Singles

OK, one problem with your singles is your build up. You are doing between 30 to 50 "reps" if not more before you get to your max for that day. It's a bit much. Also, are you rushing throught this? You have to rest and then rest more than you think you need between attempts. There is no medal for speedy.

You start out with 30 reps on the empty bar as opposed to the one set of 10 from last time. No surprize if things didn't go as planned. You want to avoid a big buildup of waste products. Lactic acid, blood pump all that. A little can help you lift more efficiently. A lot will shut you down.

One set of 8 to 10 with the empty bar should be sufficient. All you need to do is grease up the joints a bit.

After that, with the 95 I would avoid going over 5 reps. It would be better, imo, to do a couple of sets of lower reps if you really think you need so many…which you probably don't.

But here you do a set of 10 with 95 and then a set of 8 with around 50 percent of your projected max. Again….much more repping than needed. One set of 3 should do it. (Remember your body should be WARM already before you even start lifting)

Then after that you can start adding about 10 pounds at a time for SINGLES until you get to your max for that day. If you are feeling really good and you know that you can hit your max you can skip ahead as long as things feel nice and tight.

So for this last workout say something like this:

You guestimate that your max is somewhere between 260 and 270 (not really necessary to guess at all though)…

BarX8-10
95 5
155 X3
185X1
195X1
205X1

Then you could keep building up 10 pounds at a time or move up a bit. Either way it's a LOT less than what your were doing. But say…

220x1
245X1
255X1
270X1

You want to rest at least a minute between the earlier sets and then as you move into the heavier sets and once you get past the 220 range you need to recognize that you are already probably upwards of 85% of your max so you don't want to be rushing through that. Good rest periods as long as needed. Anything above 90% will COUNT afterall.

So in this example, once you hit 270 you already have 3 singles. Then all you have to do is accumulate however many more is in the plan. For me that would usually be something like a three week period with 7 to 8, then, 5, then 9 to 10 then backoff with some easy triples or something (so 4 week cycle). No, that is not a lot. But I'm good at high intensity work.

If you think that you cannot do more than, say 5 singles (that is the max PLUS whatever singles you do above 90% before or after the max) then do less. Say 3 or 4. Then next time do 2. Then next time after that try for 6 or so. But I bet you can do more than that you just need to take your time and net fatigue yourself with the warmup sets at the beginning.

You will probably be find it goes a lot better if you use a better buildup but the one I gave is just an example for reference…you got to figure you what works for you but definitely what you were doing is TOO much. You should use as many singles in the buildup as YOU need. But don't put so many triples or doubles in. I think 0311 mentioned that before. Volume doesn't count for anything here.

Remember that your relative max for the day and all your single attempts should be good form. You are not going for an all out PR like you are in a powerlifting comp.

My suggestion would be that you backoff with something easier for a week or two and then go at the singles again with a more moderate approach. And you can't do singles all the time. You gotta mix it up. You may be a person who needs to build up so that the singles cycle is more of a "peak" or you may be able to do it more by feel just making sure that the intensity cycles down and up so you don't end up losing ability through too much CNS intensive stuff.

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Right, so for me to look at your workout and tell your what you shoulda, coulda, woulda is pointless. So as usual, keep in mind that this is just me "imagining" an example of what could have happened. So the individual numbers are just there to fill in the blanks..not as a reference.

@ 92% = 115 kgs (253 lbs) x 1 rep x 6 sets
@ 100% = 125 kgs (275 lbs) x failure x 2 attempts
I failed at hitting 275 lbs. I failed while coming up. The bar slid down my body both times.

Right off the bat..I see you calling the first 6 singles a certain percentage and i'm going to react like wtf, regardless of what the numbers are. Because to me working off numbers from weeks ago just makes no sense. The first order of business is to work up methodically to your best max of the day.

You're expectations of what you wanted to lift beforehand were to concrete. I say that all the time right? It doesn't matter what you expect to happen. And the problem is expectations lead you down certain paths and make you ignore all the forks in the road that may be worth exploring.

So imagine..

You're plan was to hit around 7 or 8 singles.

You know you did 275 a while back (or whatever) so you're going to work up toward that range (meaning within 20 pounds or so..depending on the person) and based on how thing feel at that time you try for a best max for that day, good quality, etc..so say that ends up being 260. You can't do any more AT THAT TIME.

That's one single.

So you drop it down to about 235.

That's two. That felt pretty good, especially since your potentiated by the one heavier single.

So your bring it up to 240.

That's 3.

You take a good rest but your not so sure you want to try for any more so you hit 240 again.

That's 4.

It kinda felt sluggish so you drop it back down after a really good rest to 235. You have your groove back and 235 is actually a bit easier than it was before. Maybe a good bit easier.

So that's 5.

Now you're feeling froggy. So you break out your fractional plates and put on 238 or so and knock that out nicely.

So that's 6.

So you hit 240 again.

That's 7

You take one more real good rest and decide you are the man and put on 255. It is very difficult and just on the verge of being bad..but definetly acceptable.

That's 8 MUCH heavier singles than what you did.

Depending on the person, that scenario may be way to heavy or it may be conservative. But what matters is working within your ablilty at the time.

For me that is actually conservative because I respond very well to cns intensive stuff. I get stronger as I go along for the most part. There have been plenty of times where my first "best" ended up NOT being my best for that day because lifting heavy makes me stronger very quickly thought potentiation. Some people do not respond exactly that way, so I can't tell everyone to do what I do, only say say "this is the method" I use.

BTW, I would never say a workout was pointless.

Relative Max

What you experienced with hitting your "max" again is exactly what I am talking about. That is why I harp on the term "relative max". It is so important when you see this stuff in action and I didn't just pull that term out of my ass, lol. When I say relative I mean relative to your preparedness or ability at the time. When you realize that that "preparedness" can change between the beginning of a workout to the middle or end..you realize just how powerful this is.

So think about the difference between basing everything off a 1RM or PR you got two weeks ago, or a month ago but having no idea what your ability really is and therefore just how heavy you are working at any one time. Not only have I repeated my "max" but I've many times exceeded that..now that is an empowering workout.

You just have to adjust things based on what you accomplish. Yes, it is reactive but not purely reactive. Purely reactive would have you reacting to what happens without any thought process as to how primed you are to lift, how warmed up you are, etc.

Anyone who has really experimented with this stuff knows that with these very low reps and high intensities what it feels like at any one time does not necessarily mean anything. You can start out slow as shit and end up throwing the weight around like a feather. You can feel like everything starts out good but then you get a bit sluggish and then you have certain things in place that can get you moving again. You just have to be willing to slow down and think for a second.

This is one reason I hate volume protocols for strength and I hate percentage based protocols for strength. Yes, I know we are talking about percentages in these posts but they are guidelines to get us in a desirable ballpark. That is not what I mean by percentage based which is when you base a progression on something you did once upon a time which means at any time you can be lifting really light in terms of your true ability because you don't test enough.

I remember one of the sections of that "starting strength faq" giving all these complicated guidelines as to bar speed and how that would tell you how to progress. All the while counting the damn reps and sets. And I reacted to that like I thought it was the stupidest thing I've ever read. And I still think so. I'm going to base everything off of one damn moment in the middle of 3 sets of 5? When everything becomes about "getting the reps" instead of lifting heavy weights I start falling asleep. I'm supposed to be working on an article right now and it is about "meaning what we say". I am saying intensity is job one and I MEAN it. There are no buts like "intensity is the most important BUT you must get a certain amount of volume to properly stimulate the muscles" or some such shit. It's easy to accumulate volume. Any dumbass can accumulate volume.

You know the thing I'd like to get across about acclimation is that you don't ever have to stop acclimating. Acclimation has nothing to do with warmups or just some sets you do right before you do the main sets. The whole time..if you play your cards right you are continuing to acclimate. I.E. hopefully you are acclimating and not going the other way. The trick is of course learning how to play your particular hand as opposed to any other person's hand.

And that is why I said "I'd like to get it across". It's can and will be quite different for each person. So all I can say is to keep in mind that it aint over just cuz you miss a lift. OR just because it feels slow.

You may have a workout where you work up your singles very well and have some good lifts..then his a max that your are a tad bit dissapointed with. And many times you are standing there thinking, wait a minute, I feel great, wtf? That is the time to think of your feet, to experiment and begin to learn more about how you acclimate to heavy loads.

I related this thing I do where I'll drop back down and do a cluster. Then a really long rest. Then hit a max I missed and continue with my singles based on that. The question is, of course, whether something that is reasonable for me, isn't downright crazy for you.

BUT if you play with it you probably will find things that work. Maybe there are some days where you need a slow acclimation and others where jumping right in will serve best. There are staged sets and all sorts of tricks.

Advice for Banded Deadlifts

Now that you've double looped the band you might want to not just automatically start out with 50% on the bar.

When I first did them I ended up starting with more like 40 or a little less.

What you did is fine and that is ok to do as well. But you might want to experiment with different things.

For intance, one thing I love to do is start out with a load I know I won't make at first so that the bands shut me down at about mid shin or a bit higher. Then I pull like hell like i'm going to get it up anway. Take a good rest and do it again.

You make sure you are properly warmed up and somewhat acclimated and you pick a weight that is not impossible for you to do again't the bands but simply that you are not ready to do..i.e. it's a very difficult weight your would need to work up to...perhaps as high as 60 percent load but you be the judge. But you intentionally try this weight anyway.

I like to do some static core stuff, btw, before this since when you pull at like that at mid shin (or a bit higher) it feels like almost all lower back. The thoracic may round over some during this and that is ok.

THEN drop down to 40 percent of so and really concentrate on ripping the bar off the floor and then excellerating againsn't the bands.

That was one thing that was missing, btw, from those lifts. It looks like you were just "lifting" the bar. I want to see you TEARING it off the floor like it's glued down.

So, back to the plan. You start with 40 and you slowly work upwards until you get to the weight you started with. All the time you want to concentrate on explosion. Take long rests and it's best to stick with singles.

Then, you may be surprised, that you can lock out the weight you started with. fairly easily, two or three times.

Or course other times you may want to stick with light loads where you can generate lots of speed.

Start out with some bandeds and then go to reg deads sometimes if you want to see some magic. You should pretty much immediately see the gains form the banded deads when you take the bands away. Basically, 65 or 70 percnet load may go up like 50 percent and the bar should really have that floating effect because of the rtd you've developed.

This is a way of seeing just how quickly you can get stronger through nervous system effects. But the trick is to "set" the effects. Becasue with neural gains it is easy come easy go.

The andersons look ok..heavy looking. I'd like to see you take a bit more time at the bottom and set the back. You may be a bit low. Try to initiate the lift by driving up agains't the bar instead of just "pushing" with your feet. A good way of looking at it is you are "extending" your body against the load rather than just pushing against the ground.

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Psychology and Anxiety, etc etc...

So I want to expand on the whole psychology thing. Anxiety and all that. There were numerous statements by DH that got me motivated to go into this. I'll just quote a few here: Quote: Originally Posted by Darkhorse I know the times I've tried to go back to back days in the gym, all I could think about was if it was worth my getting up so early before work. No matter how subtle, it'll affect performance, and no amount of preworkout magic shakes is going to change that. Quote: Originally Posted by Darkhorse It's a race, but for what? No idea..... I can see having a comp or a meet in a time frame, but for the rest of you, it's hurting, not helping. This stuff is NOT obvious to the majority of people out there. Even most of the more advanced ones. Whatcha want to bet that many people will read those statements and not get that DH is talking about phsycological aspects as WELL as preparation, recovery, and all that. No, he's not talking about pre-workout nutrition, lol. We have had SO many threads about motivation and anxiety and concentration and those types of things they are uncoutable. I've only just begun to really appreciate the phsychological aspect of training and how it all ties together. Yeah, some of you have heard me talk about it before and I've probably pointed out many times to certain people when they PM about all their workout related stress that it's probably more than just training related, but I've had my own hangups that caused me not to truly appreciate this stuff. I guess I'll sort of do my own 'phsychological history' briefly to illustrate. I mean mostly training related, lol, there ain't enough years to relate it all  You see my thing is a bit of the opposite of what some people get. I tend to be 'hyperfocused'. I have an almost unhealth ability to tune out everything but the task at hand. That can help me get a lot of work done but in training it can be both a blessing and a curse. You can see why it would be a blessing. The reason it could be a curse is not as obvious and it took me a long time to get it. Problem is that "focus" alone isn't everything. You have to focus on the right things! I've had to be able to step outside myself also and realize that just as I can focus on good ways of doing things, I can also use that focus and motivation to ignore my own stress, feelings of boredom, etc.. I'll use Anuj as an example because I know he won't mind. I'll bet you he can remember me basically telling him to "get over it" when he was bored or disatisfied with his training. My feeling was that it was a problem in attitude. I said in another thread recently that many of the things people tell you have more to do with themselves than you. Well, THAT had as much to do with me, if not more, than it did Anuj. I'm not the only one here like that, I know. Obviously I would never want to lose my focus. I’m not complaining. Concentration in the gym is not a problem for me. But I also have the unhealthy ability to continue, in a completely dedicated mindset, down completely blind alleys while bricks are raining down and burying me. I don’t think I would have been able to continue being successful if I hadn’t started changing the way I look at certain things. I like to be self-sufficient, that’s for sure, but you can only go so far with that stuff. I don’t know everything, including what goes on in my own psyche. DH, mentioned the 2 on one off schedule with 4 day routines. Well I did that once to tell you the truth and it sucked so I hung it up. Luckily that was at a time when I had gotten over, a bit, my tendency to stick to unproductive protocols. But that brings me back to this idea of someone's training being "optimal".  Optimal doesn't exist in training. Because if you make one aspect of training optimal, another one suffers and becomes suboptimal. To answer that, many simply rate variables in terms of importance. This leads to the mostly abritrary "mathematical" designations of training variables like "it's 60% this, 30 %, that with a smattering of a few other things". Which is, of course, complete bullshit.  At those times when I have tried to dial in optimal FREQUENCY, for instance: Of course the fullbody 5x5 comes to mind. Yeah, I had some success. But I spent as much time during those grueling days worrying about having a bad day in gym, catastrophising over potential injuries since some joint or other was always tweaked, or simple dreading the whole thing. Each day was completely like the last. The one goal of simply adding a little load to the bar in the hopes of some far off PR was was derailing my drive and enthusiasm. All of that equalling to DISTRESS. How optimal is that? I'm talking about me and how I approached it I'm not saying that another person couldn't have a more healthy approach.  All the while I told myself that was the price of dedication. Not realizing that EVERYTHING matters.

Another Post by DH in respect to Eric's writings..

This is going to take me a long while to read since I've got A LOT of stuff on my plate all day lol. Yep, football being one of them! I've read a few pages and Eric was able to ellaborate exactly what I was saying to the 'nth' degree. The framework is there fellas. You owe it to yourselves to read through it a few times because everything in here is a combined 20+ years of training successes and failures as well as the realization that training is only a small part of our lives. The best results will always come from believing in what you're doing, and not falling down the path of having a "bad day" in the gym ruin the other 23 hours in your day lol. I've always believed that if you get to the point to where you're so obsessive that you wake up at zero-dark-thirty just to slam a protein shake before you start the day, you're either doing a contest prep, or you've been brainwashed to think you actually need something like that.

So what do I think? I only have two big gripes about every journal section in every forum I've visited:

1) It's a race, but for what? No idea. People will have to be talked off a roof top before they commit suicide because their gym closed early on Christmas. I don't think I need to go further than that. Everyone treats training like it's a rat race. I can see having a comp or a meet in a time frame, but for the rest of you, it's hurting, not helping. It's hard not to think some people as being about as deep as a frisbee! Look at me, I could've probably gone back to the gym after a week of migranes, but I didn't. Why? Because I train for myself, and my health. Accepting WHO you are, and WHAT you've ALREADY accomplished is the first step to MASSIVE gains in the gym. Those who are stressing and losing sleep over that which they have no control over will always be spinning their wheels over how to fix it. A hardgainer will always be a hardgainer if they continue training to be someone they are not. 

Think about this. Where would everyone be right now if instead of comparing themselves to other people in the forums, they instead compare themselves to where they were a year ago? How realistic is it if you're comparing yourself to someone who is, say, using a few week cycles of Superdrol and saying their clean LOL? That's what they say, but why the fuck would you believe them?! Gotta love the annonymus internet forums!

2. "Alright guys, I'm doing DFHT, and here's what I'm picking!"

Barbell Bench followed by...
Incline DB...
JS Rows...
Power Cleans...
JM Presses...
Barbell Curls...



I've never known anyone anywhere who could do compound exercises one after the other like that. People HAVE TO include powercleans, with zero reasoning other than, well, I want to be explosive or "different" LOL. So you gotta hold your breath for the voice of sanity to reign down from the Heavens and ask two important questions:

1) What's your strength base at? 

2) What is your reasoning for picking those exercises other than them being popular? 

I'm going to leave it at that because I've hammered away at this for so many years that I've lost the fight and patience in me. I can remember the days long ago after doing some benching and barbell rows (to the floor) where it wiped me out. So instead of approaching the training from a sensible standpoint, I had to slime through the rest to where my eyes were halfway closed and I had to pass out on one of the mats on the floor, all the while pretending to be stretching so noone would call an ambulance lol. It really only boils down to YOU. Ask yourself if you only do something like heavy benching and heavy barbell rows (deloading on the floor) and perhaps another isolation before you almost die, is that going to be enough? Hell yes it is!

Don't Fuck With This (or The Making of a Guru)

Don’t Fuck With This 
or: The Making of a “Guru”

I’ve had a lot of people ask me where I do my reading. What books they should read. Etc. While I have endeavored to point them to some good resources I don’t think most people “get it” when it comes to developing concepts, yet. Most of the time what they really want to know is where that ultra-secret font of knowledge is. The one thing that will just open their eyes. An article by some “guru” that will just clear up so many mysteries, they can read it and feel like an instant expert and never have any doubts about their training at all. Funny how doubts is one of the main things that has kept me growing. Doubts tempered with faith, I guess you could say. 

Well that ain’t the way it works. There is no one or two sources that has all the answers. No one article. One book. One expert. That is not how research works with ANYTHING. And research is only the beginning. 

That reminds me of a comment that Mike Robertson just blogged. Talking about something similar, he said that he would pretty much go by Stuart Mcgill on anything about the back. So would I. But I wouldn't ever just completely ignore someone like Janda as well. And I would never completely ignore my own experience. 

There are entire books on my shelf from which, of all the info they contain, I may take on about .02 percent of it. Sometimes research is like searching threw a stack of needles for a specific needle, forget about the haystack. 

All the time you're developing concepts. You’re experimenting. Observing. Thinking. Imagining. Synthesizing all of this into an ever-changing philosophy. You take chances. You make mistakes. You remain always the skeptic but you never close your mind. It takes a lot of time and effort and patience. It takes a lot of monotony in your life as well. 

Me, I don’t want to be the guru. I don’t trust the guru. Why? Because for every guru who really is all that and a bag of chips, there are one hundred others who have a secret they don’t want you to know. 

And that in a way, could just sum it up, couldn’t it? Things they don’t want you to know? Wouldn’t want the student to surpass the teacher would we? Funny how that is my goal when I help people to have them overcome my limits as well as their own. Because that raises me up. More and more I want to “teach people to fish” and if they become a better fisherman than I, isn’t that really the mark of a good teacher? In my own training I seek constant improvement. But the old adage, “those who can’t do, teach” well, the problem is many of those who CAN wouldn’t want to REALLY have others do as well or better. Just not enough of that pie to go around, in their minds. 

So what is the secret the “guru” doesn’t want you to know? It has to do with conceptualization. A lot of these people really do have some hardcore knowledge to draw from. But many times the pool they draw it from is somewhat shallow. They have one or two primary sources. Their “authority figures” and what you get from them is THEIR conceptualization of those sources. You get, so to speak, a hand-me-down version of it, if not a watered-down-one. 

Something people really fail to miss is that the best people out there in this industry, when they write books, articles, give seminars, and so forth, they do expect you, yourself to conceptualize that info. To use it in the quest to develop your own ideas. Matter of fact the expert who tells you that OPTIMAL is nothing more than a pipe-dream is probably the one to listen to. But then you have the opposite. That is the DON”T FUCK WITH THIS guru. Don’t overthink. Don’t ask too many questions! 

Sometimes that is what people need to hear. But if that is all someone EVER says. Then you better be wondering if there is anything underneath. 

The ever-popular 5x5’s come to mind. Or Starting Strength. I’ve suggested changes, for instance to starting strength and been hit with “I thought we were not supposed to mess with it”, so many times. Why? Because so and so said so?

Bill Starr and “Bill Starr 5x5’” come to mind. Lots of guys out their talking about bill starr who have never read an original work written by him. I remember writing a thread about always look at the sources! This stuff is like rumors sometimes. First I punched a guy for bumping into me. A few weaks later I broke a guys jaw, knocked all his teeth down his throat, landed him in intensive care, and I’m now being held on 100,000 bucks bail. 

The reason you can’t fuck with it is not because of the reasons you think. The real reason is because if you USE YOUR BRAIN and go deeper you may uncover something they don’t want you to know. They are not the “gatekeepers” lol. It ain’t magic. They just read some stuff and did some training, most of the time. 

I’ve had people ask me about the book Supertraining. And usually I tell them I wouldn’t recommend it off the bat because it is very confusing and lacks direction. So I’ll say if you want something like that “Science and Practice” is a better bet. Still very technical, but…

Well, Westside develops a lot of it’s concepts from Zatiorsky. But they are Westside’s concepts. It irritates the hell out of me when I see guys on forums talking about 
“science and practice” as told by Westside as told by their cousin Bob. Folks, it says right in that book that the info is to be used on a conceptual bases. Yet so many “gurus” expect you to accept an idea of an idea of an idea. I’m only using WSB as a very well known example and nothing more. But don’t talk to me about Zatiorsky if he ain’t sitting on your shelf! It just MAY be that you have a big enough brain in your head to come up with you own interpretations or develop you own concepts from these sources. It just takes more work than excepting everything on the basis of “authority”. 

So stop looking for “the big idea” and simply, speaking, put your nose to the grindstone.

Eric on DH's Post..

I have a lot to say about all of this. Big surprise huh

Probably the majority of the things I post has to do with "modes of thought" rather than specific advice. In other words, my "outlook" or "philosophy" on training. This will be no different...I only want to discuss/backup a lot of the stuff DH has said in a general way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DH My Outlook on Training

Do YOU have an outlook? Do you have a philosophy. Chances are there are people who will read DH's article, if not here, than at IA's, and would like to single out comments or details and argue them. That happens to me all the time.

I think my patent response will now be "What is your outlook" (one the subject at hand or in general). Because IF you don't have a philosophy..you are standing on thin ice and all your arguments and "opinions" are like smoke to me.

No, I'm not talking about beginners asking questions and all of that. I'm talking about people who want to criticize the efforts of people like DH or myself but if asked, would not have a coherent viewpoint or consistent leaning on ANYTHING. That is the start of organization. Even if if as a beginner you are adopting the training philosophies of a few people that you trust and respect and who have shown themselves to be qualified, you will probably do better than NOT having that foundation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DH Lets look at something like the 5x5, made popular by guys like Bill Starr. It's a wonderful full body program. You'll also notice it has squatting three times a week (I recommend only two) and deadlifting in between. But, it HAS a system of checks and balances worked in. That means you're taking your KNOWN 1x5 RM and 5x5 RM and programming it into the final weeks of the program, then deducting from that in rather large increments back to week one (reverse planning). So what does that mean? It means the first two weeks are relatively easy and you're just getting used to the demands of the program, and teaching your body to tolerate the workload.

Expanding on what I was saying and bridging it with this...you take the typical guy who's been training in a completely disorganized fashion and probably mostly chest, lol, and put them on ANYTHING that is organized and is built on a solid rational their results will probably skyrocket. Given that some rationals are better than others, but ANY rational is probably better than NONE.

Taking fullbody 5x5's, besides the fact that it is built around the big compound lifts, what you have is a rationale. Going from Ronnie Coleman's training as told by Flex to any 5x5 method..well, I think it should be obvious that the results will seem miraculous by those standards.

I, like, DH, could look at the typical 5x5 and see some problems and especially if I was actually consdering individual needs. I definitely agree about the squatting thrice weekly in general as well.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DH I think what would help a lot of lifters is to think for themselves lol

Well, you know you said something also about HIT, but I think you can go so far as to blame trends in general. People are looking for the "way". They're looking for a bible. Most don't want to except responsibility for their own training. 

People mistake METHODS for PRINCPLES. Bottom line. Like I said before 5x5's are usually built on a rationale and that is better than no rationale but at it's heart is is a "method". Someone has success doing some 5x5 and suddenly it's their fundamental training principle. Not only is it recommended across the board to everyone and anyone but they will keep on doing it forever thinking that it is "the way" 

That's no different than HST OR HIT in a way. 

What I think is important to realize is that a very knowledgable and experienced trainer or "coach", their training philosophy is built around the successes and failures they've had, their observations, theory, reading, all sorts of things. But you can be sure that when you see a "program" that if they are good, they have a "philosophy" that governs that. Big problem though...

We talk alot about the beginner, intermediate, and advanced as told by guys like Rippetoe. Now, I can explain in depth his "philosophy" and understand it. But what I also understand is that it is built around his rationale for training, his failures and success, his observations, his pool of knowledge he can pull from. So the "programs" fit in with the defintions. 

Trying to take those programs and the definitions they are built on and generalize them is the mistake most people make. 

Whether it's 5x5's, HIT, or HST. How many people think that a "deconditioning" week is paramount for "hypertrophy"? Because HST tries to prove that. 

I remember when the "Texas Method" was being popularized and suddenly I was seeing a bunch of people appying "TM" to their customized split, lol. It's a method, folks. What is the underlying ratinale. How far can that take you? when is it appropriate and not appropriate and how can it be programmed in the most efficient way? Are their particular parts of it that are valuable to you throughout your training career? Are there other parts of it that will only prove to be applicaple at any given time in that career?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DH That's the problem with those dual factor articles that spread like wildfire around the forums a couple of years ago. Certainly a breach of fresh air, and a hundred times more beneficial than just going on a week's vacation (unless overtrained). Unless it's a specific type of programming that uses volume and intensity cycling, I've found that planning deloads too far in advanced is very "hit or miss" and about as unspecific as guessing the supercompensation wave.

To me, that right there was more of the same thing I was just talking about. The "dual factor" 5x5's, as they were popularized, were methods. Dual Factor theory itself is NOT a method. It is a training model. A theory, if you will. 

One of my BIG problems is gurus discovering a new pet theory, coming up with a program and trying to tell you that a program is a principle. 

Need I mention HST again. It's no different a phenomena. Take out "deconditioning" and you have short linear periodization. Takes the magic out of all the "theory" right there. Inefficient programming is inefficient programming. 

As I've said about a million times, good training is builit on a sound knowledge of good training, not theories. 

Keep in mind, as I say all this, that this is just me taking DH's article and sounding off. If I seem to differ with any detail that DH may have said, keep in mind it's only details. We do not disagree on the fundamentals. My purpose is to expand on and backup DH's stuff, not to debate it. I'm just excited and inspired by his articles.

You’ve been led to believe that this whole “DFT” loading thing is some kind of advanced strength protocol. I've probably said too many times already that any 5x5 is middle ground strength/mass work. It is one way to skin a cat IF it suits. And you can say that about anything.


But here is the big problem. It doesn’t really allow you to work on individual lifts based on your needs for those lift. It doesn’t allow you to periodize those lifts. It doesn’t allow you to pick one or two priority lifts to use more advanced protocols on….in short it is amateurish and shortsighted and you are simple trading volume for intensity and productivity. INTENSITY must CERTAINLY be a bigger factor than VOLUME in strength work. 

Another big problem is QUANTITY over QUALITY. 

We all know that sometimes that “effort” to get through that faitigue or to get up that one big rep, or even to fail helps us a lot. But that should not be the way the MAJORITY of our lifting is. All this downer trip I’m on about Rippetoes…that’s part of it. The whole damn thing is about reps, sets, VOLUME. That is all Rip knows, and I got news for you, bro, he knows a limited amount just like anyone does. So people spend all their time doing a bunch of shitty ‘reps’ intead of really learning the concept of quality. I know I'm preaching to the choir with some of you but I wonder if you've learned what that can mean. 



Yes, the beginner only needs more general stuff but no, not everybody is the fucking same! LOL.

OK in order to distribute stress we basically need to understand about the effects of fatigue. The only reason you can load in this aggressive manner with volume loading protocols without getting weaker is, because, simply speaking the CNS effects are just not that strong. You’re basically getting metabolic “volume” fatigue and a generalized kind of fatigue in terms of your body’s reaction. The body does not distinquish between these stressors. Ask yourself how this concept of building up a lot of “faitigue” really relates to “gaining strength”. It only does in a very roundabout way. You are basically trying to juggle chainsaws, donuts, feathers, and needles at the same time. Because all you can FEEL is the endocrine effects. I.E. you only know when to stop when “you feel overtrained” or have started to overreach. 

Pituitary-adrenal-gonadal responses to high-intensity resistance exercise overtraining.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9843563

Catecholamine responses to short-term high-intensity resistance exercise overtraining.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8...gdbfrom=pubmed

Resistance exercise overtraining and overreaching. Neuroendocrine responses.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9068095?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.P ubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pu bmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=5&log$=relatedreviews&lo gdbfrom=pubmed


PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES ARE BETTER DETECTORS OF OVERTRAINING THAN PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES 
Theriault, D., Richard, D., Labrie, A., & Theriault, G. (1997). Physiological and psychological variables in swimmers during a competitive season in relation to the overtraining syndrome. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5), Supplement abstract 1237. 

MONITORING OVERTRAINING - ANOTHER ATTEMPT 
Hill, M. R., Motl, R. W., Estle, J., & Gaskill, S. (1997). Validity of the stamina index test for monitoring elite athletes. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5), Supplement abstract 46. 

BIOLOGICAL MARKERS DO NOT RECOGNIZE OVERTRAINING 
Van Heest, J. L., Skinner, J., Cappaert, J. M., Rodgers, C. D., & Ratliff, K. (1966). Monitoring training stress in elite swimmers using biological markers. Medicine and Science in Exercise and Sports, 28(5), Supplement abstract 1083. 

BLOOD FACTORS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH OVERTRAINING 
Rowbottom, D. G., Keast, D., Goodman, C., & Morton, A. R. (1995). The haematological, biochemical and immunological profile of athletes suffering from the overtraining syndrome. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 70, 502-509. 

DIAGNOSING OVERTRAINING WITH BLOOD FACTORS IS OF LIMITED VALUE 
Lehmann, M., Wieland, H., & Gastmann, U. (1997). Influence of an unaccustomed increase in training volume vs intensity on performance, hematological and blood-chemical parameters in distance runners. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 37, 110-116. 

BLOOD AND ENDOCRINOLOGICAL PARAMETERS NOT RELATED TO THE ONSET OF OVERTRAINING 
Knizia, K., Gastman, U., Netzer, N., & Steinacker, J. M. (1997). Monitoring high-intensity endurance training using resting hematological, blood-chemical, and serum/plasma endocrinological parameters. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5) , Supplement abstract 1267. 

BLOOD FACTORS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH RESPONSES TO INTENSIFIED TRAINING 
Mackinnon, L. T., Hooper, S. L., Jones, S., Gordon, R. D., & Bachmann, A. W. (1997). Hormonal, immunological, and hematological responses to intensified training in elite swimmers. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29, 1637-1654.

But guess what, such a feeling wouldn’t be TOO much different than training for swimming. Does swimming make you stronger? It makes your stronger at swimming. BTW, the dual factor training model was developed looking at endurance athletes and swimmers in particular. 

I hope this is making sense. This over-reaching is volume over-reaching. IF you were to over-reach with CNS intensive work you wouldn’t get ANY endocrine effects! You wouldn’t hardly have anything to go on except on thing…..you’d get weaker at whatever intensity range you had over-reached at. 

But when you use “general fatigue” as a benchmark for periodization you get all these different fatigue affects but if you get weaker….you don’t know what the hell is up whether it’s the CNS or “you’re just tired” and need recovery time. So, when you mix it all together in this big lump, for one thing, you will never know how heavy you can and can’t lift and for how long. I could go on and on but sufficeth to say that this is all a big tadoo about nothing. Yes, we will be deloading. But no we don’t need to use fatigue as a METHOD of strength training. IT’s a SIDE EFFECT, lol. 


When it comes to fatigue in general you can basically say that you have either more immediate but short lasting effects or less immediate but larger and longer lasting. Now, if you do really high intensity CNS intensive work you will basically feel it right after but the fatigue will dissipate really quickly. Why? Basically low volume. The actuall affects on the CNS you really won’t be able to tell. So keep that in mind for later on. 

Bascially if you take out the notion of work at 90% of 1RM or above you can basically say that the fatigue from “VOLUME” will last longer than the fatigue from more maximal work of lesser volume. When I say more maximal I don’t mean MAXIMAL. It’s oversimplified because of “power work” and such but it will serve. (It doesn’t all have to be perfect it only matters if you get results).

http://www.bodybuilding.net/training...real-5236.html

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DH First there's a lot of differences between "overreaching" and "overtraining", so don't lump them together. Oftentimes, the less experienced don't know when to stop, nor the difference between feeling "a little run down" vs. completely burnt out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DH There's 3 effects of training stress: 1) Fatigue 2) Overreaching 3) Overtraining The first two will of course lead to a light reduction in your training capabilities which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The third one is when the lifter is too late. So, when you schedule random deloads far in advance without taking into account your recovery abilities, demands of the program, diet, sleep, stress, ect what you're doing is one of three things. One, you could just get lucky and guess right. Two, you deload well before adaption takes place from your training which makes everything you done up to that point pretty worthless. Three, by the time you deload on that magical week you slated in, it could be too late. If it IS too late (ie. overtraining vs. overreaching), then your deload would probably be more than one week OFF for sure (ie. you've officially fucked yourself). But remember, this applies more towards high intermediats and advanced lifters because novices can supercompensate faster thus never accumulating fatigue.

Overtraining as a term is used differently by different physiologists. I think it is important to understand, however, that “overtraining” and “overtraining syndrome” are not the same thing. Overtraining is what you do..the stimulus. Overtrainng syndrome is a list of physiological symptoms resulting from that. In other words, it’s manifestations. 

This may seem like semantics but I assure you it is not. To illustrate this let’s compare overtraining to a virus. If you know anything about viruses then you’ll know that it is not their intention to produce specific symptoms in a host. It is not their intention to make you sick at all let alone to produce any specific reaction. If they have an intention (which of course they don’t, lol) it would be to magnify themselves. Period. 

So with any virus there is a list of general and specific symptoms associated with that virus. You need enough of them and in the right combination to be reasonably certain that you have “VIRUS A”. And even then it’s a crapshoot. Virus A may or may not produce a fever, for example. 

The reason I’m making this comparison is because overtraining can be the same. That is why so many trainers make very conservative recommendations as far as deloading or time off. Just because there is no fever you can’t say for sure it’s virus A. And just because there is not a certain symptom of overtraining syndrome you can’t say it ain’t overtraining. 

Overtraining, at least at first, MAY OR MAY not produce a decline in performance. Just like virus A may or may not produce a fever. I’m putting a wrench in things but I’ll try to fish it out as I go. 

Nowadays, what we do is use the term overreaching. We use this to define the first stage of overtraining and sometimes to describe overtraining without a performance decline. 

This goes back to the beginner, intermediate, etc. thing. I’ve been down on starting strength. Well the above is a big part of the reason why. You can open youself up to overtraining and some manifestations of that while “making progress” on a program like SS. Because you can begin to overreach without seeing performance decriments. You can increase load on the bar for a while DESPITE the accumulation of fatigue. It is not correct to assume that progress means NO fatigue. That’s not how it works. Read my article on fitness-fatigue is you want to know what I mean. “Fitness” can accumulate too. Sometimes by the time ACUTE accumulated fatigue MASKS fitness you find out in unpleasant ways. Like injuries due to technical failure. I’m not trying to be an alarmist or ultra-conservative. In fact I am anything but. I’m just stating the A, B’s, and C’s.

Look at it this way. Doing TOO much TOO soon is a type of overtraining. Most people will accept this without question if you tell them. They may not stop doing too much but they'll know you're right. SO, you are going to tell me that we can define how much squatting is too much too soon because we have magically come up with the optimum set/rep range for a general population from which they can "recover" on a workout to workout basis sans "fatigue". Yeah...

Understanding a bit about Sympathetic Overtraining Syndrome versus Parasympathetic Overtraining Syndrome may help to tease out and make sense of some of that. Basically sympathetic is increased sypathetic activity at rest. Whereas parasympathetic is increased sympathetic activity at rest and with exercise. 

Does that mean everyone should plan a deload every 4 weeks? Or six weeks? Or whatever arbitrary time someone tells you? No. Ummm…see DH’s comment of A DAY OFF, lol. You know there are very authoritative statements still posted on this forum that would lead people to believe that basically, you’re not allowed to take a day off. Honestly, lol, I don’t pay much attention to frequency and protein syntheis and all the various other physiological details when it comes to training. I pay attention to results.

I guess I could some up what I am saying with a that very simply. Fatigue, whether it's absence or presence, is not such a good thing to lay your training hat on. 

You need to develop a deeper knowledge or yourself if you want to be ultimately successful in training yourself. You have to be willing to experiment, observe results or lack of results, observe others, READ, plan, think, synthesize...or, in other words, learn to think for yourself, like Darkhorse said at the onset.

So I don't to come off like I'm having a SLEEPER moment and I'm saying training is a feel experience, lol. I think having knowledge over yourself, you needs, your reactions is not just about being instintual. I think you are making educated decisions when you do that, not just going by subjective "feelings".

Since just about everytime someone brings up deloading or overtraining the term "CNS" comes up, I cannot harp on this enough. 

I think I may have posted this all before but what the heck:

I’ve been talking about “cns instensive” training. I used this term simply to separate out the more maximal strength training from “other” training. A few points need to be made on all that:

1.Everything you do affects your CNS to some degree. Just lesser intensities affect if less, but speed of movement, etc…and ANYTHING is at play here.

2.The whole CNS thing and CNS fatigue has gotten ridiculous and has been blown way out of proportion. I have spoken of the ridiculousness of the average person doing average training trying to separate out “CNS fatigue”…you can’t hardly do it for reasons I’ve mentioned.

3.EVERYTHING you read you have to consider that persons BOX. What applies to them and their trainees does not necessarily apply to you. This is the number one biggest mistake people make…reading some new thing and turning it into their bible. 

4.Some of this over-reaction to CNS stuff has been do to post failure and post post failure training. Not the same as all maximal strength training. The body is not THAT damn fragile. 

5.Usually when big name guys talk about CNS fatigue they are referring to the max effort method. 

It is beyond me why people would think that maximal strength training only means max effort method. Sure you may want to limit max effort to non-consecutive days, or only two days at the beginning, or what have you…but all maximal strength training does not have to be max effort and even though this whole CNS thing has been blown out of proportion see number one about intensity.

6.Keep in mind that with coaches training athletes they may be dong a whole lot more “cns intensive” stuff than you or me. Besides heavy squats and OL lifts, there may be plyos, sprints, all sort of stuff that is high intensity in nature.

7.What applies to some guy nearing his genetic level in strength probably doesn’t apply to most of us.

8.There are SO many factors that can affect your ability to lift on any given day it is ridiculous to think you can factor out one single thing. People make a big thing about about CNS burnout or desensitization but in experimentation you find that it is actually VERY hard to really bring this about.

9.When researchers do try to bring this about they use, of course ridiculous methods. For instance having a training group do 1RM training every single day for two or three weeks. This is because they are not interested in how to regulate it they are monitoring the body for ways to DETECT it…and finding that this is hard to do. This doesn’t apply to us. 

10.Given all that the best thing to do is react to WHAT HAPPENS not what you THINK will happen. This is my whole problem with so many “methods”. They are based on assumptions. And we know what assumptions do…

11.It is reasonable to be cautious and most people will take steps to ensure they don’t train to the point they start to lose a significant amount of ability. But this doesn’t mean you have to treat your body like it is made of…I don’t know…something really fragile. Crystal?

We'd have to sacrifice some stuff but I think if DH comes back into it and we keep adding it maybe could be arranged.

So I saved "Working Class Hero" till this morning. What an excellent article. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to read that kind of realistic take on training. I agree times one hundred. 

Many times we focus on what we CAN'T instead of what we can. Nothing more defeating than that. 

You know, DH was saying about how you may tend to do, as per his example, 4 days a week becasue everybody says you must, etc. I've made a comment a few times about considering the "box" someone is in when you here their advice. Whoever "everybody" happens to be, many times, their opinions on how you should train can say more about them than it does about you. Always keep that in mind.

BTW, something I meant to point out about overtraining but forgot to is that the great majority of research on it is in regards to aerobic and endurance activity. People love to carry on about the effects of high intensity and act like it is something that is completely understood but it is barely even begun to be understood in depth. Most everything is theory and as far as CNS intensive "overtraining" there really is not much research on it at all and what little there is..well, the studies fail to actually illict a discreet overtraining "syndrome". I put in a whole bunch of sources.

I'll let DH answer the question specifically and I'll just speak about deloading in general. The intensity reset is, quite frankly, something I've found to be, through my own experience, and a lot of harcore learning not necesssary for "most" lifters and certainly not for those in the intermediate phase using volume protocols like 5x5. 

First to repeat my mantra a few times: Quality over quantity. Quality over quantity. 

Now..the classic deload is simply to reduce volume by 40 percent and maintain or even raise intensity. Apply that to whatever days of the week and whatever movements it is needed. In most cases whith any 5x5 setup you can reduce volume and maintain or raise intensity across the board but you only need to apply it religously to the highest volume days. 

The thing is you would be best not waiting for a complete plateau with that. A little before. Basically when you find quality going down the tube. Percieve effort can help you with that. I.E. the a given weight simply feels heavier than it should and the effort it takes to lift it feels unnaturally high. You haven't lost absolute ability yet, though. 

Now, that may or not be a "planned" deload. And I don't think it is necessary for everyone to plan deloads at arbitrary times. But some people are less in tune to themselves due to experience than others, so....

However, as far as the planning aspect of it it helps to think of your "deload" as your peak. After all, in this case you are hoping to raise intensity. It would be good not to miss reps at whatever volume range you reduce it too. Keep that in mind. 

So in other words you are recovering from the volume but trying to LIFT HEAVIER. So you're not exactly just being a wimp about things with your deload which is how some people view a planned one. Just think of it as how you cycle your workouts. I.E. I "peak" at this time. 

With a 5x5 setup after a peaking week I would suggest a building back up to the volume. So instead of building the intensity you keep the intensity and build the sets. 

The length of the deload will depend on just how long you've been training. But if it takes longer than two weeks to recover from a volume protocol...imo, you've overloaded too long and you are risking injury, immuno supression, etc..

I know that goes against, a little, the DFT 5x5 protocol. But I'm talking about the recovery aspect of it.

Shit, that was more than I meant to write.

"My Training History" by 0311 / Darkhorse

My name everywhere else is Darkhorse, named after the good times in Iraq with 3/5 India Co. 



I had some pretty bad habits since joining the Marine Corps back in 1999. Most notably, I never really worked legs, and never deadlifted in favor of different rowing variations. I had two theories back then. One was that I didn’t want to work my legs since I was always running and hiking every day being in the infantry. Being a non commissioned officer, if I was to fall out of a hike, I didn’t think the excuse of doing squats the day before would fly lol. The second reason was what I’m sure 90% of trainees think in the back of their minds: Girls pay more attention to the guns than quads!

So what happens when you don’t focus very much on the squat and deadlift? Well, all my lifts hit a plateau. So did my weight gain. I’ve always had some good genetics, and weight gains for me would come in bunches. I’d have three pounds gained in one week, check the scales a few weeks after that and be five pounds heavier, which was always followed by a long dry spell before magically gaining again. Mind you, I’m talking about after I got back from Iraq weighing a very unnatural and undernourished 160 lbs, so the gains were almost entirely muscle. 

Back then, it wasn’t unheard of to have my spotter pick up the heavy dumbbells and hand them to me to rest on my knees before a hardcore incline set. A lot of my lifts suffered because of my weak links. Most notably among my muscle groups was my back days. My lower chain couldn’t handle the weight my upper body could pull. Barbell rows, T-bar rows, ect. I’d have to continuously lower the weight in favor of dropping my upper body lower to the ground. 

Here is a piece of my journal I found back in the beginning of 2005.

2005

Monday

-Legs
1.Squats: 225 x 6, 275 x 6, 275 x 6
2.Front Leg Extensions: Used the stack for 3 sets of 6
3.Stiff Leg Deadlifts: 225 x 6, 275 x 6, 275 x 6

Tuesday

-Chest/Abs
1.Flat Bench Press: 315 X 6, 335 X 5, 335 X 4
2.Incline Barbell: 275 X 5, 275 X 5, 275 X 5
3.Decline Barbell: 275 X 5, 275 X 5
4.Weighted Dips: 45 X 8

If you cannot see a major discrepancy between upper and lower, then you’re lost in the sauce LOL.

That’s the point when I really started reading the forums. I came in thinking I was the bomb benching 365 x 1 staying 100% natural when many others were struggling with 315 lbs mid cycle! However, I had a dark secret: My squatting sucks and deadlifting was almost non existent. First time I tried deadlifting, I was able to get 315 x 8 if I remember correctly. So I wasn’t in terrible shape, but knew that if I TRULY wanted that barrel chest and 20 inch arms, I’d have to seriously address those deficiencies.

Where to go from here? Well, I started doing some heavy reading. One article I remember more than most was from Brawn called, “Squatting for Big Arms”. I thought it was bullshit until I really thought about the MESSAGE it was trying to convey: 

Big full body lifts = Big full body growth response!

I came to the ultimate conclusion that I needed a program that was completely modeled around the squat and deadlift. I chose the 5 x 5 which was a three times a week, full body workout program. The programs themselves were modeled by Bill Starr. To me it just made sense to invest some serious time into squatting three times a week to bring it up. Of course NOW I’d neverhang with that, but back then it was perfect.

So, I remained on Bill Starr’s 5 x 5. My first full run through was a big success. I still have my old journal for that as well. Here’s the totals:

Week Four: Max 5x5, 1x5

Olympic squats: 245 (5x5), 275 (5x5 pyramid)
Deadlifts: 345 (5x5)

Week Eight: Max 3x3, 1x3

Olympic squats: 290 (3x3), 315 (1x3 pyramid)
Deadlifts: 440 (1x3)

Upon completion of the program, I continued addressing my weak points with an upper/lower setup. After that, I went back to the dual factor 5x5 and ran back to back volume phases which saw my A2G squat go up to 315 x 6 butt sitting on calves. From then on, I was in the zone. I had developed such a liking for squats and deadlifts that I spent the next year conjugate training. Shortly thereafter I’ve found my way to working with ironaddict trying to continue increasing my lifts while cutting down the fat.

All of which brings me to today. I have seen an incredible amount of carry-over to all my lifts. All my plateaus were shattered. I increased my muscle mass substantially, my old favorite bench pressing went from 365 x 1 to 405 x 1 no problem. My ass to the grass squatting hit an all time high of 440 lbs, and 530 lbs deadlifting raw (belted only). And remember me mentioning the “Squatting for Big Arms” article? Well, in my case I added another 1 ¾” to my arms bringing them a shade under 20”.

So where am I now?

My number one goals are STRENGTH and CONDITIONING. Dave Tate has said, "Get in shape to train, don't train to get in shape." There was plenty of times over the years where I'd have to lay down on a bench between sets because I was winded. Other times I'd need 3 minutes between sets which is fucking pathetic. 

Problem has since been solved, bigtime. Nowadays, I drag my sled twice a week for conditioning on my off days. Training days I've incorpertated around 10-15 minutes of warmups before training. As detailed in elitefts's basic training manual, I'll do a circuit on upper body days consisting of gluteham raises or reverse hypers, pushups, rows, and abs. I started off with just one run through, but now I can do 3 run throughs with fairly heavy weight without it affecting anything other than increasing my PR's. Along with all that, I've really been watching my stop watch between every set and keep STRICT rest periods. Using an upper day as an example, I could start with bench press w/ 2-3 minutes rest, then as my day progresses, the rest drops because to me, only the bench matters. By the end, I'd be doing some high rep band pressdowns w/ 20 seconds rest.

Training: I've had great success with moderate volume 4 day routines with a decent amount of overlapping for pure muscle mass, and a lot of it. However, the best routine is usually the hardest unfortunately lol. IA's 5x5 was perhaps the very best routine I've ever done for strength AND mass. I think one of my pics w/ the grey wife beater was towards the end of that program. I've been doing Westside for the longest time since then. 

Eventually though, as much as I love 4 day routines, I simply cannot continue on them in my predicament. I'm working upwards of 60+ hours a week on top of a family. So for the past few months I've been strength training THREE days a week max, and of course sled dragging in between. I'm only human lol, and I need my sleep. Still, I've been continuing to increase my strength bigtime with ONLY three days per week, and fairly low volume each day. That said, four exercises could take me almost an hour hauling ass because I have a great strength foundation.

So currently, it's only 3 days training in a gym, 1-2 days sled dragging per week. Dieting wise, I do very well with carbs in moderation. I'm using redpoint's cutting diet because I love the way they lay the carbs out. The beauty of that diet is that I use it consistantly even though I'm not even cutting lol. I just put the calories at 3,500 case closed.

__________________

My Outlook on Training

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I'm not the biggest, nor the strongest here by any means lol. But I can say that after 10 years of the good, the bad, and the ugly, I know a lot more now than a few years ago. I've read many books that I absolutely recommend (Practical Programming, Serious Strength Training, Elitefts books, ect). With that said, here's something I wrote a while ago that I'd like to share.


Designing a routine is a system of checks and balances. 

If you do more of one thing, you need less of another. Make sense? Well, to the thousands of neophytes out there reading Flex Magazine, common sense gets replaced with spinning their wheels doing Ronnie Coleman's Back Routine. "Well, look what it did for him, right?"

Growth happens OUTSIDE the gym. That means get in, get the hell out, and put more time in at the dinner table and catching z's than suffering through a backbreaking amount of work in the gym. Training in the gym should be very tough, but if you find yourself suffering through or not completing your "pretty lookin' routine", then you're not going to make any measurable progress, period.

Lets look at something like the 5x5, made popular by guys like Bill Starr. It's a wonderful full body program. You'll also notice it has squatting three times a week (I recommend only two) and deadlifting in between. But, it HAS a system of checks and balances worked in. That means you're taking your KNOWN 1x5 RM and 5x5 RM and programming it into the final weeks of the program, then deducting from that in rather large increments back to week one (reverse planning). So what does that mean? It means the first two weeks are relatively easy and you're just getting used to the demands of the program, and teaching your body to tolerate the workload.

So what about split training? It DOES indeed deliver results, as with anything under the sun. There is no right or wrong when it comes to training. People have become very narrow minded lately, and I partially blame the HST "guru's" for that. Their argument stems from "only working a muscle every seven days." I'd agree with that, but what about the overlapping involved? Oops.. So if a trainee does "chest day" on Monday, then "arms day" on Thursday, would their chest get a lot of work in if they incorperated weighted dips, closegrip bench, or reverse grip? Absolutely, thereby working the muscles twice in a week. Or "legs day" on Tuesday, then "back day" on Friday in which Friday's session kicks off with some heavy deadlifting. Yep, legs get worked. Want more legs? Do some elevated deadlifts off a platform. Understand that most natty's need frequency to keep protein synthesis elevated for a longer period of time. But what about the guys squatting 500 lbs? Would it be feasable squatting every other day? Well, that depends. Technically, could they do a planned progression leading up to a 5-10 rep max? Perhaps, but now we're getting into individual recovery where some could, some couldn't. That simple.

The simplest solution is often obtained by choosing the path of least resistance IME. If someone is stuck in the mindset for years that they need to isolate their upper, lower, inner, and outer chest to grow and have an "effective" workout, and you tell them there's no such thing, would that automatically change their line of thinking? Highly doubtful.

Training with Ironaddict changed my views on many of things I took for granted. I think if anyone else was to educate me on some things, I'd think they were blowing smoke up my ass. I was fortunate enough to spend a year with him picking his brain. One of my favorite routines he came up with was only 3 days per week. Since I've been "free ballin'" now for the past year, I've been having a lot of success not only with myself, but with many people spread over a few other forums I've personally helped.

Taking a page from Jim Wendler's book, "Three Days Per Week", either you believe you can make tremendous gains in mass and strength with only three days per week or you don't. There's no magic cure for that. Instead of picking a laundry list of all the most popular exercises that you feel the need to do, try to pick 3-4 exercises that you feel you need the most per day. Remember what I said, growth happens outside the gym. Still not convinced about only 3 days? Check out all of Dante's guys DC training lol. Same three days per week, slightly different split, same frequency of once every five days -- And those guys are last I checked fairly XXL.

The split can be found everywhere on this forum that Ironaddict has posted time and again. Along with that, I'd like to post a few examples of "checks and balances" which ties everything together.

Monday: A) Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
Wednesday: B) Back/Biceps/Legs
Friday: C) Repeat Monday w/ NEW exercises

Monday: D) Repeat Wednesday w/ NEW exercises
Wednesday: A) Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
Friday: B) Back/Biceps/Legs

Then from there obviously you'd repeat workout C on Monday, D on Wednesday, and so forth. 

The most important aspect of this programming is to be PROGRESSIVE meaning you need to increase something every workout to beat the last. As Dante once said,"Volume is finite, Load is infinite." 

So why only pick three to a max of four exercises per day? Simple, it's to protect you from yourself! It literally forces you to pick ONLY the ones that are the best for YOU. Now, I'm not talking about everything being 3 sets either. If the exercise selection is low, guess what your check and balances will be? More sets x reps = volume. Along with that, throw a few wrenches into your workout to make it a bit more refreshing and increase the difficulty of the exercise. For example, I much prefer doing isolations with a longer tempo (increased TUT) and waay shorter rest periods. Another influence from IA.

In my experience, sometimes if you increase the difficulty of an exercise, the better results to be had. What I mean is that there's so much to do beyond a vanilla 3 x 10. Depending on YOUR recovery, there's lots of subtle, but effective tweeks you could do. If you're used to a workman's approach to deadlifts perpetually doing a few sets of 3-5 reps, try something radically different. Put them last in your workout. I've had killer results doing that knowing in my head it's "one and done" before I get to go home for the day. Another great great range is to do a max set of 3-5 reps, rest 5 minutes, take off some weight and do a max set of 8-10 reps. Personally my favorite approach made popular by DC and ironaddict.

Example day:

Monday:

DB Bench - 5 x 6-10
Incline Flyes - 3 x 10 (3-0-3 tempo)
Barbell Skullcrushers - 4 x 10 (90 seconds rest between sets)
Banded Upright Rows - 4 x 12-15 (45-60 seconds rest between sets)

^ The checks and balances here could be interchanging between a flat press and an inclined press for your pecs instead of trying to lump both together. For triceps you could have an isolation one workout, then a press such as weighted dips the other. Same concept with shoulder iso's one workout, then a press the other.

Wednesday:

Deadlifts - 3 x 5 (pyramid to top set) or something like a max triple, rest 5 minutes, then a backoff set of 8-12 reps.
Leg Press - 2 x 20
Weighted Pullups - 5 x 5
DB Curls - 3 x 15

^ The checks and balances here are the interchangable squats and deadlifts. That means if you do deadlifts, then you do a leg press. And if you do barbell squatting, then you could do a barbell or cable row. See how managable that is? Typically after a maximal effort and draining exercise like squats or deadlifts, you're pretty tired, one would hope. So it's much more feasable to do something not as mentally and physically draining.

So to sum up, if you're not honest with yourself, 9/10 you're going to go overboard with this stuff. Most bodybuilders today are so obsessive compulsive that they'll change their routine to "beautify" it on paper so many times that three days later it's completely different. Then by the time they get to the gym, they're dragging ass after 2/3 of it. So, by keeping it simple (acronym KISS), and limiting the OCD inside you to 3 to a max of 4 exercises per day, you'll be doing yourself a great service. You'll be mentally fresher, more motivated than ever, and as long as you save most of the work for the dinner table, you'll at least be headed in the right direction!

Deloading

---

Disclaimer: You'll see the word "me" used a lot lol, as I am not a trainer.  I'm using MY thread to keep me occupied 12 hours a night lol. Again, if you take something out of all this, great. If not, that's okay too. I'm just following Wes's lead and creating something that's an interesting read. I think that's what Wes was getting at with this subforum.

One thing that really helped me is to think outside the box when it comes to deloading. A deload week where you cut either the volume, frequency, or both is just ONE way of doing things. 

Another program I've done extremely well on is DC training. My first and second blast saw some gains, but not as much as I should've. I think the biggest reason for my shortcomings with that program was my line of thinking: 6 weeks until deload. I wish it were that simple to where your body has a built in alarm clock that buzzes in exactly "week X". 

I think what would help a lot of lifters is to think for themselves lol. How many lifters would extend their blast and continue making gains simply taking a single day off lol which is about all they needed, NOT a full week. I think that if you're training M, W, F, you could really extend your blast another couple of weeks by simply listening to your body and taking that Friday off which gives you Th, F, S, Su off. Something that simple could've really gone a long way with my training. Eventually, my subsequent blasts I was a bit more experienced and capable of going against my sexy looking spreadsheet and take that day lol.

That's the problem with those dual factor articles that spread like wildfire around the forums a couple of years ago. Certainly a breach of fresh air, and a hundred times more beneficial than just going on a week's vacation (unless overtrained). Unless it's a specific type of programming that uses volume and intensity cycling, I've found that planning deloads too far in advanced is very "hit or miss" and about as unspecific as guessing the supercompensation wave.

Finally, what's worked best for me is something IA turned me on quite a while ago lol. I usually work between a hypertrophy and strength phase. Hypertrophy phase for me was typically medium volume with more of a 4 day split with tons of overlapping given my strength and recovery. After 4-5 weeks, I'm about topped off and needing that deload. But, instead of taking a "deload week" as defined as the volume slash, blah, blah, blah, I instead went straight to the strength phase which was always modelled after westside. The difference being that the strength phase was lower volume (a lot lower in some cases), and the supplemental and accessory work was typically without a long eccentric which kept DOMS almost non-existant. So what I found was happening with my body was the volume phase certainly overreached me, then when I transitioned to my strength phases, it served the dual purpose, and deloaded me completely, all the while increasing my overall strength. So by the time I hit my next hypertrophy phase, I was stronger, fully deloaded, and more mentally fresh. I see IA talk about that a lot here.

Dual Factor Programming - I've always found it necessary in my training. 

First there's a lot of differences between "overreaching" and "overtraining", so don't lump them together. Oftentimes, the less experienced don't know when to stop, nor the difference between feeling "a little run down" vs. completely burnt out. 

There's 3 effects of training stress:

1) Fatigue
2) Overreaching
3) Overtraining

The first two will of course lead to a light reduction in your training capabilities which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The third one is when the lifter is too late. So, when you schedule random deloads far in advance without taking into account your recovery abilities, demands of the program, diet, sleep, stress, ect what you're doing is one of three things. One, you could just get lucky and guess right. Two, you deload well before adaption takes place from your training which makes everything you done up to that point pretty worthless. Three, by the time you deload on that magical week you slated in, it could be too late. If it IS too late (ie. overtraining vs. overreaching), then your deload would probably be more than one week OFF for sure (ie. you've officially fucked yourself). But remember, this applies more towards high intermediats and advanced lifters because novices can supercompensate faster thus never accumulating fatigue.

Back when I was a beginner, I always felt fully recovered by the next session. Practical Programming suggests beginners can supercompensate within 48-72 hours, which is on point with my experience. So a deload slated in, say, every 5 weeks just gives their joints and brains a break. When I started to gain more experience, I never felt the same rate of recovery. High intermediates and advanced lifters are ALWAYS going to have a small measure of fatigue from session to session. If you're just lifting to lift, and not working hard enough, then you're not going to accumulate enough fatigue for adaptation to occur. Sandblaster has stated on numerous occasions, rightfully so, that most people just don't work hard enough.

So we come full circle: Signs of overreaching

Overreaching is the cummulative effects from weeks of workouts, which totally depends on a lot of variables such as absolute load, volume, ect. "Typically, a short term decrease in performance, feelings of fatigue, depressed mood, pain, sleep disturbances, and other miscellaneous effects." - Practical Programming

Intermediate and advanced trainees have experience to know their bodies. It's certainly not rocket science I'm talking about here neither. My experience has always been a lack of motivation, feeling a bit of a body ache, and loss of sleep/appetitie.Slightly being the operative word. By far and away different from overtraining, when you're literally pushing so hard, so fast, and so long that you simply couldn't walk into the gym and register any type of measurable performance compared to weeks' past.

So what are the signs of overtraining? 

"Severely compromised performance, disrupted sleep, increased chronic pain, abnormal mood swings, abnormal heart rate, ect. - Practical Programming So now, for more experienced trainees, they would have deloaded WHEN NEEDED long before these final symptoms come about."

So what's worked best for me is to play it by ear, not setting in stone every 4 or 5 or 8 weeks. I understand that some days I'm just not there and I can live with that. If on that fourth week of your programming you're starting to feel run down, loss of motivation and appetite, trouble falling asleep, the weights feel heavier than usual, well guess what? Use your brain and run a deload week. Personally I prefer keeping everything heavy while dropping the volume down, but again, I don't PLAN it. What if during the deload week I feel a little sick on a training day? Guess what, take it off because you're deloading anyways. Deloading is about recovery anyways, not PR's lol. For DC training, if on week 5 I start to feel gassed on Wednesday, guess what? Even through it's not scheduled on some high speed spreadsheet, you bet your ass I'm going to take that Friday off, then pick back up on Monday. That' 4 days of rest right there, and can be the difference between a 6 week blast, or a 7 week one.

*Not*Surprisingly, there was a lot of people that loved this one more than the rest. Obviously, this applies to just about everyone with a life and responsibilities OUTside the gym. Families, demanding jobs, drug free, ect.

"The Working Class Hero"

This article is for the majority of us who work for a living. Those of us who aren't in high school anymore or burnouts living with their parents with all the time in the world to train. Who here spends long hours in the office? Take that number and superset that with a family! Lots of responsibilities that keep you home, and realistically, no matter how hardcore you think you are, you'll always choose your family over the gym. Even if that means grabbing a pair of bands and heading out to your garage, or doing pullups in the backyard holding onto a tree branch lol. A pump in the gym isn't going to make you feel any better sleeping on the couch! And if it does, you've got problems well beyond the scope of this article.

How many times have you heard:

..Not optimal
..Not popular
..Where's the (pick popular compound exercise)
..That's not what "So and so does"

While many times that's exactly what some trainees need to hear, there's a lot that people just don't take into account. So those words get replaced with "availability" and "what I can, when I can". 

Lets take powerlifting, por exemplo. While you can absolutely be a beast without any specialty bars or equipment, it does help. Using accomodating resistance as well as that infernal SSB bar helped my deadlifting tremendously! That said, aside from my gym at OCSC, I do not have access to that equipment. Now, I work upwards of 60 hours a week, so aside from Thursday's, I cannot make it in. It's as simple as that. Additionally, I was extremely tired and feeling run down with having to cut sleep short all the time to make it in the gym 4 days per week. I mean, it's imperative to go 4 days because everyone says so, right? Not necessarily. While I cannot brag about a 800 lb squat, I certainly can brag about making it well past 500 while working 60 hours a week, having a big family, and being drug free.. Same thing goes for most of you. There's a lot of impressive physiques here hands down(!), and I know a lot of you on a more personal level, and can certainly admire what a lot of you could accomplish while having so many demands outside of the gym. Being able to balance all your responsibilities like the food on your scales.

So what can you do about it? 

1) You need to make peace with your situation. Don't try to take on more than you can chew. If you cannot make it in 4 days per week for your upper/lower split, then don't try to because your mind will certainly not be focused on the weights in your hand. I know the times I've tried to go back to back days in the gym, all I could think about was if it was worth my getting up so early before work. No matter how subtle, it'll affect performance, and no amount of preworkout magic shakes is going to change that. Most people think more is better, and it's okay to throw volume at any problem you face, but it just isn't correct.

2) Be honest with yourself. Don't worry about the things you believe are "unchangable". If you want to workout three days per week, who the hell said it absolutely has to be every other day? If you can easily make it in Wednesday and the weekends, then by all means do so. Make things easy on yourself. Whether you know it or not, stress is one of the biggest reasons why most people aren't seeing the results they're after. I know I joke all the time with my friends that Lexapro has been the best bodybuilding supplement I've ever had LOL.

3) Make very attainable short term goals. Just worry about each little goal (battle), which will not only help win the War, but more importantly, it'll keep motivation, confidence in your abilities, and in what you're doing high as well. Having confidence in what you're doing is working is extremely important to be successful.

4) Do not be influenced by those around you! Straight from Beyond Brawn right here. If you're on a program like something out of Practical Programming where you're strictly doing bench, squat, and rows in a day, don't overanalyze and think you need some cable flyes to finish off that workout. Stay on task, and as long as the results keep coming, why change something? They may look like they're having fun on the hammer strength machines, and I guarantee you they'll STILL be looking like they're having fun 2 years from now on those machines looking the exact same.

5) Don't keep an online journal. What did he say?! Yep, believe it or not, it can hinder more than help. How many people's journals have any of you read where there's an excuse or ellaboration as to why the weight was low for that day? Or starting off the entry saying that you're a 350 lb bencher, but today they only benched 250.. Personally, I don't think it would be a motivational tool for someone to keep a journal when they're missing workouts because of a very hectic work schedule. Perceived expectations could weigh you down... 

In closing, I hope I was able to give all of you some food for thought. When it comes to training, you'll be hard pressed to find two people doing the same exact routine because everyone has needs, whether it's a weakness in strength or physique, or outside interference. I'll follow this article up with a few other routines that think outside the workman's box.

This is from Ironaddict. I don't remember where he posted the layout, but I thought it worth saving for anyone who suffers from a demanding job. This is a wonderful layout for anyone who sincerely wishes that there was more than 24 hours in a day.

Day One:
Bench or Dip
Incline Bench
Chin
Barbell Curl
Deadlift

As many rest days as needed

Day Two:
Bench or Dip
Incline DB Press
Row
Decline Skull Crushers
Squat

As many rest days as needed

Think about the possibilities here. There's just so much you could do here it's not even funny. Certainly none of this, or any program needs to be so "conventional" or vanilla either. Who the hell needs everything to be 3 x 10?!

This is just ONE of a thousand interpretations. You just have to think to yourself just how difficult this routine could potentially be depending on the intensification techniques you include. IA posted this routine somewhere quite a while ago. 

Day One:

Bench - Changes every week:
- Week One: 5 x 5
- Week Two: 5 x 4
- Week Three: 5 x 3
- Week Four: Rest back to 5 x 5 with increased weight
Incline Bench - 2 x 12 (1 second pause on chest)
Chins - 30-40 total reps (just get there!) - If you make it, either increase weight, decrease rest or sets to get there. (triple progressive method)
Barbell Curls - 20 rest paused
Deadlift - 1 x 4-6, rest 5 min, 1 x 8-12

Day Two:

Weighted Dips - 3 x 10 (pyramid to top set, heavy)
Incline DB Press - 20-30 rest paused
Chest Supported Rows - 3 x 10 (4 second negatives)
Decline Skull Crushers - 3 x 15 (60 second rest between sets)
Squat - 1 x 20 (using 12 RM)

Now, that will certainly get the job done. As you can see, there's A LOT of different things mixed in that you could get away with since it's really only "when you can". I tried to provide a lot of different ways of spicing up a routine. Any one of a number of different variations to the "same ol', same ol'" exercises would suffice. 

What if you could only get in *pick a day* and the weekends? Here's a thought:

Wednesday - Full Body
Saturday - Upper Body
Sunday - Lower Body

Or

Wednesday - Legs
Saturday - Chest/Back
Sunday - Shoulders/Arms/Abs

There's so many different things you could do, and get just as good or even better gains than if you tried fitting everything in to an already very busy schedule.