I feel I’ve guilty of the same. But it really feels you are on the good path!
What are these precisely? I can’t understand from the reps/sets description
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Might not be able to flame other posters, but the thread itself is a dumpster fire. Don’t bother.
For the most part, yeah. If you focused on squat, bench, deadlift, OHP, 1 or 2 olympic lift variations, dips, and chins, varying the volume and intensity, you could build a pretty freaking solid body. World class? No. Big and strong? Absolutely.
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Concur on all of this. Some great realizations.
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Paul Carter introduced 350 sets. You have 3 sets to hit 50 reps with 60-90 seconds rest between sets. I like 550 sets because A) I’m only doing one extra exercise per session and B) I want more strength. My 550 set is 5 sets to hit 50 reps with 60 sec of rest between sets. It’s kind of a hybrid between PC’s 350 sets and Wendler’s Boring But Big.
We’ve all seen the research cited about hypertrophy being all about failure. Failure at 8 reps generates about the same amount of hypertrophy as failure at 30 reps, but failure at 8 reps had more strength gains. It might be small but why waste the opportunity?
Your training has helped me break free from my OCD back sessions. I used to believe I had to do more pulling than pushing. That led to a lot of extra lifting. Did three sets of bench? Gotta do four sets of rows. Four sets of OHP? Better do five sets of pull ups. And on and on…
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Do it. Grab you piece of social media fitness history. Or at least help a few people learn and incorporate this innovative and effective set-rep method. Seriously.
Ha, I’m actually enjoying the Flame-Free thread. Lots of topics and differing opinions expressed without any flame wars. I find it refreshing.
But, but, but, what about lateral raises and pec flyes??? Oh wait, you covered it here:
Whew! My teenage-wannabe bodybuilder-OCD self who believed Arnold’s “beginner” program in his Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding is the only valid workout method is now mollified 
This, this, this, and THIS.
Thanks for your thinking out loud posts, many of us benefit from them.
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The jury is still out on results since I just came up with it this week. 
There is the difference. Competitor vs Average Joe.
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Hahaha, lack of testing time and evidence doesn’t seem to stop 90 percent of social media personalities 
Word. I think my lack of heavy barbell access (Planet Fitness membership) partially drives the bodybuilder OCD.
In fact, my best strength gains happened when lifting twice a week and running twice a week, @simo74 -style, doing a Dan John heavy-cluster scheme with deadlifts, push presses, squats, weighted pullups, and close-grip bench press for my primary lifts and five other moves for supplements. In fact, that period of lifting followed exactly what you posted, and my results were what you’re experiencing - best program and gym/life balance ever.
But that was then, and my situation is different right now. Bu I digress. I think you’ve hit the heads of all the nails.
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Using a similar thought process to yourself, I’m about to road test a year of boring, basic, sensible programming with no shiny new things attached, see how it works for me. I hope it works well enough for both of us to give up the shiny.
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I’m done with shiny but I’m still susceptible to the next great thing. If I see an article that promises results in an area in which I’m interested then I find myself clicking the link and reading. Luckily, I’m short on mental capacity these days so I close it when I get to the workout and it’s six exercises twice a week for said body part (usually shoulders). Ain’t nobody got time for that.
I understand that goals change so that can be a factor here. But if goals haven’t changed then why aren’t you doing what worked?
Your gym equipment might be different but why can’t you apply the same training to different but similar exercises?
Honestly, I think i just get bored. Lifting weights is kinda boring so I try and find new, interesting ways to do it.
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I’ve done the same but the end result is always the same - I try a barbell movement and get frustrated because my strength has dropped. At that point, I go back to the basics.
The big hoodwink is when you get all excited about your new program and then you get in the gym and realize it’s still just lifting weights.
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That was going to be essentially my next paragraph but my set timer went off.
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My brother and his wife bought a Christmas tree and they fell victim to perception. In an open area, it seemed like the right size. Once they got home, the tree filled their living room.
Our house is big with tall ceilings so they called us. My wife has been wanting a real tree so she said yes… boy is this thing huge. The fake tree is 7’ and the real one is 9’. Apparently this thing was 12’ and they cut it down to 9’ (shortage of trees at the lot).
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I think my issue is conflating the “things I do for fun” with “things I do to get bigger and stronger”. I don’t find brushing my teeth or doing the dishes tedious enough to try and invent new ways to do them.
Yup. Lotta folks run into that one. A big part of that is so many folks try to make the gym “my time”, and when that happens, you don’t want to spend “my time” doing something you hate. Which is why I find it better to treat it like an obligation: something that has to get done. It’s why I prefer training in the morning: just get it over with and move on.
Which is probably why cardio in the mornings was no great chore, but lifting in the morning was a no go for me.
This is why my sessions are shorter and the fluff is gone. I used to spend two hours in the gym and I enjoyed it, but that was when I had weekdays off and the family was out of the house. These days I’m training when the family is home. That’s harder for me.
Also, that “my time” attitude can turn people into jerks. I use to have that attitude and it made me very rigid. If I had to alter my schedule then I’d get upset and it could ruin my whole day.
I’m off work today and haven’t done a thing training related. I’ve been with the family and really don’t feel like training. This is a better approach for me. I won’t be special in the gym but I can do this and still be stronger than most of my peers (sadly, the bar is low in law enforcement).
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