GLENN PENDLAY Q&A

Training Bodybuilding
101

[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
If the frequency is the same, the volume is the same, and your using similar intensities… maybe then the structured programs are just SUPERIOR at producing results?

Honestly, if this has been your experience, why have you not gone back to what worked for you?[/quote]

Well mainly because those are bench-specific programs, rather than focusing on everything overall. I suppose I could just implement the bench part of it into a routine I’m already doing and sub out the normal chest work. I just wonder why ramping up to top sets seems to work decently for most of my exercises, but not bench :confused: at least not as much it seems.

Interestingly, my push press didn’t go down at all throughout my cut this summer and I didn’t really train it at all, except twice which was during deload weeks. On the other hand the whole time I was doing DB benching and sometimes doing incline BB bench and as I mentioned BB bench went down 20-30lb.

102

[quote]pumped340 wrote:

[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
If the frequency is the same, the volume is the same, and your using similar intensities… maybe then the structured programs are just SUPERIOR at producing results?

Honestly, if this has been your experience, why have you not gone back to what worked for you?[/quote]

Well mainly because those are bench-specific programs, rather than focusing on everything overall. I suppose I could just implement the bench part of it into a routine I’m already doing and sub out the normal chest work. I just wonder why ramping up to top sets seems to work decently for most of my exercises, but not bench :confused: at least not as much it seems.

Interestingly, my push press didn’t go down at all throughout my cut this summer and I didn’t really train it at all, except twice which was during deload weeks. On the other hand the whole time I was doing DB benching and sometimes doing incline BB bench and as I mentioned BB bench went down 20-30lb. [/quote]

Maybe push pressing is a better assistance exercise for bench press than what you have been doing lately?

103

[quote]Clutch wrote:

[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Hey Glenn, I asked this somewhere else but I’d like to hear your opinion as well. Most of my lifts have been fine but at the very end (last 1-3 weeks) of my cut my bench dropped significantly. ~20-30lb. It seems like this is the first lift to go down.

The only times I can say I’ve seen it go up on a consistent basis is when I do a specific bench program. For instance a 5x5 starting week 1 light and working up to my max by week 4 or 5 and continuing (e.g. bill starrs 5x5) and Dave Tates 6-week bench routine seemed to go well until I injured my right shoulder by overextending it on the floor press.

Does this seem typical? It seems gains are hard to come by when I just ramp up to a max weight (without much grind) with sets of 3 or 5. [/quote]

Obviously you need the volume… I am going to bet that the intermediate 5X5 would work great for you… recently nicknamed the texas method…[/quote]

Glenn,

I found lots of variations of the Texas Method floating around the internet. Would this be the correct template…

Cheers
C[/quote]

Yes, thats a pretty good representation of it. That whole website is excellent for people wanting to the the "5X5 family of programs.

104

Regarding the Texas Method and the so-called “recovery” day - Do you just go with lifts that naturally utilizes less poundage, eg. military press instead of bench, front squat insted of squat and so on? If so, how heavy do you go on the 3x3 work sets, in terms of intensity?

Thanks for your time, man!

105

Hi Glenn/CT,

I am in the process of putting together a program for myself, focusing on improving power and strength. Over the years I have read alot of websites and books and worked alot out for myself, but on this occasion I would appreciate your guidance.

My goals are to improve my vertical jump/sprint speed 30m sprint and general athleticism and become generally faster.

I have been training on and off for 20 years at a decent level 3-4 times a week.

Over the last 10 years, due to work and committments, this has reduced to twice a week (although I learnt how to olympic lift and this made my twice a week routine at least more productive) and over the last 6 months I am now back to training 3-4 times a week doing a mixture of full body workouts and splits which change dependant on my time. I am also doing alot more conditioning via sprints and cycling.

Over the last 20 years, I have always focused on strength movements and included oly lifts over the last 10 years, but neglected focusing on explosive strength (plyos) for alot of the time.

Over the last 20 years I have learn’t the below which will hopefully help you answer my question:

  1. I cannot get on with high volume and medium + intensity. It always leads to overtraining, I always hypetrophy but do not make massive strength gains. (I thought this was initaially capacity/conditioning related, but have realised lower volume 3-4 sets x 5 reps, 4-5 sets x 3 reps, 5x2 on lower body works very well where 4x6, 10x3 etc overtrains me.
  2. When I have tried to include plyos to improve explosive strength, this has generally lead to overtraining, even when I have started with basic exercises such as squat jumps. I have to be very careful not to overtrain
  3. Sprints are ok, but as soon as I do any all out sprinting I seem to overtrain
  4. All of the above in conjunction with each other seems to really damage my explosive strength, even when I push just fairly hard.
  5. CAT training has improved my lifts
  6. Iso/strength complexes worked very well for strength
  7. When I have been at my best in terms of explosive power I have had a 29 VJ and it seems its when I only trained for limit strength every 10-14 days which obviosuly is not optimal.

I believe I have a explosive strength deficit based on this and the below stats. My current 1RM strength levels are:

Full Back Squat 150kg
Full Front Squat 125kg
Deadlift 210 kg (I have very long arms average torso and fairly long legs)
Power Snatch 75kg
Power Clean 105kg
Military Press 70kg
Pullups bodyweight + 40kg
Bench Press 105kg
Bent over row 110kg
Vertical Jump 26"

I weigh 82kg with 15% bodyfat and I am 36 years of age.

Would you agree my Vertical and Olympic lifts should be better based on my strength levels?

Regarding programming and based on my time I have the following options:

Option 1

Do the following routine:

Day 1

Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Full Back Squat 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Bench Press 3 x 8
Bent Over Row 3 x 8

Day 3

Power Cleans Or Hang Power Cleans 3-5 x 3-5
Deadlift 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Military Press 3 x 8
Weighted Pullups 3 x 8

Day 5

Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Squat Jumps (bodyweight only) 5 x 5 reps
Bench Press 3 x 8
Bent Over Row 3 x 8

On days 4 & 6 do conditioning, sprints, running or bike based on 30 -400 metre distance.

So based on the above I am doing just one plyo session. Will this be enough to improve and is this exercise a good choice? I am conscious I dont want to start at a high level and overtrain?

My other option is:

Option 2

Day 1

Full Back Squat 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Squat Jumps (bodyweight only) 4 x 5 reps max effort

Day 2

A1 Bench Press 3 x 8
A2 Bent Over Row 3 x 8
B1 Plyo Press up 3 x 8
B2 Rope Pull 3 x 30 seconds

Day 4

Deadlift 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Power Cleans Or Hang Power Cleans 3-5 x 3-5
Standing Long Jumps (bodyweight only) 4 x 5 reps max effort

Day 5

A1 Military Press 3 x 8
A2 Weighted Pullups 3 x 8
B1 Medicine Ball throw 3 x 8
B2 Sledgehammer 3 x 30 seconds

On days 3 & 6 do conditioning, sprints, running or bike based on 30 -400 metre distance.

On this basis I am doing 2 plyo sessions for lower body (with a continuum ideaolgy) and including 2 plyo sessions for upper body as a bonus.

In your view please can you confirm which variation would be more productive and help me achieve my goals?

Would the two plyo sessions be better and are the exercises suggested and volumes/intensities ok?

Alternatively if you have any other suggestions/tweaks which are better than both of the above I am open to any guidance.

Finally, just on another topic, I have been full squatting (rock bottom and hips down and forward, similiar to the bottom of a snatch position) for years and still have very good form.

I have never half squatted as I don’t believe in it and am a bit of a purest.

Over the years I have improved my strength, but not as much as some of my training partners who do more of a bodybuilding/powerlifting height squat.

Granted, I have better balanced legs and their higher poundages dont carryover to olympic lifts and even it seems the deadlift, but is my committment to full squatting effecting my potential strength gains and even power output and vertical jump? Or should I stick to full squatting?

Thanks very much for any advice and guidance and your time in reading my detailed post

Chris Roberts

106

Hi Glenn, was just wondering what kind of program you would suggest for a rank beginner who wants to learn the olympic lifts. I am currently doing 5/3/1 but find the oly lifts really fun and want to work them into my training / switch to a more oly focused program. I watched all the CalStrength videos and though they were great and should really help my technique in the lifts.

I am assuming I would be moving to squatting more than once a week but what would you suggest as a good way to learn the lifts. I am looking into finding a club or coach in the area but any suggestions in the meantime? I am considering the program from Thibs Black book.

107

[quote]BHG wrote:
Regarding the Texas Method and the so-called “recovery” day - Do you just go with lifts that naturally utilizes less poundage, eg. military press instead of bench, front squat insted of squat and so on? If so, how heavy do you go on the 3x3 work sets, in terms of intensity?

Thanks for your time, man![/quote]

There are two ways to approach the recovery day, one is to do like you mentioned and do exercises that use less poundage and tend to be easier to recover from, but still do the exercise as heavy as you are able to for your 3 sets of 3. The other is to do the same exercise as you are doing on Monday or Friday, and simply lowering the weight by 10 or 20%. I tend to favor the first method, but, there are situations where either are appropriate.

108

Hi Glenn:

I asked CT about power snatch - just started doing it mostly in recovery WO’s and to start DL WO. I think It’s REALLY slow. CT says it will get faster with more practice but that I need to stay explosive so I don’t develop bad motor habits. I agree.

What I have noticed is that strangely enough the top sets are sometimes faster than the lighter sets. So now I’m curious about something. Granted, I’m only using eh emmm 115lbs, embarrassing, I know! but that’s what it is for now for 3 reps. The 115 goes up faster than 75 or 95. Am I just not using enough weight? Don’t even have to dip very low to catch this - your observations really appreciated.

Thanks,
M

109

One thing that struck me about your post is that you said very directly that your goal was to be faster and jump higher… But then you work your speed/plyo work around your weight training…

Why dont you try to design a speed/plyo workout, say, 3 days per week, since that is your main goal? Then, figure out what amount of strength training will fit around that…

[quote]robertsc wrote:
Hi Glenn/CT,

I am in the process of putting together a program for myself, focusing on improving power and strength. Over the years I have read alot of websites and books and worked alot out for myself, but on this occasion I would appreciate your guidance.

My goals are to improve my vertical jump/sprint speed 30m sprint and general athleticism and become generally faster.

I have been training on and off for 20 years at a decent level 3-4 times a week.

Over the last 10 years, due to work and committments, this has reduced to twice a week (although I learnt how to olympic lift and this made my twice a week routine at least more productive) and over the last 6 months I am now back to training 3-4 times a week doing a mixture of full body workouts and splits which change dependant on my time. I am also doing alot more conditioning via sprints and cycling.

Over the last 20 years, I have always focused on strength movements and included oly lifts over the last 10 years, but neglected focusing on explosive strength (plyos) for alot of the time.

Over the last 20 years I have learn’t the below which will hopefully help you answer my question:

  1. I cannot get on with high volume and medium + intensity. It always leads to overtraining, I always hypetrophy but do not make massive strength gains. (I thought this was initaially capacity/conditioning related, but have realised lower volume 3-4 sets x 5 reps, 4-5 sets x 3 reps, 5x2 on lower body works very well where 4x6, 10x3 etc overtrains me.
  2. When I have tried to include plyos to improve explosive strength, this has generally lead to overtraining, even when I have started with basic exercises such as squat jumps. I have to be very careful not to overtrain
  3. Sprints are ok, but as soon as I do any all out sprinting I seem to overtrain
  4. All of the above in conjunction with each other seems to really damage my explosive strength, even when I push just fairly hard.
  5. CAT training has improved my lifts
  6. Iso/strength complexes worked very well for strength
  7. When I have been at my best in terms of explosive power I have had a 29 VJ and it seems its when I only trained for limit strength every 10-14 days which obviosuly is not optimal.

I believe I have a explosive strength deficit based on this and the below stats. My current 1RM strength levels are:

Full Back Squat 150kg
Full Front Squat 125kg
Deadlift 210 kg (I have very long arms average torso and fairly long legs)
Power Snatch 75kg
Power Clean 105kg
Military Press 70kg
Pullups bodyweight + 40kg
Bench Press 105kg
Bent over row 110kg
Vertical Jump 26"

I weigh 82kg with 15% bodyfat and I am 36 years of age.

Would you agree my Vertical and Olympic lifts should be better based on my strength levels?

Regarding programming and based on my time I have the following options:

Option 1

Do the following routine:

Day 1

Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Full Back Squat 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Bench Press 3 x 8
Bent Over Row 3 x 8

Day 3

Power Cleans Or Hang Power Cleans 3-5 x 3-5
Deadlift 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Military Press 3 x 8
Weighted Pullups 3 x 8

Day 5

Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Squat Jumps (bodyweight only) 5 x 5 reps
Bench Press 3 x 8
Bent Over Row 3 x 8

On days 4 & 6 do conditioning, sprints, running or bike based on 30 -400 metre distance.

So based on the above I am doing just one plyo session. Will this be enough to improve and is this exercise a good choice? I am conscious I dont want to start at a high level and overtrain?

My other option is:

Option 2

Day 1

Full Back Squat 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Squat Jumps (bodyweight only) 4 x 5 reps max effort

Day 2

A1 Bench Press 3 x 8
A2 Bent Over Row 3 x 8
B1 Plyo Press up 3 x 8
B2 Rope Pull 3 x 30 seconds

Day 4

Deadlift 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Power Cleans Or Hang Power Cleans 3-5 x 3-5
Standing Long Jumps (bodyweight only) 4 x 5 reps max effort

Day 5

A1 Military Press 3 x 8
A2 Weighted Pullups 3 x 8
B1 Medicine Ball throw 3 x 8
B2 Sledgehammer 3 x 30 seconds

On days 3 & 6 do conditioning, sprints, running or bike based on 30 -400 metre distance.

On this basis I am doing 2 plyo sessions for lower body (with a continuum ideaolgy) and including 2 plyo sessions for upper body as a bonus.

In your view please can you confirm which variation would be more productive and help me achieve my goals?

Would the two plyo sessions be better and are the exercises suggested and volumes/intensities ok?

Alternatively if you have any other suggestions/tweaks which are better than both of the above I am open to any guidance.

Finally, just on another topic, I have been full squatting (rock bottom and hips down and forward, similiar to the bottom of a snatch position) for years and still have very good form.

I have never half squatted as I don’t believe in it and am a bit of a purest.

Over the years I have improved my strength, but not as much as some of my training partners who do more of a bodybuilding/powerlifting height squat.

Granted, I have better balanced legs and their higher poundages dont carryover to olympic lifts and even it seems the deadlift, but is my committment to full squatting effecting my potential strength gains and even power output and vertical jump? Or should I stick to full squatting?

Thanks very much for any advice and guidance and your time in reading my detailed post

Chris Roberts
[/quote]

110

I think I would have to see a video to be able to give you any sort of useful answer…

[quote]Mutsanah wrote:
Hi Glenn:

I asked CT about power snatch - just started doing it mostly in recovery WO’s and to start DL WO. I think It’s REALLY slow. CT says it will get faster with more practice but that I need to stay explosive so I don’t develop bad motor habits. I agree.

What I have noticed is that strangely enough the top sets are sometimes faster than the lighter sets. So now I’m curious about something. Granted, I’m only using eh emmm 115lbs, embarrassing, I know! but that’s what it is for now for 3 reps. The 115 goes up faster than 75 or 95. Am I just not using enough weight? Don’t even have to dip very low to catch this - your observations really appreciated.

Thanks,
M[/quote]

111

Hey Glenn, Do you use the Olympic lifting percentages chart that suggests your front squat be x% of your clean, split snatch is x% of military press, etc as a guide if at all with your athletes?

112

[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:

[quote]BHG wrote:
Regarding the Texas Method and the so-called “recovery” day - Do you just go with lifts that naturally utilizes less poundage, eg. military press instead of bench, front squat insted of squat and so on? If so, how heavy do you go on the 3x3 work sets, in terms of intensity?

Thanks for your time, man![/quote]

There are two ways to approach the recovery day, one is to do like you mentioned and do exercises that use less poundage and tend to be easier to recover from, but still do the exercise as heavy as you are able to for your 3 sets of 3. The other is to do the same exercise as you are doing on Monday or Friday, and simply lowering the weight by 10 or 20%. I tend to favor the first method, but, there are situations where either are appropriate.[/quote]

Thank you for your answer, I really appreciate it. Another quick question: do you have any tips for learning the power clean on your own? Articles or such? There really is no weightlifting community around where I live, so there isnt anyone around to learn from.

113

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for your feedback, it has certainly got me thinking.

On reflection, I am so focal on becoming faster/more explosive, because my perception
is I have an explosive strength deficit.

I feel and have always felt this is my weakest point, which is probably because I have not
focused on it.

In reality now you have got me thinking, I want to fix this weakness which will improve my
power output/vertical jump and subsequently help me achieve my goal of power cleaning 120kg, snatching
90, back sq 180 and front squatting 145 and deadlifting 230kg.

So my goals are strength/power and I seem to have developed the belief that I need to improve my speed to achieve this.

Based on this do you think I have an explosive strength deficit and which program would be better to achieve my goals?

Also what are your thoughts on my choice of plyo exercises and volumes/intensities and do you think I am missing out
by not half squatting?

Thanks again for your time on this

Thanks

Chris

[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
One thing that struck me about your post is that you said very directly that your goal was to be faster and jump higher… But then you work your speed/plyo work around your weight training…

Why dont you try to design a speed/plyo workout, say, 3 days per week, since that is your main goal? Then, figure out what amount of strength training will fit around that…

[quote]robertsc wrote:
Hi Glenn/CT,

I am in the process of putting together a program for myself, focusing on improving power and strength. Over the years I have read alot of websites and books and worked alot out for myself, but on this occasion I would appreciate your guidance.

My goals are to improve my vertical jump/sprint speed 30m sprint and general athleticism and become generally faster.

I have been training on and off for 20 years at a decent level 3-4 times a week.

Over the last 10 years, due to work and committments, this has reduced to twice a week (although I learnt how to olympic lift and this made my twice a week routine at least more productive) and over the last 6 months I am now back to training 3-4 times a week doing a mixture of full body workouts and splits which change dependant on my time. I am also doing alot more conditioning via sprints and cycling.

Over the last 20 years, I have always focused on strength movements and included oly lifts over the last 10 years, but neglected focusing on explosive strength (plyos) for alot of the time.

Over the last 20 years I have learn’t the below which will hopefully help you answer my question:

  1. I cannot get on with high volume and medium + intensity. It always leads to overtraining, I always hypetrophy but do not make massive strength gains. (I thought this was initaially capacity/conditioning related, but have realised lower volume 3-4 sets x 5 reps, 4-5 sets x 3 reps, 5x2 on lower body works very well where 4x6, 10x3 etc overtrains me.
  2. When I have tried to include plyos to improve explosive strength, this has generally lead to overtraining, even when I have started with basic exercises such as squat jumps. I have to be very careful not to overtrain
  3. Sprints are ok, but as soon as I do any all out sprinting I seem to overtrain
  4. All of the above in conjunction with each other seems to really damage my explosive strength, even when I push just fairly hard.
  5. CAT training has improved my lifts
  6. Iso/strength complexes worked very well for strength
  7. When I have been at my best in terms of explosive power I have had a 29 VJ and it seems its when I only trained for limit strength every 10-14 days which obviosuly is not optimal.

I believe I have a explosive strength deficit based on this and the below stats. My current 1RM strength levels are:

Full Back Squat 150kg
Full Front Squat 125kg
Deadlift 210 kg (I have very long arms average torso and fairly long legs)
Power Snatch 75kg
Power Clean 105kg
Military Press 70kg
Pullups bodyweight + 40kg
Bench Press 105kg
Bent over row 110kg
Vertical Jump 26"

I weigh 82kg with 15% bodyfat and I am 36 years of age.

Would you agree my Vertical and Olympic lifts should be better based on my strength levels?

Regarding programming and based on my time I have the following options:

Option 1

Do the following routine:

Day 1

Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Full Back Squat 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Bench Press 3 x 8
Bent Over Row 3 x 8

Day 3

Power Cleans Or Hang Power Cleans 3-5 x 3-5
Deadlift 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Military Press 3 x 8
Weighted Pullups 3 x 8

Day 5

Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Squat Jumps (bodyweight only) 5 x 5 reps
Bench Press 3 x 8
Bent Over Row 3 x 8

On days 4 & 6 do conditioning, sprints, running or bike based on 30 -400 metre distance.

So based on the above I am doing just one plyo session. Will this be enough to improve and is this exercise a good choice? I am conscious I dont want to start at a high level and overtrain?

My other option is:

Option 2

Day 1

Full Back Squat 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Squat Jumps (bodyweight only) 4 x 5 reps max effort

Day 2

A1 Bench Press 3 x 8
A2 Bent Over Row 3 x 8
B1 Plyo Press up 3 x 8
B2 Rope Pull 3 x 30 seconds

Day 4

Deadlift 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Power Cleans Or Hang Power Cleans 3-5 x 3-5
Standing Long Jumps (bodyweight only) 4 x 5 reps max effort

Day 5

A1 Military Press 3 x 8
A2 Weighted Pullups 3 x 8
B1 Medicine Ball throw 3 x 8
B2 Sledgehammer 3 x 30 seconds

On days 3 & 6 do conditioning, sprints, running or bike based on 30 -400 metre distance.

On this basis I am doing 2 plyo sessions for lower body (with a continuum ideaolgy) and including 2 plyo sessions for upper body as a bonus.

In your view please can you confirm which variation would be more productive and help me achieve my goals?

Would the two plyo sessions be better and are the exercises suggested and volumes/intensities ok?

Alternatively if you have any other suggestions/tweaks which are better than both of the above I am open to any guidance.

Finally, just on another topic, I have been full squatting (rock bottom and hips down and forward, similiar to the bottom of a snatch position) for years and still have very good form.

I have never half squatted as I don’t believe in it and am a bit of a purest.

Over the years I have improved my strength, but not as much as some of my training partners who do more of a bodybuilding/powerlifting height squat.

Granted, I have better balanced legs and their higher poundages dont carryover to olympic lifts and even it seems the deadlift, but is my committment to full squatting effecting my potential strength gains and even power output and vertical jump? Or should I stick to full squatting?

Thanks very much for any advice and guidance and your time in reading my detailed post

Chris Roberts
[/quote]
[/quote]

114

[quote]itisfinished wrote:
Hey Glenn, Do you use the Olympic lifting percentages chart that suggests your front squat be x% of your clean, split snatch is x% of military press, etc as a guide if at all with your athletes? [/quote]

No, we dont really use that at all.

115

[quote]BHG wrote:

[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:

[quote]BHG wrote:
Regarding the Texas Method and the so-called “recovery” day - Do you just go with lifts that naturally utilizes less poundage, eg. military press instead of bench, front squat insted of squat and so on? If so, how heavy do you go on the 3x3 work sets, in terms of intensity?

Thanks for your time, man![/quote]

There are two ways to approach the recovery day, one is to do like you mentioned and do exercises that use less poundage and tend to be easier to recover from, but still do the exercise as heavy as you are able to for your 3 sets of 3. The other is to do the same exercise as you are doing on Monday or Friday, and simply lowering the weight by 10 or 20%. I tend to favor the first method, but, there are situations where either are appropriate.[/quote]

Thank you for your answer, I really appreciate it. Another quick question: do you have any tips for learning the power clean on your own? Articles or such? There really is no weightlifting community around where I live, so there isnt anyone around to learn from.[/quote]

There is a pretty good 4 part video series that covers how I teach the clean at the californiastrength website.

116

So, would you say that goals like a 180kg back squat and a 120kg power clean are representative of your ultimate goals?

If so, then more than anything you just need to get stronger. You front squat 125kg, and power clean 105kg, I assume that if you were decently skilled in the squat clean you would be cleaning very close to your power clean. This doesnt sound like an “explosive strength deficite” to me. It sounds more like a situation where you need to get your squat up and practice the lifts…

[quote]robertsc wrote:
Hi Glenn,

Thanks for your feedback, it has certainly got me thinking.

On reflection, I am so focal on becoming faster/more explosive, because my perception
is I have an explosive strength deficit.

I feel and have always felt this is my weakest point, which is probably because I have not
focused on it.

In reality now you have got me thinking, I want to fix this weakness which will improve my
power output/vertical jump and subsequently help me achieve my goal of power cleaning 120kg, snatching
90, back sq 180 and front squatting 145 and deadlifting 230kg.

So my goals are strength/power and I seem to have developed the belief that I need to improve my speed to achieve this.

Based on this do you think I have an explosive strength deficit and which program would be better to achieve my goals?

Also what are your thoughts on my choice of plyo exercises and volumes/intensities and do you think I am missing out
by not half squatting?

Thanks again for your time on this

Thanks

Chris

[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
One thing that struck me about your post is that you said very directly that your goal was to be faster and jump higher… But then you work your speed/plyo work around your weight training…

Why dont you try to design a speed/plyo workout, say, 3 days per week, since that is your main goal? Then, figure out what amount of strength training will fit around that…

[quote]robertsc wrote:
Hi Glenn/CT,

I am in the process of putting together a program for myself, focusing on improving power and strength. Over the years I have read alot of websites and books and worked alot out for myself, but on this occasion I would appreciate your guidance.

My goals are to improve my vertical jump/sprint speed 30m sprint and general athleticism and become generally faster.

I have been training on and off for 20 years at a decent level 3-4 times a week.

Over the last 10 years, due to work and committments, this has reduced to twice a week (although I learnt how to olympic lift and this made my twice a week routine at least more productive) and over the last 6 months I am now back to training 3-4 times a week doing a mixture of full body workouts and splits which change dependant on my time. I am also doing alot more conditioning via sprints and cycling.

Over the last 20 years, I have always focused on strength movements and included oly lifts over the last 10 years, but neglected focusing on explosive strength (plyos) for alot of the time.

Over the last 20 years I have learn’t the below which will hopefully help you answer my question:

  1. I cannot get on with high volume and medium + intensity. It always leads to overtraining, I always hypetrophy but do not make massive strength gains. (I thought this was initaially capacity/conditioning related, but have realised lower volume 3-4 sets x 5 reps, 4-5 sets x 3 reps, 5x2 on lower body works very well where 4x6, 10x3 etc overtrains me.
  2. When I have tried to include plyos to improve explosive strength, this has generally lead to overtraining, even when I have started with basic exercises such as squat jumps. I have to be very careful not to overtrain
  3. Sprints are ok, but as soon as I do any all out sprinting I seem to overtrain
  4. All of the above in conjunction with each other seems to really damage my explosive strength, even when I push just fairly hard.
  5. CAT training has improved my lifts
  6. Iso/strength complexes worked very well for strength
  7. When I have been at my best in terms of explosive power I have had a 29 VJ and it seems its when I only trained for limit strength every 10-14 days which obviosuly is not optimal.

I believe I have a explosive strength deficit based on this and the below stats. My current 1RM strength levels are:

Full Back Squat 150kg
Full Front Squat 125kg
Deadlift 210 kg (I have very long arms average torso and fairly long legs)
Power Snatch 75kg
Power Clean 105kg
Military Press 70kg
Pullups bodyweight + 40kg
Bench Press 105kg
Bent over row 110kg
Vertical Jump 26"

I weigh 82kg with 15% bodyfat and I am 36 years of age.

Would you agree my Vertical and Olympic lifts should be better based on my strength levels?

Regarding programming and based on my time I have the following options:

Option 1

Do the following routine:

Day 1

Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Full Back Squat 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Bench Press 3 x 8
Bent Over Row 3 x 8

Day 3

Power Cleans Or Hang Power Cleans 3-5 x 3-5
Deadlift 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Military Press 3 x 8
Weighted Pullups 3 x 8

Day 5

Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Squat Jumps (bodyweight only) 5 x 5 reps
Bench Press 3 x 8
Bent Over Row 3 x 8

On days 4 & 6 do conditioning, sprints, running or bike based on 30 -400 metre distance.

So based on the above I am doing just one plyo session. Will this be enough to improve and is this exercise a good choice? I am conscious I dont want to start at a high level and overtrain?

My other option is:

Option 2

Day 1

Full Back Squat 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Power Snatches Or Hang Power Snathces 3-5 x 3-5
Squat Jumps (bodyweight only) 4 x 5 reps max effort

Day 2

A1 Bench Press 3 x 8
A2 Bent Over Row 3 x 8
B1 Plyo Press up 3 x 8
B2 Rope Pull 3 x 30 seconds

Day 4

Deadlift 3-4 x 5 reps or 4-5 x 3 reps or 5 x 2 reps vary rep ranges
Power Cleans Or Hang Power Cleans 3-5 x 3-5
Standing Long Jumps (bodyweight only) 4 x 5 reps max effort

Day 5

A1 Military Press 3 x 8
A2 Weighted Pullups 3 x 8
B1 Medicine Ball throw 3 x 8
B2 Sledgehammer 3 x 30 seconds

On days 3 & 6 do conditioning, sprints, running or bike based on 30 -400 metre distance.

On this basis I am doing 2 plyo sessions for lower body (with a continuum ideaolgy) and including 2 plyo sessions for upper body as a bonus.

In your view please can you confirm which variation would be more productive and help me achieve my goals?

Would the two plyo sessions be better and are the exercises suggested and volumes/intensities ok?

Alternatively if you have any other suggestions/tweaks which are better than both of the above I am open to any guidance.

Finally, just on another topic, I have been full squatting (rock bottom and hips down and forward, similiar to the bottom of a snatch position) for years and still have very good form.

I have never half squatted as I don’t believe in it and am a bit of a purest.

Over the years I have improved my strength, but not as much as some of my training partners who do more of a bodybuilding/powerlifting height squat.

Granted, I have better balanced legs and their higher poundages dont carryover to olympic lifts and even it seems the deadlift, but is my committment to full squatting effecting my potential strength gains and even power output and vertical jump? Or should I stick to full squatting?

Thanks very much for any advice and guidance and your time in reading my detailed post

Chris Roberts
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117

Hey Glenn, if I’m remembering correctly you mentioned that in general you have your clients/athletes train hard for about 3 weeks and then take 1 lighter week.

  1. Is this something you recommend for those looking to gain muscle as their primary goal as well?

  2. If someone is continuing to make strength gains should they take the break anyway so as to keep things progressing longer, or should they continue without the break until they start to stagnate, and only then take the light week?

Thanks

118

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Hey Glenn, if I’m remembering correctly you mentioned that in general you have your clients/athletes train hard for about 3 weeks and then take 1 lighter week.

  1. Is this something you recommend for those looking to gain muscle as their primary goal as well?

  2. If someone is continuing to make strength gains should they take the break anyway so as to keep things progressing longer, or should they continue without the break until they start to stagnate, and only then take the light week?

Thanks[/quote]

This strategy, 3/1 or even 2/1 is most applicable if you are training someone who’s workout has a high skill/speed component. For someone mainly interested in gaining muscle and not involved in any sport with a performance goal, I do NOT think it would be appropriate for beginners or even “Intermediates”… CT might be a better source of the application to high level bodybuilders, as I simply do not coach them and very likely never will.

119

I don’t know how T-Nation or Glenn feels on the issue but I would love it if Glenn could write a few articles for this site, that would be awesome. Anyone else agree?

120

[quote]NIguy wrote:
I don’t know how T-Nation or Glenn feels on the issue but I would love it if Glenn could write a few articles for this site, that would be awesome. Anyone else agree?[/quote]

Yep, that would be fucking awesome! On a related note, Glenn, I read somewhere that you were working on an article on the texas method for stronglifts. When is that one due to publish?