Strength and Conditioning

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Hi. I have lately been reading Jim Wendler articles and his blog and was reminded of what I started lifting for in the first place.

I started at about 400 pounds and after a year I’m currently 318. My weightlifting stats are as follows.

OHP 165
Bench 265
Squat 365
Deadlift 380

There was a 3 to 4 month period during my year of lifting that I almost stopped completely, but I picked back up and now these are my numbers.

My issue though is I realized what I lifted for in the first place wasn’t simply to become strong at lifting, but to become a good athlete. I believe for any good athlete carrying ones bodyweight is quite possibly the most important thing you can be able to do.

I don’t eat a lot because I need to lose weight still (I’m too heavy to have great conditioning, which is important to me (note I’m not saying I’m not TRAINING to have better conditioning, just that how heavy I am is a limiting factor in the peak conditioning I can be at)) and still want to get my lifts up which I know can take a while considering I don’t eat a bunch, but one thing I really want to do is to be able to do chin-ups, pullups, dips and muscle ups.

Does anybody have any advice on doing these? Currently I can’t do one chin-up, pullup, or dip. I just tried to do a chinup right now. I got close and maybe I can squeak out one (I was doing it on some square wood shaped thing, and also deadlifted yesterday so my hands were hurting like a motherfucker so I think my grip gave out. Maybe could do it if I had not just deadlifted and was using a better shaped “bar”) chinup, and can struggle and do a dip, but I don’t really think this is helping me train to improve the volume of these I can do.

What are some recommendations (if any are even needed) to help me improve these without adding too much assistance work or anything onto 5/3/1 (I currently do the big but boring routine.)

Also, this is somewhat a separate but unrelated question but in an article I see Jim say to use 90% of your 1RM. Other places I see it referenced as only using it for the first 4 weeks. Is it better to use it the entire time or just for the first 4 weeks? Thanks.

2

Not sure if you lift at a gym or not, but the gym I go to has a really nice weight assisted dip/pullup machine. There is a surface that you step down on (some of them you put your knees on it) and you can select an amount of weight to push back up so you can do dips and pullups with less than your actual body weight.

There is also of course just lat pulldowns. Plenty of lat pulldown machines out there with which to mimic a pullup. There are also dip machines that you sit down on and there are handles where your hands would be for dips and you can load weight on and push down.

Also (this is trickier) you can set up two parallel benches and rest your heels on one while you have your palms on the other one and you can do sort of dips that way. It’s not quite as hard as a regular dip. In fact you could even just use one bench and have your feet resting on the ground and your palms on the bench doing dips that way.

You can also do chinups the normal way and just have someone behind you spotting you or holding your legs or something to assist you in doing some more reps.

3

I can’t believe I forgot about those kind of dips…

I’ve heard some bad things about weight assisted dip and pullup/chinup machines, so I’m not sure about that.

I may try to get somebody to hold my legs. For Lat pulldowns, does it really work all the same (or close to the same) muscle groups as a pullup/chinup? If so, I may need to take something out to put that into my program.

4

You need to buy the 5-3-1 book. It explains strength, conditioning, stretching and pretty much everything you will need.

You are not doing the program correctly if you dont understand the 90% training max concept, which is basically the whole foundation of the program.

5

I have not read the book and don’t really have money right now, could you give me a exert explaining it?

6

Theres about 20 articles and 4 FAQ threads on here explaining any detial you need to know. If you search around, Im sure you will find everything you need.

Search for “How to Build Pure Strength”…I think that was the title of his article explaining it back in 2009.

7

[quote]csulli wrote:
Not sure if you lift at a gym or not, but the gym I go to has a really nice weight assisted dip/pullup machine. There is a surface that you step down on (some of them you put your knees on it) and you can select an amount of weight to push back up so you can do dips and pullups with less than your actual body weight.

There is also of course just lat pulldowns. Plenty of lat pulldown machines out there with which to mimic a pullup. There are also dip machines that you sit down on and there are handles where your hands would be for dips and you can load weight on and push down.

Also (this is trickier) you can set up two parallel benches and rest your heels on one while you have your palms on the other one and you can do sort of dips that way. It’s not quite as hard as a regular dip. In fact you could even just use one bench and have your feet resting on the ground and your palms on the bench doing dips that way.

You can also do chinups the normal way and just have someone behind you spotting you or holding your legs or something to assist you in doing some more reps.[/quote]

Another option would be to get a light band from elite fts, and hook it around the chin up bar and stand on it. When you can get a decent amount of reps like that, bend your knees and put it under your shins. When you can get a decent amount of reps with that, you should be good for enough reps on chins to switch.

You can also do the exact same thing with dips.

Also, if your focus is on the conditioning, BBB probably isn’t the best option for assistance. I would probabaly go with the triumurate or something similiar.

Also, grab the book. Get the 2nd edition (It’s got some more stuff, plus all the stuff that was in the first edition).

Best of luck to you.

8

First congrats on losing so much weight. The reason that you find bodyweight exercises hard is not “conditioning” which relates to stamina, muscular endurance, and VO2 max but simply strength. You don’t have the strength to do those lifts because your strength to weight ratio is not high enough. So if you want to be good at body weight exercises you simply need to get stronger all around. This combined with losing weight will make them seem easier and will allow you to crank out some reps.

In terms of conditioning that means work capacity - your ability to work at a reasonably high level of intensity for a good period of time - a mover that can pack up a house all day without getting tired or needing to rest will have good work capacity. You might find this article helpful for working on your conditioning as a start:

Finally a bit of tough love. If you don’t have the ability to scrape together 20 bucks to buy his book which will help you plan out how you should spend 10 hours a week for the next 6 months of your training which comes out to 12.5 cents an hour for the info then you need to rearrange your priorities. You might find reading (or rereading) his article on mentorship this week to be useful as well.

9

I don’t know how tall you but unless you’re 6’8" the quickest way to get better at bodyweight exercises would be to lose weight (which sounds like you are already trying to do). There’s a reason 250+ powerlifters generally don’t do dips, chinups etc. No offence but I don’t think it’s even particuarly wise to be doing things like dips when you are 300+

10

Alright, thanks for all the advice guys. I got the book now (borrowed some cash) and will be reading it this week.

To Banco, I’m 6’2, but I agree that doing dips is kinda dangerous. Almost screwed up my shoulders because I obviously wasn’t ready for it. Doing them with the bench is much more sufficient.

11

[quote]Tim Henriques wrote:
First congrats on losing so much weight. The reason that you find bodyweight exercises hard is not “conditioning” which relates to stamina, muscular endurance, and VO2 max but simply strength. You don’t have the strength to do those lifts because your strength to weight ratio is not high enough. So if you want to be good at body weight exercises you simply need to get stronger all around. This combined with losing weight will make them seem easier and will allow you to crank out some reps.

In terms of conditioning that means work capacity - your ability to work at a reasonably high level of intensity for a good period of time - a mover that can pack up a house all day without getting tired or needing to rest will have good work capacity. You might find this article helpful for working on your conditioning as a start:

Finally a bit of tough love. If you don’t have the ability to scrape together 20 bucks to buy his book which will help you plan out how you should spend 10 hours a week for the next 6 months of your training which comes out to 12.5 cents an hour for the info then you need to rearrange your priorities. You might find reading (or rereading) his article on mentorship this week to be useful as well.[/quote]

No, YOU need to rearrange your priorities. Obviously you’ve never been in a tough financial situation before. I guess you have no one else to think about but yourself then, eh?

Some of the attitudes on this forum are ridiculous. “Buy the 531 book or you’re an idiot.” I see so much of that, and that’s why I usually just read the Over 35 forum. Too many kids in this one.

12

[quote]Caltene wrote:

[quote]Tim Henriques wrote:
First congrats on losing so much weight. The reason that you find bodyweight exercises hard is not “conditioning” which relates to stamina, muscular endurance, and VO2 max but simply strength. You don’t have the strength to do those lifts because your strength to weight ratio is not high enough. So if you want to be good at body weight exercises you simply need to get stronger all around. This combined with losing weight will make them seem easier and will allow you to crank out some reps.

In terms of conditioning that means work capacity - your ability to work at a reasonably high level of intensity for a good period of time - a mover that can pack up a house all day without getting tired or needing to rest will have good work capacity. You might find this article helpful for working on your conditioning as a start:

Finally a bit of tough love. If you don’t have the ability to scrape together 20 bucks to buy his book which will help you plan out how you should spend 10 hours a week for the next 6 months of your training which comes out to 12.5 cents an hour for the info then you need to rearrange your priorities. You might find reading (or rereading) his article on mentorship this week to be useful as well.[/quote]

No, YOU need to rearrange your priorities. Obviously you’ve never been in a tough financial situation before. I guess you have no one else to think about but yourself then, eh?

Some of the attitudes on this forum are ridiculous. “Buy the 531 book or you’re an idiot.” I see so much of that, and that’s why I usually just read the Over 35 forum. Too many kids in this one.[/quote]

No, people say to buy the book because it answers just about every question you could want and we like to support one of our own as well instead of having to answer ten billion questions on 5/3/1 for those who are either too lazy to seek the answers (since 99% of them are online) or cheap to buy the book.

I think there are many many people here that have been in tough financial situations. Forgive me for speaking for Tim here, but most fitness professionals aren’t really make a killing - especially in a shitty economy where many see training/exercise as the first thing to do in the budget. I’d say his priorities are right in line and considering how much free information HE gives both here and via other sites I’d say he’s well within his rights to ask that people support the dissemination of information and give a kick back to his friend.

Guess what, people in financial situations aren’t a special snowflake but even those in a financial situation can probably find 20 bucks over a months time of where they’re spending frivolously that they can better allocate to a book that the marginal benefit is significantly greater than the marginal cost.

Further, most people, and I say most not all, are in financial situations because they put themselves there. They overspent, they outlived their means, and they didn’t plan for the future and/or emergencies. They put themselves in the hole and can find a way out if they put enough thought to it and evaluate their way of life.

Get off your high horse - or if you’re in financial straits and speaking simply out of emotion over 20 bucks to someone that has given a wealth of information for free - maybe you should read a bit more Wendler and live “a little bit north of the vag”. (For the record I’m not even a fan of 5/3/1 but I can respect what the guy has done).

13

[quote]Caltene wrote:

No, YOU need to rearrange your priorities. Obviously you’ve never been in a tough financial situation before. I guess you have no one else to think about but yourself then, eh?

Some of the attitudes on this forum are ridiculous. “Buy the 531 book or you’re an idiot.” I see so much of that, and that’s why I usually just read the Over 35 forum. Too many kids in this one.[/quote]

^lol.

Someone above suggested using bands for both chins and dips. This is what you should do until you lose enough weight/become strong enough to do them unassisted. Using bands for these movements is far better than the chin/dip machine. Jump stretch sells a 4 pack “specifically designed” for getting better at pull ups. They’re like 100 something dollars so I don’t know what to tell you besides finding a way to get the money if doing bodyweight movements is a priority. It’s been a few years since I was a student but even if you work 10-20 hours a week you should have enough money for this. I worked 8-12 hours a week in college and had enough money for beer and pretty much whatever else I wanted…

14

[quote]Caltene wrote:

No, YOU need to rearrange your priorities. Obviously you’ve never been in a tough financial situation before. I guess you have no one else to think about but yourself then, eh?

Some of the attitudes on this forum are ridiculous. “Buy the 531 book or you’re an idiot.” I see so much of that, and that’s why I usually just read the Over 35 forum. Too many kids in this one.[/quote]

You can view the situation as you wish. I believe this person is living in America and has access to a computer or some other device to post online so I am not telling some person in a third world country to spend his monthly income on the 5/3/1 book. If he was homeless or something like that I doubt improving his strength and conditioning would be his top priority (nor would he have been likely to weigh over 400 lbs) so I think telling him to find a way to come up with 20 bucks is valid, and I respect the fact that he took that advice and bought the book. To me the bottom line is one needs to be empowered to get out of their situation by their own actions, not just be told what to do or have their hand held each time something tough happens. No one is going to lift the weight for you, and I think it is valid to apply that philosophy to other aspects of life.

15

[quote]Caltene wrote:
No, YOU need to rearrange your priorities. Obviously you’ve never been in a tough financial situation before. I guess you have no one else to think about but yourself then, eh?

Some of the attitudes on this forum are ridiculous. “Buy the 531 book or you’re an idiot.” I see so much of that, and that’s why I usually just read the Over 35 forum. Too many kids in this one.[/quote]

to caltene: the dude can afford internet, a computer, a gym membership, etc… but can’t afford a $20 book? No offence but if he was starving he wouldn’t be posting here about needing to lose weight.

to the op: thats in no way meant as an offence towards you. Good work on your journey so far, and keep up the good work. Good choice on buying the 5/3/1 book, its excellent. Be stoked that Tim H posted on your thread, he’s kind of big deal around here, he has many leatherbound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.

16

[quote]Tim Henriques wrote:

[quote]Caltene wrote:

No, YOU need to rearrange your priorities. Obviously you’ve never been in a tough financial situation before. I guess you have no one else to think about but yourself then, eh?

Some of the attitudes on this forum are ridiculous. “Buy the 531 book or you’re an idiot.” I see so much of that, and that’s why I usually just read the Over 35 forum. Too many kids in this one.[/quote]

You can view the situation as you wish. I believe this person is living in America and has access to a computer or some other device to post online so I am not telling some person in a third world country to spend his monthly income on the 5/3/1 book. If he was homeless or something like that I doubt improving his strength and conditioning would be his top priority (nor would he have been likely to weigh over 400 lbs) so I think telling him to find a way to come up with 20 bucks is valid, and I respect the fact that he took that advice and bought the book. To me the bottom line is one needs to be empowered to get out of their situation by their own actions, not just be told what to do or have their hand held each time something tough happens. No one is going to lift the weight for you, and I think it is valid to apply that philosophy to other aspects of life.[/quote]

x2 when people tell me they don’t have $20 to spend on a book. A BOOK.

And then spend $12 on dinner and $3 for coffee and $9 for a movie ticket and $60 on a video game…

I mean shit I don’t have a lot of money either but if I really NEEDED it I’d find a way to get it.

17

[quote]zenontheterrible wrote:

to the op: thats in no way meant as an offence towards you. Good work on your journey so far, and keep up the good work. Good choice on buying the 5/3/1 book, its excellent. Be stoked that Tim H posted on your thread, he’s kind of big deal around here, he has many leatherbound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.[/quote]

Zenon - you get massive bonus points for this quote and Anchorman reference - as soon as I finish my set of one thousand for my upper dorsi and lather myself up with dead bits of panther I’m going to post this on facebook? Thanks for giving me a good chuckle