I read the WM article and was very intrigued, yet I wanted to add olympic lifts to the program. So I came up with a 3Xweek plan that I will be trying for the next three weeks. Each day has the following:
Upperbody Push
Upperbody Pull
Squat/ Deadlift Variation
Olmpic Lift Variation
Arms
Rotator Cuff
Grip
The first exercise I do 8x3, the following week 8x4 with the same weight, then 8x5 the final wek with the same weight, similar to ABBH. Every other movement is performed 4x6 in an alternating fashion like the WM program prescribes. I train MWF and the first movement each day for now is Barbell Military Press on Mondays, Box Squats on Wednesdays, and Bench Press with Chains on Fridays. After these three weeks, I’ll switch the first exercises up for variation and evaluate my progress. My goals are 1. strength, and 2. Body composition. I do interval cardio training on my off days. This is my first attempt at full body training and after the first day I am impressed and excited (and sore)!
Depending on your goals you may want to do the explosive movement early…just decide on whether your emphasis is on Strength, Power, Legs, Push, Pull, etc…
Then design the workout so your emphasis is done when freshest…
Yeah, I figure I’ll cycle my emphasis, so for one three-week cycle I’ll hit my explosive lifts first, then maybe legs first…we’ll see. I did my first workout of this nature on Monday. It went like this:
Seated Barbell Military Press 8x3
Weighted Pull-ups 4x6
Reverse Luges 4x6
Power Snatch from the hang 4x6
DB Hammer Curls 4x6
Seated External Rotations 4x6
200 lbs. HG gripper 4x6 (each hand)
The workout took 1 hour and 20 minutes including warm-ups and while I was beat, I felt great!
I would recommend putting the olympic lifts first with the 8 x 3. If you push them to the end of the workout your technique and speed suffers, which sort of goes against the whole point of these exercises. They are also better performed with lots of sets and low reps, 4x6 is a bit much, especially late in the program. I know in Mike Robertson’s “Designer Athletes” program he recommends explosive lifts being performed up front in the workout for these reasons.
I know with the program that I am doing at the moment that I would definitely be susceptible to injury if I did oly lifts after some other big lift like deads or squats.
Another thing is that as oly lifts work the entire body you want to be careful about overtraining. They make up for doing a lot of other exercises, so that’s something to think about.
This is all just my .02, but good luck with the program, if you enjoy it like you said that’s great, keep us posted on your progress.
Good points, bg100. I’ll keep that in mind as well. I do plan on placing the explosive lifts first now and then, as I said I would switch it up for variation.
I like the idea of the Oly lifts first, myself and Strongman are starting Waterbury’s Strength Focused Mesocycle and then rolling into the Waterbury Method in 4 weeks. Keep posting if this is working or not and let us all know what you think of the variation. You might want to hit Waterbury on prime Time if he is on and get his take on it. Thanks for the info.
This one was a killer! Especially alternating between cleans and front squats. It was almost like cardio!
My first week in the books with this method and so far I really like it. I plan on using these exercises for two more weeks, and then I’ll probably try a cycle with the olympic lifts as the first movement.