Thanks dude! It’s a Frankenstein’s monster built out of necessity, but somehow it’s accomplishing what I need it to.
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Can you give me a quick run down on your current plan mate? Did you go with that God is an O-Lifting Beast idea?
For sure! I’ve still got a couple more weeks left of the Anchor for my current set-up, but I’ve worked out the kinks for the upcoming block.
Bear with me, it’s gonna be a little long.
GOD IS AN OLYMPIC POWERBUILDING BEAST
DAY 1
Power snatch
- Uses God Is A Beast set-up, but 3’s pro instead of 5’s. Also, the BBS weeks will rotate different supplemental lifts from Leader to Leader, and Anchor to Anchor. Leader 1 is snatch high pulls from the floor, Leader 2 is hang power snatches, still thinking about the Anchors. Supplemental lifts still use 5’s.
- Why? I’ve found using 5’s for the O-lifts to be just a touch too taxing, and speed starts dropping off after the 3rd rep, and when they slow down technique falters which is no bueno for the O-lifts. The supplemental lifts are rotating to progressively work on building strength through each phase of the pull.
Back squat
- 3x8 @ FSL. Simple. This is just to build lower body strength and assist the front squat. Things like pauses can be used depending on how you’re feeling that day. Have a separate TM for this.
- Why? Front squats are, by and large, better for the O-lifts than back squats, which is why we relegate this to only FSL work for the block. 3x8 is used just because 3 sets takes less time than 5, and 3x8 is only one less rep than 5x5.
Weekly rotating extensions
- I always use a 3/5/1 set-up instead of 5/3/1. 3’s week: barbell good mornings for 3x8. 5’s week: back extensions for 2x12. 1’s week: stiff-leg deadlifts for 4x6.
- Why? Low-back and hammy work is important for not only the O-lifts, but athletics in general. The lifts rotate simply to alleviate boredom, and allows me to get in assistance lifts I enjoy, albeit irregularly. The set and rep schemes are to capitalize on the medium/light/heavy nature of the 3/5/1 layout.
Chins
- 25 total reps. Doesn’t matter how you get there. And these are full ROM reps.
- Why? Because chins are good for you. Train your back.
DAY 2
Bench
- 5’s pro & 3x8 @ FSL. The FSL work is paused bench for a 2/3/1 count on weeks 3/5/1 respectively.
- Why? Because benching is good if your shoulders can tolerate it, and I want to increase my bench. Pauses are done because I’m weak off my chest.
Weekly rotating back work
- 3’s week: T-bar or V-handle landmine rows, 3x15. 5’s week: some type of DB rows, 2x25. 1’s week: barbell rows, 4x12. I always go heavy with a little body english.
- Why? Lots of the same reasons here as with the extensions on Day 1; I have lots of exercises I love but don’t have the room for in a tight schedule, so I rotate them weekly. I always use a little body english because I’ve found my back responds better to going heavy and cheating a little.
Curls
- 2-3 sets to failure. Again, really doesn’t matter how this is achieved, as long as it’s not half-assed and done with intention. The type of curl doesn’t matter either.
- Why? Because I’m a back-dominant puller, my arms get very little stimulation from pulling movements, which means I need direct arm work. Plus, because of all the pressing I’m doing, I need to train my elbows in the opposite pattern or they get cranky.
Abs
- Just do a bunch of hard ab work. I usually shoot for a minimum of 25 reps here, or 10 total minutes of work if I want to do a loaded carry instead.
- Why? Because weak abs mean a weak athlete. Fucking fight me.
DAY 3
Power clean & power jerk
- See power snatch. Leader 1 supplemental is clean pulls, Leader 2 is hang power cleans, Anchors will be some type of overhead pressing.
- Why? See snatch.
Front Squat
- 5’s progression.
- Why? Front squats are badass and they help the O-lifts. No crossed-arms grip here. Clean grip only to help build the back.
Weekly rotating pressing
- 3’s week: DB fly-press, 3x8. 5’s week: tricep bar incline press, 2x12. 1’s week: bent-arm pullover press, 4x6.
- Why? All of these are still compound pressing movements, but they bias certain muscles more than others. Fly-press for the pecs, incline pressing for the delts, pullover presses for the triceps. However, they all still have the triceps heavily involved, because I’m trying to get my triceps stronger.
Abs
- Same as Day 2, but I usually will do rotation or lateral flexion if I worked my rectus the prior day.
- Why? It’s good to train the core in all planes.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
- The weekly rotating exercises are all done slow and controlled, usually in a constant-tension fashion. This is the time to get a pump and build. Same with curls.
- Also regarding the rotating exercises: they’re not set in stone, it’s just what I’ve found to work best for me while still 1) being enjoyable, and 2) build on the things neglected by the main work, while still helping to actually support the main work.
- I do 5 sessions of aerobic work/cardio per week, with a minimum of 2. Day 1 is weights in morning/afternoon and a 2.5km run in the evening. Day 2 is the same, but a 5km ruck walk, and Day 3 is a 25 minute bike session instead. The other 2 sessions on non-lifting days are a 5km run and a 45 minute bike session. These should be just hard enough to put you in that “zone 2” HR area. The aerobic sessions are used to, yes, get me better at cardio shit, but also act as recovery from the weights. Zone 2 is great for that by strengthening the heart to promote better blood flow and the building of veins/capillaries.
- For the power clean & jerk, only the first rep is cleaned.
- I use the minimum amount of assistance work because 1) I’d rather go heavier for fewer reps, and 2) I’m tight on time. When I hit the anchor, to get in addition assistance I just tack on 25 additional reps with a band of whatever exercise I was doing (or at least in the same ballpark). Extensions? Band pull-throughs. Bent arm pullovers? Tricep pressdowns. Chins? Band pulldowns. You get the idea.
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Thats a really detailed write up, thanks. Definitely look to steal some of these ideas.
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No worries! Hope something in there helps. I certainly have a habit of explaining more than is necessary, but the “why” is always so important.
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High frequency O-lifting sounds interesting in terms of jacking up the yoke. But honestly, so does everything right now. Feeling slightly lost in a sea of options.
Not sure if you want advice or not, but this is the internet so I’m gonna ram unsolicited advice down your throat anyways.
The program I’m doing now and the next block I outlined above was created 100% out of necessity. I, similarly to you, am so fucking stressed in every aspect of my life right now. I had to find some way to make training as uncomplicated as possible while still enjoying it. The answer became focusing solely on the things I enjoy, and eliminating anything that I wasn’t 100% into.
This led me to focus on aerobic conditioning and the barbell. Nothing else. Kettlebells? I enjoy them, but if I wanted to get better I’d have to devote more training time to them, which meant removing time from the big barbell lifts I liked. Bodybuilding? Good for focusing on pump work and potentially reducing stress, but I’d rather focus on movement as opposed to muscles, so that got dropped. I eventually settled on full-body, focusing on the easier versions of O-lifts because I care about them, and 2 of the 3 powerlifts because I don’t have a good bar for deadlifting. Aerobic conditioning gets a minimum of 75 minutes per week, up to 150+ minutes, because again, I enjoy it and it’s good for recovery.
All of this is a super roundabout way of saying: take some time to think about the fitness things you ACTUALLY enjoy, and make pursuing those your goals. Like pull ups? Great, become the pull up king of the world. Really enjoy the barbell press? Find a program that will push it. Don’t enjoy something (like running)? Either drop it or contain it to one session a week, preferably before something you enjoy doing; when you’re stressed continuing to do something you hate, for a hobby you’re supposed to enjoy, is stupid and will just burn you out.
Structure on that can vary wildly, but I know CT recommends higher rep pump-style work while stressed because it isn’t as taxing on the nervous system. Another option could be Charles Staley’s “3-5” idea, which is 3-5 exercises, for 3-5 sets and 3-5 reps, done 3-5 days a week. Conditioning could even follow this idea by putting a tabata session on the end of each session.
I know I’m not strong by a lot of the standards here, nor am I an exceptional strength coach, but I genuinely like helping people. If you need anything dude, feel free to ask.
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Wow man it’s like you plugged into my head for a moment there you testosterone soaked son of a gun 
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I was thinking along similar lines to you mate: do the stuff that gets me excited to train. Especially because my next block will be only a short 6ish week block designed to pack on some lost muscle. Reading your thoughts definitely gives me licence to throw out shit I don’t want to do, like BBS sets, because fuck that. No-one can get excited about that kind of crap.
I focus best when I go with original 531, one main lift a day set ups because I can just focus on one thing in the session. There are flaws there, because I’m simple and in my mind squat day = quads, bench day = chest day, press day = shoulders day and deadlift day = hamstrings day. You’ll notice a lot of missing muscle groups there, like arms and back and core which I’ll try and sneak some extra work in for, but if not, its only 6 weeks.
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Exactly. 1.5 months out of a year, and training career, is insignificant. You got this, my guy 
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I am a big fan of how you set this up and the thought process behind it. Always love seeing the work getting done here.
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Thanks, dude! Appreciate that.
If you can stomach doing supersets with your presses then you’d have a “complete” program. I like Jim’s approach of combining rows with the presses. They’re not programmed; just pull something. Some days I count BPAs or straight arm band pull downs as my back work.
Bare minimum is the way to go when your plate is full.
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24/03/2021
Stationary bike
- 45 min
Notes:
- Just making sure to log all activity. Nothing special about this session at all; just turned on the TV and biked away. This was supposed to be a 5km run day, but the weather had other ideas and blew in a great big final “fuck you” snow storm.
- I’ve also nailed down some endurance goals, inspired by the Canadian Special Forces standards: hit a 00:01:15 400m, a 00:10:00 2.5km, a 00:20:00 5km, and a 7km 75lb ruck walk in under 01:20:00. I think all of those are 100% doable within this year. I’m pretty sure I can already do the 400m. The 2.5km will probably be the hardest to get. The 5km will require shaving 5 minutes off my current time, which I hit on my first try after not running in months and only using the stationary bike. I got this.
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I think the 10 min 2.5k is more doable than the 20 min 5k. My wife is a great runner in my book (not a pro) and she never broke a 20 min 5k. We’re talking about a woman that ran a marathon while in her first trimester of pregnancy and a half marathon under 7:30 mile pace (she was trying to qualify for the Boston marathon but her asthma said no about 2/3 of the way through).
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5k run is one of the nastiest fitness tests out there in my humble opinion
Especially if running isn’t your forte.
Even more so if you have west of Scotland legs 
Seriously though, trying to pace yourself, redlining the whole way etc
It’s tough as fuxk
However I’m sure the man @kdjohn will fucking own it
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Alright, I’d love to here the origin of this statement 
It came from a old coach of mines.
You’re not Scottish are you @garagerocker13 mate?
Midwestern US here, but Austrian/German/Irish descent. Only Austrian is recent enough to affect culture.
I mean, the second one is literally just doing the first one twice in a row. So yeah, the first one is easier.
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