again.  While some people go through all sorts of measures to quit smoking and just can't ever seem to kick the habit.  On top of that, because of genetic factors and different body types, some people are more inclined to be on the plump side.     

Now I don't want to let fatties off the hook here either.  I don't want to start piling up "excuses" for them.  

You became obese more than likely, because of a lack of discipline and self awareness.  The 130 pound high school chick that is now 30 and pushing 300 pounds had to cross 150, 170, 190, 200, 225, 250, etc.  There were a lot of bad decisions made on the way to 3-hundo.  A 20 pound weight gain shouldn't have gone unnoticed, and have been met with "shit, I've gained 20 pounds in the last year, I need to get my shit together."  

But then it didn't happen, and another 20 got packed on.  Women often lie to themselves because "I can still fit into my size 8."  Well, that doesn't mean a whole lot.  Lots of women can gain 15-20 pounds and still essentially be in the same clothes they were before, but that doesn't mean you didn't get fatter.  

Men do the same shit.  

"I'm not much fatter." and then GROSSLY underestimate their bodyfat, without ever actually getting it taken.

Fact is, 15% doesn't look a ton different than 18% bodyfat, however once you cross over that 15% threshold you tend to acclimate fat gain at a far faster rate than before.  And then guys are on some forever bulk cycle and still think they looked like they did back at 15% when everyone else can see they resemble the Michelin Man more than they resemble the "muscular man" they were before.

People are awful at enabling their shitty habits.  Especially when said habits are ones that make them "feel good".  So they constantly ignore the consequences of said habits until the results from them are such that they can no longer be ignored.  

Then the process to get back down to what was once their "normal weight" is a painful process, and one that is often met with failure, and obviously later on, relapse.  

In my opinion there are a few reasons why that is....

First off, most obese people don't approach their problem like an addiction.  People that are addicted to hard drugs go to clinics, go to support groups, have sponsors that keep them accountable, etc.  Yet severely obese people do things like hire a trainer, or find an online diet, and then try to follow it without taking into account the psychological (extreme cravings) and physiological troubles that will accompany withdrawal.  These issues need to be addressed, and addresses in a similar manner as people with drug addiction.  It's not enough to "find a diet" or "do more exercise."  You have to be honest with yourself, and treat it LIKE an addiction.  

One common issue I see with obese people is that they gravitate towards diets that still allow the shitty foods in their diet that caused these problems in the first place.  Would it make sense for the crack addict to talk about "going clean" then talk about "well, I only smoke one rock once a week now.  Sometimes three times.  It all depends on if that crack fits my macros."  

It has to eliminated, and over time, the brain essentially has to be "rewired." (I know, that's not the best term here but work with me.) 

The second thing I have seen personally and up close, are people that have been obese most of their life get down to a weight they are "proud of" when in all actuality they still have a ways to go.  I've trained several women in the past that eventually became very complacent with the size they got down to, and became very resistant to make the more difficult changes they needed to make in order to get to an ideal size for their structure.  

And in every one of those instances, those women got fat again.  100% of the time.  

People lose weight, and feel proud of their weight loss, but then don't realize they still fit the mold of being obese.  

"Well, I've lost 100 pounds in the last two years."

That's awesome.  But you're still 200 pounds at 5'5".  You still have work to do.  

These people become content, don't make all the changes needed in order to continue making progress, keep allowing themselves to eat the food that got them obese, and eventually they are back on that downward spiral.  

The other issue I see now, is that we've become a society of fat enabling.  I can't tell you how many memes I've seen that talk about loving your fat body, or "real women have curves." and such shit as that.  

Love handles and muffin tops are not "curves".  Ok?  

There is an overwhelming push by the media and society now to make big beautiful.  Nevermind that being obese carries both a heavy financial burden on the healthcare system, and is associated with just about every major health issue we see today.  Yet here we are as a society, propping up being obese as something that shouldn't be frowned upon or looked down at.  

I'm sorry, but that's just idiotic.  

I'm not saying we should "fat shame", but for the love of God, we shouldn't be propping up obesity as something that is beautiful or to be considered natural.  It's neither.  It's the physical manifestation of unhealthy eating habits.  There's nothing beautiful about that.  The reason why muscular ripped bodies APPEAL to the great majority of people as being sexy is because of our evolutionary hard wiring that it represents a healthy mate.  

If you are an obese person, it behooves you to take measures to address every facet of the problem properly.  If you've been obese for the last 10 years, simply "finding a diet" is not wholly addressing the problem.  And thus why people with eating disorders or food addiction often fail in their efforts to "get clean."  Because the underlying issue is not being resolved.  And the cycle happens again and again and again.  This is why so many people do a fad diet, lose weight, then gain it all back.  Then they look for the next fad diet.  And it starts all over.  The root of the problem is never being addressed, and cementing proper lifestyle changes that will remain in place, aren't being laid down.

If you're obese, and have been for quite some time, you're going to need to do more than "eat less, and move more."  You're going to need to approach your issue from one that looks very much like drug addiction.  That means getting help in all the facets that will allow you to carve out a new lifestyle.  It may also mean that you have this battle throughout most of your life.  If you fit into the spectrum of people who have more highly addictive personalities and also are more inclined genetically to be fat, then you have to find a bigger approach than hiring a "diet coach." or "personal trainer."  Those can be important parts of what you need to do, but it's not the whole picture.  And you're not going to see the big picture until you rid yourself of denial about your issue, stop resting on your laurels, and decide to approach this with a complete change in lifestyle and mindset.  

As with any addiction, the first step is admitting you have one.  Until then, you'll just keep passing bigger numbers on the scale. 

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Training Mentality - Part 2 - Wants, needs, and desires

When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, 'Oh yes - I already have everything that I really need.' -- Dalai Lama
Depending on where you are in life, this saying from the Dalai Lama can be construed as either a positive thing, or a negative thing.

Contentment can be a very good thing in regards to life.  When you feel like you have enough money, don't desire a bigger home, or a better car, and feel perfectly comfortable with what your life looks like in that regard.  That indeed can be a very beautiful thing.

In fact, finding contentment in those areas is usually the goal of many.  Most of us want to make enough money to live a comfortable life, and ease the stress and strain that comes from financial woes or burdens.  It's why many people work jobs that they don't really love, but give them a life outside of work they can be happy with.  And for many, that's enough.

On the flip side of that, finding contentment can be a very bad thing in terms of training.

Contentment is the absolutely enemy of desire.

Contentment will snuff out desire and take away every ounce of your passion for a need in your life.  It will dilute all of your "needs" and turn them into "wants".

At first, you may not think that's a very big difference.  But make no mistake, the difference between a want and a need are monumental.

Wants are made up of dreams, hopes, and wishes.  They are often legless and fleeting in our thoughts.  They don't envelope us or manipulate our habits.  They are just things that "would be nice".

"I want that Viper."

"I want to take a vacation."

"I want a million dollars."

"I want to bench press 405."

It'd be nice to have all of those things, but they don't consume us and they don't drive us the way a need does.

Generally, a "want" is something we'd like to do, or like to have, but eh, it's just not gonna happen right now and really, there may not be any urgency associated with it.

"I want to pay my mortgage."

That statement probably signifies that said person doesn't have the money to do so, and has no way to make it happen.  "Maybe it will fall in my lap.  Or I will win the lottery this week."

There are no plans made, and because it's a "want" it's just a passing thought in their mind.

Needs on the other hand, are an entirely different animal.

Needs are made up of necessity, and desire.  Needs are something we are actually working towards, or are making choices about so that we see it come to fruition.

"I need to make a million dollars."

There's probably a reason behind that statement.  It has purpose.  Thus, there will be plans made, priorities changed, and there will be an enormous amount of drive and purpose associated with it.  In very plain terms, there is a REASON for the need.

Wants typically have no reasoning other than coveting.  But needs are encased in purposeful actions.  We may want that Viper, but ehhh, I can't really afford it right now, and what the hell am I really going to do with it anyway?

If one NEEDS a Viper, it probably means they have intentions of doing something with it after purchase.  Like taking it to the track, or using it to pick up hot babes.

With a want, complacency will often whisper in our ear why it's not a necessity.  That we're already good enough.  That we can rest on our laurels, and be perfectly happy with all of the things we've already accomplished.  And once again, depending on the context of that, it can be a very good thing.  But in the realm of trying to become a better lifter, it is literally your number one enemy.

A "want" will tell us to slow down, relax, don't push too hard and don't stress too much.

A "need" is driven by desire and passion, and it will consume us and drive us to see things out until they are accomplished, and yet also leave us wanting for more.

I've been caught in the "need" world before.  Sometimes you don't realize it until enough time passes by and you wake up one morning and realize that you haven't made any significant progress in a very long time.  You realize you've been on auto-pilot in the gym.  Simply going through the motions because of the habitual nature of it all.  No different than you end up in the grocery store a few times a week to grab the same shit you've been grabbing for years on end.

We become the lifting version of robots.  Showing up, doing the work we always do, checking out when we're done.  There's no REAL purpose.  There's no real desire to improve, and there's no real passion driving us any longer.

Deep down inside, we tell ourselves in a very small voice...."this is as good as I'm ever going to get."

And like that....it's gone.

We still go to the gym, and we still put in the work, but it's not the same as it was 5, 10, 15 years ago.  All of the "need" has been emptied out of us, and complacency has replaced it with wants.  There's no self examination anymore.  We're not introspective about why things aren't getting better.  We shackle ourselves to the sisters of mediocrity and contentment and are just fine being their slave.

Breaking the chains is not hard.  It simply requires one to wake up realize there is so much more that CAN be accomplished.  It may require a dramatic change in training or diet, or a complete paradigm shift in everything you used to believe about training.  I know it did for me.  Once I came to terms with the fact all the things that got me to where I was could no longer take me to where I needed to be, I overhauled everything.  And that's how Base Building was born.  And once I saw progress again, it invigorated me in a way I had not felt in years.  And soon, PR's started falling like clockwork.

Was it Base Building that did it, or was it just the catalyst that set my passion back in motion?

It's hard to say.  What I do know is, it stomped out all of my wants, and all of my NEEDS returned waving a Claymore and screaming a war cry that sounded a lot like..."fuck complacency!"

All of us will go through this at some point in our training life, if we stay with it long enough.  You'll wake up one day and realize you just haven't gotten any better in a long time.  And at that crossroads, you'll accept that the things you used to need are no longer that important, or you'll dick punch yourself for letting that mentality creep in for so long, and climb back on that horse and start riding again.

Breaking in high frequency training

The founding fathers of lifting are at the forefront of internet debate and discussion on a routine basis.

The founding fathers being volume, frequency, intensity, rep range, and recovery.

I have very particular thoughts and opinions in regards to each for myself, and for the majority of lifters.  However there are always guys that gravitate towards certain ideologies that run counter to my own beliefs, and make it work for them.

This isn't to say I'm wrong, and they are right, or vice versa.  As I wrote on the LRB Facebook page a little while back, people tend to gravitate towards a training methodology that "speaks" to them as a lifter.  Because it resonates with them as a lifter, they tend to make it work and work well.

The best methodology will always be the one you buy into, and adhere to with a passion.

One principle that gets debated often is the case for high frequency training.  That is, in powerlifting, training the big three multiple times a week.

For myself, I have found sort of a middle ground in this regard.  It's more or less represented in The Zenith routine in Base Building.

I squat twice one week, then once the next week.

I press twice one week, and then once the next week.

Some weeks I do assistance work twice that week, and then other weeks not at all.

I have found a balance in all of this that works for me, and keeps me progressing.

Lots of guys gravitate towards doing the big 3 three, four, and even five times a week.  I personally would not train that way.  For a myriad of reasons.

For one, it gets monotonous to me.  Doing the same movements over and over again with nothing in the way of variety makes me stale on training very quickly.  Not that I have a lot of variety in terms of movements I do use, but they do get a rotation and that keeps my mind and joints fresh.

Second, after more than two decades of training my elbows can't press three times a week.  If you want to watch your numbers plummet then train with achy joints or overuse injuries, and you'll be moving a lot less weight than if you feel "good" in that regard.

With that said, training the movements more often does have an enormous amount of benefits.

You get more "practice" with the movements, and sharpen the motor cortex to a greater degree, increasing efficiency in that regard.  And increased efficiency will translate over into better lifts, i.e. bigger lifts, over time.

Of course, this only works if you adhere to the sliding scale of intensity and volume, and adjust those two factors accordingly.  That means, you need to make sure you're training in an intensity zone (70-85%) that can be worked in without overreaching/under-recovering, and apply the optimal amount of volume within that intensity range while ALSO taking frequency into account.

So there are benefits to training the lifts more frequently.  I mean that goes without saying (so why am I saying it?).

However the issue for most guys that want to transition from training the big 3 from once a week, to multiple times a week, is that they don't "break in" higher frequency in a proper way.

When a lot of guys decide to make the choice to go from a traditional split of hitting the big lifts once a week, to multiple times a week, they tend to make the change immediately.  Then they wonder why after a few weeks, that they are beat to shit, and their lifts are in the shitter.

Like most things in life, a big change can fuck with your life.  Where small changes tend to be easier to deal with, and implement.

So if you are training the bench, squat, and deadlift once a week, it's not a good idea to show up on Monday and start a week of squatting three times a week, benching three times a week, and pulling twice a week.  It's better to make small changes to your CURRENT routine, and then over time massage it so that it becomes a high frequency routine.

This might take six months or longer.  That's ok.  Because it will give you time to acclimate to the changes imposed on your body, and you have more time to make proper adjustments to volume and intensity, to find the most efficient zones for those principles.

For a guy that is using a traditional, or standard routine of squat, bench, deadlift once a week, he'd be wise to do nothing more than add in a light squat day some other time during the week.

For example...

Day 1 - Squat
Day 2 - Bench
Day 3 - Deadlift
Day 4- Light Squat / 50% of what was used on Day 1, for 3 sets of 5

This kind of small change shouldn't impact recovery at all, and can be seamless in regards to the routine.

After a few weeks of this, throwing in a light bench day could be added.

Day 1 - Squat
Day 2 - Bench
Day 3 - Deadlift
Day 4 - Light Bench / 60% of what was used on Day 2 for 3 sets of 8
Day 5 - Light Squat

Again, this is nothing of significant impact in regards to recovery and shouldn't cause any issues.

After a month and a half of this, you could simply up the intensity on the "light" days, giving you a bit more of a meaningful workload for the week.

Day 1 - Squat
Day 2 - Bench
Day 3 - Deadlift
Day 4 - Light Bench / 70% of what was used on Day 2 for 3 sets of 8
Day 5 - Light Squat / 60% of what was used on Day 1, for 3 sets of 5

Once again, we're easing in to things, so that the body has time to adjust to a slightly higher workload for the week.  This still shouldn't be terribly taxing, and someone could use this day as more of a "speed" day as the intensities have risen within a proper range for that.

After a few months of this, the lifter could make a few new small changes and once again, give it a few months to acclimate.

They could simple combine some movements, or once again just up the intensity on the "light" days.

For example....

Day 1 - Squat
Day 2 - Bench
Day 3 - Light Squat Day/Deadlift
Day 4 - Light Bench / 70% of what was used on Day 2 for 3 sets of 8
Day 5 - Light Squat / 60% of what was used on Day 1, for 3 sets of 5

Now there are two "light" squat days over that same period of time.  Bringing up squatting frequency from twice a week, to three times a week.

The other option is to just up the intensity AND volume slightly on the existing "light" days.

Day 1 - Squat
Day 2 - Bench
Day 3 - Deadlift
Day 4 - Light Bench / 70% of what was used on Day 2 for 5 sets of 8
Day 5 - Light Squat / 70% of what was used on Day 1, for 5 sets of 5

Again, we're making small changes over time to allow for acclimation, so that overuse and fatigue management are kept in check.

This could continue on for quite some time as small changes are made.  Within a year or so, the lifter could be squatting three or four times a week, benching three times a week, and pulling once or twice a week.  Once again, making sure to keep the sliding scale of intensity and volume in check as these changes are implemented.

If you want to venture into higher frequency training from a more traditional "once a week" type of split, this is what I would recommend to do so.  It will give you time to adjust to more training, and allow you manage all of the principles involved in lifting, in accordance to how you feel as you institute each change.

Don't try to overhaul everything all at once.  That's the best way to end up being "that guy" that writes "I tried this for me and it just fucked me up."