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I've never been big on programs but I gave these a shot and they really did work for me. I alternate week to week or at least keep very far apart "Squat Day" and "Deadlift Day". "Bench Day" is done weekly. I followed up the remainder of these days with ancillary exercises. On the alternating weeks of sq/dl I did strongman type lifts on the off (non-program days).
My gains from completing each of these:
DL: 10%
BENCH: 7%
SQ: 6%
I have restarted each program with my new max. One crucial piece of advice IMO is that when you have a bad week/day (we all have them) or you cannot complete the program that day for whatever other reason, simply do the best you can, finish out with some lower weight / higher volume and then RETRY it again next week. Do not progress to the next session/week until you do. I have been working with someone who stalled out midway through the program (for a variety of reasons), we retried twice and she finally busted the session with ease on the third attempt.
Give it a shot. Good luck. Enjoy:
DEADLIFT / SQUAT Week .... Sets x Reps..............
1 ............ 5 x 5 ............. 70%
2 ............ 5 x 3 ............. 75%
3 ............ 5 x 1 ............. 80%
4 ........ ACCESSORY ...............
5 ............ 5 x 5 ............. 75%
6 ............ 5 x 3 ............. 80%
7 ............ 5 x 1 ............. 85%
8 ........ ACCESSORY ...............
9 ............ 4 x 5 ............. 80%
10 ........... 4 x 3 ............. 85%
11 ........... 4 x 1 ............. 90%
12 ....... ACCESSORY ...............
13 ........... 3 x 5 ............. 85%
14 ........... 3 x 3 ............. 90%
15 ........... 3 x 1 ............. 95%
16 .. LIMIT LOWER BACK/LEGS ..
17 .......... MAX ..........
Looks interesting but I don't think I could stick to the program over that length of time.
That's exactly what I thought. Admittedly I take a prolonged (week+) break from lifting very rarely, maybe once a year, so these were practical programs for me. After a few weeks it was nice to just show up and know exactly what I was doing and when to stop... I have defined goals in black and white that I must meet, a challenge against myself. Some weeks feel as if I wasn't doing enough, others feel impossible. Either way, the results in the end proved to far outperform my previous routines that were decided pretty much on-the-fly.
That's exactly what I thought. Admittedly I take a prolonged (week+) break from lifting very rarely, maybe once a year, so these were practical programs for me. After a few weeks it was nice to just show up and know exactly what I was doing and when to stop... I have defined goals in black and white that I must meet, a challenge against myself. Some weeks feel as if I wasn't doing enough, others feel impossible. Either way, the results in the end proved to far outperform my previous routines that were decided pretty much on-the-fly.
It looks like a very simple, progressive overload program with fairly low volume. Like yourself, I consistently lift throughout the year. I've never worked a defined program for any length of time. My end goal is always to lift more weight and do it without injuring myself. Perhaps I will give it a try. If I could add 6-10% to all my lifts that would be huge for me.
It looks like a very simple, progressive overload program with fairly low volume. Like yourself, I consistently lift throughout the year. I've never worked a defined program for any length of time. My end goal is always to lift more weight and do it without injuring myself. Perhaps I will give it a try. If I could add 6-10% to all my lifts that would be huge for me.
Something I neglected to mention is that I throw in light weight high volume on the off days.
Something I neglected to mention is that I throw in light weight high volume on the off days.
Not to be unkind, but I don't find your routine very well explained, and similar, and much better presented, exercise sequences and intensity progressions are available online.
Not to be unkind, but I don't find your routine very well explained, and similar, and much better presented, exercise sequences and intensity progressions are available online.
It is not my obligation to educate you nor is it to compete with other programs available online. I simply posted this with minimal investment of my time in order to share something that worked for me. Most of those skilled in the craft should have been able to figure this out by only looking at the numbers. YMMV
If you have a specific question, I will be more than happy to answer.
Wouldn't it be better to just backcycle the weights and then run up again?
After going through the programs and achieving the new max, I then used that new max as the basis for the the next "round" of the program. Is that what you were referring to?
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