My Next Training Cycle

Training
1

OK, so for 8 weeks I’ve been following a simple program: Weight training twice weekly (Mark Rippetoe’s A and B workouts) plus three days slow cardio to begin with, with pushups, situps, L-sits and pullups added as and when I felt I could do them. At the end of the 8 weeks, I elaborated the program with biceps curls and triceps extensions.
It worked. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, with a bodyweight bench press and I can pull 150kg off the floor for 5 reps.

I’m fitter than I’ve ever been as well. My 5K time is looking better. I ran 3 miles in 22 minutes during the program, and my long sprints and shuttle runs aren’t abysmal any more.
Full details of the program are written down in my training log.

Next, I plan on doing a longer program, organised along the same lines, but with the addition that I am now active in a sport- I’m learning whitewater kayakking, attending sessions once a week.

My questions are:
Is it wise for me to continue varying the overhead presses? I rotate between military pressing, normal overhead pressing and push pressing.
Is it true that overhead presses respond better to higher reps?
Should I use straps on my deadlifts? My grip is once again my weak link.
Is it really wise for me to be doing ab work at this stage?
Should I leave the isolation exercises alone for a bit longer?
What about injury prevention work? I’ve been doing unweighted single leg calf raises on steps for my calves, beyond that I really don’t have a clue about what I should be doing.
At the moment, pullups have been restricted to single sets to less than failure performed daily. Should I increase the volume?

If I’m being too vague, apologies.

2

[quote]Der_Steppenwolfe wrote:
Is it true that overhead presses respond better to higher reps?[/quote]

Strength-wise, a lot of the stuff written in the 50s/60s advocated lower reps, and these were based on what the strong pressers were doing. A fair amount of volume, but lower reps. See Charles Smiths’ series on training the Press. Should be able to find most of those articles on “the tight tan slacks of dezso ban” site.

On the other hand, John McCallum advocated higher reps for the press for shoulder and upper body “development”. As in, size. So… low reps for strength, high reps for size. Nothing too new there.

Are you training the deadlift to build your body, or are you training it to get better at a strap-less competition deadlift? There are other ways to build grip strength too (like farmers walks), so you can separate the two concerns if you want.

–

The other questions, eh, I don’t feel like I have good answer. A lot of it depends on your goals both short term and long term.

3

If a log falls on your sister you won’t have time to ‘strap up’.

You’ll only have time to grip and pull. That’s my thinking.

4

Thank you for your replies.
I think I’ll keep taking the same approach that I have been doing to overhead pressing then- I rotate military presses with high reps, push presses for low reps and straightforward overhead presses for 5 reps, with an emphasis on the straightforward ones.

With regards the deadlift, I’m just doing it to build up. I’d like a better grip, but I don’t think deadlifting stuff I can barely grip is a good way to go. I’ve tried it before and what tends to happen is that the bar starts to fall out of my hands halfway up, and I tend to respond by trying to save the lift by lifting slowly and haltingly. I’ve screwed my back up a few times doing that, and I don’t want that sort of pain back in my life.

I’m not going to change the plan overly much, as the gains are still coming. The 8 week thing I did before got sort of fucked up when I had another breakdown (my fourth) and there wasn’t a gym in the hospital (although I kept doing pushups, pullups and shuttle runs). So I’ve got some lost ground to get back.

5

[quote]Claudan wrote:
If a log falls on your sister you won’t have time to ‘strap up’.

You’ll only have time to grip and pull. That’s my thinking. [/quote]

If a log falls on your sister, she will break a toe. Your point?

Straps are tools. Use them when needed.

Use them all the time, they are crutches.

Overall strength is more important to me then lifting logs off my sister.

6

[quote]JFG wrote:

[quote]Claudan wrote:
If a log falls on your sister you won’t have time to ‘strap up’.

You’ll only have time to grip and pull. That’s my thinking. [/quote]

If a log falls on your sister, she will break a toe. Your point?

Straps are tools. Use them when needed.

Use them all the time, they are crutches.

Overall strength is more important to me then lifting logs off my sister.

[/quote]

Being able to save my sisters from death/pain/suffering is more important to me than anything else in the world.

How much do you hate valentines day?

7

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[quote]JFG wrote:
If a log falls on your sister, she will break a toe. Your point?[/quote]
I think the point is, forget straps. Everyone’s sister should do push-ups, just in case of emergency.

[quote]Der_Steppenwolfe wrote:
Is it wise for me to continue varying the overhead presses? I rotate between military pressing, normal overhead pressing and push pressing.
Is it true that overhead presses respond better to higher reps?
Should I use straps on my deadlifts? My grip is once again my weak link.
Is it really wise for me to be doing ab work at this stage?
Should I leave the isolation exercises alone for a bit longer?
What about injury prevention work? I’ve been doing unweighted single leg calf raises on steps for my calves, beyond that I really don’t have a clue about what I should be doing.
At the moment, pullups have been restricted to single sets to less than failure performed daily. Should I increase the volume? [/quote]

  • That’s fine, especially since you’re handling each with different rep schemes.
  • Not exactly. It’ll vary a bit person to person, but training it heavy/low rep is totally fine.
  • I’d use them only on the heaviest weight of the day and still find time for grip work in another session.
  • That’s fine.
  • No. No need to ignore them, just include them in moderation.
  • Unless there’s a specific reason (like a pre-existing condition), I’d say don’t go overboard with prehab. A thorough warm-up with mobility work and textbook form will cover 90% of what you need.
  • Rather than doing them daily, you could bump up the volume and decrease the frequency, treating them like any other exercise and hit them in one session.

[quote]I’m stronger than I’ve ever been
…
I’m fitter than I’ve ever been as well.[/quote]
Just wanted to point out that these two comments should clue you in that you’ve stumbled onto something that is actually working for you. Good stuff.

(Also, I never got that e-mail you mentioned a while back.)

8

[quote]Claudan wrote:

[quote]JFG wrote:

[quote]Claudan wrote:
If a log falls on your sister you won’t have time to ‘strap up’.

You’ll only have time to grip and pull. That’s my thinking. [/quote]

If a log falls on your sister, she will break a toe. Your point?

Straps are tools. Use them when needed.

Use them all the time, they are crutches.

Overall strength is more important to me then lifting logs off my sister.

[/quote]

Being able to save my sisters from death/pain/suffering is more important to me than anything else in the world.

How much do you hate valentines day?[/quote]
For your sake and the sake of your pathetic sister, I hope the log has a handle shaped just like a bar. BTW, I have never used straps, but I don’t see a problem with people using them as a tool. Speaking of tools…

9

[quote]Ecchastang wrote:

[quote]Claudan wrote:

[quote]JFG wrote:

[quote]Claudan wrote:
If a log falls on your sister you won’t have time to ‘strap up’.

You’ll only have time to grip and pull. That’s my thinking. [/quote]

If a log falls on your sister, she will break a toe. Your point?

Straps are tools. Use them when needed.

Use them all the time, they are crutches.

Overall strength is more important to me then lifting logs off my sister.

[/quote]

Being able to save my sisters from death/pain/suffering is more important to me than anything else in the world.

How much do you hate valentines day?[/quote]
For your sake and the sake of your pathetic sister, I hope the log has a handle shaped just like a bar. BTW, I have never used straps, but I don’t see a problem with people using them as a tool. Speaking of tools…[/quote]

and for my sister’s sake I hope she never meets you because you seem to have mental issues.

10

I’m sorry about that- I was taken into hospital following a serious psychotic episode, which really fucked up my training for a couple of weeks. I can’t find the article I wrote, so I’ll need to type it up again but the community psychiatric nurse is telling me to take it easy (advice I find very hard to take- i hate being useless)

By the way guys, my sister doesn’t come with us when we’re taking trees down, but if by some chance a log did fall on her, I’m fairly confident I could stop it. Unless she got into the felling zone by accident, which wouldn’t happen because mum would have stopped her. In the unlikely event that something fell off the tractor on our way back up, I’d be up on top, we’d cut the tractor’s engine and… …well, suffice it to say I’ve got it covered.

11

Well bugger me, it turns out lifting, working, kayakking, walking an hour plus a day and traditional cardio is too much.
If anything has to go, it’s the running. So the plan is now:
Day 1- kaykking, work and an hour’s walk
Day 2- Lifting, work and an hour’s walk
Day 3- Work and an hour’s walk
Day 4- Rest
repeat for the next 4 weeks and then switch to working on my running in time for the mayor’s fun run in the summer.

Lifting days consist of:
Workout A: Squat, Deadlift, Bench and military press for 3x10 (more accurately, working in the rep range 6-10)
Workout B: Dumbbell snatch 8 sets of singles, clean and jerk 8 sets of doubles, front squat 3x5, push press 5x3
(I stole workout B from Dan John)
I am now eating like a man posessed, and have put on some serious weight. My weight room numbers are going up.
Does this all sound good to you guys?

12

I’ll weigh in on the straps discussion.

They’re a very useful tool if used judiciously. I started off using them wrong and my grip suffered. I hated straps for awhile. Then I figured out just how awesome they can be. I now use straps more than ever. Has my grip suffered? I’d guess not, since I just closed the CoC #2 for the first time recently and certainly don’t have a problem dropping deadlifts. It’s certainly helped my lats get quite a bit stronger. Straps allow you to work your lats harder and eliminates the issues that a mixed-grip brings on the DL. You just have to not be a dumbass and train your grip separately and regularly.

On deads I will use a double overhand until I cannot, then switch to straps. Mixed grip is rarely used in training.

13

Hey bud, sorry to hear about whatever you’re going through. Best of luck getting things sorted out.

[quote]Der_Steppenwolfe wrote:
Well bugger me, it turns out lifting, working, kayakking, walking an hour plus a day and traditional cardio is too much.[/quote]
Dan John had a good line once, talking about how the more busy/hectic/crazy/random day-to-day life is (with work, life, to-do lists, etc.), the more “boring” (simple, uncomplicated) training should be, and vice versa. Just something to consider.

[quote]If anything has to go, it’s the running. So the plan is now:
Day 1- kaykking, work and an hour’s walk
Day 2- Lifting, work and an hour’s walk
Day 3- Work and an hour’s walk
Day 4- Rest
repeat for the next 4 weeks and then switch to working on my running in time for the mayor’s fun run in the summer.[/quote]
Looks straightforward enough.

[quote]Lifting days consist of:
Workout A: Squat, Deadlift, Bench and military press for 3x10 (more accurately, working in the rep range 6-10)[/quote]
If you’re sticking with these four lifts in this session, I’d go: squat, bench, dead, press or squat/dead (alternate), bench, press, squat/dead (opposite of first exercise). To break up the cumulative fatigue of back-to-back squats and deads. Also, just know that deadlifting 3x6-10 with decent weight is no joke and will/should be tough on everything.

[quote]Workout B: Dumbbell snatch 8 sets of singles, clean and jerk 8 sets of doubles, front squat 3x5, push press 5x3
(I stole workout B from Dan John)[/quote]
That was originally meant to be done three times a week (and 5x5 on the front squats). Just wondering, what are you looking to get out of it, more practice with the Olympic lifts? If so, there might be a better way to program it, to account for the lower frequency.

14

I’m just sticking some oly lifting in there to develop explosive strength and so that I can start learning them properly. If there’s a better way, I’m all ears.

cool. So I’ll maybe alternate squats and deadlifts rather than hammering both once a week, I think.

It’s pretty much sorted now. They’ve finally decided that actually getting me some kind of therapy might be a good idea, and the main thing I suffer from mentally now is boredom. Being a mental patient is even more boring than being a junkie was. You spend vast chunks of your life just waiting.

[quote]I’ll weigh in on the straps discussion.

They’re a very useful tool if used judiciously. I started off using them wrong and my grip suffered. I hated straps for awhile. Then I figured out just how awesome they can be. I now use straps more than ever. Has my grip suffered? I’d guess not, since I just closed the CoC #2 for the first time recently and certainly don’t have a problem dropping deadlifts. It’s certainly helped my lats get quite a bit stronger. Straps allow you to work your lats harder and eliminates the issues that a mixed-grip brings on the DL. You just have to not be a dumbass and train your grip separately and regularly.

On deads I will use a double overhand until I cannot, then switch to straps. Mixed grip is rarely used in training.[/quote]
Sounds good to me. I’m thinking of training my grip using single-handed deadlifts.

15

Farmers walks are also an excellent way to train grip. Fat bar work too.

16

cool. That’s three exercises to rotate, should be plenty. Thanks.

I just did my ‘B’ workout and I found it better to oly lift using dumbbells. It seems free-er and not as tough on my joints. For some reason, i seem to have an innate or conditioned fear of olympic lifting using a barbell (as far as I’m concerned, I’m entitled to be wary of over a hundred pounds of steel flying through the air right in front of me?) and the dumbbells circumvent this. I am immensely pleased with myself as I love doing oly lifts with dumbbells.

17

[quote]Der_Steppenwolfe wrote:
cool. That’s three exercises to rotate, should be plenty. Thanks.

I just did my ‘B’ workout and I found it better to oly lift using dumbbells. It seems free-er and not as tough on my joints. For some reason, i seem to have an innate or conditioned fear of olympic lifting using a barbell (as far as I’m concerned, I’m entitled to be wary of over a hundred pounds of steel flying through the air right in front of me?) and the dumbbells circumvent this. I am immensely pleased with myself as I love doing oly lifts with dumbbells.[/quote]

I’m scared of the idea of snatching or jerking with a barbell too.

But high pulls and cleans shouldn’t be too scary, since you just drop the thing and back away. And push press I feel like I have good control over the barbell too.

Although, I think at some point in time, it’ll probably be easier to just use a single barbell instead of trying to control two dumbbells.

18

[quote]Der_Steppenwolfe wrote:
I’m just sticking some oly lifting in there to develop explosive strength and so that I can start learning them properly. If there’s a better way, I’m all ears.[/quote]
If that’s all you’re after, you could use either the snatch, clean, or clean and jerk as the first exercise of the day - fairly low volume, like 4x1-3, and then move into whatever else is planned for the day - instead of having a day just meant to specifically improve the O lifts.

That’s an option, sure. I know Wendler has described a two session a week version of 5/3/1 where you’re only squatting or deadlifting once a week. So it’s possible if the rest of the plan is solid and you don’t end up neglecting legs overall.

Gotcha. Glad to hear you’re getting stuff under control. Boredom is certainly fixable. :wink:

Fair enough. But on some level, it may not seem instinctively safe to put over 200 pounds on a bar, place the bar near your cervical vertebrae, and dip down for a squat. Or similar for a flat bench press. Just saying, some fears are legit but some require conquering (in an intelligent and properly-addressed manner, of course).

Two-dumbbell clean and press, perhaps?

Just something to consider throwing in the old exercise toolbox.

19

Oh, totally. It’s all a matter of eliminating obstacles. I’ve pretty much brought this on myself by doing power cleans the wrong way for the past few years.

[quote]Two-dumbbell clean and press, perhaps?
http://www.T-Nation.com/...in_bodybuilding
Just something to consider throwing in the old exercise toolbox.[/quote]
Them’s the lads. Yeah, they’re definetly in next week’s B workout.

Coolio. What about the idea of doing squats every week and including the deadlift as a single heavy set (of, say, 3-5 reps) after the squatting’s done with?

My knees have been complaining, incidentally. They seem to have got a lot better since I put the tin lid on the whole jogging thing.

Forgot to mention, I’m also doing Chad Waterbury’s PLP as a way of including bodyweight movements without derailing the rest of my training.

Also, eating: I’m currently on the ‘see food’ diet. I’m currently eating four square meals a day (I’m now working again and making enough money to buy some of my own food and do some family shopping, so it’s achievable.) I’ve become very, very hungry since I started this program of my own devising, so I top up inbetween meals with fruitcake and cheese. Seems a pretty sound plan to me.

20

No reason you shouldn’t be able to DL a set of 5 once a week on squat day and not make progress.