You’re crazy
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@j4gga2 Morning sessions are brutal. I’d know, as someone who has also done 5 AM sessions. You damned liar.
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Also, a tip for conventional: look up when you’re locking out. It helps me. Also, your conventional may have gone up, because deficits are almost never as strong as conventional pulls.
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Cheers
Yeah true
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Wednesday 10th of October
Bench: 1’s Wave, Week 2
Forgot to set my alarm so had to train in the afternoon. Yuck.
Warm-up:
- yeah nah
Rows / Bench:
- 20x10+
- 45x5
- 52.5x4
- 57.5x3
- 65x2
- 72.5x1 PR
Pull-Ups / Z-Press:
- 5 / 20x6
- 5 / 27.5x6
- 11 / 35x8
Circuit A: Band Pull-Aparts / Incline DB Press / Seal Rows
- 3x15 / 35x3x10 / 35x2x10, 8+4+4 RP
Circuit B: Hammer Curls / CG pushups / PJR’s
- 20x3x8 / 3x8 / 12.5x3x15+
Looking at getting 5 hours sleep tonight.
It’s only day 3 of term.
Fuck. This.
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You got this man!!
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Cheers mate, that extra bit of support always helps.
How’s your term going?
Thursday 11th of October
Conditioning
Rowing Ergometer at lv 5 resistance, 1:1 work:rest ratio
- 500m in about 1:40
- 400m in about 1:30
- 300m in about 1:00
- 200m in about 0:30
- 100m in about 0:20
Rest somewehere between 5 and 8 minutes
- 100m in about 0:20
- 200m in about 0:30
- 300m in about 1:00
- 400m in about 1:30
- 500m in about 1:50
This was a really solid workout, getting 3km total.
Also 5hrs sleep was not enough. I need to graduate ASAP.
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Had an idea for another loading scheme I might try some time. Any thoughts? @MarkKO @kleinhound @strongmanbrett @duketheslaya @losthog
Not sure I’d be able to do the AMRAPS on the main lifts given the volume, but it could be worth a shot
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I’m probably the wrong guy to ask about percentage programming, I’ve always had more an athlete mindset that a coaches mindset, meaning I can repeatedly turn up and do what’s asked, but not so great at programming myself. For me, I always had good strength progression just doing prescribed reps with the heaviest weight, and an Amrap with a drop, like you could do your 70/80/90 weeks, but maybe do the Amrap set with 70% regardless of what your top set of 5/4/3 is, does that make sense? Make your heavy reps perfect and then get the extra work in sort of thing
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yeah that actually sounds pretty smart. Maybe I could do something like:
1- 5x5 @ 70%, AMRAP @ 60%
2- 4x4 @ 80%, AMRAP @ 70%
3- 3x3 @ 90% AMRAP @ 80%
4- 5x5 @ 75%, AMRAP @ 65%
5- 4x4 @ 85%, AMRAP @ 75%
6- 3x3 @ 95%, AMRAP @ 85%
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Also probably not the best person to ask about this because my training has been loads of trial and error for myself. Definitely like the AMRAP at the end. I found that when my volume drops too rapidly like 25reps to 16reos to 9reps then I don’t get very good gains in either strength or hypertrophy. AMRAP’s are a great way to challenge yourself and add volume. Really it’s about what works for you, give it a run and and see how well it works for you.
If it’s a complete bust then don’t use it again, but if you feel there are some ways you can tweak it then I say go for it, I’ve always had loads of fun tweaking my programs and other programs to my liking! I don’t think it looks bad personally.
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Just checking, did you mean the AMRAP on the heavy weight (eg 5/5/5/5/5+ @ 70%) or the downset (eg AMRAP @ 60%)
Look at Prilepin’s chart. Adjust sets and reps accordingly.
Supplemental volume is weird, TBH, and it doesn’t say anything about the load. I’d follow Prilepin’s chart again for those, and change supplemental lift weekly.
I would suggest doing it - if at all - in a stepped way. So in a week, one lift at 70, one at 80, one at 90. Next week a lift one at 80, two at 90, three at 70, and so forth.
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Cheers for the great response 
Will do
So the idea was just to push those 3 sets as much as I could, and beat whatever weight I did 3 weeks ago (eg if on week 2 I got 100x3x8, on week 5 I’d try 105x3x8).
Makes sense
This one confuses me. Is changing to supplemental lift weekly just trying to fix weak points in a given lift? In all honesty, the “supplemental” lift is more there as a “general” barbell lift that isn’t a squat, bench press, deadlift, or shoulder press. On another note, I actually have a really shallow understanding of what lifts help fix certain qualities. Do you know any good resources for this?
Sorry you lost me 
What’s the purpose? size or strength?
Take a look at CT’s program simple guaranteed strength and size program, it’s on his own website google the program and it would turn up as one of the first suggestions, his own site is a bit confusing and not easy to navigate.
I would think doing 5 straight sets would take a lot out of the amrap.
I would do it like this:
week one 3x5 reps 70% + one amrap 60%
week two 3x4 reps 80% + one amrap 60%
week three 3x3 reps 90% + one amrap 60%
the next weeks go with 75/85/95 and amrap 65%
Supplemental use Paul Carters 350 sets pick a weight amrap rest a minute amrap rest a minute amrap. EG: curl 25 kg x 20, 13, 10 = 43 reps keep weight for next work out then 25 x 25, 15, 12 = 52 reps next work out more weight.
Or find a program written by a coach and follow it, there are a lot to choose from.
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I probably did a shit job of explaining.
This is what I meant. The supplemental selection is for demonstration purposes only. I’ll explain why later
Week 1
Monday
Squat 4x5x70%, AMRAPx70%
Close stance squat 3x10x55%
Tuesday
Bench 3x4x80%, AMRAPx80%
Wide grip bench 3x10x60%
Thursday
Deadlift 2x3x90%
Rack pull at mid shin 3x10x50%
Week 2
Monday
Squat 3x4x80%, AMRAPx80%
Pause squat 3x8x50%
Tuesday
Bench 2x3x90%, AMRAPx90%
Close grip bench to a one board 3x8x70%
Thursday
Deadlift 4x5x70%, AMRAPx70%
Deadlift without touching the floor 3x8x65%
Week 3
Monday
Squat 2x3x90%, AMRAPx90%
Wide stance squat 3x6x80%
Tuesday
Bench 4x5x70%, AMRAPx70%
Spoto press 3x6x70%
Thursday
Deadlift 3x4x80%, AMRAPx80%
Snatch grip deadlift 3x6x70%
Ok. Now you probably see why I put so many caveats about running this. It’s not great.
Whoever wrote this has found out about volume and some very basic management of fatigue, kind of like someone who’s just started carpentry and has discovered hammers and nails. They see how both are really useful, so they decide they’re so useful that’s all they’ll use to build a wooden house.
Sure, they’ll end up with a house of some kind. It’ll be pretty shit compared to the wooden house built by the guy who’s figured that out saws, planes, glue, levels, measuring tapes, bolts, mortice and tenon joints, etc are really fucking handy too. Hammers and nails have their place, but they aren’t the be all and end all.
Your main lift is for practicing proficiency at that lift. Depending on the bar weight, you do more or fewer sets of more of fewer reps within an optimal window of total reps.
Your supplemental lifts are builder lifts, and can be referred to instead as muscularly similar movements (MSMs). They improve areas of your main lift that are lagging. It is often a reasonable assumption to make that more areas of your lifts are lagging than are not, so really as long as you do a variety of supplemental lifts you should be ok, ESPECIALLY if you focus on those you find hardest. We generally use the same or more often less weight for the MSMs than the main lift because by their nature they are harder. Because they are variations of the main lift, it usually pays to manage their sets, reps and total reps in the same manner as the main lifts. There is no reason not to express them as percentages of the main lift for this same reason. It also makes life easier.
The overall purpose of training is to generate fatigue, as it is recovery from fatigue that allows us to improve. We must manage our fatigue, however, because too much fatigue will lead to injury. Regular deloading is an essential part of fatigue management.
Another part of fatigue management is looking at what we do in training as a whole. Three heavy triples in the deadlift will be more taxing than 10 light triples. So after those heavy triples, we won’t do sets of 10 of a supplemental exercise because that will most likely be some other kind of deadlift. We might do a set or two of five at a low percentage, or simple ditch the MSM and do some assistance - and not much or heavy of that. After the 10 light triples, on the other hand, we can certainly do some MSMs, and quite a bit of volume of them AND assistance too. Carrying this on, we will generally do more bench supplemental work and assistance after heavy bench than either heavy squat or deadlift, because bench tends to be significantly lighter.
We also look at MSMs in a similar manner. Some are much more taxing that others, or suited to more or fewer reps. Paused variations are harder, and generally work better with fewer reps and sets. Decreased ROM variations can often be done for higher reps. We will generally try to match the fatigue cost of the MSM to the main movement: taxing loads of main movement mean less taxing MSMs in lower volume and vice versa.
Lastly, the more we do something, the better we get at it. We adapt, and as we do the thing becomes easier and easier, generating less and less adaptation. So when we do a supplemental lift, we hope to improve part of a main lift. If we do the supplemental enough, we will adapt to it, reducing its effect. So we rotate them, the loads, sets, etc.
Look at Prilepin’s chart
For 70%, 25 reps is already over the maximal recommendation for total reps. That’s 5x5, not even including the AMRAP. For 80%, you’re meant to aim for 15 total reps and no more than 20. For sets of four is 16. You see where I’m going, right? Then you’ve got your blanket supplemental reps.
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Bit of both? Right now my training is working to one heavy set on the main lifts, then lots of higher rep stuff afterwards
Yeah, I’ve read it. Good stuff! 
That looks pretty cool too, I’ll have a think
350’s fun, I’ve used it on assistance. It would actually make a lot of sense to use it for supplemental lifts (as I have them programmed currently), although I hate to think about how awful 350 Front Squats would feel
In all honesty, I like to write my own programs to:
- learn
- get personal satisfaction from creating something myself
I know my programming isn’t going to be as good as CT’s, but I’m okay with that because I know I’d start fiddling anyways.
Thanks for the great response!
RIP my program
That does seem to describe me well as things are currently… oops
In all honesty there’s a lot to respond to here (thank you so much, was not expecting this level of detail tbh) so I might not use anymore quotes.
Having read the section you wrote about main lifts and MSM’s, I think I can see the major flaw in my approach: I wanted to use the main lifts as a ‘strength’ stimulus and supplementals as a more hypertrophy-focussed movement. It actually makes sense programming them with prilepin’s chart now. Besides, if I need volume I can always push the assistance, right?
I’m also noticing that I always program every lift the same way. I think I read a post you made once taking issue with how 531 approaches all the lofts the same way, and this explanation has finally clarified why that was so much of an issue (thank you).
Just on MSM, I realise extended ROM movements would be more taxing than the main lifts, but by what degree, in your opinion?
That final part on adaptation makes a lot of sense too. However, as someone who is more or less unfamiliar with a lot of variation, could this principle be applied to assistance work, and supplementals be kept to 1-2 per main lift?
Also, just on the prilepin’s chart thing, since all my percentages were calculated off 95% of a 1rm, dont they actually fit into the range given by that chart? Otherwise, is it better to apply Prilepin’s chart to a traininh max?
This was honestly such a detailed and thorough response I’m not sure I can fully express how grateful I am. Thank you for taking that much time out of your day.
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