I need some suggestions that i can use for GPP. I’m going to be living in my fraternity house which is like a dorm type setting, so i dont have alot of room. My ideal GPP would be tire flips, sled drags, and farmers walks. But i dont have a tire, dont have room to keep what i use for a sled, which is a tire that i can put weights in. But here’s what my training schedule will look like.
Monday
ME bench- 1-3 RM
rows or chins- 5x5
db presses- 4x10-12
traps- 2x8-12
delts- 2x8-12
Wednesday
ME lower body- 5RM
leg press/pullthrough- 3x10
hamstrings- 3x10 or 4x5
abs
hip flexor and abductor work
Friday
dynamic bench press- 8x3
pressing exercise- 5x5
pulldowns or row- 4x10-12
upper back(like face pulls)- 2x8-12
delts- 2x8-12
So its kind of a modified westside approach, and the reason for the leg press and my max effort lower body exercises will be single leg exercises because i have already injured my back twice and my health is more important to me than how much weight i can squat.
My training this summer as been kind of scattered because i’m working 10 hour days 5 days a week at a lumber yard, so i’m trying to get my training lined out and ready to go when summer is over and i just have some questoins about GPP.
So anyway back to GPP, how could are kettlbell circuits for GPP, i will be using a dumbbell because i’m a poor college kid and can’t afford kettlebell’s but i was thinking of using the cicuits in the evening on monday and friday after my upper body workouts. And i was also thinking of using grab drills, like the shoulder glider on my lower body day for upper body GPP. I also have a 10 lb medicine ball, does anybody have some suggestions, please.
Carrying kegs of beer, as well as young hotties(2 at a time preferably) into the house and upstairs to your room would seem to be an ideal form of GPP for the frat boy.
Im not trying to be an asshole, but why are you looking for GPP stuff if your back is so bad that you cant squat? I still dont understand why people think that a leg press machine is any “safer” on your back than a squat.
As far as the GPP goes, do anything. People fail to realize what constitutes GPP. Read Medvedyev’s book and you will be surprised. Dont over complicate something that is only a small part of your program. It took me a long time to realize that the reason for GPP was to get to a certain level of fitness and then maintain it, not continuously dragging out more and more GPP that will eventually take away from your real workouts.People are goin crazy with this stuff. As Paul Childress says,“If you have enough energy to go out and do a million other things, are you really working that hard during your main workouts?” That statement opened up my eyes and helped me make so much progress. Sorry for the rant.
My back isn’t so bad that i can’t squat, i think i may actually do some squats and deadlifts but any little variance in form and i will stop the set. I have to watch my form so much closer (which is what i should have been doing in the first place) now that i’ve hurt my back. But right now i have pretty good GPP because i work at a lumber yard and load customers so i lift heavy things periodically throughout the day. But i will need to start doing some GPP after i quit my job on the 6th of August to go back to school. So i was just thinking of doing dumbbell swings and snatches twice a week, i just wasn’t sure how good they were for GPP.
You say your health is more important than how much you can squat, and yet you have, of all things, leg presses in your routine…this is a critical mistake! It is far safer to squat beltless, build strong abs and learn how to tighten your core…it would be bad enough if the leg press were only inefficient and not very much fun to do. The fact that it will hurt your back sooner or later makes this effeminate exercise something to avoid like the plague. I would replace it with reverse hypers, regular hypers, or natural GHRs if you don’t have access to the Glute Ham bench. Any of these drills will do wonders for your low back health.
At any rate, I wish you the best of luck, the rest of the program looks pretty good, and yes, I think kettlebell/dumbbell swings/snatches/cleans/presses etc…will do well for you as extra workouts/GPP
Thanks Ramo, and i’ve decided i will be squatting and deadlifting, i’m just gonna really be conscious about trying not to push myself to progress faster than my body is capable of. My lower body days will look like this probably.
Lower Body #1
deadlift or GM- 5 RM
step up/split squat/reverse lunge-3x10
reverse hypers/hypers/pullthrough-3x10
2 or 3 exercises for abs
Lower Body #2
squat or trap bar dead- 5RM
RDL/goodmoring/natural GHR- 3-4x8-10
reverse hyper/hypers/pullthrough- 3x10
2 or 3 exercises for abs
I will probably only be doing lower body training once a week. so i think i will rotate each of these workouts on a 2-4 week rotation. I dont play sports in college anymore nor am i a powerlifter or strenth athlete, i just train for fun and to stay strong and heathly, so my split will look kind of like this.
Monday
ME bench- 1-3RM
pullups/rows- 5x5, or 8x3
pressing movement- 3x12, or 4x8
upper back/traps- 2x8-12
delts- 2x8-12
Wednesday
one of the lower body workouts
Friday
Speed bench- 8x3
pressing movement- 5RM, 8x3 or 5x5
pulldown/rows- 3x12 or 4x8
upper back/traps- 2x8-12
delts- 2x8-12
And sometimes i will do max effort movements for back, like pullups, chins or seated rows for a 3RM. And i will also be doing kettlebell circuits on monday and friday for GPP except i’ll be using a dumbell. So that will give my lower body some extra work from only doing the one day of heavy weights.
That seems like a sensible plan…one thing I would advise is NOT to pull for 5s…Many would advise you to pull only for singles…I’d say you can pull for 3s if you must so long as you stand up between pulls…the deadlift is different than other lifts in that there is no negative before the concentric lift; your form tends to suffer in every subsequent rep after the first. So again, don’t go higher than 3 reps on the deadlift, and stand up between reps…
Switching between GM variations, Sq variations, and DL variations for your ME lifts is the best idea as you seem to be aware…I’d keep the pulls to singles. If you want to do 5s to build mass you can do them on GMs and low box squats…
KBs are fun, but burpees spare your back. Burpee-pull-ups are good GPP, and they’re nice for recovery because they closely duplicate many weightlifting motions (squat, deadlift, bench, pulls).