I read in another thread that Jim approves of an eight day training week. Is there still a need to deload? Every cycle, two cycles, or something else. Would you do opposite main lift as accessory lift, same as main lift, or variation of main? I have four things I want to keep in my training. Loaded carries, kettlebell swings, sledgehammer swings, and sled drags/pulls.
What would be the optimal way to incorporate them? I was thinking kb swings and sled on lower body day and carries and sledge on upper body days. With a nice walk ob off days.
I’m not Jim, but here’s something similar I have been doing:
D1 Oly-lift
Squat
Bench
D2 Oly-lift
DL
Press
D3 Oly lift
Bench
Squat
D4 Oly-lift
Press
DL
Day:
Oly-lift (hang p. clean on bench/squat day and hang p. snatch on press/dl day).
2.Main movement (3/5/1, no extra work, occasional jokers on 5/3/1 week).
Second movement (volume with little rest periods. Right now I’m close to reset so I’m doing 5x3 with 80%, but I’m planning to do 5x5 with 70% after I go 3 steps back).
I usually do 3 days per week, so there’s two rest days after the weeks final workout.
I’m doing only light assistance (supersetting the volume work with chins, abs or posterior chain work). After the weeks last workout I don’t do any assistance work, because I’m having a KB-session with my friends. After this kind of “super day” (the gym + kb session) I’m happy to have two full days to recover.
I’m on my first cycle on this, so I’m not sure about deload. I think I’ll do the deload after every cycle.
So in short: Go for it. Do some pressing in lower body days and vice versa, so there’s more frequency in the program. The assistance looks fine.
Not Jim either,
But I’ve been doing something similar for close to 5 years now and swear by it. My training weeks are actually 9 sometimes 10 days. I find it better for recovery and I like being able to put in conditioning also without killing myself. It works out that I squat and dead with roughly 5 days in between. I rarely need a de-load anymore. I just hated feeling like had to force everything into a week. Now if I don’t sleep well, get tied up at work, etc…I just move it back. Also, if I am feeling good like this week, I’ll push everything closer and not wait for the 9 days to start over. 7 days is a totally arbitrary number chosen for convenience - but not necessarily optimal for performance - imho. Try it.
[quote]Rave2.0 wrote:
Not Jim either,
But I’ve been doing something similar for close to 5 years now and swear by it. My training weeks are actually 9 sometimes 10 days. I find it better for recovery and I like being able to put in conditioning also without killing myself. It works out that I squat and dead with roughly 5 days in between. I rarely need a de-load anymore. I just hated feeling like had to force everything into a week. Now if I don’t sleep well, get tied up at work, etc…I just move it back. Also, if I am feeling good like this week, I’ll push everything closer and not wait for the 9 days to start over. 7 days is a totally arbitrary number chosen for convenience - but not necessarily optimal for performance - imho. Try it.[/quote]
What would be the best option as accessory work on a eight training day rotation? The main lift exercise for accessory or the opposite? ie Squat main dead acc or bench main press acc. I will run the carries and stuff based on how I feel as I am working long hours now (digging trenches and laying pipe), not quite getting the sleep I need and have to get up at 430am at the latest to get my training in.
That is why I am leaning towards an eight day rotation for the extra recovery. I was reading Jims article 5/3/1 for a beginner too and it seems like a viable option also. Just don’t really know what to do. So many options and templates. At least if we keep 5/3/1 as the base we know it will produce results.
As for goals, I am not looking to compete or anything.
I just want to be the biggest and strongest me that I can be. I have always been one of the smaller guys (145-160lbs), but not necessarily the weakest (been nicknamed the Hauler and human forklift) even though my gym lifts are not too noteworthy I can lift and carry heavy awkward objects easily. I am not looking for fast and instant gains, just consistent improvement and forward momentum. If anyone is willing to help and lend a helping hand, I am all ears.