One Lift A Day Support Group

Training Bodybuilding
201

Bastard,

Have you ever tried this: after locking out the last rep of push presses, just stand there and hold it locked out overhead for about 20 seconds? I woke up this morning thinking “man, the rows I did yesterday must have been more intense than what I thought, wait, ummm…I didn’t work on pulling movements?”

Anyway, if you haven’t done this, try it next time push press day comes around. Just hold the last rep of the day for an extra 10-30 seconds locked out overhead. Gives you that neat sore feeling all over the upper back. Cool!

later, David

202

[quote]drdgmuro wrote:
omg u r a pussy.[/quote]

what do you really think?

you know, i have done that, but not on a consistent basis. typically by the end of my push pressing sessions, i can only hold the bar locked out overhead for a few seconds. i will certainly add this in starting monday and see how i progress. thanks man.

203

[quote]BASTARD GUY wrote:

i really like push presses and need to get back to them. since i am adding OHS to the warmup to get more frequency (gtg, whatever), i am just doing power snatches.

[/quote]

Dan,

I’ve just started a program something like DJ’s Open Source idea in the discus section on his site where you do two week training clusters. Not that I’m throwing discus or anything but i liked the workout format, although I’ve changed it to 4 workouts/week, as 5 days is too much for me to get to the gym each week. Anyhow, my “warmup” for the first cycle of 3 “clusters” is 2x5 OHS, gradually increasing the weight along the lines suggested in the “Gable Method” article. I’ll probably keep the weight the same for 2 workouts and then increase by 2.5kg for the next two etc. By starting at a low percentage of my 1RM the load will build up by 30kg over the 6 weeks but will give my body time to adapt and hopefully mean significant new PRs in the OHS.

How’s your program going?

Ben

204

I had an epiphany last night while reading MRs latest article on the Perfect 5x5 (or words to that effect). My DL is dreadfully low right now and I want to focus on that for a while without totally neglecting the other lifts. So, I’m thinking about implementing a long-term OLAD plan that focuses on two main lifts each 3 week cycle.

So, in the first cycle I would do Day 1: DL
Day 2: multiple lifts (whatever reps/sets scheme, doesn’t really matter)
Day 3: rest
Day 4: DB Bench Press
Day 5: multiple lifts
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: some kind of “whatever” activity (yoga, pilates, gossip with the girls over lattes, etc.)

I would utilize the regular OLAD set/rep protocols. Of course, the warmup includes a variety of lighter exercises like jumping rope, ab work, turkish getups, pushups, side hip thrusts, scap raises, OH Squats etc.

I would do this for 2 cycles (3 weeks on, 1 off) then subsitute the main OLAD lifts for two others and move the previous OLAD lifts into the multiple lift days with the goal of maintaining the gains made in those lifts.

My thought process is simple (by definition) in that I have trouble balancing the normal OLAD 5 days a week over a prolonged period because of this annoyance called life (job demands, kids, sloth, lust, etc) that keeps getting in the way. With the above program, as long as I can fit in the two main days, everything else can be tailored around my schedule.

What do you guys think?

DB

P.S. I didn’t reread this thread to see if anyone else had come up with this idea before

205

I really like the “whatever” day idea. I came up with the original plan because I had some time every day…but not a lot on some days and this idea (OLAD) made sense.

This is a great thread.

206

[quote]Danny John wrote:
I really like the “whatever” day idea. I came up with the original plan because I had some time every day…but not a lot on some days and this idea (OLAD) made sense.

This is a great thread. [/quote]

I love your OLAD protocol and have done a bunch of times over the last year. Well, two cycles back to back (8 weeks) and one cycle through about 6 months later. Each time I did it, I made really good gains and then I felt like my biceps or flexi carpi or whatever muscle wasn’t getting worked enough.

I think I just need to implement my plan and stick with it for a while. Ideally, I’d like to go for a full year this way, rotating the main lifts. Then again, every plan looks great on paper…

DB

207

Dan … John is it? … welcome to the thread … have you done OLAD? fyi, i invented it.

[quote]bg100 wrote:
By starting at a low percentage of my 1RM the load will build up by 30kg over the 6 weeks but will give my body time to adapt and hopefully mean significant new PRs in the OHS.[/quote]

Brother Benny,

Let me know how this works. Two week blocks … nice and short … flexible … adaptable … sounds good.

We learn a lot along the way. The most recent stint, I call it Revisionist OLAD … I called it OLAD but it totally wasn’t … seemed* to be waaay too much.

  • … my conditioning went way up … got stronger on all of the warmup lifts … a ton of volume … it may prove to be a really effective overreach … so far this stint I am through the roof on stuff … only two days, so maybe premature** …

so maybe, what you do is this (getting in to too much planning? maybe not)

weeks 1-3: OLAD I
big warmups - big volume, increase intensity
good OL part of OLAD

Week 4: back down, recuperate, active recovery, misc, etc

weeks 5-7: OLAD II
reduced warmups - moderate volume, maintain high intensity from OLAD I
GREAT OL part of OLAD

**push press
~6 months ago:

155x65
175x42
195x21

this time
165x75

front squat:
~6 months ago
185x65
215x45
245x30

recent
185x65
205x50
225x49

this time
205x65

notice how easy it is to see progress with such fixed parameters … same lift performed EDT style with 15 min PR zones

the place on my arms where triceps are supposed to be is sore to the frickin’ bone. well, it is bone. but!!! i think i am tricepping … similar to teething, only more painful … my shoulders and traps are sore too … i really think push presses are THE movement for shoulders and triceps for tall, long armed, weak guys.

overall, so far, me likey.

208

[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
i am the most retarded guy on T-Nation

P.S. I didn’t reread this thread to see if anyone else had come up with this idea before[/quote]

first, i totally agree.

second, yes i invented that already. between me and al gore … everything … just give up man.

looks pretty good. it does not take much to maintain strength on other lifts. so you deadlift on monday. then on tuesday you do chins and military and supplemental stuff FOR THE DEADLIFT. then you bench on thursday. on friday you front squat and row and do supplemental stuff FOR THE DEADLIFT.

we better see lots of back extensions and GHRs and reverse hypers and pull throughs and heavy abs and gasp leg curls … and stuff.

just my thoughts.

209

[quote]BASTARD G wrote:
dollarbill44 wrote:
i am the most retarded guy on T-Nation

[/quote]
Come on, to be fair, there have to be at least 5 people on here more retarded than me (or at least 3?).

Well, I had been hoping to keep the other days at 10 minutes or less. I think I read somewhere that you can get really big with only 10 minutes per day, including warmups and cool downs and eating 2,000 calories per day. Your plans for me translate into at least a 15 minute workout and may push me over the edge into overtraining.

DB

210

[quote]bg100 wrote:
BASTARD GUY wrote:

i really like push presses and need to get back to them. since i am adding OHS to the warmup to get more frequency (gtg, whatever), i am just doing power snatches.

Dan,

I’ve just started a program something like DJ’s Open Source idea in the discus section on his site where you do two week training clusters. Not that I’m throwing discus or anything but i liked the workout format, although I’ve changed it to 4 workouts/week, as 5 days is too much for me to get to the gym each week. Anyhow, my “warmup” for the first cycle of 3 “clusters” is 2x5 OHS, gradually increasing the weight along the lines suggested in the “Gable Method” article. I’ll probably keep the weight the same for 2 workouts and then increase by 2.5kg for the next two etc. By starting at a low percentage of my 1RM the load will build up by 30kg over the 6 weeks but will give my body time to adapt and hopefully mean significant new PRs in the OHS.

How’s your program going?

Ben[/quote]

I should give more details on what I am actually doing for this program.

The program DJ wrote on his site called for 5 workouts per week: 2x5,5/3/2,2x5,rest,6x1,2x5,rest for about 3 big compound exercises each day. The exercises stay the same each day for the two week “cluster”. The 2x5 days are to be light days where I guess you can focus on speed of the reps.

As I mentioned before I can’t get to the gym 5 days so I am changing it to 4 days with the rep schemes being 5/3/2,2x5,6x1,3x8. Now with the last day I have broken the “Rule of 10” that DJ mentions in the original program of no more than 10 reps/day/exercise. but with one less day/week I think I can cope with the extra volume on one day to make up for the missing 5th workout.

My exercises for training cluster 1 are:
OHS - 2x5 every day, bump weight 2.5kg every 3rd workout.

The main lifts are:
Squat Snatch
Front Squats
Incline BP
BB Row

After the “light days” I’ll throw in a rotator cuff or prehab exercise such as pull throughs or scap pulldowns etc, and some sprints at the field next to the gym.

On Monday I learnt for the first time how tough 5/3/2 can be, even though it seems easy on paper! I did the 2x5 last night and screamed through the workout, done in 25 minutes. With short rests it felt more like some kind of circuit workout and definitely got the heart pumping.

So I’ll see how it goes for the first cycle of 3 clusters and then look at changing the rep schemes and some exercises.

A question for DJ, when using this with your athletes do you repeat the 3 clusters with the same exercises but different reps, or change both at the same time? Also, as I have described I’m dong only 4 workouts/week, is it OK to make one of those days a more volume based workout like the 3x8 I have mentioned above or do you believe this would have a negative effect on what the program is trying to achieve?

Cheers,

Ben

211

Also, i should mentioned that I liked Dollarbill’s program idea.

212

Hello my fellow OLAD partisans,

Well, I said I’d get back to you after I did my next not-OLAD, so here I am. The cycle went well … particularly considering that I just flailed around uselessly (well, almost) from April 1 to July 30.

Actually, I did lift at least once a week in that time frame and, more importantly, I got back to judo and started TKD from May 1 on. So, I’ve only be slacking with respect to OLAD … not in all things physical.

So, what was my not-OLAD like this last round (I actually have to finish my last two days … which will happen today and tomorrow)? To summarize briefly for Da … err BF … err, Bastard Gu…, err … let’s just say “not a details guy”:

WitW + OPAD (warmup is the workout + one plane a day).

In slightly greater detail:

WarmUp + vertical (press/chins)
WarmUp + legs (sumo DL/fr sq)
WarmUp + horizontal (floor press/cbl rows)
WarmUp + total (clean + jerk)

made up my 4 days.

Twice, I got a fifth workout in where I did some warmup type stuff and then worked up to a nice 10RM safety bar, box squat and a nice set of reps on a log press along with some other random stuff. Sort of a less intense, whatever day. For those that follow my nOLAD stuff, this is at my good friend’s house that has all
the toys.

So, my progression was OLAD … 7x5 (ugh), 6x3, … but my 2RM day was like this: 5-3-2-5-3-2. I’m sorry. I just need a few more reps to get going. The double lifting on leg day really sucks.

What about the WarmUp? Generally, it consisted of two circuits made up of exercises that weren’t going to be part of the main lifts. I also incorporated my hip/lower back rehab exercises in at this point. Here’s a sample from a vertical arm day:

Circuit 1:
Gob Sq / 1-arm DB rows / Ring Push Ups / 1-leg Box Squats

Circuit 2:
OHS / 3-way PD abs / side bends / hip corrections

Other:
4 way hip (don’t laugh)

This time around, I did two rounds of each circuit. I kept the reps low enough that I felt fresh, high enough that I knew I was working. My next nOLAD cycle, I’m going to add in snatches after the warmup and before the main lifts. I’ll keep the warmup about the same (maybe add 2-3 reps per exercise) and let the snatches serve as my progression … plus, I’m running a 10k at the end of Sept. so I’ll have a bit more cardio (boo … hiss) anyway. Hope I don’t shrivel up.

For a leg day, I did:
Circuit 1:
Gob Sq + Thruster / Chins / Dips / GM

Circuit 2:
3 way abs / side bends / band pull aparts / 4 way

Regards,
Mark

P.S. I have a new OLAD weight calculator at:
http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~fenner/personal/lifting/olad2.html

The old one still works at:
http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~fenner/personal/lifting/olad.html

The new one is simplified. Simple is better.

213

Ok, I’m going to do OLAD for the next 12 weeks with the plan of adding between 5 - 10 lbs per lift per week. To get acclimated to the volume, I started “Day 1” yesterday with 155 lbs. It took 40 minutes.

Day 1: Clean and press. Warmup, 36 singles.
Day 2: Off
Day 3: Deadlifts. Warmup, 36 singles.
Day 4: Off

  • Repeat *

Goal: Clean and Press 225x6, Deadlift 405x1

For now, I’ll be using singles to ensure perfect form. “Off” days may include bodyweight exercises including 2 mile runs, pushups, pullups, dips, etc.

Baseline…

8-14-2006: Clean and Press 190x1, Deadlift 335x3, Seated Mil Press 205x1 (all PRs)

5-10-2006: Clean and Press 115x6, Deadlift 255x4, Seated Mil Press 135x5 (numbers reflect a layoff of several months)

214

[quote]December 2005

Week #1:
Mon push press 155 for 65
Tue front squat 185 for 65
Wed PULLUPS (not chins) me for 60
Thu bench 185 for 60
Fri one legged DB DL 60#s (total) for 60 per side
Sat bentover row 185 for 60

Week #2:
Mon push press 175 for 42
Tue front squat 215 for 45
Wed pullups me plus 25#s for 44
Thu bench 205 for 45
Fri 1 leg DB RDL 50# dbs (100#s total) for 45 / side
Sat bentover row 205 for 48

Week #3:
Mon push press 195 for 21
Tue front squat 245 for 30
Wed pullups me plus 50#s for 21
Thu off rest
Fri off lazy
Sat bench 225 for 30
Sun 1 leg DB RDL 70# dbs (140#s) for 28 / side *
Mon bentover row 225 for 32

July 2006:

1.1 snatch and OHS - 95# x 55
1.2 bent row - 185 x 82
1.3 front squat - 185 x 65
1.4 double kb clean & press - 2x53 x 45
1.5 single leg RDL - 2x35 x 60/leg

2.1 115# x 34
2.2 205 x 58
2.3 205 x 50
2.4 2x53 x 52
2.5 2x53 x 60/leg

3.1 135# x 17
3.2 225 x 46
3.3 225 x 49
3.4 2x70 x 17 (10 min PR zone)
3.5 2x70 x 30/leg (10 min PR zone)[/quote]

August 2006

1.1 push press 165 x 75
1.2 front squat 205 x 65
1.3 snatch 115 x 65
1.4 bent row 205 x 75
1.5 one leg RDL 2x53 x 70/leg

2.1 185 x
2.2 225 x
2.3 ??? x
2.4 225 x
2.5 2x70 x

3.1 205 x
3.2 245 x
3.3 ??? x
2.4 245 x
2.5 2x88 x

215

[quote]Feanor76 wrote:
I have a new OLAD weight calculator at:
http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~fenner/personal/lifting/olad2.html

The old one still works at:
http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~fenner/personal/lifting/olad.html

The new one is simplified. Simple is better.[/quote]

Nice work with the calculators! Thanks for doing that (or at least posting them). Good to see I wasn’t too far off on weight selection.

David

216

OLAD July 2006:
7 sets of 5
Squat: 315, 335, 365, 405, 355, 385, 425.
Push Press: 135, 145, 155, 165, 145, 165, 185.
Deadlift: 355, 395, 425, 465, 405, 455, 495

Aug. 2006:
7 sets of 5
Squat: 325, 345, 375, 415, 365, 395, 435.
Push Press: 140, 150, 160, 170, 150, 170, 190.
Deadlift: 365, 405, 435, 475, 415, 465, 505

Competition Goals: 450 Bench, 715 Deadlift.

David

217

I can’t get my sleep tonight, so I’ll just add to the thread.

currently, I hit trains all day with sledgehammers for a living. So I get my gpp at work. Along with stacking feed bags.

My one lift a day schedule revolves around work.

Day 1: fill a barrel with feed and lift

Day 2: See how many 50 pound bags of feed you can push press or bent press

Day 3: Push-ups with bags of feed on your back. Make sure your co-worker isn’t and ass and slams the bags on your back

Day 4: I confess I use those Blue fitness chest expanders from lifeline. I get in a Squat or deadlift position and try to push it up for 6 second hold at home.

Day 6: Neck Lifts at home. Wrestlers bridge. It seems to improve stability with overhead squats.

Day 7: Finally go to gym. DJ routine overhead Squats until tired, front squats until tired, then some negatives. Everyone stares. They have never seen overhead squats.

Some days I get to tired. If I feel worn out. I just won’t do it until my body catches up.

218

[quote]bg100 wrote:
I should give more details on what I am actually doing for this program.

[/quote]

Well, this program has unfortunately got to stop after only 1 week as I’ve done something to my left hip/glute/left lower back. I’ve had a bit of a niggle over the past month or so but last night I really felt some pain after the workout so I have decided (belatedly) to rest the leg and head off to the doctor to see what’s wrong. Hopefully I’ll just need some physio/ART for a while and things will be fine, but given my track record of major injuries to my knee I’m a bit nervous that something else has happened, I never seem to get out of these things lightly!

I’m going to get my posture etc checked as well to see if I have any imbalances that could have caused this. The pain mostly occurred during squats.

Meanwhile, I’ve got to come up with a new program (again!) to do whilst getting this treated. Obviously this will focus on upper body, but I’m going to work on my right leg with single leg exercises. I’m also going to see if there are any bilateral stuff I can do without causing any pain. Obviously squats and full squat O-lifts are out. I may be able to do some power O-lifts from the hang and romanian deads, I’ll have to see what affects the hip.

Anyone got any ideas on a sort of program I could come up with focusing on upper body (probably a good chance to get my bench up to speed!) with a bit of lower body work? Any help would be appreciated.

Ben

219

[quote]bg100 wrote:
Anyone got any ideas …[/quote]

brother Ben,

how many days you want to lift? you should take advantage of your soon to be atrophying lower body and get busy with dips and chins!

ok, you have all kinds of options.

since the oly lifts involve so much hip drive, i would think you want to stay away from them?

my suggestion:

every day, warm up with core and unilateral low load controlled lower body stuff for rehab … TKEs, split squats, one leg RDLs, lunges, step ups …

then a 4 day OLAD:

chins or pullups (bw pull)
incline bench (the ghey, part I)
off
rows (the ghey, part II)
dips (bw press)
off
off

remit payment to …

220

Greetings All Old OLAD-ers :wink:

I have just started my 6th OLAD cycle.

Before I started it however I was (and I’m still) on the Joel Marion’s Cheater’s Diet for the last 7 weeks. The results were amazing in terms of fat loss. I have lost 18 lbs. and 5,5 inch at waist (now it is 30,3 in.). I have also had nearly 3 weeks break in lifting due to travel to Middle East.

So, when I have started my OLAD cycle now I have realized two things. Firstly - my strenght has gone down and I need to make more conservative weight choices, secondly - I need one day of a break every two days of OLAD.

So now my OLAD looks like that :

Warm up (same before each workout) :

Goblet Squats
OHS (baby weight, still learning this lift)
Pullups

Day 1 - Front Squats
Day 2 - Bench Press
Day 3 - OFF
Day 4 - Sumo Deadlify
Day 5 - Military Press
Day 6 - OFF
Day 7 - Squats
Day 8 - Power Cleans
Day 9 - OFF

Some abs work at the end.

I’m planning to finish the Cheater’s Diet in one or two weeks, I hope I will manage to regain some strenght despite of the fact that I’m 18 lbs lighter now.

Then I’m planning to increase caloric intake again and attempt to gain some muscle mixing OLAD cycles with cycles of more volume (or maybe I will just add more to my warm ups).

Good luck to all fellow OLADers, may the force be with you! :wink: