Steel Nation: How The Hell Do Ya Train?

Training
41

[quote]Quasi-Tech wrote:
Steel Nation, I have to ask… are you an official “Yinzer” or just a part of the “Nation” itself?

Where are you currently training? At home, at a fitness club, at a hardcore gym. I know the 'burg has some pretty hardcore gyms in the city, but once you get outside (like where I am) its more the fitness club type atmosphere. Hence why I lift at home.

Based on your current health and physique, what are your goals going forward?

P.S. I haven’t had a cinnamon poptart in forever, and now I’m craving them. Thanks for reminding me :P.[/quote]

Born and bred my man. The first thing any kid from Pittsburgh puts on when they’re born is a Stillers onesie.

I was training at all three for a while. I have a gym in my garage, I would go to Celli’s Fitness in Lawrenceville to do my main sessions, and I’d go to LA Fitness in East Liberty (pronounced E’Sliberty) to do accessory stuff and conditioning. The LA Fitness is a block away from work so I can go at lunch. Celli’s, while carrying the dubious “Fitness” moniker, is a pretty hardcore PL gym. Best setup I’ve ever seen for it. I used the home gym on weekends or holidays.

Now I just train at home and LA Fitness because I’m not doing anything that requires special PL dedicated equipment. It sucks, but it is what it is.

My first goal is to figure out what can be done with my hip. That is really all I can plan for right now. But let’s just imagine that I get it replaced and am able to resume training like nothing ever happened in a year or so. That’s an easy exercise, because I dream about it all the time. In that case, my long-term goals would be:

Squat - 545x3 (current best 475x3)
Deadlift - 650x1 (current best 605)
Bench - 405x3 (current best 375x3)
Press - 275x5 (current best 225x5)

I have a hard time putting physique goals down on paper because I don’t have a reliable method for testing bodyfat. Apparently they do hydrostatic weighing at Pitt, but I’ve had a hell of a time getting in touch with anyone there to see if I can have it done.

I don’t really have any interest in stepping on a stage in posing trunks, but that might change in the future.

So my physique goals are to improve every year by looking better than I did the previous year. That’s a pretty subjective and murky goal to pursue, so I really just focus on the behaviors that I believe will get me there: busting ass in the gym and eating well.

42

I’d love to hear your own progression that you came up with if you’re willing to share!

43

Man I’ve been super busy and away from T-Nation for a while and come back to this thread.Hat’s off to ya SN.You have a great build of size,density and leanness,I love it.I commend you for your strength and attitude with dealing with your injuries and set backs.

I’m dealing with a stressful move and a recent Injury myself and reading this made me realize getting down and upset Is not going to make the situation any better.I hope the hip gets better which ever way you have to tackle the problem.Once again much respect to ya big guy and thanks for the write up and Info.

44

[quote]chobbs wrote:
I’d love to hear your own progression that you came up with if you’re willing to share![/quote]

It’s mind-numbingly simple really. And it’s not like I invented something new, people have been doing this since the first weight was lifted.

Sample for Bench Press (say your 5RM is 315)

Week 1:

255, 275, 295x5
275x3x3 paused
255xAMAP (leave a rep or two in the tank)

Week 2:

same weights x6
same pause sets
same back-off

Week 3:

same weights x7
same pause sets
same back-off

Week 4:

same weights x8
same pause sets
same back-off

Week 5:

add 10 lb to all sets and start the 4 weeks over, repeat until you can’t hit the reps for the week, then deload and start back with triples at the weights you stalled at, working up to sets of 5 over 3 weeks, adding 10 lbs and starting over, then repeating until you stall. At that point I would be doing the pause sets with the weight of the first set instead of the second, and I would do the back-off with 20 lb less than that.

I guess you could then deload again and start back with singles with the weight you stalled at, working up to triples, etc. I never did that but it seems like it should work.

You could deload after any 4 week cycle if you think you need it, I just never did because when you add weight and drop the reps back down it’s kind of a natural deload.

It’s just linear progression. Nothing groundbreaking and quite boring really LOL.

I never used it for deadlifts or press either, just squat and bench.

45

Maybe I’m just dumb for not being able to figure out lol but what percentages are those?

46

[quote]chobbs wrote:
Maybe I’m just dumb for not being able to figure out lol but what percentages are those?[/quote]

I didn’t use percentages. I just picked a weight below the 5RM and worked up from there. I guess if you wanted to use percentages you would just take around 80% of 1RM.

So if your 5RM is 315, then your 1RM is 362 (using the charts with 5RM at 87%) and your 8RM is 80% of 1RM, so 290…

LOL so I guess the numbers I used in the example don’t make much sense then, but the point is to start with a weight that you can easily manage for 5, and build up to 8 over a few weeks, then add weight and cut the volume back to 5s, etc. Maybe a 10RM (75% of 1RM) would be a better starting point that would allow for more progression before you stall.

If you start with an 8RM it is possible that you won’t hit 8 reps in the last week the first time through, and you obviously don’t want that. In that case you would start with your working sets as:

230x5
250x5
270x5
250x3x3 paused
230xAMAP

then build that up over 4 weeks to:

230x8
250x8
270x8
250x3x3 paused
230xAMAP

Then add 10 lbs (or 5 if you want to make smaller jumps) and repeat.

I never really thought of it in terms of percentages. When I did it I just used numbers that I knew would be manageable the first time through and that I could work up from for a few cycles. I will have to check my old log to see what numbers I used.

EDIT: Oh and the weights for the other sets are kinda just arbitrary jumps that I’m comfortable with. I used 30 lb jumps for squat and 20 for bench, just because that’s what I like. I guess those are like 5-6% jumps though with a 1RM of 362.

47

Isnt that basically 5/3/1

48

[quote]Derek542 wrote:
Isnt that basically 5/3/1[/quote]
Not exactly. You use a different percentage every week with 5/3/1.

49

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:
Isnt that basically 5/3/1[/quote]
Not exactly. You use a different percentage every week with 5/3/1z.[/quote]
Fuck it Im out

50

Very inspiring SN. Thanks for sharing your story. You’re a warrior.

I have a fucked up back that I used as an excuse forever (and still often do). You can see how much of a fat-ass I got when I hit 35 in my hub.

Reading how you battle through adversity and your results is a great inspiration for me - I appreciate you being open about it.

Best of luck with the hip - surgery blows, but I like your attitude that you don’t want to get worse by waiting, you want to get better.

51

Besides the fact that he’s a Steeler fan (Ravens da best), looking awesome dude. I hope I look that good at 30.

52

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:
Isnt that basically 5/3/1[/quote]
Not exactly. You use a different percentage every week with 5/3/1.[/quote]

5/3/1 is somewhat similar but not really, because it depends on rep PRs where this does not.

Like I said, I didn’t invent anything new. Back in college I used to use roughly the same thing but I’d go 5/4/3, 6/5/4, 7/6/5 then 8/7/6 with the reps for each set, with no pause sets or down sets. I was basing that off of wave loading by Poliquin (I think that’s who it was), but I would only do one wave a workout. I know CT has posted about set/rep schemes like that too. What I posted above was sort of a variation of that with pause sets and a down set added, so I guess it is a “Poliquin-inspired” program of sorts.

I guess I shouldn’t have called it “my own progression scheme” though. Apologies if that was disingenuous in any way. I should have been more clear, I just didn’t think back to where I originally got the idea.

I just checked the archives and apparently I got it from an Ian King article:

And here’s Cressey saying that multiple waves suck (I disagree and think he misunderstood the intention):

And Thibs with more on it:

And a TC(!) training article (!) about it:

Poliquin’s 1-6 training article:

So now I can’t remember if it was Poliquin, Ian King, or TC…it’s a good thing this isn’t a PhD thesis defense.

Anyhow, those are some pretty cool articles all the same. Lots of great stuff on here back in the day.

53

[quote]HotShot818 wrote:
Besides the fact that he’s a Steeler fan (Ravens da best), looking awesome dude. I hope I look that good at 30.[/quote]

A Raven’s fan from Wisconsin… now I 'dun seen everything.

Be careful what waters you tread sir, the Steel(er) Nation is supposedly the largest “nation” in the USA. SN here just bears the weight of that nation on his back and carries it, that’s why he’s so massive.

In all seriousness though, I’ve heard of Celli’s Fitness. And you’re right, its anything BUT a typical fitness club. Supposedly one of the most hardcore PL gyms in the 'burg. I considered joining it when I finished SS and considered going into powerlifting, but I didn’t want to make the long drive from work/home every day. The owner supposedly is a really nice guy and has turned out some impressive gents in their respective weight class.

Also, if you admit to wearing said Steelers onesie as a wee one, there has to be an obligatory show of your current paraphernalia adorning your current physique. It’s only right after all.

This is a good comment to a lot of guys. SN has focused primarily on the big lifts throughout his “career” thus far. He’s reached a very respectable total and yet has an impressive physique as well - one that many bodybuilding-centric folks envy. This is just good ol’ fashioned proof that lifting heavy gets the job done.

54

[quote]Quasi-Tech wrote:
In all seriousness though, I’ve heard of Celli’s Fitness. And you’re right, its anything BUT a typical fitness club. Supposedly one of the most hardcore PL gyms in the 'burg. I considered joining it when I finished SS and considered going into powerlifting, but I didn’t want to make the long drive from work/home every day. The owner supposedly is a really nice guy and has turned out some impressive gents in their respective weight class.

[/quote]

Yeah Ryan is a cool dude. He was helped me out when it came time to peak for some of my PRs. Amazing lifter too. I think he still holds the all-time record for the 198 raw division with an 1840 (or so) total. His back is all kinds of fucked up though so he’s switched to bodybuilding. Just won an NPC show a month or two ago.

Nope on that record. Just checked and it now belongs to Jesse Norris. Beat Ryan’s record by 10 lbs.

55

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Nope on that record. Just checked and it now belongs to Jesse Norris. Beat Ryan’s record by 10 lbs.
[/quote]
Was about to say lol. Only 19 too (my age :/).

56

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Nope on that record. Just checked and it now belongs to Jesse Norris. Beat Ryan’s record by 10 lbs.
[/quote]
Was about to say lol. Only 19 too (my age :/).[/quote]

That’s insane. Kid is a phenom.

57

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Nope on that record. Just checked and it now belongs to Jesse Norris. Beat Ryan’s record by 10 lbs.
[/quote]
Was about to say lol. Only 19 too (my age :/).[/quote]

That’s insane. Kid is a phenom.

Norris - 1850@198 lbs Raw, (839@90kgs) 19 years old, All-time WR in total and squat - YouTube [/quote]
He does strongman too. All around cool guy.

58

Holy shit, freakin badass physique there! Thanks for sharing all that info, man!

59

good work.
and only hit legs hard every other week i was tinking of doing doubles

60

bloody hell, you have a awsome physique Steel Nation!

fun to read how the big dawghs r doing things.