I was thinking about it one day, how the biceps are mainly used. You either pull yourself up with them as helpers, pull something towards yourself (pullups and rows), or you hoik something up into place or hold something statically or both. Why not train them with singles or isometrics? Why shouldn’t they respond like any other muscle by getting stronger and/or bigger?
I don’t much care how they look, but I would like their strength to be on a par with the rest of the body. I also don’t want to pop one doing deadlifts so it seems worthwhile to keep 'em trained.
I have found that doing exclusively singles leads to forearm and elbow pain, though, so higher rep days are still necessary.
I’ve been wondering what weight I should choose if I want to stop doing 10x’s and use a different rep range.
I took Wendler’s estimated max formula and turned it around to solve for weight if the rep count is known
so instead of estmax = (weightreps.0333 + weight)
I have weight = estmax/((reps * .0333) + 1)
So if I’m doing 225 for BBB box squats and I want to go to 5x5 instead, then the weight I should use is around 260 to get the same effect. I plug 225 and 10 into the first formula to get the estimated max then plug the resulting estmax and reps I’m shooting for into the second formula.
You could also rework it to solve for reps if you’re wondering how many reps you should be able to get in the next week for that week’s poundage based on this or the previous week’s estimated maxes. It’s not exact but it’s pretty close.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
I was thinking about it one day, how the biceps are mainly used. You either pull yourself up with them as helpers, pull something towards yourself (pullups and rows), or you hoik something up into place or hold something statically or both. Why not train them with singles or isometrics? Why shouldn’t they respond like any other muscle by getting stronger and/or bigger?
I don’t much care how they look, but I would like their strength to be on a par with the rest of the body. I also don’t want to pop one doing deadlifts so it seems worthwhile to keep 'em trained.
I have found that doing exclusively singles leads to forearm and elbow pain, though, so higher rep days are still necessary.
[/quote]
I took the scheme below from a post by CT a couple of months ago. Some of my numbers were stalled and are moving again. More strength with no pain.
Do sets of 3 ramping the weight until your top set of 3 (powerful reps, no grinders). Drop the weight 10-15% and do 5x5 (or try to). Once I hit a clean 5x5, I move up in weight.
I have been struggling with some elbow tendonitis but the above works fine for arm work as the sets of 3 (usually 4 or 5) before the top set gets things warmed up.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
I was thinking about it one day, how the biceps are mainly used. You either pull yourself up with them as helpers, pull something towards yourself (pullups and rows), or you hoik something up into place or hold something statically or both. Why not train them with singles or isometrics? Why shouldn’t they respond like any other muscle by getting stronger and/or bigger?
I don’t much care how they look, but I would like their strength to be on a par with the rest of the body. I also don’t want to pop one doing deadlifts so it seems worthwhile to keep 'em trained.
I have found that doing exclusively singles leads to forearm and elbow pain, though, so higher rep days are still necessary.
[/quote]
I agree with this, because bicep curls (done standing with a barbell) meet my criteria of a full-body exercise -squeezing the glutes plus retracting/tightening the back muscles aids in the execution of the exercise.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
I was thinking about it one day, how the biceps are mainly used. You either pull yourself up with them as helpers, pull something towards yourself (pullups and rows), or you hoik something up into place or hold something statically or both. Why not train them with singles or isometrics? Why shouldn’t they respond like any other muscle by getting stronger and/or bigger?
I don’t much care how they look, but I would like their strength to be on a par with the rest of the body. I also don’t want to pop one doing deadlifts so it seems worthwhile to keep 'em trained.
I have found that doing exclusively singles leads to forearm and elbow pain, though, so higher rep days are still necessary.
[/quote]
I took the scheme below from a post by CT a couple of months ago. Some of my numbers were stalled and are moving again. More strength with no pain.
Do sets of 3 ramping the weight until your top set of 3 (powerful reps, no grinders). Drop the weight 10-15% and do 5x5 (or try to). Once I hit a clean 5x5, I move up in weight.
I have been struggling with some elbow tendonitis but the above works fine for arm work as the sets of 3 (usually 4 or 5) before the top set gets things warmed up.[/quote]
I use the exercise scheme template from 5/3/1, but the CT ramping and auto-regulation concepts just resonate more with me. Probably because I’m not super-disciplined about getting into the gym, but I am super-disciplined once I’m actually working out.
Regardless, CT is a brilliant dude, and I love his stuff. Someone should start an over-35 CT Cult…you know, so that we can have a two-church state, for democratic purposes.
Congratulations on winning the virtual meet! Great job![/quote]
I did?
edit:
Just went and checked the site. Most impressive lifters to me were Shawn and Marc. Shawn for coming back and totally dominating a weight that had kicked his arse the previous attempt at it and Marc’s third lift which was one of the slowest and most painful grinds to a successful lockout that I’ve seen in a while.
Congratulations on winning the virtual meet! Great job![/quote]
I did?[/quote]
First place adjusted, 2nd in max weight lifted.
Again, congratulations![/quote]
Thanks Kevin. I want Ron Villani’s spot now for total and deadlift. There’s some strong dudes on the site that could make that difficult for me. Ryan Rigdon is back posting again there, which leads me to believe he will compete again.
135x5,5
165x5
195x3
225x3
238x3
272x3
306x5 (didn’t feel like pushing the money set today)
Box squats (14")
260 5x5 sets
single leg DL
rt: 225x2,3,3
Single leg GM
135x5
OH Squats
barx5
85x5
95x5 (back cramping)
I stopped at 5 on the money set simply because I didn’t feel like doing any more. I haven’t yet kept my promise to myself to stick to the prescribed reps for lower body. 5/3/1 is very effective - there are so many testimonials - but I’m not sure it suits me.
I like low reps and high frequency. I like immediate feedback on how I’m doing as well and I’m going to have to wait 4 more months before this starts getting interesting. Dunno if I have the temperment to stick with this.
nice work on your meet, congrats!!.
and nice work this week too
Im on the fence on 531 for different reasons when I do the ‘money’ sets I
am spent and cant get any other conditioning work in.
I find higher reps easy on the joints only when the weight is moderate or its some kind of
cable thing.
and sometimes I think the money set is a diminishing return-
squats or pulls over 10 is hard on the body.
Plate stack pickup (1-handed)
4 standard 10’s x 5,6
Gripping surface makes the difference. The ironmind block is slick. I had no trouble at all picking the stack of plates up, but there’s no way I could do the same weight with the block one handed. I’m out of chalk - might as well buy that along with a new belt.
There’s a definite weakness in the last two fingers of the right hand that’s limiting what I can do on the RT.
