One Lift A Day Support Group

Training Bodybuilding
141

[quote]Feanor76 wrote:
bg100 wrote:
I did the first workout yesterday and decided that 6x4 snatches are hard! Especially after 3 months off O-lifts, however I was pleased with how I went, even if I ended up mostly power snatching in the last few sets.

Ben

Ben,

I looked back over your OLAD+Oly+pre/aux/ab set up. As Dan Fouts said, “It looks perfect”. grin

Just an idea, you might alternate “drop snatches”/“snatch balances” with OHS for a bit of variety. Of course, everything else is pretty varied, so you might need the straight OHSs as your stability!

Regards,
Mark
[/quote]

Mark,

Great idea! For this cycle though I would like to stick with the OHS to get used to them again, because like you said I need to improve my stability/flexibility for the O-lifts. As I have been doing a deadlift specialisation plus a shoulder rehab program for the last 3 months I need to get used to a few of the exercises again, so my parameters in the next cycle will most likely be very different plus I think I will be up o changing things around a bit more.

Thanks for the advice.

Ben

142

[quote]bg100 wrote:

Mark,

Great idea! For this cycle though I would like to stick with the OHS to get used to them again

Thanks for the advice.

Ben[/quote]

Ben,

That’s even better … I was going to edit my note to say “next time around you might do …” because I’ve learned that you need to COMMIT for four to six (eight?) weeks at a time without rethinking it.

If you don’t like something come the end of that period … change it next time … but change it based on your experience.

If you (not you as in Ben, but you as in whom-so-ever) are too scared to commit to what you’re doing for that four to six weeks, you better 1) do something less complex or 2) take up knitting.

For those that know philosophy … be an empiricist, not a scholasticist.

Regards,
Mark

143

I was told to come back after I finish the first OLAD cycle, so here I am …

This cycle was as follows :

Week 1

Day 1 - Deadlift - 5 @ 198, 220, 243, 254, 243, 254, 265
Day 2 - Dips - 5 @ BW, 11, 17, 22, 17, 22, 28
Day 3 - Squat - 5 @ 176, 187, 198, 209, 198, 204, 209
Day 4 - off
Day 5 - Bent over row - 5 @ 132, 143, 157, 165, 143, 154, 165
Day 6 - Military Press - 5 @ 79, 87, 94, 99, 85, 90, 101
Day 7 - off

Week 2

Day 1 - Deadlift - 3 @ 229, 259, 287, 243, 265, 287
Day 2 - Dips - 3 @ 11, 22, 33, 22, 28, 44
Day 3 - Squat - 3 @ 187, 209, 231, 198, 214 and 2 @ 231
Day 4 - off
Day 5 - Bent over row - 3 @ 143, 160, 176, 149, 165, 182
Day 6 - Military Press - 3 @ 88, 99, 110, 94, 101, 116
Day 7 - off

Week 3

Day 1 - Deadlift - 5 @ 265, 3 @ 287, 1 @ 309
Day 2 - Dips - 5 @ 28, 3 @ 44, 2 @ 50
Day 3 - Squat - 5 @ 209, 3 @ 231, 2 @ 243
Day 4 - off
Day 5 - Bent over row - 5 @ 165, 3 @ 182, 2 @ 187
Day 6 - Military Press - 5 @ 101, 3 @ 116, 2 @ 121
Day 7 - off

I have to say that I have really enjoyed this cycle. My overall feeling is that my strength has improved, however in order to prove that I will have to try a bit heavier weights in my next OLAD cycle I guess …

As to other observations - I have gained about 2 pounds, hopefully some of that are muscle. I was feeling slight constant tension in my muscles even on days off as well as some kind of “tightness” in midsection.

However I was never really dead tired as I was expecting after reading the oryginal OLAD article and some posts here - does it mean intensity of my workouts is too low ?

The basic measurements hasn’t changed though, except maybe a quarter of inch in tights.

I would appreciate all your comments as well as some recommendations, especially on :

  • what to do during the “off” week :wink:
  • how to plan the second OLAD cycle (shall I just keep everything as it was except trying to move some more weight?)
  • shall I add any assistance work during the second cycle ?

Thanks,
WRG

144

Well, here is the plan for the next OLAD cycle :

Mon - Front squat
Tue - Deadlift
Wed - off
Thu - Squat
Fri - Push press
Sat - Power Clean
Sun - off

or even

Mon - Front squat
Tue - Bench press
Wed - Deadlift
Thu - Squat
Fri - Push press
Sat - Power Clean
Sun - off

I hope it makes more sense that the previous cycle. I will also do my best to use greater poungages.

145

The new plan (two lifts a day with some accessories on Sun/Wed).

Sun: Safety Bar Box Sq / Fr Sq
A: Incl DB / Mixed Grip Chins

Mon: Full Clean + Push Pr
Tue: Dips / Hang Full Snatch

Wed: Sn Stiff DL / Sn Duck DL
A: Push Ups / Face Pulls

Thur: Wgt Chins / Mil Press

I updated my OLAD weight calculator:
http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~fenner/personal/lifting/olad.html

I’ll be aiming to use the medium progressions. The accessories will be in “hypertrophy” or endurance ranges.

Regards,
Mark

146

[quote]WRG wrote:
I was told to come back after I finish the first OLAD cycle, so here I am …
[/quote]

Welcome back! Glad you survived.

Maybe. Don’t worry about it too much.

OLAD is mainly for gaining strength … you’ll get hypertrophy along for the ride.

[quote]
I would appreciate all your comments as well as some recommendations, especially on :

  • what to do during the “off” week :wink:
  • how to plan the second OLAD cycle (shall I just keep everything as it was except trying to move some more weight?)
  • shall I add any assistance work during the second cycle ?

Thanks,
WRG[/quote]

During my off weeks (three of them, b/c of a vacation) … I spent A LOT of time working on my overhead squats and my other low squat positions (mainly front squats and Dan’s famous goblet squats). I posted some of this in the thread, I think. I also went skiing for three days and did one hard workout at some point in there.

I’d do the exact same OLAD and try to get the weights where you’d like them (I assume you’ve started already!).

If you want to do assistance work, that’s your call. But beware, assistance “creep” … whereby the assistance becomes the main exercises. Do something like this: give yourself 10 minutes at the end of your workout to do anything you want to your biceps, triceps, lats, delts, abs, calves, etc. And when that 10 minutes is done, walk away!

Regards,
Mark

147

Many thanks for all your comments. Unfortunately I haven’t started as planned - I have caught a flu (fortunately not a bird one lol) and while still being sick I had to go for a business trip to France where I have been working for 16 hrs per day so OLAD on top of that would be a no-no …

Anyway I have return home last night, got some sleep, spent a day at work and as soon as I went back home today I was … front squatting. I have decided to follow Dan John’s suggestions and to go with the new cycle, that is :

Mon - Front squat
Tue - Bench press
Wed - Deadlift
Thu - Military Press
Fri - Squat
Sat - Power Clean
Sun - off

I hope I will manage to reconcile this schedule with work schedule getting tighter and tighter. Anyway I’ll do my best.

I will report in 3 weeks … if I survive :wink:

148

[quote]Feanor76 wrote:
The new plan (two lifts a day with some accessories on Sun/Wed).

Sun: Safety Bar Box Sq / Fr Sq
A: Incl DB / Mixed Grip Chins

Mon: Full Clean + Push Pr
Tue: Dips / Hang Full Snatch

Wed: Sn Stiff DL / Sn Duck DL
A: Push Ups / Face Pulls

Thur: Wgt Chins / Mil Press

Regards,
Mark[/quote]

Well, three more weeks have gone by … far too quickly. This worked out pretty well for me. Kept the accessories on Sundays (with a little variation) and didn’t do the Wednesday accessories. I threw in face pulls and band pull-aparts throughout many workouts.

Swapped a few workout days here and there … doubled up a few workouts as well (a nice thing about many short workouts is that you can rearrange them as time and physical/mental stress require).

I really enjoy supersetting squats (front and PL back). The DL variations were ok … mainly because I had never dedicated effort to doing either stiff-leg or duck/frog style. I don’t think I’ll superset DLs again (grip was a big issue … esp. at snatch width).

I’m doing a deload this week (3 of 3 @ ~90% in several important lifts) and then I’ll be testing myself the following week. Then a week without any lifting at all (oh my!). Bought a pair of 75 and 100 DBs for .30/lbs. Fun, fun! Numbers and revised goals for December in my next report.

Some nOLAD thoughts: I’ve enjoyed pairing “big stuff” … but I think there are limits. Upper body push/pull seems to work nicely. Clean + Jerk works nicely (surprise?). Front Sq and PL Back Sq I have a sick fondness for (with large rest periods). As I mentioned, DLs + something big seems a bit foolhardy … unless you are picking up a new DL variation.

My next nOLAD cycle will probably be a “big lift” + an unrelated isolation (squats + curls or 1-arm rows, DL + tris) on the slow leg lifts and keep the push/pull upper body.

Regards,
Mark

149

Three weeks have passed and my second OLAD cycle is now a history. Despite of permanent lack of time and unusually long work schedule I have managed to do all workouts as prescribed, six times per week.

Mon - Front squat
Tue - Bench press
Wed - Deadlift
Thu - Military Press
Fri - Squat
Sat - Power Clean
Sun - off

I have used the most heavy weight settings from Feanor76’s OLAD weight calculator. In the last week of doing doubles (5,3,2) I have improved slightly my double max in all six lifts, however during this cycle I was using 5 minute breaks before doing a double which was a bit more than I have used before. Anyway, I’m very pleased with strength increase, especially with 11 lbs bigger squat.

Apart from the lifts above I haven’t done anything except some reps here and there for biceps and abs.

In the hypertrophy department - no changes. Maybe 1/4 more in tights … However this might be not training related - huge stress at work, not enough sleep, sometimes missed meal. On the other hand mayby a bit more of volume is needed for hypertrophy, who knows … What is strange, I have never had any DOMS during these 3 weeks, or any problems with walking next day, nothing like that. I admit, there were days I was feeling very tired, but nothing more.

Now I definitely need a “week of” - I will practice some light overhead squats and other light things for recovery, I will do some GPP and maybe just one brief harder workout.

When this week is over I would like to repeat exactly the same OLAD - I hope I don’t have to change exercises or anything else yet. All I will try is to add some weight to the bar. I have still this feeling that maybe I should add some higher rep work tyo force my muscles to grow but I’m not sure if I ruin the entire concept of OLAD this way or not … Any comments and advices are certainly welcome!

150

I’m in the middle of my second OLAD cycle. I’m doing:

Sunday: Front Squats
Monday: Power Snatches
Wednesday: Back Squats
Friday: Power Clean + Push Press (every rep starts on the ground)
I do the Armstrong Pull-up program every day. Trying to get my dead hang pull-ups to 30.

My rep scheme on the Power Snatches and PC+PP are reps in 20 minutes. Once I get over 50 reps, I add 5lbs - 10lbs the next workout. I do the same set/rep scheme Dan John outlined for the squats.

So far, so good. I’ve been adding weight most workouts and like WRG wrote, am not sore. I plan to do this variation for a couple more months, then change things. Maybe I’ll keep the workouts the same, but change the rep scheme.

Ray

151

Yeah, stick with this…don’t change. The hardest part of OLAD is dialing in the right amounts for each lift…don’t quit just yet.

152

Many thanks Dan, quitting is not an option whatsoever! My main concerns were whether to:

a/ make any changes to exercise choice/variation

b/ add some assistance exercises

Now the third question arises - how to dial in the right amounts for each lift. Here probably I make mistakes, on some lifts trying to add too much, on others too little. Is there any general rule like trying to add 5% for instance to each lift during one OLAD cycle?

153

[quote]WRG wrote:

I have still this feeling that maybe I should add some higher rep work tyo force my muscles to grow but I’m not sure if I ruin the entire concept of OLAD this way or not … Any comments and advices are certainly welcome!
[/quote]

WRG,

Glad to see another OLAD warrior (even if I’m a badly bastardized OLAD warrior). I know Dan said to stick with it a bit more … and that’s great, wise advice. I was thinking about “changing up” my routine … then I realized I was making good progress. Yikes! Changing a “perfect program” strikes again!

However, if you want to ignore Dan’s advice (at your own peril), here’s another opinion. One think I like about the OLAD framework is that you can make about one billion variations of it in “little” ways. Two-lifts-a-day … two “big” lifts … one big, one little lift … adjust the warm up … throw in 10 minute of GPP “finisher” at the end. But only do ONE change per different cycle. Learn how the constant parts effect you and change it little by little for progress and to keep it interesting.

All that said, if you’d like a bit more hypertrophy, try at week of 10x10, a week of 10x5, and a week of 10x3. Or, more sanely, 5x10, 8x8, 5x5 in the major stuff. Maybe, 3x10, 5x5, 10x3. I don’t know … maybe just keep the first two OLAD weeks and drop the heavy week … so 5x10, 7x5, 6x3.

Regards,
Mark

154

Many thanks for all advices. I think I will repeat the previous OLAD cycle without major changes. I might just add again few sets for abs and biceps. I will try to add up to 5% to all lifts.

The most important goal for me at the moment (after thinking it over and over again) is to reach the lowest standard of strength, that is 200/300/400 lbs. in 3 big lifts. And, according to OLAD rules, it should be a double, not single :wink:

Current doubles from the last cycle were 188/254/309 so there is still a lot of work to do. Hypertrophy will follow or not - if yes, that’s great, if not, I will have more strength for the next training plans dedicated more towards building muscles. How does it sound?

155

Quick update to bump this thread - I have just finished a week of fives of my third OLAD cycle. I have added 5-10 lbs to all my lifts in comparison with the previous cycle. The lowest progress with back squats, but they have been done on day 5, after front squats on day 1 and deadlifts on day 3, so I was not surprised with that. Power cleans on day 6 however were great, go figure …

156

Good to see you progressing, WRG.

I’ve actually gone to a slightly different routine for the next 4-6 weeks. I want/need to hit my form on some key exercises … more than OLAD calls for. So, I’m alternating two days of compound exercises over three workouts per week.

Day 1:
PL Back Sq
Bench/Rows
Pwr Cl

Day 2:
Fr Sq
Mil Press/Chins
Deadlift

Some of you might recognize this, more or less. I’m also starting with 15-20 minutes of “Magnificent Mobility” work and about 10 minutes of snatch work (things really fell apart and I’m back to doing assistance stuff to get back to a decent full snatch sigh).

I plan on hitting one-major-LAD + one-wimpy-LAD after I run this 4-6 weeks. I found OLAD really pushed my maxes (which was great!), but left my strength-endurance in the dust. I’m trying to catch up. I’m also trying to figure out how to incorporate waves into my current routine.

Regards,
Mark

157

[quote]Feanor76 wrote:
Good to see you progressing, WRG.

I’ve actually gone to a slightly different routine for the next 4-6 weeks. I want/need to hit my form on some key exercises … more than OLAD calls for. So, I’m alternating two days of compound exercises over three workouts per week.

Day 1:
PL Back Sq
Bench/Rows
Pwr Cl

Day 2:
Fr Sq
Mil Press/Chins
Deadlift

Some of you might recognize this, more or less. I’m also starting with 15-20 minutes of “Magnificent Mobility” work and about 10 minutes of snatch work (things really fell apart and I’m back to doing assistance stuff to get back to a decent full snatch sigh).

I plan on hitting one-major-LAD + one-wimpy-LAD after I run this 4-6 weeks. I found OLAD really pushed my maxes (which was great!), but left my strength-endurance in the dust. I’m trying to catch up. I’m also trying to figure out how to incorporate waves into my current routine.

Regards,
Mark[/quote]

Mark,

Program looks good, simple, yet probably very effective! What sort of sets/reps are you shooting for on this program?

Ben

158

The idea of little variations is really important. I think the key to the whole idea is to train hard within some level of reason. This is a great thread.

159

[quote]bg100 wrote:
Mark,

Program looks good, simple, yet probably very effective! What sort of sets/reps are you shooting for on this program?

Ben
[/quote]

Ben,

I wish I had some quick, succinct answer for you. I don’t. I’m really tinkering with my sets/reps/rest right now. Since I’m doing significantly more movements, I’m really trying to keep the rest intervals short to keep the total workout time under 1.5 hours (remember, the first 20 minutes is mobility work then about 10 minutes of Olympic technique work). So, I’m trying to keep 1 hour of heavier lifting.

Because of my split (two days A and B of lifting three times of week), I have the following cycle:

Week 1: A,B,A
Week 2: B,A,B

So, every other week, I’m doubling up on one of the days. I think going heavy on both of those days is generally, a bad idea (at least for myself, right now). So, I’m considering making the second “doubled” workout (i.e. Day A in Week 1 and Day B in Week 2) be with lighter weights … and then either doing “Dynamic” or “Repetition” style work.

So, if:

  1. heavy days are 3-5 of 3-5 (decent, general, “heavy” guidelines) or 5/3/2/5/3/2 as a “test”,

  2. dynamic days are 8 of 3 at 60-70%, and

  3. rep days are 5 of 10 at 60-70%

We might have this (AH = Day A, Heavy … BR = Day B, Rep … AD = Day A, Dynamic):

Week 1: AH, BH, AR
Week 2: BH, AH, BD
Week 3: AH, BH, AD
Week 4: BH, AH, BD

I haven’t thought about a strict rotation of the Dynamic and Rep days … Just do that by feel. Of course, you might spread the Heavy days to first and last in the week. This might also depend on your daily readiness … if you had a bad night sleep, baby kicking screaming, coworker quit and you are swamped … swap the current heavy day to later in the week and take a rep/dynamic day.

Another rotation that jumps out at you is this (one pairing of Day and Heaviness per two weeks):

Week 1: AH, BR, AD
Week 2: BH, AR, BD

There are also possibilities as far as mixing rep ranges on a given day.

I’m likely to move the power clean out and move “Bulgarian” split squats in … since I’m looking at having whole days of quick-lifting work. In fact, deadlifts on quick day would likely be power cleans. Eric C. has convinced me of the benefits of unilateral leg work.

I’d also really like “little” variations in the weight … even of “flat” set schemes. Just enough for some different stimulus (in the literal sense).

In short, I’ll be able to answer you question better in about 5 weeks.

Regards,
Mark

160

It’s time to bump this post up and to post the update. I have finished another OLAD cycle - results same as before, that is slight strength increases in all lifts, no signs of hypertrophy.
On one hand I would love to stick to OLAD since its simplicity and workouts length fits perfectly my busy schedule, on the other hand I would like to see some muscle growth …
I’m tempted to try a classic 5x5 routine to see what happens :

Monday - Squat, Bench, Power Clean 5x5 plus weighted hypers and sit-ups as assistance

Wednesday - Squat, Military Press, Deadlift 4x5 plus some abs work

Friday - Squat, Bench, Power Clean 4x5, 1x3, 1x8 plus assistance : 3 sets of weighted dips (5-8 reps), 3 sets of barbell curls and 3 sets of triceps extensions (8 reps)

The only doubt is whether it is not too early to make a break from OLAD (Dan would probably recommend just to stick to it and to stop being a pussy …)