Slow progress is sustainable progress. It ends up being more progress in the long term.
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If strength is the goal then maybe writing it down will help. Iām not talking about just listing a goal. Write down the goal and work out the math to create a sustainable and reasonable progression. Make it long term.
It can remind you where youāre going and keep you from getting ahead of yourself.
Iāve beat the horse to death but Simple Guaranteed Strength and Size was great for me. I just followed the schedule and crushed my goals. It wasnāt glamorous along the way, but once I reached the fourth phase it was awesome.
And not a lift was missed along the way.
Iāve considered it, and will probably consider it again. I have a few concerns though:
- my recovery is pretty shit. I canāt expect to be able to make every session a blow out session because I wonāt be able to recover.
- in the interests of making a plan and sticking with it, my plan has been to keep my 531 on the two lifts Iāve chosen consistent for the whole year so I feel I have to stick to it.
- I know 531 works for me.
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Do this, but you could still plan the day you hit your goal.
As long as you set it up conservatively then you would be fine. I started out deadlifting 225 for sets of 8 and finished with a single at 465 in week 12. Strength is built in the 80-87% 1RM range - not in the grind it out and sacrifice form range.
I think Iāll sit down when i get a chance and plot out roughly where I expect to be at certain points. Iām aware that planning 9 months ahead is unlikely to be accurate but it shouldnāt be too difficult to plot out some goals to be hitting along the way.
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If I were you then Iād do it very conservatively. Run two cycles at the same TM, deload if necessary, add five lbs and repeat.
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Back from holiday with a bit of a whimper.
Bench: 72.5kg x 10
5 x 10 @ 60kg
Superset with: lat pull downs 5 x 10
Squat: 3 x 10 @ 70kg
Notes:
Band pull aparts between warm up sets for bench, then pull downs on BBB sets. Probably wonāt do them like this regularly but the option was there.
Cut squats short at 3 sets. Been feeling slightly off all day and had to run to the bathroom after set 2 for the old technicolour yawn. Came back and finished the third set but my head was spinning a bit by then and balance was starting to fail so cut it short. Will probably try and find a way to sneak the volume back in somewhere. Shame, the first set felt clean and crisp as anything, was looking like a good session.
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Work for today:
Seated press: worked up to 40kg x 12
Then 5 x 5 @ 35kg
Squats: worked up to a very easy 85kg x 5.
Then 3 x 5 paused @ 70kg
Wendler rows: 3 x 20
Walking lunges: 5 x 10 @ 20kg
Notes:
-if today proved anything, itās that I still canāt do basic maths. Top set of squats was meant to be 82.5kg. Unevenly loaded the bar for one of my warm up sets of presses, and managed to do the first set of walking lunges with 30kg instead of 20kg because I forgot to include the bar. Good day.
- Iāve remembered to do āgoblet squatā stretches before squatting last 2 workouts and it seems to have a good effect, I need to remember to continue this.
- Band pull aparts between sets of presses
- no pull ups between squats because I got stuck in the shitty rack and the bar scrapes past my junk if i do pull ups in it.
- extremely unconvinced on this supplementary template for presses. I just donāt think itās achieving much.
- I think squat paused reps need to be either ramped up in weight or made more challenging somehow.
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Why are you doing paused squats? If itās to improve your sticking point then you could try isometrics if that is more enjoyable. Set the bar at your sticking point, load it with more weight than you can move, get under it, and try to squat it with everything you have for five seconds. Repeat for about three sets.
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In the past, paused squats have helped me to stop my knees caving at the beginning of heavier squats. I feel like the walking lunges may also address that though. My squat has always been my weakest lift, comparatively though, by quite a long way, so Iām quite willing to try most things to move it away from super shit and back into plain shit territory.
I would guess that your adductors are stronger than your abductors (external rotators). When you struggle on the squat, the adductors kick in and that causes the knee cave. You could throw a band a round your knees and squat that way to train the external rotators and work on pushing your knees out. And then you donāt have to pause!
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I actually have no issue with the paused squats, simply that they were too easy. The banded squats sound ideal, however I donāt have appropriate bands available
Work for yesterday:
Cable rows: lots
Bench: Top set of 75kg x 10
Then 2 x 10 @ 60kg
3 x 10 @ 50kg
Wendler rows: 2 x 20
Squat: 5 x 10 @ 60kg
Notes:
- This workout was planned for Sunday but I was in no fit state to do it. Those walking lunges took me an absolute age to recover from, and sleep has been less than minimal last week.
- For the first time in recent memory, I had to change my session on the fly because equipment was being used. Although I use the term āusedā very loosely. No band pull aparts on bench because Iād done the rows first.
- My upper back seems to be able to handle almost unlimited volume and still be able to recover almost instantly. I should take more advantage of this.
- Lowered BBB weights, and will probably keep them lower going forward. ~70% (more like 80% for bench) was making the sets a bit of a grinder for squat and bench. It doesnāt feel like thatās the purpose of the movements.
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Next session due Thursday, I think the odds of recovering for heavy (er) squats and walking lunges is pretty remote so I may work on a plan B in the meantime.
You have a couple of options with the soreness from lunges:
- rest longer
- train as planned but feel it out and go lighter if needed
- keep busting out bodyweight lunges daily and force your body to adapt
Option three will hurt a bit but itās possible. The Tabata squats I started doing last week kill me. Iām still sure today and itās time to train legs again. I know that if I suck it up and keeping doing them then Iāll adapt. Theyāll still hurt when I do them but I wonāt have crippling soreness for days afterwards.
You did 5 x 10. Was that 10 per leg?
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Yep, 10 per leg. BBB style. The soreness is absolutely tolerable. I used to hit my legs so hard I could barely walk for days after. I once had to give up holding my baby boy for a few days because my legs would randomly collapse on me. After all that pain, my squat still sucked and it was having very serious impacts on my life, so I donāt allow myself to go that far anymore.
The soreness is absolutely tolerable and has next to zero impact on my daily life, however I get limited opportunities to train and i hate to miss them because the soreness is too extreme. I think the paused squats may just disappear. Iām already doing BBB squats, BBB walking lunges and 5s PRO squats at least once a week, some weeks Iāll squeeze another session in. I donāt think the paused squats are adding anything to that. Core work and direct arm work are missing elements, I think they should replace some of the unnecessary work
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Full disclosure though:
Iām definitely churning the calories through and upping my stretching and general recovery game today, so I can get a decent session in tomorrow night.
Itās funny/frustrating how hard work, pain, and misery donāt always equal success when it comes to lifting weights.
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Youād think Iād have learnt that after 5+ years of reading Jim Wendler/Dan John/Jason Ferrugia etc.
Still feel like the harder I make my training, the more progress Iāll make, despite all the evidence against it. I blame it on reading @T3hPwnisher s blog so frequently.
On that subject, forgot to mention the last 2 sets of 10 Squats where actually done as a grindy 20, because I am stupid.
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I think training hard (and in pain) works for hypertrophy and is done with lighter weights. Doing that for strength work is risky.
@T3hPwnisher is always mentioning a joint thatās pissed off by his training but he just powers through and ignores it. The difference between he and I is that his joint issues seem to go away and mine just get worse and cause muscle atrophy and major dysfunction.