[WesternCancer]

No I'm not talking about http://nexxtlevelup.com/ but check it out anyways.

So I've been lifting for about a year and I'm just about to reach my strength goals for 2012: 315 squat, 405 deadlift, 225 row, 185 bench (injury set this back from 225), and 135 press. However, my body comp/weight goals are lagging behind and I don't feel as 'fit' as I should be. I'm also lacking motivation, sometimes I'll only hit my main lifts and skip out on accessory/hypertrophy stuff. Often I'll have cheat meals too often (I planned for once a week where I can go to a buffet, eat a whole pizza, gorge on ice cream). If I stray on the food It'll be mid week, maybe out of boredom and maybe out of stress,maybe because I'm not eating enough the rest of the time.

I watched the movie Warrior after reading this post about Tom Hardy and how crazy he trained I noticed two things: 1. A strict regimen and discipline (with the help of coaches) 2. drive to accomplish a goal. I believe that a truly strong body is an indicator of a strong mind. If you can squat 500 lbs, or train no matter what you have the mental strength to push yourself and act under stress. My goal is to be strong, have discipline and be cut. Right now what I'm doing is getting me mediocre results.

This is where I come to you guys for help. I'm looking to take my training to the next level, but I need advice on how to do so.

Program:
M/W/F: Squats 3x3, Deadlift 3x3 (3x1 if I'm really tired), press 3x5 then singles 5x1
Tu/Th: Bench 3x3, close grip 3x5, rows 3x3, pulldowns 3x3, superset cable curls/triceps pushdowns 3 sets and I finish with barbell curls 45x100
If I'm really tired I'll usually skip on wednesday

Food: (I try to do IF, but if I go out to party it gets all fucked up)
Breakfast 10am: 4 eggs, 1tbsp butter. sometimes I'll grate up a potato/yam and throw it in some more butter.
Lunch/Dinner: (some days 1 meal some days I'll split it). ~1lb meat with some vegetables (occasionally i'll eat some pasta or rice or potatoes)
Post workout: 1cup whole milk, 1 scoop whey
Snack: can of tuna, salad, another shake, coconut milk, nuts. something small, but I don't usually eat a snack
Total: 2000-2500 calories ~180g protein
Cheat days will be upwards of 4000 calories
Supplements: 3-5g omega 3, multi, whey, vitamin d, calcium (zinc/magnesium soon)

Eventually I want to be ~215lb at 10%bf. Food wise I'm on a budget so I find it hard to eat paleo all of the time, but I'm perfectly fine with eating only whole foods.

My main concerns are whether or not I'm eating enough, sometimes I'm tired and strength gains are slow. Input would be appreciated.

How do you guys keep on track with your fitness goals, do you keep a log, have a trainer etc.

I want to do some form of intense conditioning, but have NO idea where to start. ie. hill sprints, some form of circuit training (both to increase cardiovascular fitness and break my routine)

Suggestions to improve my lifting scheme? More volume, periodization, following a different program.

[alecks]

no wonder your strenght gains are slow...where are the carbs?. also theres a big difference between 2000 calories and 2500 calories.

START TRACKING MACROS

[TheIndifferent]

I've made solid strength gains from training 3 days a week (M/W/F) to get enough rest and Leangains style IF (cycling in significant carbs on lift days). Might try that.

[Hades]

I have that slacker mentality too. The only thing that keeps my workouts progressing is that every time I try to increase training volume until I just about burn out, then I back off and rest for a while. It's possible that you're trying to do too much work without periodization.

I know that if I wanted to bulk up like a bastard I'd have to start cramming a lot of food and a lot more training volume, like maybe double or triple what you have there (and then for eight to fourteen weeks at the max), doing maybe four short workouts a day, but you'd probably throw on fifteen or even twenty pounds of lean mass at that kind of rate. To be honest at your height you probably have not exhausted your newbie gains until you've hit 225-245#.

As for conditioning, unless you want to burn away your gains, don't do anything but hill sprints, jump rope, or fairly long walks. I personally recommend hill sprints because they're easy (in terms of skill requirement) and unbelievably effective. I saw a huge difference after just a week of doing them.

[WesternCancer]

Thanks for the input. I do think I need some more carbs in my diet. I'm going to up my calories to 2500 minimum for a bit and see how that works out.

Hades: my main goal once I've completed my strength goals will be fat loss. Then once I'm at the bf I want I'll do some hypertrophy then up my strength. By the start of 2014 I want a 405 squat 500 deadlift bodyweight press 275 row and 250 bench.

I already walk a lot during the day. Is there a program you would recommend for the hill sprints? I'd be a complete newbie at that and would need to start small.

[BIGINJAPAN]

I think now that you have been at it long enough you might be over training. At first your body can handle a lot of weight training but as time goes on less becomes more. You should maybe fiddle with taking an extra day off. I would cut one day out of bench/squat/deadlift.
Benching 3 times a week is a lot. I am sure some guys can handle it, but I suspect that is why you are stalling on gains.

There are some great programs to still gain strength and loss fat at the same time. Basically compound movements coupled with circuit training.
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_arti...f_fat_fast

I love this program. I do it every year for about 8-10 weeks.

[STLmatic]

I'll write up a more detailed post when I get home but on first glance you are overtraining. Lifting 5 days in a row is insane, especially when you double up on body parts.
My other thought is that you need to go all out with either fatloss or gains, you're in this weird midpoint. An extreme example is someone training for a marathon and powerlifting, they wont get good at either. Areyou concerned with mass at all or just strength?

[STLmatic]

And Btw for just a year in you've made good gains keep that shit up

[rees0306]

Have started Mountain Biking in the last 2 months. Ive always maintained a high level of fitness through soccer, surfing and swimming and had very low body fat but when i started riding 50 plus k's a week on the trails all my excess shredded off and my fitness in general improved greatly. Posture improved, breathing improved and its heaps of fun with a fast learning curve. If no mountains nearby you can always ride on the road or bike tracks and will save you money in fuel and car maintenance if you use it too commute. If i put in hard for anything over a minute up a decent hill i'll pretty much collapse in a heaving hurting ball when i finish too which feels fucking amazing.

You will get alot more out of less distance covered to because of your body weight. lycra is optional too.

[WesternCancer]

I do think I'm overtraining, or in the least not getting enough rest/food. I was fine doing the same thing during the summer where I could sleep all day and eat my face off. Now I have a limited amount of time to eat, I'm more active, getting less sleep and have schoolwork etc.

STLmatic: no concerns about mass only strength I want to focus on fat loss.

Biking would be a good option, especially to school (It'd probably take me at least 40 minutes, but I live in a hilly area)

[Sanblz33]

If you want to be 215 @ 10%bf you will have to put on 20-25 lbs prior to dieting for you to meet your goal. It should be achievable considering you have only been lifting for a year. Eventually at your pace you will reach your goal however it may 2-3 yrs to get there.

[WesternCancer]

Thought I'd update this thread:

I was sick for the better part of October and lost about 10lbs surviving off some chocolate and fruit because I couldn't make anything else. I changed my weights to a classic stronglifts template, but have different rep schemes. Started again last week and couldn't lift shit. I ate clean but I ate a lot and I leveled out about 5 lbs lighter than my starting weight. One of my girls who hadn't seen me the whole time said I was looking good so I must have lost fat too. I did cardio for the first time today. Ran a mile for the first time since highschool pushed out one at 8minutes. In highschool it was 12minutes. There were also a bunch of middle aged suburban housewives walking their dogs where I ran so maybe I'll get a bang from a lonely housewife if I put in some work haha. I plan on running a mile a day. Tuesdays/Thursdays and weekends I'll mix it up with either sprints, jumping rope, swimming or a bodyweight circuit. I've also incorporated carbs back into my diet for one meal a day. I'll eat a low fat protein with rice/potatoes and sometimes pasta. As for cheat days I don't think I'll have a set one. Maybe once every week or so I'll eat some junk, but I have no problem with eating clean unless I am drinking or my friends ask to go for pizza/burgers/all you can eat sushi.

[bacon]

westerncancer

i dont know if youve looked into paleo diet. but for optimal performance/recovery it worked wonders for me.

doug mcguff md has a website and wrote a book about diet and exercise for optimal level. this youtube speech is long but it breaks it down pretty good.

to help get your diet right check out this site this guy biohacked his health he gives a lot of good tips on best things to be eating

http://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-compl...roof-diet/

from my experience i try to adhere to the diet above as much as possible and exercise at most twice a week. i am getting good results. i still drink and when i go out i just stick to vodka or tequilla. once your diet is right everything seems to come together after that.

[WesternCancer]

bacon. Thanks for the links I'll check them out. I was on a mostly 100% paleo diet before. (save for cheat meals). The high fat messed with my digestion, I'd get stomach aches every once and a while and lifting was way more strenuous than if I'd eaten any form of carbs. I'd find myself binging on simple carbs late at night if I'd had a big lifting session and eaten only meat and vegetables (paleo)that day. Right now I'm only eating one meal that isn't paleo and other than pasta everything I'll eat is in their whole form. I also can't do grass fed/hormone free/free range because its way too expensive. a lb of grass fed ground beef is $8 whereas a lb of normal ground beef is $3-4

[bacon]

(10-28-2012 08:53 PM)WesternCancer Wrote:  

bacon. Thanks for the links I'll check them out. I was on a mostly 100% paleo diet before. (save for cheat meals). The high fat messed with my digestion, I'd get stomach aches every once and a while and lifting was way more strenuous than if I'd eaten any form of carbs. I'd find myself binging on simple carbs late at night if I'd had a big lifting session and eaten only meat and vegetables (paleo)that day. Right now I'm only eating one meal that isn't paleo and other than pasta everything I'll eat is in their whole form. I also can't do grass fed/hormone free/free range because its way too expensive. a lb of grass fed ground beef is $8 whereas a lb of normal ground beef is $3-4

dave asprey founder of bulletproof ex did joe rogan a week ago go to 15min mark to avoid adds

[WesternCancer]

So I've done the complete opposite of what I've intended. Stress from school and general laziness got the better of me and I've been eating like shit some days and other days just eating a fuck-ton of food. I'm now 235lbs. I changed things up so I was doing more of a bodybuilder type routine. Monday: shoulders/squats/triceps Weds: back/deadlifts/biceps/heavy shrugs (300-475lbs) Fri: bench/squats/arms. I've been doing high rep squats with singles in between (makes the high reps go easier). Just repped out 260 3 sets of 8 reps with ease. singles on 315 and those are going up easy. My deadlift hasn't improved much. Last time I maxed was 365. Bench hasn't moved a ton and I'm beginning to think my shoulder is the main issue around this, I might have to see someone about it. When I shoulder press one side goes up super easy and I struggle with the other. I think I may have nerve damage in that shoulder. Anyways. Due to eating like shit the gains I made probably had a bunch of fat, but there are muscle gains too. My lifts have increased a bunch so I'll call this a winter bulk. I'll be going back home next week and I'll take the 2 weeks off to put together a solid plan and I'll work on my discipline.

[ElJefe]

NICE!

Good motivation

[Snowflake]

if you're goal is to trim fat I'd check out this article from nexxtlevelup since you mentioned it in your first post http://nexxtlevelup.com/fitness/lets-tal...upplements

[WesternCancer]

Bumping this thread again ha. My diet is the same as the OP, but way more consistent. For some reason or another I'm not having any unreal carb cravings where I go out and slam a pizza or something on top of my daily calories. Maybe because I've added carbs back into the equation. I'll usually throw in some oatmeal, potatoes, rice and occasionally pasta with lunch and dinner. 2500 cal 160-180g protein 100-110g fat and the rest with carbs or anything else I want to eat (IIFYM) but avoiding super sugary stuff as it makes me feel like ass. I'm nearing the end of a 12 week intermediate 5x5 cycle.

Goal right now is to cut to 93kg (205lb) so I can compete at 93kg in my next PL meet (early next year).

BUT
I've been scoping out gyms in my new town and the ones close to where I'll be living (ie under 30 minutes away) are either expensive on a year plan full of hidden fees (golds gym kind of deal) or they're planet fitness type places for people who "work out" I'd be going to the work out place and from their site it looks like you can't drop weights, grunt, be swole, use chalk or mack on bitches. ie. I can't do heavy rows, deadlifts, shrugs, power cleans, snatches and anything else that real men do. Looks like they have a shitty squat rack and some even shittier benches. Theres also a park/track nearby with a jungle gym and a field which might be good for bodyweight stuff. I'm also not in the position to go buy my ass a weight set.

How would you guys approach this situation?

[TheHammer]

You may have to do some serious scoping out to find a decent gym. I met a bunch of kids who played high school footballs by running at the track at their school. Turns out they went to a gym in some basement. Needless to say that's where I work out now. $150 a year best gym I've ever been to as well. If you can't find anything I would consider buying a power rack thats really the only major piece of equiptment you need.

The playground idea doesn't sound too bad though. I'm sure you can scope out some moms there.

[Doctor]

If you are looking for a decent gym, go to powerliftingwatch.com and on the column on the left there is a powerlifting gym section and click it. You can search any state or country for gyms.

[Ace]

Just 2 quick things I noticed.

1 You are lifting heavy 5 days a week. That's fine if you are doing very low reps like singles, doubles and triples but you may want to think taking a day off or training at a percentage of your max. I know Steve Justa writes multiple singles programs (posted below) lifting with high frequency and very short workouts.

2 Why not run a Proven program template like Westside, 5/3/1, 3x3, or the Texas method? I posted write ups and links to all these templates.

Quote:

Steve Justa
Singles Strategy No.1 — One Lift (This is the one found in Easy Strength)
1. Lift every day, seven days a week.
2. Use 70% to start out and, as you gain strength, keep using 70%
3. During Week One:
• Day 1 – Do three singles with one to two minutes rest in between
• Day 2 – Do five singles with one to two minutes rest in between
• Day 3 – Do seven singles with one to two minutes rest in between
• Day 4 – Do nine singles with one to two minutes rest in between
• Day 5 – Do 11 singles with one to two minutes rest in between
• Day 6 – Do 13 singles with one to two minutes rest in between
• Day 7 – Do 15 singles with one to two minutes rest in between
You have now made a complete cycle and are at Week 2, Day 1. Now you will add five or 10 lbs and go through the whole cycle again.
4. Once a month, test your max to make sure you are using weights in your weekly cycle that are 70% of your max. If your weekly cycle weight was more than 70%, take weight off and adjust. If your weekly cycle weight was under 70%, add weight and adjust. This monthly testing of your max will keep you in the target zone.
This workout must be done seven days a week, 365 days a year. Each week, you are building your endurance and toughening your tendons and ligaments by doing more and more work towards the end of each cycle, and then during the next week, or cycle as I call it, you're adding more weight and doing it all over again. The great thing about this type of training is that you will build great strength without really ever making yourself tired because the body is adjusting naturally and rhythmically.

Singles Workout Strategy No.2 — One Lift
1. Lift every other day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
2. Use weights that are 70% of your max.
3. Do 30 singles with between one and two minutes rest in between. When you reach a total of 30, you are done. Rest a day. Then add five lbs the next workout and do 30 singles with one to two minutes rest in between. Rest a day. Add five lbs every other day, resting one day in between, and so on and so forth.
4. Then once every two weeks, max out and adjust your weekly poundage to make sure you are using 70% of your max. If you're using under 70%, add weight and adjust. If you're using more than 70%, take weight off to adjust. This will keep you in the target zone.

Singles Workout Strategy No. 3 — Three Lifts, eg. squat, bench press and deadlift
1. Lift every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
2. Do four singles in each lift with one to two minutes rest in between and go from one lift to the next quickly. Start with the squat, then go to the bench press, then go to the deadlift; use 70% of your max.
3. Add five lbs to your bench every three days; add 10 lbs to your squat and deadlift every four days.
4. Max out every three weeks in all three lifts. If using weights in excess of 70%, reduce weight to adjust. If using weights under 70%, add weight to adjust. This will keep you in your target zone. Concentrate on speed when performing the lifts during your daily workouts.

Singles Workout Strategy No.4 — Three Lifts eg. squat, bench and deadlift
1. Train every other day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
2. Train Bench Squat, Bench Deadlift, Bench Squat, Bench Deadlift, every other day, so on and so forth.
3. Do 25 singles with one or two minutes rest between each single in the deadlift and the squat and do 12 singles in the bench on each squat and deadlift day. For example:
Mon – squat 25 singles, bench 12 singles
Tues – off
Wed – deadlift 25 singles, bench 12 singles
Thurs – off
Fri – squat 25 singles, bench 12 singles
Sat – off
Sun – deadlift 25 singles, bench 12 singles
4. Every week add 20 lbs to your squat and deadlift and 10 lbs to your bench.
5. Every month, max out in each lift and if the poundages you're using in your weekly workouts are over 70%, decrease weight to adjust. If the weight is under 70%, add weight to your weekly workouts and adjust. This way you stay at your target weight of 70% max in workouts.

Singles Workout Strategy No.5 — 10 to 15 Lifts
1. Work two days on, one off, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Work all 10-15 lifts on each day.
2. Do two singles in each lift with one to two minutes rest in between each lift and for each single use 70% of your max.
3. Add five to 10 lbs to each lift every three days.
4. Every two weeks max out in every lift; adjust all weights in your daily workouts to 70% of your max in each lift. The day that you max will be your workout for that day.

Singles Workout Strategy No. 6 — 30 to 40 Lifts
1. Work every other day or once every three days depending on how you feel. Do all 30-40 lifts in one workout.
2. Do one single in each lift, moving from one lift to the next every two to three minutes. Use 70-85% of your max.
3. Add five to 10 lbs to each lift once a week.
4. Max out on all lifts once a month; then adjust all lifts to fit between 70 and 85% of your max on each lift. This will keep you in your target zone.

Quote:

Westside
The Standard Template

There is a great story from Dave about how the Standard Template originated. I've heard it 435 different times and it never gets old. But that's because Dave signs my checks and I have to nod and laugh whenever he says anything. All kidding aside, the Standard Template was really first introduced in Dave's article, The Periodization Bible, Part I and is gone over extensively in The Periodization Bible, Part II. This was a two part series that made things easier for me and really broke things down. Remember, that I was in your shoes not too long ago, so I understand your frustration with some of this stuff. This is probably the most used template that people follow. Here is the general breakdown of the Standard Template. For many of you this is review, so bear with me.

Sunday – Dynamic Effort Bench

Dynamic Bench Press
Triceps
Shoulders
Lats/Upper Back


Monday – Max Effort Squat/DL

Max Effort Exercise
Hamstrings
Low Back
Abs


Wednesday – Max Effort Bench Press

Max Effort Exercise
Triceps
Shoulders
Lats/Upper Back


Friday – Dynamic Squat/DL

Dynamic Squat
Hamstrings
Low Back
Abs


Review of the Standard Template

2 days devoted to the bench press
2 days devoted to the squat/deadlift
2 days devoted to dynamic training
2 days devoted to max effort training
4 days devoted to repetition training
Now let's review some of the training parameters within this template. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to leave out chains and bands. Everything is going to be done with straight weight so there will be no confusion about percentages. Plus, I am going to leave out stance, grip changes, rest periods, etc. In reality, most of this stuff is inconsequential once you grasp the big picture.

Bench Press Parameters for the Standard Template (dynamic, max effort and repetition)

Dynamic bench press – 8 sets of 3 repetitions; all sets done are done with 55% of raw 1RM. Rest periods are approximately 60 seconds, but have never really seen the purpose of this, personally. The whole goal of speed day is to move the bar quickly on the concentric. If you need to take an extra minute to accomplish the goal of the day, then by all means, do so. Also, don't get too hung up on changing your grips. The only reason why I changed my grip on this day was to keep track of the number of sets I was doing. Again, remember why you are doing what you are doing.

Max effort bench press – this includes a variety of exercises, but the most por are the floor press, 2 board press, 3 board press, incline press and close grip bench press. On max effort bench press day, you pick one of these exercises and work to a 1RM. Most will switch to a different exercise every 1-2 weeks and simply try to break their record. On this day, based on your 1RM for THAT day, you will try to do 3 lifts at or above 90%. You can take as much rest as you want, but I would probably say around 3-5 minutes between your heaviest sets.

Triceps – one day is devoted to high intensity/low volume triceps work, the other is devoted to low intensity/high volume triceps. For example, high intensity triceps training would consist of 4 or 5 board presses or rack lockouts. The low intensity training will be geared to triceps extensions and pushdowns. On what day to put each of these is entirely up to you. In my experience, I've always had good results putting the high intensity day on dynamic bench day.

Shoulders – this is similar to the triceps in that there is a high intensity and low intensity day. The high intensity day is technically not high intensity, but high stress. In this category, I would put dumbbell bench press, dumbbell incline presses, military presses (with dumbbells or a straight bar) and dumbbell floor presses. In the low stress category, front raises, side raises and rear raises are good choices. Again, you can choose which day to put them on, but I liked putting the high stress shoulder training on dynamic bench day.

Lats/Upper back – Both days are devoted to lats and upper back and both are done with low intensity, high volume. The way that I worked this is that on Sunday, I would do lat work (usually a row or a pull-up) and no upper back work. On Wednesday, I would do another lat workout (but with a different exercise) and my low stress shoulder work would consist of a rear raise, face pull or a seated dumbbell power clean. So essentially, on the low stress shoulder day, I would kill two birds with one stone: an upper back exercise with a low stress shoulder movement. I did this because I never did front raises or side raises and felt that I got enough stimulation from my other work. It's not gospel, but it's something to think about.

Squat and Deadlift Parameters for the Standard Template

Dynamic Squat – All sets done on a parallel box. A three week wave is used using the following sets and reps.

Week 1 – 10x2 @ 50%
Week 2 – 10x2 @ 55%
Week 3 – 10x2 @ 60%
Upon completion of the 3rd week, you simply start the wave over again. All %'s are based on your best squat. Let's disregard equipment at this point and say it's based on your best 1RM of your box squat wearing whatever you usually wear on this day. Again, refer to my commentary on dynamic bench training regarding rest periods. This is not conditioning, this is speed work. Save your conditioning for another time.

Max Effort Squat and Deadlift – Similar to the max effort bench press, one exercise is used per week and worked up to a 1RM. Because most people have eliminated good mornings as a max effort exercise, I will choose the following for your exercises. I understand that many do not have these bars that I list, but this is the list, nonetheless:

Safety squat bar squat
Cambered bar squat
Manta Ray squat
(All squats are done on a low (1-2" below parallel), parallel or high (1-2" above parallel) box. As you can tell, there is a great many variations with these three exercises.
Rack deadlifts (or pin pulls)
Deadlifts while standing on elevated platform
Reverse band deadlifts
Again, you want to hit around 3 lifts at or above 90% of your 1RM for that day. Most people switch exercises every week or every 2 weeks. Try to break your PR from your previous effort. To make things easier, simply switch between a squat movement and a deadlift movement. Rest 3-5 minutes between your heaviest sets.

Hamstrings – now here is where things get tricky. Unlike the shoulders/triceps routine of high intensity/low intensity, many people are weak at such exercises as the glute ham raise that they simply need to do the exercise and not worry so much about sets/reps. If you don't fall into this category, you can do bodyweight glute ham raises on one day, and on the other day, you can add a band or a plate for resistance.

Low Back – Again, we cannot really isolate the lower back without hitting the glutes and hamstrings. But you can pick from exercises such as back raises, 45 degree back raises, Reverse Hyperextensions, pull-throughs and good mornings. Depending on how you do some of these exercises (i.e. with a great amount of intensity) you can use ONE of these for your hamstring and low back exercise. For example, good mornings can be done for both. If you were to pick reverse hyperextensions or pull-throughs, then you can get away with doing an extra hamstring exercise. Some people can train their lower back twice a week, others cannot. A good way to do this is to pick one "easy" exercise (R.H., pull-throughs, un-weighted back raises or band good mornings) on one day and pick a heavier exercise on the second lower body training day.

Abdominals – These are usually trained heavy twice a week in the standard template. Some good exercises to choose from weighted sit ups, Roman Chair sit-ups, stability ball, hanging leg raises, side bends. This is not very complicated but you just need to do them; that's usually the hardest part.

So let's go over the pro's and con's of the standard template:

Pro's of the Standard Template:

Variation: Because you are doing a variety of exercises on max effort day, it helps keep things fresh and keeps you motivated. Plus most people have never done board presses, floor presses or box squats before trying the standard template, so there are a lot of new exercises being utilized.

Record Breaking – You are doing two max effort days a week, so you have the ability to break a lot of personal records. This can keep motivation high and give you tangible results NOW. This is one of the best things about this template.

Easy: I never thought I would say this but if you actually think about it, the standard template is pretty easy to follow IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT. You have one slow and heavy day and one fast and light day for the squat and bench press. After each of those days, you train the muscles that involve those lifts. You try to be fast on one day, try to lift heavy on the other day and get huge afterward.

Combo of Max Effort, Dynamic Effort and Repetition Training: If done correctly, this combo is incredible. You can get fast, big and strong. These are three qualities that most people really want.

Flexibility with Supplemental/Accessory lifts – If you are doing the correct loading on max effort and dynamic day, then you can really play around with the volume with your training on these lifts. Let me explain: With the dynamic training, you are almost always operating within 50-60% and no matter what max effort exercise you choose, you are still operating around 90-100%. Now your volume can be raised and lowered by your assistance lifts. This can give you a lot of room to play around with and allow you to pick and choose exercises and volume based on how you feel that day.

Con's of the Standard Template:

Variation: Now stay with me on this one. Training for a big squat, bench and deadlift is not easy. But if you don't have good form on these three lifts, then things can start to go down hill. You can counter me and say, "Your form is trained on dynamic day." And to you I respond, "Fool! It's easy to lift correctly with light weight." While a safety squat bar can help increase your squat and deadlift, it won't teach you correct form. This is because the variation of the bar will throw your form off. Then you throw this nugget at me, "Well, I will work up on dynamic day to 90%" and to you I respond, "Are you now doing two max effort workouts a week?" Remember that if you are going to throw in a new wrinkle, then you are going to have to smooth something else out. You can't just add without taking away. (And this will be discussed in a future article).

Record Breaking: Now I've got two of the same things for pro and con. While record breaking is a good thing, it can also lead to a mentality of "testing" versus "training". Too many people try to break a record and will not fall within the 3-5 lifts at or above 90% of their max. All of their focus is devoted to breaking a PR rather than training to get stronger.

Too Heavy on Dynamic – I would say that the vast majority of questions about the squat revolve around dynamic squat day. Now if you take a step back and look, the PURPOSE of dynamic day (and again, I fall victim to trying to make things too simple) is to basically move the weight from point A to point B as fast as possible. Now for the bench, that is to move the bar from your chest to lockout; in the squat (or box squat) that is to move from off the box to standing. So now that we've established that, the problem that I've seen is that most people, when you add up the band tension and bar weight (and factor in that they are basing the percentages on a full-meet squat with equipment and they are doing an un suited box squat (different lifts!)): they are actually not even close to doing a dynamic workout. This is not so much a con of the program, but a con of the interpretation of the program. This wouldn't be a horrible thing if the max effort work and supplemental work was cut back, but 99% of the time, it's not. This was really driven home a couple of weeks ago in a conversation with Mark McLaughlin. To quote Mark, "The reason I think people some times bash DE work is because they do not execute it properly."

For the Standard Template to work properly here is a list of things that must be done:


All dynamic work must be as DYNAMIC. Focus on speed, not weight. If you are slow, then you are missing the purpose of this day. If the bar % is not exactly 55% or whatever, don't worry. Because you are doing a standard max effort day, I would rather have you focus on erring on the side of too light. Remember that bench shirts can skew percentages quite a bit, so if you are going to use %'s as guidelines, use your raw bench press as a guide.

Max effort work must fall within 3-5 lifts at or above 90% of that day. If you go below this, you are not getting the benefit of max effort training. If you go above this, then you are going to compromise other areas of your training.

Because you need form work on the main lifts, it would be advisable to work up on dynamic effort day. When you do this, the max effort workout must be tailored as such. For example, if you were going to work up on Sunday and hit 3 lifts at or above 90% on the bench press, the max effort workout on Wednesday would consist of accessory and supplemental work only. But you need to do the appropriate amount of max training on DE day. So instead of doing 8x3 on dynamic day, you can cut that to 5 sets and start working up. There is no set guideline for the amount of sets, but 5 seems about right. Now if you are going to work up on dynamic squat day, cut out the Monday max effort work PRIOR to that session. So that would be on Monday before the Friday squatting session. The Monday after the Friday session (I'm starting to get confused now) you can still do max effort work, but you may want to cut some of the assistance work. You don't have to, but it may help.

So when do you do all of this? For the bench training, it's a bit easier. This is because you don't have to pre-plan it. If you are feeling unusually strong on Sunday, then let it out and see what happens. A good estimate would be to try to do this every 3rd workout. For squatting, it may require a little more work and would stick to the every 3rd workout guideline. But (you knew it was coming) if you do feel a bug up your ass to go heavy on dynamic squat day, even if it wasn't planned, then the Monday workout after should be nothing but assistance and supplemental work. Just make sure that your heavy is "heavy". If you are going to do it, then commit and do it.

In regards to picking supplemental and accessory work – to make things simple:

Choose one high intensity/low volume triceps (lockout) movement per week.


Choose one low intensity/high volume triceps movement per week; remember this – if you are doing a lot of dumbbell work (which is essentially a close grip movement) you may not need a lot of volume on this exercise.


Choose one high stress shoulder movement per week.


Choose one low stress shoulder movement per week. Remember my example in the beginning of the article – I used this movement as an upper back exercise on my max effort bench press day.


Choose two lat movements a week; preferably one horizontal row and one vertical pull.


Choose one high stress low back/hamstring movement per week: good mornings, Romanian deadlifts, weighted back raises, weighted 45 degree back raises, glute ham raises with added resistance (band or weight plate).


Choose one low stress low back/hamstring movement per week: band good mornings, Reverse Hyperextensions, body weight back raises and 45 degree back raises.

Choose two abdominal exercises per week.


This is not in the template, but I would also choose some kind of quad movement per week. You can do it on either day, but I would probably pick dynamic effort squat day. Or you can do it the scientific way; flip a coin.

5/3/1
http://blackironbeast.com/5/3/1/calculator

3x3
http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/korte.htm

Texas Method
http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/The_Texas_Method

[WesternCancer]

Yeah my training changed a lot from the original post. I'm nearly done a Madcow 5x5 cycle with some added powercleans. I won't be able to do powercleans or the pendlay rows. I'm also going to be cutting weight and so far the 5x5 has been a bitch to do running on a caloric defecit (who would have thunk )

I've heard a lot of good things about the 5/3/1 program. I also like how it has assistance lifts (5x5 was just 3 lifts a workout). The calc Ace provided has "offseason for conditioning" which sounds exactly like what I want. I've always put off doing cardio now is the perfect time to do it. Plus one of my hips has been really fucky and my back has been super tight (probably because I've been sitting 10+ hours a day hunched over studying). It'll be good to lighten the lifting load and work on mobility/flexibility.

I scoped out the gym and it has an indoor and outdoor track, swimming pool, tabata cycling classes, yoga. Where I'll be living looks like it will be easy to bike/walk around so I'll have to get a bike. Conditioning will probably be sprints/hillsprints, biking (tons of hills around here) jump rope, complexes and any kind of hiking I do. Should be easy to bust out a early morning bike ride, eat breakfast then lift + do more conditioning afterwards.