Hey Glenn, me doing the same drill. This time with 50kg on the bar, wondering if you had any more comments. I know I donkey kick the first rep. A bad habbit i have with lighter weights.
Once again, thank you for your time.
[quote]Ed Ache wrote:
Hey Glenn, me doing the same drill. This time with 50kg on the bar, wondering if you had any more comments. I know I donkey kick the first rep. A bad habbit i have with lighter weights.
Once again, thank you for your time.[/quote]
I like that. You get the hell under a bar. I would like to coach more lifters like you!!!
Thanks very much for the feedback Glenn!
[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
[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.
-
Is this something you recommend for those looking to gain muscle as their primary goal as well?
-
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.
[/quote]
Ah OK good to know, I would probably classify myself as intermediate. So for those in this category (just looking to gain muscle and strength, not advanced) do you have a certain number of weeks you like to go before deloading, or just once the strength gains start stagnating?
Pumped340,
Honestly, I do not believe you need a deload week, unless it is simply a “reset” week, unless you are at the point where you are doing an advanced program. If you are truly an intermediate, when you can not make weekly progress, you reset. If you cant figure out a way to change your program when you reset that makes you ramp on back up past the point at which you reset, you either need help with your program, or you need to go ahead and accept that you are now advanced.
It sucks to be advanced, because now you have to plan for progress every 6-8 weeks. Try to stay intermedieate as long as you can!!!
And let me edit this comment in the following way… the SINGLE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT to progress for the largest amount of people is the lack of understanding of “intermediate” folks is how to change their program when they reset! There is nothing harder to explain than this concept. My inability to really explain this is one of the main reasons why I havnt written a book. I can do it, but I am not happy with my ability, or inability, to explain adequately to others how to do it.
[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
Pumped340,
Honestly, I do not believe you need a deload week, unless it is simply a “reset” week, unless you are at the point where you are doing an advanced program. If you are truly an intermediate, when you can not make weekly progress, you reset. If you cant figure out a way to change your program when you reset that makes you ramp on back up past the point at which you reset, you either need help with your program, or you need to go ahead and accept that you are now advanced.
It sucks to be advanced, because now you have to plan for progress every 6-8 weeks. Try to stay intermedieate as long as you can!!!
And let me edit this comment in the following way… the SINGLE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT to progress for the largest amount of people is the lack of understanding of “intermediate” folks is how to change their program when they reset! There is nothing harder to explain than this concept. My inability to really explain this is one of the main reasons why I havnt written a book. I can do it, but I am not happy with my ability, or inability, to explain adequately to others how to do it.[/quote]
Thanks a lot, I guess there’s no point then in asking how you would reset it as an intermediate after stalling? lol
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
Pumped340,
Honestly, I do not believe you need a deload week, unless it is simply a “reset” week, unless you are at the point where you are doing an advanced program. If you are truly an intermediate, when you can not make weekly progress, you reset. If you cant figure out a way to change your program when you reset that makes you ramp on back up past the point at which you reset, you either need help with your program, or you need to go ahead and accept that you are now advanced.
It sucks to be advanced, because now you have to plan for progress every 6-8 weeks. Try to stay intermedieate as long as you can!!!
And let me edit this comment in the following way… the SINGLE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT to progress for the largest amount of people is the lack of understanding of “intermediate” folks is how to change their program when they reset! There is nothing harder to explain than this concept. My inability to really explain this is one of the main reasons why I havnt written a book. I can do it, but I am not happy with my ability, or inability, to explain adequately to others how to do it.[/quote]
Thanks a lot, I guess there’s no point then in asking how you would reset it as an intermediate after stalling? lol[/quote]
no, i suppose there is really no point, unless you give me some v ery specific info on what you were doing when you stalled. I have never figured out quite how to generalize this stuff, but, i am fairly decent at giving good advice when presented with a very specific scenario
Thanks Glenn,
Yes this is pretty much my ultimate goal.
On that basis, would you suggest the full body workouts would be better
than the splits?
Also am I ok doing some basic plyos on the 3 full body program and are squat jumps and standing long jumps
ok?
What volume would you suggest if doing these tue, thur, sat?
Finally do you think I will gain better sticking to full squatting?
Thanks again
Chris
[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
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:
- 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.
- 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
- Sprints are ok, but as soon as I do any all out sprinting I seem to overtrain
- All of the above in conjunction with each other seems to really damage my explosive strength, even when I push just fairly hard.
- CAT training has improved my lifts
- Iso/strength complexes worked very well for strength
- 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]
[/quote]
[/quote]
Glenn, do you have any articles on the way here at T-Nation? It would be much appreciated by all I’m sure!
Anyways, on to an actual question… do you have any basic guidelines on programming for an Olympic lifter who wants to gain some extra muscle, particularly in the upper body? I know it is highly individual based on the person and it comes to diet as well, but do you simply lower the volume of the Oly lifts and squats, and just add in push presses/bench/etc?
[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]
Yes.
2X
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
Glenn, do you have any articles on the way here at T-Nation? It would be much appreciated by all I’m sure!
Anyways, on to an actual question… do you have any basic guidelines on programming for an Olympic lifter who wants to gain some extra muscle, particularly in the upper body? I know it is highly individual based on the person and it comes to diet as well, but do you simply lower the volume of the Oly lifts and squats, and just add in push presses/bench/etc?[/quote]
As far as the articles thing, no, i dont. Would be happy to write one, or some, though, but hell I wouldnt even know who to ask about it.
As far as the muscle mass thing, if your doing clean and jerks say 3 times a week, just switch that to one time per week and the other two do powercleans and push press, and do some reps, say 3 + 3 or s something. Or powercleans, front squats, then push press, maybe 3 + 3 + 3… On snatches, same thing, take a couple of your regular workouts and switch to a complex that keeps the bar in your hands for a while… On snatches something like power snatch, snatch grip push press, overhead squat, again, 3+3+3 would be a good starting point. Those are just examples… certainly there are other things that will work. Then just progress from there, add reps or even other exercises until you have that bar in your hands for more than 1 minute without setting it down, you can even go up to 2 minutes.
I have found that this is an excellent way not to just add upper body mass, but to do it in a way that makes it USEFULL MASS for Olympic lifting.
Glenn, I’ve a quick question.
I’ve a female friend whos knees are caving in when she is deadlifting. Do you have any experience with that? What would be the possible causes be and what can I do to help her a bit? SHe is trying to force knees out, but when the weight gets heavier, she no longer can focus on the knees. The funny thing is that she can be doing 225 for reps, but right now is stuck at 180 because of that.
Thanks!
[quote]Quadforce wrote:
Glenn, I’ve a quick question.
I’ve a female friend whos knees are caving in when she is deadlifting. Do you have any experience with that? What would be the possible causes be and what can I do to help her a bit? SHe is trying to force knees out, but when the weight gets heavier, she no longer can focus on the knees. The funny thing is that she can be doing 225 for reps, but right now is stuck at 180 because of that.
Thanks![/quote]
9 out of 10 times the cause of this is either weak adductors, or, a person just having no idea how to activate the adductors. And yes, I said adductors, not abductors. I have tried many things, but never found much that worked better than just doing weights that you can do while forcing the knees out,and progressing slowly…
Hey Glenn, PM’d you earlier in the week. You had a chance to check it out? I get you’re busy so no rush. Thanks in advance
In response to Glenn/Quad… one option is to put a light resistance band around both kness while squatting.
So Glenn, I would love to dabble in the Bulgarian lifting route but I can’t because of the equipment I have. I am using a 30mm bench bar with no bend so if I max 3 or so times a week, there goes my wrists/shoulders. I was thinking of following the class III athlete program in Medvedyev’s “A Program of Multi-year Training in Weightlifting”. It seems like a good trade-off and even has some GPP included in it which I like. Do you have this book, what do you think of the programming? It’s typical Russian weightlifting, but of course while the material was being recorded, Russian dogma was being destr0yed by the Bulgarians. Honestly the only concern I have with the programming is that I don’t think it has enough heavy singles in the squat, snatch & c&j. It seems to only go up to 90% or so for entire training stages (1-4 weeks).
*Sorry for another question but this stuff is interesting to me. I know not much is known about the Chinese training system because it is highly individualized, but I kind of thought they have Russian type system, i.e. lots of accessory stuff, but it is Bulgarian as well in that they max out or go to a heavy single in the snatch/c&j once a week. Can you elaborate if you know anything??
[quote]Ed Ache wrote:
Hey Glenn, PM’d you earlier in the week. You had a chance to check it out? I get you’re busy so no rush. Thanks in advance[/quote]
I responded to your PM a couple of days ago, I just responded again.
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
In response to Glenn/Quad… one option is to put a light resistance band around both kness while squatting.
So Glenn, I would love to dabble in the Bulgarian lifting route but I can’t because of the equipment I have. I am using a 30mm bench bar with no bend so if I max 3 or so times a week, there goes my wrists/shoulders. I was thinking of following the class III athlete program in Medvedyev’s “A Program of Multi-year Training in Weightlifting”. It seems like a good trade-off and even has some GPP included in it which I like. Do you have this book, what do you think of the programming? It’s typical Russian weightlifting, but of course while the material was being recorded, Russian dogma was being destr0yed by the Bulgarians. Honestly the only concern I have with the programming is that I don’t think it has enough heavy singles in the squat, snatch & c&j. It seems to only go up to 90% or so for entire training stages (1-4 weeks).
*Sorry for another question but this stuff is interesting to me. I know not much is known about the Chinese training system because it is highly individualized, but I kind of thought they have Russian type system, i.e. lots of accessory stuff, but it is Bulgarian as well in that they max out or go to a heavy single in the snatch/c&j once a week. Can you elaborate if you know anything??[/quote]
Not only do I have the book, lol, I have an autographed copy in the russian language that Medvedev gave to me in his office Moscow!
Seriously, I dont think the Bulgarians destroyed the Russian dogma… Look at the medal stand today at the worlds, as many or more of the guys standing up there are using a russian system than a bulgarian system… both ways obviously work.
If yo u are going to use Medvedevs routine, I would suggest following it as written for one or two cycles… do that before you modify it. The guy does, IMO have enough “gravitas” to warrant at least giving his method a fair shot.
As far as the Chinese, they use an insanely high volume of lifts as well as heavy lifts on a fairly regular basis. LOTS of volume.
[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
In response to Glenn/Quad… one option is to put a light resistance band around both kness while squatting.
So Glenn, I would love to dabble in the Bulgarian lifting route but I can’t because of the equipment I have. I am using a 30mm bench bar with no bend so if I max 3 or so times a week, there goes my wrists/shoulders. I was thinking of following the class III athlete program in Medvedyev’s “A Program of Multi-year Training in Weightlifting”. It seems like a good trade-off and even has some GPP included in it which I like. Do you have this book, what do you think of the programming? It’s typical Russian weightlifting, but of course while the material was being recorded, Russian dogma was being destr0yed by the Bulgarians. Honestly the only concern I have with the programming is that I don’t think it has enough heavy singles in the squat, snatch & c&j. It seems to only go up to 90% or so for entire training stages (1-4 weeks).
*Sorry for another question but this stuff is interesting to me. I know not much is known about the Chinese training system because it is highly individualized, but I kind of thought they have Russian type system, i.e. lots of accessory stuff, but it is Bulgarian as well in that they max out or go to a heavy single in the snatch/c&j once a week. Can you elaborate if you know anything??[/quote]
Not only do I have the book, lol, I have an autographed copy in the russian language that Medvedev gave to me in his office Moscow!
Seriously, I dont think the Bulgarians destroyed the Russian dogma… Look at the medal stand today at the worlds, as many or more of the guys standing up there are using a russian system than a bulgarian system… both ways obviously work.
If yo u are going to use Medvedevs routine, I would suggest following it as written for one or two cycles… do that before you modify it. The guy does, IMO have enough “gravitas” to warrant at least giving his method a fair shot.
As far as the Chinese, they use an insanely high volume of lifts as well as heavy lifts on a fairly regular basis. LOTS of volume.[/quote]
Awesome info here Glenn. I will definitely give it a shot! Anyways, I will be competing at the Mid-A’s in November at Mike Gattone’s gym… I want to peak for it obviously, even though my lifts aren’t that high (113/131). Can I just jump into one of Medvedev’s competition cycles?
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
[quote]glenn pendlay wrote:
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
In response to Glenn/Quad… one option is to put a light resistance band around both kness while squatting.
So Glenn, I would love to dabble in the Bulgarian lifting route but I can’t because of the equipment I have. I am using a 30mm bench bar with no bend so if I max 3 or so times a week, there goes my wrists/shoulders. I was thinking of following the class III athlete program in Medvedyev’s “A Program of Multi-year Training in Weightlifting”. It seems like a good trade-off and even has some GPP included in it which I like. Do you have this book, what do you think of the programming? It’s typical Russian weightlifting, but of course while the material was being recorded, Russian dogma was being destr0yed by the Bulgarians. Honestly the only concern I have with the programming is that I don’t think it has enough heavy singles in the squat, snatch & c&j. It seems to only go up to 90% or so for entire training stages (1-4 weeks).
*Sorry for another question but this stuff is interesting to me. I know not much is known about the Chinese training system because it is highly individualized, but I kind of thought they have Russian type system, i.e. lots of accessory stuff, but it is Bulgarian as well in that they max out or go to a heavy single in the snatch/c&j once a week. Can you elaborate if you know anything??[/quote]
Not only do I have the book, lol, I have an autographed copy in the russian language that Medvedev gave to me in his office Moscow!
Seriously, I dont think the Bulgarians destroyed the Russian dogma… Look at the medal stand today at the worlds, as many or more of the guys standing up there are using a russian system than a bulgarian system… both ways obviously work.
If yo u are going to use Medvedevs routine, I would suggest following it as written for one or two cycles… do that before you modify it. The guy does, IMO have enough “gravitas” to warrant at least giving his method a fair shot.
As far as the Chinese, they use an insanely high volume of lifts as well as heavy lifts on a fairly regular basis. LOTS of volume.[/quote]
Awesome info here Glenn. I will definitely give it a shot! Anyways, I will be competing at the Mid-A’s in November at Mike Gattone’s gym… I want to peak for it obviously, even though my lifts aren’t that high (113/131). Can I just jump into one of Medvedev’s competition cycles?[/quote]
I don’t see why not…