Ok, so some background info… Ive been lifting for 3 years but more specifically the compounds and basics for only 6 months, the rest were my “curl&bench days”. Anyways Ive been trying to decide whether to use my custom training program or use a cookiecutter 5x5 program like rippetoe’s, bill star’s/madcow, etc. One question I have is why they emphasize the squat 3 days per week? anyone? my prog uses different exerces for each movement, each workout. The 5x5’s also like to have squat and dead on the same day, Why? Anyways heres the program Ive designed:
Monday: Back Squats, Bench Press, BO Rows
Tuesday: off
Wedensday: Deadlifts, Front Squats, Standing Press
thursday: Off
Friday: Power Cleans, Weighted Dips, Weighted Chins,
and Weighted situps
Sat: OFF
Sun: Cardio
I will either do 3x6-8 or 5x5 I havent decided yet… anyone?
Ive done 3x6-8 before (picking a weight I can only lift for 6 reps and working with it until I can lift it 8 times for 3 sets, then increase weight) and had great success in strength and weight that way but I dont know if 5x5 is better or not.
Anyways, my diet is good and sleep is good. Any advice is much appreciated. I like what i have chosen but dont know if it will give me as good of gains as a “cookie cutter” 5x5 program. or if it will work good at all… so tell me what you think…?
If anyone is interested, my lifts suck and I need strength and size. Im 6’1" 160lb and my current 1RM bench=175, squat=185, dead=295
In the end, it doesn’t really matter. There is no ‘optimal’ program, you just put in work and reap progress.
Unless you don’t, at which point you work differently.
To answer your other questions,
[quote]elano wrote:
Why do rippetoes and madcows emphasize the squat 3 days per week?
Why squat and dead on the same day?[/quote]
Frequency is an important factor in training. Newbies and weaklings make great gains through more frequent stimulation, as opposed to more intense stimulation.
Because you can. If you look at the programs, it’s not much deadlifting, just enough to improve the neural groove of the lift itself. Squats are the primary workhorse of the lower body in the programs you mentioned, as it should be.
[quote]elano wrote:
One question I have is why they emphasize the squat 3 days per week? anyone?[/quote]
Because it turns boys in to men? In all seriousness, I think the point of the frequent squat is
a) to build the strength base needed for serious lifting down the road, as the squat is not only a killer leg exercise but requires so much trunk stability
b) to instill a sense of mental toughness needed to get under the bar when you’re still sore from squatting two days earlier
c) to give enough volume spread out over the week to train the squat motion itself while still working with beginner intensity
d) to stress the hormonal effects of frequent, intense squatting
Also, if you read starting strength, Rip’s big emphasis in technique for all of the compound lifts is forcing this sense of keeping the weight over your center of gravity(mid foot). Low bar back squats help train you to be sensitive of this weight position as they more than any other exercise become very inefficient when done ‘off’.
That said, your program looks good as well, find something that you enjoy and that you find physically challenging and ride it out.
Thanks otep and atg410, yall helped clear this up for me. im going to try each for a week and see which one i like better. haha turn boys into men by squating 3x per week… that sounds like my kinda program. thanks for the replies!