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isbn: 978-0-615-66352-4
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Table of contents
The LIFT-RUN-BANG Philosophy............................................................... 15
Programming - Where most go wrong................................................... 22
My Squat sucks......................................................................................... 26
My Deadlift sucks..................................................................................... 39
My pressing sucks too.............................................................................. 59
Training Splits............................................................................................. 72
Short Timer - The strong-15 short cycle.................................................. 85
Conditioning - Increasing your gas tank............................................... 89
Training for mass - The New Big-15......................................................... 93
Bodypart Specialization - Gettin’ tickets to the gun show................... 108
If I could do this shit all over again......................................................... 117
Old Guy Training....................................................................................... 124
Prehab and Rehab................................................................................... 126
A barbell and two dumbbells................................................................. 140
Thoughts about life, crap, training and stuff.......................................... 144
Programming Cheat Sheet...................................................................... 152
Thanks........................................................................................................ 157
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Strength reigns. Strength is king.
As big as I am on conditioning and being in shape, which is very important in the scheme of
being the best you can be, strength is still king.
My motto about training is, and has been for a long time, “be strong - be in shape.”
However the front runner in that sentence is to “be strong”.
Two sprinters of equal ability. Make one of them stronger, he wins.
Two fighters of equal ability. Make one of them stronger, he wins.
This paradigm exists across every combat and sporting platform in the universe.
All things being equal, the stronger version will triumph.
The training philosophies in this book can and will help make you physically stronger. I
hope that some of my words about life, being a man, father, husband, son, brother, and
friend can strengthen you as well. The stronger you are, the greater your odds of success
in battle become, whatever that battle may be. Natural selection weeds out the weak. It
separates the wheat from the chaff. It delineates the alpha from the beta.
Weak willed? Death becomes the only option when dire circumstances arise.
Weak of spirit and constitution? See above.
Weak of mind? Falters under complexity
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Weak of body? Falters under physical burdens.
Men, real men, grow strong in body and mind, and prosper from it. It allows them to protect
their loved ones, and do things that the weak of mind, body, and spirit, cannot.
Strength is what allows a man to carve himself a great legacy, long after he is gone. Not
because of the things he acquired, but the intangibles he leaves behind.
Those intangibles become manifested through the actions and life of those held
dearest. No different than all of the lessons about life and being a man have stayed with
me, long after my best friend took his last breath. Even though he was young, he was very
strong in mind and spirit. I am thankful every day that I had such a friend, to teach me such
valuable lessons and uphold certain values. I hope I have lived my life in a way that would
have made him proud.
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Everyone is born small and weak, and most will die old and weak. What you do in between
is up to you.
Build strength in every possible way in your life, and you will leave an awesome legacy
behind that will stand the test of time. It will continue to live through those that you loved,
and loved you the most.
The Lion
I am a huge big cat fan, and especially a fan of lions.
A male lion fights to defend his pride, because in that pride lives his legacy. His young. His
bloodline. He fights to the death if need be, because he knows if he loses, his legacy is lost. It
is strength that is the ultimate decider in whether or not he will be able to defend that
legacy, and see it continue on.
The male lion comes to the defense of his lioness if she is cornered by the Hyena; their
natural enemy. And he will tear through them with fervor and malice, for dare putting his
family in danger. There is no quarter given, and he has no regard for his own wellbeing. He
throws himself into the fray in order to impose his will on anything that threatens his family.
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Alpha male lions did not become so out of chance. When a male lion reaches the age of 23 years old, is kicked out of the pride and becomes nomadic. On his own, or with his
brothers, he hunts, fights, and searches for a pride of his own to rule. It’s only when he is
strong enough to defeat a ruling male, that he can do so. The survival rate for nomadic
males is low. Nothing is ever given to him. He must earn everything he has through blood
and sacrifice.
“Men” these days, could improve themselves by adopting many of the traits of the alpha
male lion. My friend Jim Wendler often uses the motto “Eat, Sleep, Mate, Defend.” If this
doesn’t describe the male lion perfectly I don’t know what else does.
I’ve seen enough videos on the internet and read enough stories to know that our current
generation of “men” is one rife with many cowards and “life bystanders”.
One such incident I remember was a video of a baby stroller that got away from a woman
at a train station, and rolled onto the train tracks. However not before it rolled right by some
clown on his cell phone, which stood by and watched it roll onto the tracks, never even
attempting to grab it. Thank goodness the mother had more balls than he did.
Plenty of people have seen videos where someone was beaten for seemingly no reason by
multiple attackers, while people just stood around and did nothing.
People stand around and refuse to get involved because they fear physical conflict or the
chance that repercussions may come upon them for attempting to do the right thing.
Understandable, but still pussified.
Great men of history did not stand idly by while baby strollers rolled by them. They did not
stand by while someone got beaten down by multiple attackers for seemingly no reason.
Teddy Roosevelt was shot by a would be assassin, and still finished giving his speech to
the crowd, saying “It takes more than one bullet to kill a bull moose!”.
Todd Beamer was one of the passengers on Flight 93 that led a revolt to try and take back
the plane. He gave his life trying to fight the terrorists that had taken over said plane.
Liviu Librescu was a professor at Virginia Tech in 2007. When a gunman tried to force his
way into Liviu’s classroom, the 76 year old Holocaust survivor blocked the door with his
own body, and told students to flee. He died after the gunman eventually forced his way
in. How many would have died had he not acted heroically?
These men are Lions.
Someone might read this and think it’s hokey or “rah rah” and my thoughts on that opinion
are to put down your judgmental attitude and try to comprehend what I am writing about
here.
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Be something better than the guy that stands by and does nothing in a critical situation.
Be more than a life bystander.
Be strong. The Lion has a strong constitution. It’s what he uses to reign with.
Be responsible. Protect your young, and raise them properly.
Come to the aid of your loved ones and the defenseless, no matter what peril it may put you
in.
Don’t cower and be weak when it comes to making the tough decisions.
Be something your enemies fear and your loved ones and peers respect. This is a virtual
impossibility if you walk through life being a self-centered, self-absorbed pussy.
Strength and Women
Our two most natural instincts as males, are to survive and procreate.
Strength is a key element in both.
Women desire men of strength. Strength of body, mind, and character. Someone will try to
argue against this point by pointing to all sorts of various exceptions.
So what?
Centuries of behavior prove me right, and exceptions don’t make the rule.
Just because you know some chick that has daddy issues and/or has some kind of
destroyed self-esteem that makes her act like a more cracked out version of Courtney Love
doesn’t mean shit. I’m talking the average female walking the planet. She is wired to look
for certain traits in a man and all of them come back to him being able to provide for her
effectively.
Line up 100 women, and give her two options to choose from. A fat, out of shape dude
working at the local gas station driving the shit-box or the in-shape, successful investment
banker driving the Jag.
All 100 of those women, so long as they are of sound mind, will take the Jag owner 100% of
the time. They are wired to. He represents a good partner for mating, and someone who
can provide for her and protect her.
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A guy generally doesn’t get to that status without being strong in the areas that matter in
life. Like it or not, material things are often representations of strength. You won’t find too
many idiots living in million dollar homes. Men achieve this level of success through
strength. And with success, comes confidence.
Women can smell the stench of a man with no confidence or low self-esteem from 19.7
miles away. Why would they ever want to mate with a man who can’t provide or protect
and has no confidence about being able to do so, or about himself in general?
This is exactly how women are wired and why women are attracted to very particular types
of men. And I’m not just talking about dudes who are “jacked” or look like an underwear
model or have great hair.
I have known lots of big strong guys that couldn’t get laid in an African whorehouse. Women
do not desire these men because even though they may be able to bench 500 pounds,
inside they are whimpering little bitches. Moaning and crying about everything. Especially
about the lack of attention from the opposite sex.
I personally think that is quite ironic.
They don’t get attention from females because they are insecure about not getting
attention from females.
Think about it.
Don’t be the guy that is “strong like bull, smart like tractor.” Aspire to be a combination of
the Incredible Hulk AND Tony Stark. Strong, and smart.
And strong + smart = confidence. And confidence attracts women.
This will require some genuine introspection on your part.
Your body, your mind, your emotional state all should represent strength. These are all
things you have control over in your life. Build them up in every way possible, so that that
any obstacle you may face in life, never feels insurmountable.
People will notice this. Women will notice this. Guys will want to be like you. Women will
want to be with you. This is bad how?
Be honest with yourself about your weaknesses, and devise a plan to turn them into
strengths.
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Have an undying will to win, and more on confidence.
Anyone who has watched more than two games of any professional sport has seen a guy
get “in the zone” and take over a game, a fight, or a hot dog eating contest. In reality, this is
nothing more than confidence.
Confidence is nothing more than by product of strength. When your will to win is strong and
virile, your confidence will be high.
Whether in life or training, overcoming adversity and obstacles is what builds
confidence. Wasting these opportunities in regards to either, means you are wasting
opportunities to grow to your potential. The strongest of men never became that way out
of prosperity. It was through fire and ice; flesh and bone; blood, sweat, and tears, as they
say.
From a job interview, to romancing women, (or dudes if you are a chic reading this) to
winning a pickup game of basketball; confidence applies to everything you do in life.
Weakness, on the other hand, can spread like a virus. It causes everything around you to
crumble and fall.
Your job, your marriage, your training, your relationships with family and friends; everything
that encompasses your life will be affected by it, but in the complete opposite way that
confidence and strength affects it.
This is because weakness is the birth giver to insecurity and negative energy.
What you should be doing is cultivating a winning attitude towards everything you do. Think
of your attitude and your confidence as a garment. Is it fitting, stylish, and awesome, or is it
ugly and shit stained? Who you are radiates in your attitude and everything you do. From
what you wear, to how you speak. Your confidence, or lack of, will define people’s
perception of you.
You can be an ugly human being that is very confident in a single area, but ugly none the
less, because your attitude related to everything else sucks.
It behooves you to be confident in whom you are in every facet of your life, and in every
endeavor you pursue. Why go after something you feel will never be attainable? Develop a
winning plan and attitude for whatever it is you want to achieve.
When you apply these things to your weaknesses, you will improve your strengths, in the
gym, and in all facets of your life. Without improving both, you will never fully be what you
are meant to be, or who you are meant to be.
A weak version of who you are is rife with insecurity, self-loathing, pity, animosity, and despair.
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A strong version of yourself is filled with confidence, assurance, fortitude, and ability.
Conquer your obstacles and roadblocks, and you inch closer to becoming the lion in his
prime.
Let your obstacles conquer you, and you will fail to ever have a prospering pride (life) of
your own.
“Fuck him up.....and don’t be a bitch.” - Nick Diaz to his brother Nate, before Nate stepped
into the ring for a fight.”
I’m not really a Diaz brothers fan, but I love this quote. At that point, when Nate is stepping
into the ring, talking about training or technical aspects is stupid.
This quote speaks loudly about preparation. There isn’t anything else that could be said in
that situation for motivation or advice. That’s what the months and months of preparation
leading into the fight are for. However when it came down to the nut cutting, the best advice Nick could give Nate, was to “fuck him up....and don’t be a bitch”.
I think some people don’t enjoy being talked to like this personally. They want to have
a “real person” talking to them, because they think talking like this is cartoonish or conjures
up images of Hulk Hogan doing a “let me tell ya’ brother” speech. The fact is, most people
get coddled enough these days. If you want someone to hand hold you, go visit the nursing
home. I write the way I speak, and I believe in having passion and fire about what I believe
in. Otherwise, why invest in it?
Either do something with passion and vigor, or just get out of the game. And if you’re going
to be in the game, prepare your ass off for fight night. When that time comes, there’s not
a whole lot left to be said. Either you’ve done the work, or you’re chances of victory are
significant, or you haven’t, confidence will wane, and losing is almost assured. The whole
point of preparation is this…
• Make a decision to do something
• Prepare like your life depends on it
• Show up confident that your preparation gives you the best chance at victory
You can apply this to everything you will ever do in your life.
“The fact is, most people get coddled enough these days.
If you want someone to hand hold you, go visit the nursing home.”
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You don’t wing it in training and expect to be successful, but you expect to go through life
and wing it and come out ahead?
Every man should have his own code, or laws, that he is going to live by. These would
obviously be different from individual to individual, but I think there are some very good core
laws that every man should start with.
• Respect yourself - The most basic of all laws. A man with no self-respect is a man
with no dignity and no honor. This also means not getting owned up or dictated to
by your significant other or used and abused by “friends”. There’s nothing sadder
than a man who lets his woman tell him what he can and can’t do, or keeps the
company of untrustworthy and unworthy people. This also means respecting
your body. Don’t be a fat slob that breathes heavy sitting on the couch. Get in
shape. Strength IS king, however strength is also limited by the gas tank that lets
you use it.
• Be a man of your word - In an early scene in the movie 300, a Persian messenger
shows up at Sparta to speak with Leonidas. Before he can speak, Leonidas lets him
know that everyone, even a king’s messenger is held accountable for the words of
their voice. The messenger then basically threatens Leonidas and his people with
slavery and death and Leonidas kicks him into a well for doing so. What you say,
for better or worse, will play a huge part in defining who you are to the people you
speak to. If you tell someone you will be there, and you don’t show, it’s a black mark
on your character. As much of a black mark on you for not showing up for your best
buddies wedding? No. After a while, you will either be thought of as the person
whose word is his bond, or that “flake” that no one knows if they will really show up,
or be true to what they said. And don’t beat around the bush with people. If you
don’t want to do something, tell them that. They may not be happy about it, but
eventually they will come to respect your honesty, and know that when you do say
something, it’s gospel.
• Live your life with integrity - This seems obvious, but not everyone applies this simple rule
to their life often enough. All you need to do, is ask yourself, before you make a
decision, does it bear out your integrity? Does your decision making reflect that of a
man with integrity? This can often make decisions tough, and that’s not a bad thing
When you live your life with honor and integrity you will always be able to hold your head high regardless of circumstances and know you did what was right and just.
• Protect and provide for your family - If you have a wife and kids, be a provider. If
your wife is the breadwinner, be the best stay at home dad you can be. Protect
your family by any means necessary. Providing also means emotional fulfillment
in those relationships as well. If you have a spouse, don’t leave her wanting for
anything. Women, for the most part, simply want to feel loved and unique. Children
need someone who sets a great standard for them. A role model. Your daughters
will look to you as the kind of man they would want to marry. Your sons will look to
you as the kind of man they want to be. Make sure you set high standards in both
regards.
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• Respect others, unless they violate the former rule - Whether or not you believe in
karma or God or whatever, things do have a way of coming back around to you. If
you afford people a certain degree of initial respect, more times than not they will
return it back to you. If you go around disrespecting people and shitting on them, it
will eventually make its way back around to you as well. However if someone puts
your family or loves ones in jeopardy, greet their violence with more violence than
they have ever encountered in their life.
• Move forward - One of the biggest obstacles that keep people from being as
successful in life and relationships, is the inability to let go of failures. The longer
you dwell and hold on to mistakes, the longer it takes for you to move out of the
quagmire, and make things right again. The best thing about this is that you have
all the power to change this instantly. Letting go of shit can be hard, but the longer
you look in the rear view mirror, the less time you have your eyes on the road in front
of you. Remember, holding a grudge is allowing someone to live rent free in you head.
“When someone does something to you, you have all the
power in regards you respond to their actions.
No one can MAKE you angry.”
• Understand that YOU have all the power AND bear all the responsibility - In a way,
this is actually the most important code of all. It’s hard for some people to get their
head around this one. When someone does something to you, you have all the
power in regards you respond to their actions. No one can MAKE you angry. You
make the decision to be angry, or sad, or happy, or indifferent. Everyday people do
or say things to you that you have to respond to. How you respond is entirely up to
you. You have all the power. You don’t “blame” other people for making you happy
or excited. Stop using other people as scapegoats when you are bitter, jealous,
rude, arrogant, or disrespectful. Understand that you get all the deciding power for
the energy you are going to give back to a particular situation. In other words, be a
master over your responses. This can be a hard power to master for people who are
very off the cuff/emotions on my sleeves types, but once it is mastered, it is by far
the most powerful of any code.
These are not the “be all end all” of rules. However, it’s a good start. And one that almost
no one could argue against. If you have ones to add, make sure they aren’t based in
negativity or bitterness. The power of positive thinking is a very real thing.
What you decide should be your code is up to you. Just make sure your guidelines are
ruled by good intentions and are not deep seeded in negativity. It doesn’t have to be
positive either. It can be neutral, but try to avoid attaching negative connotations to your
code.
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Becoming the lion
My hope in writing this opening chapter, and book, is that you make a choice not only to
become physically stronger, but become a stronger person as well. A stronger man, father,
husband, son, brother, and friend. A protector, guardian, and destroyer of worlds against
anyone who dare threaten your domain.
Being strong is not just about putting more weight on the bar and doing more reps. It’s
about being a stronger YOU. Destroying any weakness you can identify, by reinforcing your
foundation to make it as stout as possible.
This is the attitude you MUST have to succeed at the highest level of anything you want to
accomplish in life. It’s the attitude that I constantly try to reinforce in my life as well. I fail at
times, and then I pick myself up, knock the dust off, and try again. By no means am I the
living embodiment of all of these things. It’s just something I feel that we as men should
strive to be.
I write these things, not for everyone else, but mainly for myself. As a reminder of the
things I feel I need to be, and continue to get better at.
If you are to fulfill your potential to become the strongest man you can be, then your focus
must be laser like in all facets.
Your will to win must never waiver.
In training, you must work harder than you have ever worked. In life, you must work harder
than you have ever worked. Mediocre people are always satisfied with their accomplishments.
Champions are not. They constantly strive to reach a new level.
Appreciate achieving and conquering goals. Then leave it, and set your sights on new
ones.
Fuck mediocrity. A mediocre lion never ruled a pride.
A mediocre you won’t rule anything worth having either.
Every man dies from or survives assassinations many times during the course of his life.
Assassinations on his character and integrity.
When you cheat on your wife, or lie to friends, or backstab at work to climb that company
ladder, or any of the times you take the road of the many, you die a little inside. You may
not think so now, or may not pay for it now, but there is a reason people talk about things
like karma, and sayings like “what goes around, comes around” exist.
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Surviving these assassination attempts can be difficult, trust me I know. However each time
you allow yourself to be weak in the face of your enemy, the more you die a little inside.
The Hyena is the Lion’s natural enemy.
What is yours? Fear.
Fear that you will fail. That you won’t be good enough, or measure up enough. Fear of
change.
Fear is the driving force behind people making subpar decisions in their life.
Fear is what puts you on your knees, with your assassins and demons standing behind you,
laughing at what a weak little bitch you have become. Persuaded so easily, you fall to your
knees, gladly taking one in the back of the dome without even the slightest protest. You fail
to make the tough choice because you succumb to your fears, over and over again. And it
gets easier each time. Each time that you give in to your fears, it makes it a little easier the
next time to do so.
Your life slips away, and so does all of the dreams you had for it.
Tisk, tisk, tisk.
Death is winning. Do something, besides getting on your knees over and over again.
Rise up against the adversity in your life, against your demons, and shove that weapon
straight up that would be assassin’s ass. Then tear his skin off and wear it around as a
suit. There’s not a damn thing wrong with being afraid. Use that fear to motivate you.
Embrace the fact that you could fail, but with failure comes learning, and with learning you
get better. And when you get better, you fail less and less.
If you have been getting on your knees, it’s time to reload who you are, and what you are
about.
You need to envision the person you want to become. Be honest with yourself about all of
the cracks and weaknesses that currently exist in you. You need to repair those cracks,
and make the foundation stronger than ever.
Because strength reigns….strength is king.
Now is the time to become stronger.
It’s time to prepare to win.
It’s time to become the fucking lion.
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The LIFT-RUN-BANG Philosophy
For those familiar with my previous programs, my ideas have always centered on the
following.
• Perform an over-warmup then perform back-off sets to build the lift
• Use training economy as a staple, i.e. use movements that give you the most bang
for your buck
• Limit your volume to only what you need to get the job done
• Limit your frequency to only what you need to get the job done
• Don’t “deload”. Just take time off until you feel hungry to return to training
• Start off light in your programming
• Understand that strength peaks in cycles. There is no way you can be your
strongest at all times
• Generally leaving a rep or two for your heaviest sets is best
• Use the lifts to build the lift. Use assistance to build musculature involved in the lift.
• Weak point training is bullshit. You just need to think about getting stronger. Few
understand this concept.
• You can’t serve two masters. You can’t get “big and ripped” at the same time. Pick
one goal and have a laser like focus on that goal.
• 80-10-10
• Be strong... be in shape. It’s really THAT simple.
• Lifting is very metaphysical. Develop the attitude to win and believe in what you are
doing. Your program will succeed if you believe in it. This is paramount.
• Have a reason for everything you do in training.
• Never take the easy way. Always make training harder than it has to be.
Sets and Reps
My staple in terms of sets and reps has always been to perform an “over-warm up” then use
the back off sets as the “builders” to the big stuff. In other words, you prime the system by
doing a little bit more than you have planned for your “work” sets. Then if you want to rep
with 315 on bench, you warm up to a nice single at say 345 or 355 and then do your work
sets at 315.
This has been the most productive way I have found to train in more than two decades of
being under the bar.
Training Economy
Squats, Rows, Heavy Chins, Bench Pressing, Inclines, Overhead Pressing, Curls, and Dips
should be the makeup of your training. If you can’t do one of these, do a variation of it.
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Training Volume and Frequency
Use calibration for what you need. Don’t train or go into the gym “just because”. Recovery
is still a factor in making progress. If you never allow the body to rest, then when is it going
to grow? Babies sleep so much because they are growing at a maximal rate. If you don’t
sleep, eat, and rest enough to overcome the amount of training stimulus you apply, how will
you grow? Most guys train far too much and do too much shit in my opinion.
Deloading
I don’t deload. I don’t see the point of it, outside of meet planning. For normal training
cycles, just train hard until you feel crispy. I define “crispy” as when you dread going into
the gym and putting more plates on the bar makes you groan with agony and regret. Some
people say you can avoid this by “deloading” and I say bullshit. Part of getting out of the
gym all together is to let the mind decompress from training. Don’t underestimate how
important this is. Your body can be recovered just fine, but the mind may need some more
time in order to get ready for another run at the iron.
Just take time off until your motivation returns. If your motivation never returns then you
were never a “lifer” in the first place, and it’s all good.
Start Light
I can never emphasize this enough. This is a trick I can remember figuring out when I was
around 17 years old. I had the flu and was throwing up for days. I was out of the gym
for over a week and when I went back in I knew I was weak as shit. I started off light and
added a little each week and within a few weeks I easily moved past the weights I had been
using as a max. This was very eye opening for me because I often started a new training
routine off as heavy as I could go.
When you program for your training, the first few weeks should be incredibly easy if you
want to reap great rewards. START LIGHT.
Peak strength comes and goes
Your very maximal strength is not something that can be maintained at all times. If
you program properly you generally have a strength curve that goes upwards to a new
PR, then tapers off. This is what powerlifters have done for decades in order to peak
for competitions. You can’t hit your best every week, and trying to do so is foolish and
counterproductive. If this is what built strength you could just enter a meet each week and
you would just keep getting better. No one does this, and experienced lifters know this
doesn’t work.
The time in the gym should be used to build strength, not demonstrate it. You choose a
time to demonstrate that strength later. Whether that be in your basement, the gym, or at a
meet or athletic event. More on this later.
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Leave a rep in the tank
This is something I learned after many years of training with every top set until my eyes
bled. I won’t lie, that kind of training can be very productive in spurts, especially for mass
gains. However from a big picture perspective, the best method for continuing to improve is
to leave a rep or two in the tank. This keeps you from getting too beat down to recover, but
applies enough stimulation to force the body to adapt. Therefore, when I write “to failure”
what I generally mean is, to failure without the use of a spotter. You know you wouldn’t be
able to get another rep on your own. This isn’t the clinical definition of “muscular failure”,
but it’s mine.
Use a lift to build a lift
Good mornings won’t build your deadlift. And doing parallel box squats will not improve
your rock bottom raw squat. If you want to get good at a lift, practice that lift. The lifts
actually build themselves. Use your assistance work to build the musculature involved in
the lift. There is a very clear delineation between these two things. For example.......
Bench Press to build the bench press
Do shoulder press, incline presses, and dips to build the chest, shoulders, and triceps.
A bigger you = a higher strength ceiling.
Don’t be a “weak point” lifter
This is another area that few seem to get. If you are a raw lifter (meaning you don’t wear
equipment), you are going to have leverages and mechanics and all sorts of other things
that only witchcraft can explain, that cause you to fail at the same point in the movement
every time you are not strong enough to make that lift.
Let me make this simple.
If you can 3-board press 10 more pounds than you can bench press, then you don’t have
a “lock out” problem. You just missed a certain weight because you weren’t strong enough
to generate the power needed to move that particular weight through the transition point in
the movement.
Please read that 10 more times before you continue.
Just get stronger, especially off the bottom portion of that movement, and you’ll make the lift
with that weight the next time.
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Don’t be a jack of all trades - Don’t serve two masters
You’re never going to get “big and ripped” at the same time. You probably won’t be able to
lose an excessive amount of weight and get stronger either, though this one is possible if
you do it slowly over time.
The point here is, focus on a single task at hand and go after it with fervor and insanity. If
you want to get into condition, then don’t place getting stronger at the top of the list at the
same time. Get into bad ass condition. Then when you feel satisfied, proceed on to the
next goal while maintaining what you can in the conditioning department. Over time, this is
how you become the complete package.
80-10-10 Rule
80% of the workouts we do are just run of the mill, get the work in kind. 10% will suck, and
10% will be king kong sessions. You need not get too high on the king kong type, and not
too low on the shit suckers. The truth is, stacking a metric ton of 80% sessions together is
the best way to make fantastic progress. It’s called consistency. And it is the real king of
the jungle in terms of training effectiveness.
Be strong... be in shape
If I could narrow down my philosophy to 1 sentence, this would be it. Be strong...be in shape.
It’s really that simple. I don’t care if you can bench press 600 pounds if walking up a flight
of stairs makes you out of breath. You aren’t very strong once you become oxygen
deprived. Training for functional strength means being able to apply your strength in a
difficult real world situation. If you have no gas tank, you don’t have much. Strength is
king, but conditioning is the queen. And behind every great king is a great queen. Make
sure you balance these two things appropriately at all times.
Develop the right attitude
I was training a client of mine who had been doing multiple sets of squats with 115 for sets
of 10 fairly easily. On this training day I put a 45 on each side for her to squat. 135. She
looked visibly afraid. I knew she was good for it but mentally she had already lost. She
was afraid of the weight. She hesitantly got under the bar, barely walked it out, dipped
down a few inches and struggled to move it.
I got in her face and told her this was a bullshit effort. To get out of my sight and not to
come back until she was ready to squat that weight.
She left the room and came back a few minutes later with a very different look on her
face. It was one of determination and focus. She aggressively got back under the bar,
popped it off, and squatted it easily for 5 deep reps. The only thing that changed from the
first set to the second was her attitude.
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The other part about “attitude” is to believe in what you are doing. If you believe that a
program is going to deliver unbelievable strength and mass gains, there’s a very good
chance that it will. If you don’t really believe in what you are doing, there’s a very good
chance your results will be very minimal. Your “buy-in” to a program is just as important as
the program itself. You should believe in what you are doing. It should strike a chord in
you and there should be clear cut reasons as to why you believe that it will work.
Have a reason for everything
Every movement, set, rep, volume, frequency, everything you do, you should know WHY
you are doing it. Are you doing this because someone said you should, or are you doing it
because someone said you should be doing it? If they did, did they tell you why you should
be doing it?
When you sit down to write out your routine and your programming, everything should have
a reason for being on that piece of paper. And it shouldn’t be vague, like “I do this because
I wanna get jacked.” That’s not really a clear cut reason.
“Strength is king, but conditioning is the queen.
And behind every great king is a great queen.”
I bench press because I need to build my bench for competition. I do inclines after that
because I have found that inclines help my bench press very much. I get very good
carryover from it.
I do pause squats to build my bottom position strength.
I do block deadlifts and shrugs because block deads have helped me off the floor as do
shrugs (yes shrugs have helped me off the floor). This is where I am weak in the deadlift.
I do some curls because it helps keep my elbows feeling good.
I do ab work because I compete beltless, and I know my abs need to be very strong.
That’s basically my whole competition routine breakdown. Everything I do has a very
particular reason for being in there. If you have movements in your routine, have a reason
for each one being in there. Otherwise why is it in there?
Always ask yourself these kinds of questions in order to help make yourself a better
programmer and planner.
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Never take the easy way in training
If your goal is to be strong in every way possible, and I hope that it is, then never take the
easy route in training.
Kick your dumbbells into place for dumbbell pressing. Don’t have someone hand them to
you. That’s weak. When you are done pressing them, do a short farmers walk and put
them back in place.
Do your own lift off in bench.
Walk your squats out.
Hold your deadlifts for a while at the top.
Clean your standing press instead of taking it off the rack.
Limit your use of straps.
Only wear your belt, if you wear one, for your heaviest sets.
If you ever say to yourself “I do it this way because it’s easier.....” then don’t do it that way.
Take advantage of every opportunity to make yourself stronger.
If you ever say to yourself
“I do it this way because it’s easier…”
then don’t do it that way.
The Strength Bell Curve
One of the things I talked about in my original Philosophy of Training programs was peaking
for strength. I know there are plenty of opponents to this theory but anecdotal evidence
over many decades tend to back this theory up. Your body tends to ramp up, so to speak,
over a training cycle, then taper back down. This isn’t just for weight training mind
you. Most single sport athletes have some kind of peaking program built into their training
in order to take advantage of this.
Marathon runners don’t just run full marathons every week.
Cyclists don’t do a full Tour de France over and over again.
MMA fighters don’t just go out and have full bore get KTFO fights every week in training.
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There is a strength bell curve you should be cognitive of, and you should learn how to
manipulate this in order to get the most out of your training.
In my IronRadio interview Dr. Lonnie Lowery talked about the fact that the Soviets believe
that you hit peak strength at about 6 weeks, and based their Olympic programming around
it. I have found in my own experience that 6-8 weeks seems to be about right.
“Then why is your programming 9 weeks, Paul?” Good question.
I believe the first three weeks of training can be used as a primer for the last 6
weeks. Think of it like a flying start in the 40-yard dash. You accelerate through the entire
40 yards, but if you get a flying start, you obviously run much faster than if you start from a
dead stop.
This is why phase 1, the first three weeks of programming, is light and can be used as the
primer for the last 6 weeks of the heaviest training.
It’s also why I believe my programs work so well. Because you can be coming off a layoff
and go right into meet planning. Or even be coming off of a minor injury and still be just
fine. The first three weeks lays the stage for the final 6 weeks.
A very basic high level overview would look like this:
What should happen over phase 2 and phase 3 (the final 6 weeks) is that you move
weights with confidence, and then go into the meet knowing you are good for what you
have planned for. Your body should be stronger than ever, and your mind more confident
than ever. Whether this is for a gym lift you have been striving for, a meet, or an athletic
event these are the two factors that create a recipe for success.
Regardless of what anyone tells you, you can’t maintain peak strength for months or even
weeks really. Your body can’t. I don’t care what anyone tells you. If it could then guys that
pull 800 as a max third attempt on meet day, could pull that any day of the week, but they
will tell you that they can’t.
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Programming - Where most go wrong
The biggest reason why guys training cycles get short circuited is because of ego. Period.
The truth is, for most lifters, they don’t want to walk into the gym and use “normal”
weights. Normal being relative, of course.
They want to be the king in the gym. If they have a 600 deadlift they want to deadlift 600
every week. When they program in the phases they always program way too high. Then
they get into week 5 and wonder why shit is starting to feel heavy. It’s because they
refused to acknowledge that they really aren’t all that and a bucket o’ chicken.
People often have trouble coming to grips with their own mortality and inferior abilities.
Programming in numbers is just another example of this.
It’s not until you overcome this that you can actually move past what you are capable of
now.
That’s another sentence that you probably need to read a few times if you have been
frustrated with your training.
Proper Programming - The 85-93-100 rule
Programming for success is not difficult if you adhere to the rules above concerning training
philosophy.
Then why do most lifters have so much trouble understanding what to put in for a max
when they start their programming?
Ego is the number one problem.
Put your ego aside, program in a nice little goal for phase 3, then program 85% of that for
phase 1 and 93% of that for phase 2.
That’s it. It’s that simple.
People mess this up constantly.
Let me quote Ed Coan (again) about how to approach your gym lifting:
“I always leave the heavy ones for meets. They don’t mean shit in the gym and I’ll end up
overtraining. That’s what I used to do when I was younger, but I could get away with it then.
Overtraining is really common in powerlifting, just like bodybuilding.”
http://www.tnation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/atlas_speaks
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If I had a dollar for every time I heard a guy say “I hit X amount in the gym before the meet,
but I missed it on meet day. I don’t know why.” I would give this book out for free because
I’d be rich and retired, banging Adriana Lima. Nevertheless, I’m not, even though I really
really wish I were.
You only have so many big ones in you over the course of a training cycle. And I’m not
talking about your sex life. Don’t be the guy that competes that is always talking about what
he hit in the gym but missed at the meet. Be smart in your programming and reap the
rewards.
If you don’t plan on competing, the rules still apply. You’re still trying to get as strong as
possible. Put your ego aside and program in a way that sets you up for success. The truth
is, you never have to take an absolute max attempt in the gym, to get as strong as
possible. In fact, it’s probably counterproductive in some ways. It takes longer to recover
from these kinds of attempts, it poses a higher risk for injury, and you’re only doing it to
demonstrate strength.
You don’t need to demonstrate strength to actually get stronger.
Momentum
Each training session should build on the next, and each phase should build on the next
one, until you are at peak strength. This will not happen if you are training at damn near
max weights week in and week out. At some point either your strength will fall off for a
while, or your body will give you a nice dose of forced rest in the way of an injury. Either
way, both of these things curtail training progress.
Let’s show how Joe Lifter should do this.
Joe Lifter is good for a 405 squat. He knows this either because.....
• He squatted 405 just recently, and training has still been going good.
• He squatted 90% of that (365) for a triple. This is a fairly good indicator of being
good for 405.
Joe is smart. He knows 405 would be a REAL max, so he just plans on hitting 415 in the
next 9 weeks. He plugs in 355 for phase 1 (85%), 385 for phase 2 (93%), and 415 for
phase 3 (100%).
Joe busts through each phase, gets stronger and more confident. Easily goes 355, 385,
415 on testing day after a short deload. Takes a few days off, decides to go for 425 on his
next go round.
Successful lifter is successful.
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Now, Matt Douche on the other hand thinks he’s good for 405. Even though he’s only done
385 as a real hard grinder as a single and that was months ago.
Matt Douche plugs in 415 for phase 3, 385 for phase 2, and 365 for phase 1.
Matt Douche wonders why everything feels so heavy just a couple of weeks in, stalls in
phase 2 and starts missing lifts. Matt Douche sucks, and so does his planning and
programming. Matt Douche doesn’t know how to leave his ego aside and plan
appropriately because he thinks more of his lifting than he should.
Matt Douche should get beaten to death with an AIDS shovel because he wastes his time
and my time, by asking me why his training failed when I’ve covered this on numerous
occasions.
In essence, be Joe Lifter. Don’t be Matt Douche.
Meet Day Options - 85-93-100 Rule (again)
No you’re not having a flashback. I wrote about this in programming and I apply the same
philosophy to meet day.
This is my own personal favorite option.
Figure out what it is you want to hit for your third attempt (phase 3), then program in 85% of
that for phase 1, and 93% of that for phase 2.
In phase 3 you will end up attempting that 93% of that goal on squat and bench (deadlift is
95%). If you smoke that 93% lift I guarantee you, barring a technical issue, you’re going to
be good for your goal.
Option 2 - Opener, Small PR, Big PR
This is probably the most common method guys use. They shoot for a small PR on their
second attempt and a bigger PR on their third attempt. I subscribed to this theory for a
while but over time I have become a non-fan of it. And I will give a few reasons.
To me, every meet should be about going 9 for 9 with 3 solid PR’s across the board. I’ve
heard guys say “if you didn’t miss anything you didn’t go heavy enough”.
Bullshit.
Would you believe a coach that told you if you didn’t lose a game you weren’t trying hard
enough? Does that make any sense? You train for months, eat, sleep, and take
supplements to compete and then do so in a way that doesn’t give you the greatest
possible results? Seems dumb to me.
What generally happens is this. Dude comes out to an opener that is way too heavy, then he
barely makes his second (you know, that “small PR”) then gets annihilated on his third
attempt that he knows he was never good for.
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I personally think this is like shoving cacti up your ass. An ugly waste of time, with no short
term or long term benefits.
Another way to think of this is, do you REALLY expect to hit 6 PR’s on three big lifts in a
single day? That’s awfully bold, foolish, and unlikely.
If you hit two PR’s in the squat, and then in the bench, you really expect to line up for the
deadlift and hit two more PR’s?
Yeah, me either.
If you do want to plan your attempts this way, make sure the second really is a small
PR. Like 5 pounds or so. And if you want to go for broke on the third and get crushed,
that’s up to you. Lots of guys use this method, I just don’t prefer it anymore.
The Opener - The least important and most important attempt in the meet
In my first meet ever, this young kid have drove to Oklahoma all the way from New Jersey
just to bench. If that didn’t seem dumb enough, I asked him what his best bench was.
“365” he told me. “And what are you opening with?” I asked. “365.”
This was my first meet, and even I knew better.
A fellow competitor joined with me in trying to convince this young lad to go and change his
opener to something easy. He refused. Why? Ego. He didn’t want to open with
something that made him “look” weaker than he was.
He proceeded to fail on his opener, and second, and third attempt.
I laughed in his face when he came backstage after the third attempt. He had been
warned by people who were looking out for his best interest, but refused to listen because of
his ego.
The opener is the least important and most important attempt at the same time. If you miss
your opener due to lack of strength, you’re probably going to miss your second and third. If
you open too heavy, you are taking some reserves away from your second attempt, which
will now take away from your third.
Don’t be New Jersey douchebag bench only guy. Open light and “stay in the meet”.
Your opener should not be a grinder in any way. I still see guys at every meet opening with
something they grind with. It’s just a god damn opener! It should be thought of as your last
warm up before the real attempts start. Using 85% of your planned goal for the opener
usually works really well.
No one will remember your opener....unless you miss it.
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My Squat sucks
I’ve probably written more about squatting than any other lift. Mainly because it drove me
mad that I sucked at it for so long after I finally dedicated myself to getting under the bar.
My first squat workout, that I remember, I did 155 pounds for a nose bleed high set of 10. I
was 15 at the time. A year after I started really lifting. I remember doing some leg work
with the guy that got me started lifting, but I think it was mostly hacks and leg presses.
I still remember the debilitating soreness from that lone set of 155x10. I couldn’t walk
properly for many days after. Getting up and down on the toilet was especially excruciating.
“Fuck this noise.” I thought.
And I didn’t squat again for a couple of years.
When I finally did start squatting years later, it was in a commercial gym. And I was left to
my own devices. In other words, I had to figure shit out for myself.
There were no big time squatters in said gym. No competitive powerlifters or bodybuilders.
I messed up for years, hurt my back over and over, and went nowhere for the most part. I
was supposed to be squatting however, so I was squatting god dammit.
Eventually I got stronger, in a completely wrong way. My technique was way off, I never
knew what “felt” right, and because of these things my squat sessions would vary wildly in
terms of how much I could squat. One week 405 was light and the next week 315 was
barely doable.
To say this was frustrating is like saying Michael Phelp’s would make an ok lifeguard.
I wanted to be the best squatter I could be. Eventually I made it a priority to figure out
exactly how I needed to squat in a way that was best for me.
Technical Difficulties
My initial squat was a high bar squat, with a big sit back. I was told to “sit back” when you
squat. So I did.
A lot.
When you are a high bar squatter, a big sit back will almost inevitably throw the bar forward
over your toes. This is even more pronounced when you get that hunch move going out of
the bottom. If you have squatted enough, you know what I am talking about.
This is a bar path issue. In fact, I want to state early, that bar path is EVERYTHING when it
comes to squatting. Hell, I think that statement can be applied to every lift in general.
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The path of the bar during the movement is what determines a leverage advantage or
disadvantage for you. You can get into a leverage disadvantage and still be strong enough
to muscle the weight up, but it will be more of a struggle. Hence me struggling with 315
some days.
Or you can get the bar moving into a path where you have better leverage advantages,
and the weight will feel lighter. Hence me squatting 405 more easily than 315 some days during that time.
This is not something I knew at the time. I was not really aware of all the techniques and
mechanical issues that needed addressing. If I had known, I would have fixed it.
Misinformation
One of the biggest problems with information is the amount of bad information floating
around. There is so much shitty information passed around, finding the valuable
information can be a real pain in the ass.
I wanted to get stronger, so of course the first place I looked was powerlifting. Seemed
logical.
I read all I could about powerlifting squats.
“You gotta get wide! Your stance is too narrow!”
I took my stance out wide.
“This feels terrible.” I thought. However I was told this is how to squat a lot of weight. Therefore
I kept at it.
“You need to box squat.”
I box squatted.
“Push out on the sides of your feet.” I read.
“That feels totally unnatural.” I thought. Nevertheless, I kept on.
After many months of messing about with this shit, I figured out it didn’t work for me. I later
figured out this kind of squatting was for guys who wear squat suits and equipment. For a
guy who didn’t even wear a belt, it was about as useful as owning a dog with 9 dicks that
you will never use as a stud.
I was a raw squatter. None of this really applied to me.
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I took what I found “useful”, and applied that to my own engineering. In other words, I knew
what “felt” right for me, and then if I read or saw a technique I implemented that one piece
and if it felt better, I kept it. If it felt like shit, I dropped it.
Eventually my squat started to feel natural and smooth. Once that happened, I was able to
actually concentrate on adding weight to the bar, and feel confident about it. No longer
did I wonder what I was going to do once I walked the bar out. I could just mentally prepare
for squatting the weight. Once this happens, you will be able to squat progressively more
weight. Because the mental energy that was being wasted on questioning what you are
doing, dissipates. And that energy can be focused on the task at hand.
What I am getting at with all of this is, no magic program of sets x reps is going to boost
your squat if your technique is fucked up. The very first thing you must do is find out what
technique suits you best.
With that, let’s go over the basic techniques for raw squatting.
Hands on the bar and elbow angle
Before you even unrack the bar, the first thing that happens is you place your hands on it.
Let’s go through why hand placement is important.
• Where you place your hands determines the angle of your elbows.
• The angle of your elbows can have an effect on the angle of your torso in the squat.
• The angle of your torso can/will determine the path of the bar.
• The path of the bar dictates leverage advantage/disadvantage.
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I used to squat with my grip close, and pulled everything super tight in my upperback as I
got under the bar. I would grip the bar tight as hell, with my entire upperback squeezed
together as tight as possible. Eventually I realized this also contributed to some of my elbow
problems. Instead of letting the bar “sit” on my upperback,
I was pretty much holding it there. And the weight of whatever I was squatting was getting
partially transferred down into the elbow joint. Lots of guys don’t equate elbow pain with
their squatting but I can’t tell you how many guys I’ve had change the way they hold the
bar, and within a few weeks their elbow pain was gone.
“The mental energy that was being wasted on questioning
what you are doing, dissipates.
That energy can be focused on the task at hand.”
Also keeping my upperback super tight didn’t allow me to relax enough in my hips to sit
down naturally in the hole. My descent was super slow and my groove did not feel as
natural as I felt like it should. I don’t want to say your upperback should be relaxed. I’m just
saying getting all bunched up back there became counterproductive for me.
On the flip side, I know many guys who have said that moving their grip in and getting
tighter in the upperback helped them, and they felt stronger squatting that way. Just be
aware that if your elbows point straight behind you, you may get more lean in your squat
than usual and it could throw the path of the bar off.
You want to keep your elbows sort of tucked into towards your lats. You can do this by
squeezing down, and not just back. When you squeeze back, that’s when the elbows start
pointing behind you, and this can shift you forward and out of the power path when you
squat.
When you squeeze down, they should pull in towards your lats. Think about pulling the bar
down into your back. Not squeezing your elbows behind you.
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I now have enough mass in my upperback to create a good shelf for the bar to sit on. If you
aren’t muscular enough in the upperback to have this, then getting tight back there may
help you more. Just be cognitive of the method you use to get in order to create that
shelf. If you’re squeezing back, like the way you do a row, the angle of your torso, and the
path of the bar, could put you at a disadvantage in the squat because of exaggerated
torso lean.
Right out of the gate, play with your hand spacing on the bar, and play with the method
that you use to get tight throughout the upper back, and be cognitive of your elbow angle
in relation to these things.
Low bar vs High Bar
Low bar vs high bar squatting means, obviously, where the bar sits on your back. High bar
squatting means the bar sits on the upper traps. Low bar squatting means the bar sits
below that, generally being on top of the rear delts. In order to squat low bar, you want/
need to have enough uperback and delt mass to create a good shelf for the bar to sit on.
Low Bar Postion
If you squat high bar, you might need less of a sit back in your squat (read more below).
You don’t need to unhinge your hips as much when you go high bar, because your torso
needs to stay more upright in order to maintain proper bar path. With a low bar, you can
unhinge a little more in the sit back, and get some forward lean going to put the bar in the
right path.
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I find a high bar squat tends to get more quads involved, where a low bar squat tends to
get my adductors more involved. There is nothing wrong with using both in your routine. In
fact this is what guys like Ed Coan and Doug Furnas did for years. Coan did all of his
competition squats low bar, and his pause squats high bar. This covers pretty much all the
bases.
High Bar Position
Let me also add that with a high bar squat, the squeezing of the back together doesn’t play
as significant a role. The bar sits high on the traps so the elbows should naturally point
down towards the floor, aligning themselves with the lats. You still want to get “tight” in the
posterior chain, but the squeezing of the midback like you need to do in a low bar squat isn’t
as much of a factor.
Whichever one you decide to use is entirely preference. Your build and preferred technique
in the squat will lend one style to feeling better than the other. Play with both for a while
and see which one you naturally gravitate to as “feeling” better/stronger, etc.
Getting under the bar and unracking it
This seems pretty basic, but fact is, I see people getting under the bar in all sorts of ways. I
just want to say that I think, regardless of what you may have seen some guys do, the best
way to get under the bar and unrack it, is to treat it like an actual lift, separate from the
squat. In other words, just think of unracking the weight as an actual movement, and take it
serious. Unracking the bar is the first phase in setting you up for a good squat. Treat it with
importance. Not something you do casually.
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Here are some queues for unracking the bar.
• Get the bar in proper position on your back. Make sure your hand spacing is even
and that the bar is going to be even on your back. Check where your hands are in
accordance to the rings on the bar. An uneven spacing means you’ll likely put the
bar uneven on your back. Don’t be trivial with this. I’ve seen many advanced lifters
do this because they don’t treat the setup with any respect.
• Get both hips/legs under the bar. Think about getting yourself in position to unrack
a thousand pounds. You wouldn’t do this with 1 leg back and 1 leg under you would
you?
• Deep breath and hold, then pop the bar off the pins.
• Limit your steps back into your stance. Fidgeting around wastes energy. Wasted
energy means you will squat less.
• Think 1-step 2-step....position. Take your first deliberate step back, then your
second deliberate step. Even on your warm ups. Don’t rush through anything or
waste opportunities to practice these things. If you squat with a slightly wider stance
than most, think 1-step, 2-step, step-out.....position.
• If you misstep, get too far in or out in accordance to your stance, just adjust as you
see fit. This takes some calibration. In time your 1-step 2-step will be ingrained in
your mechanics for the most part.
Squat Initialization - The sit back
The first movement after you are in place, should be to sit back as if you were going to
sit down in a chair. A lot of guys and gals I see squatting make the mistake of making
their knees travel forward as the first motion. This is wrong. That’s all I have to say. It’s
wrong. It’s wrong on so many levels I’d have to write a completely new chapter discussion
how stupid and wrong it is.
The breaking of the hips is the first motion initiated in a PROPER squat.
The descent in the squat is incredibly important because too much sit back can throw you
out of your power path (the path of the bar where you have the greatest leverage over it),
and too little sit back means you end up throwing your knees too far forward, and you can’t
initiate enough hip extension. The sit back is something that is unique TO YOU. You have
to play with this in order to find out what puts you in the strongest position coming out of the
hole. It’s one of the reasons why the pause squat is such a great squat developer. You will
know, for each and every rep, what put you in a strong position and what put you in a weak
position.
Before you even start the sit back however, make sure you take in a good deep breath,
and stabilize your midsection. If you wear a belt, putting your belt on super tight is not
required. I don’t even wear a belt and I understand how a belt works better than a lot of
guys who do. The belt should not be super tight. It should be tight enough so that you can
push out against it, and create internal pressure to stabilize your core. That’s the point of
the belt. The belt isn’t really worn to protect your low back. Use it accordingly.
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The descent
On the squat descent you need to sit back JUST ENOUGH to allow you to sit down
between your legs. Again, this is going to be something that takes a little bit of “feel” on
your part. I kind of sit down on “top” of my legs, but not really. Sometimes these things
are ambiguous. Everyone has a different structure, so you need to find what mental
queues help you in terms of sitting down into the hole. I squat back just a bit then straight
down. If you are raw, there is no need to sit back super hard. You don’t have a suit on to
stretch against for rebound, so you can sit back too much, and put your hips into a leverage
disadvantage against the bar.
When you break your hips and go into the descent, play with some things like:
• Spreading your knees
• “Opening” your groin
• Sitting on top of your thighs
Whatever one feels strongest to you, go with it for a while. You may even find a
different “feel” that suits you best.
Bar Path - The most critical part of the squat
The path the bar travels is going to determine how much, or how little, leverage you have
over the weight. A guy can still be strong enough to overcome a bar travelling through a
poor position. However when you start talking about max attempts, technique becomes a
huge factor in making or missing a weight.
Ideally, you want the bar to travel down the center of the body, with the weight falling on
the ankles/heels. You should be able to push through your heels to initiate the ascent out of
the hole. I’m sure if you’ve squatted enough you’ve had those reps where you felt yourself
get forward and you are on your toes. This means the bar came out of the desired leverage
path. This still happens to me sometimes as well if I am not concentrating. Don’t fret it if
you are a novice lifter and it’s happening a lot. Just keep working on your technique and
you will get better.
The thing that should drive you out of the hole on squats, is your hips. The fact is,
while the quads are the most prime movers in the squat, they don’t really kick in to do
all the dirty work, until about halfway up. I’m not saying the quads aren’t working in the
bottom. They are. If you do a full squat, however, EMG analysis has shown that the glutes
and hamstrings become more active in the movement. In other words, the lower you get,
the more the hips and hamstrings come to help out the quads.
You want the hips to drive hard off the bottom and out of the hole so that when the quads
become the prime movers halfway up, there has been enough momentum generated in
the movement for them to finish it out. If you haven’t generated enough speed, then you will
fail to make that attempt.
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Again, this is why bottom position strength is so critical.
Misc shit
• Foot placement? Start at shoulder width. Start working out from there and see
where you feel the strongest and most “natural”. I will tell you this, the wider you
get, the more of a burden your hips are going to take. It’s kinda like benching. If
you bench wide for a long time, your shoulders are going to gripe at you for it. Same
with your hips and wide squatting.
• Toe position is the same. Start with a minor amount of toe flair and work it in and out
a little bit. Find your comfort spot.
• Speed is king. Lifting comes back to the motto that speed is king. If you generate
enough speed out of the hole with your initial burst of movement, you should make
that lift. This is why bottom position work is the most important part to develop for a
raw guy.
• The stronger you are out of the hole, the stronger you are period. Develop a kick
ass pause squat and your normal squat will rocket right up.
• Head and eye position are another area I didn’t completely go over. Let me say
that I never got anything out of “driving back into the bar” like I’ve read so many
times. The squat is a lower body movement. To me concentrating on driving the
squat with the lower body/hips made more sense. I understand the thought process
behind driving the head back into the bar, but it did not work for me. I look down
at a spot on the floor about 6 feet in front of me. This keeps the cervical spine in a
neutral position. If you think this is wrong, go tell Stan Efferding who holds the raw
squat record in the 275 class who does the same thing.
• If looking up helps you however, do that. Point is, we’re still talking about squatting
and where you look isn’t the be-all end-all of getting your squat right. Do what you
feel like is most comfortable for you.
• The squat is the one movement that really just builds itself. You don’t really
need to do anything but squat and do pause squats to get a great squat. That’s
good and bad I suppose. Good, because not a lot of thinking has to go into your
programming. Bad if you’re one of those guys that doesn’t like to squat. If you’re a
competitive powerlifter that doesn’t like squatting that’s kind of like being a Christian
who doesn’t love Jesus.
• If you did press me for squat assistance movements, however, I would say that front
squats and hack squats are two good options. Both build the quads very well. And
I’ve never seen a guy with huge quads that couldn’t squat worth a shit.
• Which also brings me to box squats. Box squats are fairly useless for a raw guy
when it comes to improving his squat. The quads get unloaded in the bottom of
a box squat, which is opposite of what happens in a real squat. The box squat is
used by geared powerlifters because it mimics the suit, and stops you in the hole. If
you do want to do box squats, then LIGHTLY touch the box then explode off of it. If
you sit down on it, like geared guys do, it unloads the quads and also puts you in a
position you can’t be in for a real squat. It is an overrated and useless movement
when it comes to improving the raw squat, in my opinion.
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SQUAT Cheat Sheet
• Grasp the bar
• Get your hips under it
• Get tight in the back
• Squeeze your elbows down
and pull the bar into you
• Deep breath and hold
• Pop the bar off with meaning
• 1 step 2 step....into position
(more steps if you squat wider)
• Exhale and take another deep breath
• Unhinge at the hips
• Push your knees out
• Drop into the hole
• Fire hard out of the hole
The Raw Lifters Best Friend - The Pause Squat
I have long praised the pause squat as the best assistance movement for the raw squatter,
and will continue to do so.
The stronger you get in the pause squat, the stronger your non paused squat will be. I
mean, duh, right? I have tried to hammer the importance of the pause squat for a long
time. There are a ton of reasons why:
• Teaches you how to stay tight in the hole
• You can’t go as heavy on it, so you can do a lot of volume on it without taxing your
recovery systems too severely.
• It overloads the muscles that do the work that get you out of the hole. This is the
opposite of what the box squat does, and why for a raw squatter, the pause squat is
superior.
• You can play with your technique on the descent and ascent and get a better feeling
for exactly what feels best
• The pause squat will destroy your world if you don’t know how to initiate hip drive out
of the hole
• If you need to focus on the deadlift and not overly tax yourself with heavy squats you
can pause squat instead. The best part about this is, when you go back to regular
squatting it more than likely will have gone up. In fact, pause squats only (no heavy
squats) with heavy deads are a great combination.
• It looks cool to drop 500+ into the hole and sit with it for a few seconds while benchcurl
douchers in the gym stop and stare.
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Pause Squat Only Cycle
This cycle is good for someone whose squat has been stuck for some time, and he’s tired of
unloading that bar and feeling like shit about it.
Figure out what you would like to hit for a solid triple on the pause squat and plan your
cycle as outlined below. Let me say, if you have never done pause squats and don’t know
what you would like to hit, I would say go with 85% of your CURRENT MAX, and plug that
in. After you run this cycle, my recommendation is to take a week off, then go in and test
your regular squat.
100% = 100% of what you want to hit in the PAUSE SQUAT for a triple. As a guideline use
85% of your current squat max.
The New Strong-15 squat cycle - Options
The new squat cycle is a little different than the previous one in that the pause squat portion
of the cycle waves a little bit in terms of volume, and the testing week is now an option.
If you’re a guy that likes some reinforcement as to where you are at, then use it. If you can
tell by the way you are moving certain weights as to what you should be good for, max wise,
then stick with the pause squats.
How I recommend you using this, is if you decide to do the testing week, but it rolls around
and you feel like shit, do the pause squats. They are at a lesser intensity, but still do a
fantastic job of building the squat. If you’re really feeling your oats or having a “strike the
iron” type of day on a testing week, then go for it. This is a built in for weeks that are ups
and downs.
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Here is the new version of the strong-15 squat cycle.
Phase 1 - Based on squat opener
SxR = sets x reps
Phase 2 - Based on second attempt
What you will notice in phase 2 is that the volume on the pause squats drops. In phase 1
week 1 has 10 total reps, week 2 10 total, and week 3 6 total. Contrast that to 9, 6, and
3. The need for the drop in volume is to compensate for the increase in intensity (% of 1
rep max) that occurs.
I also wave the intensity as well. In phase 2 the first week of pause squats with 3x3 will
probably be close to something you used in week 2 of phase 1. This is by design. I have
found it incredibly effective to run up to a heavy weight for few weeks, then taper off for
another quick run up. You should be able to move the weight used in the pause squat with
much more speed in week 1 than you moved it with in week 2 of phase 1 (if they are the
same).
Phase 2
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Phase 3 - Based on last attempt
Again you will see a drop in volume on the pause squats here. You will be in the final
phase of strength/meet prep and volume becomes even more tapered down. You will be
squatting and pulling at your heaviest during these weeks, so it’s key to not get too beat
down. The final week of squats your top single should still move with some speed and not
be a total grinder. If this is true, then you can just about put money in the bank that you will
be good for your planned goal.
Phase 3
Final 2 weeks
The final two weeks are the deload and then the week of the meet or the testing week (if
you want to do one). For the squat, warm up and do a set of 5 with 50% of your goal (what
you programmed in for phase 3). The next week is the meet week, so rest only.
Implementing the testing week – 80% for reps
The testing week, as noted, is now optional. It is to be done on the last week of each
phase. Weeks 3, 6, and 9 after your top single for the day.
The testing week means using 80% of the weight plugged in for that phase. If you plugged
in 500 for phase 1, you use 400 for week 3 in testing.
As I noted, a good way to use this is to go by feel. If you prefer the testing week, use it. If
you prefer the pause squats, use that. A solid option is to use the testing week for phase 3
only in week 9. This will be the last squat workout before the meet and will give you even
more feedback as to where you are at. I also recommend leaving a rep or two in the tank
regardless of when/if you use it.
Trial and Error
No matter how many pointers I give you for squatting, you will eventually just have to squat
and go through some trial and error as to what will feels best, and most natural for you. The
one area I don’t waiver on is the bar path. It’s paramount to make sure you understand that
keeping the bar in the correct path is critical for big squatting. Aside from that, finding a
natural feeling squat will take some hits and misses on your part.
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My Deadlift sucks
The deadlift has been the bane of my lifting existence.
This is not because I despise or hate the lift. I love it. I’m just not good at it.
Do you know how frustrating it is to want something really bad, and struggle to get good at
it? Yeah, that’s me and the deadlift.
Because I have sucked so badly at deadlifting, I have done and tried and killed myself in
every possible torturous manner in order to make it better.
While I believe the deadlift has technical aspects of it, the truth is, you’re still just picking up
shit off the floor. It’s a brute strength movement. Sort of. I’ll get to that.
The deadlift is also quite different than the squat in that there is no myotatic reflex. The
myotatic reflex is the muscle contracting essentially due to the stretching of it against
resistance. When you sink a squat, your adductors, and glutes, and hamstrings all stretch
and then react to that with contraction.
With the deadlift there isn’t one. You’re picking up dead weight off the floor.
Some guys are lucky enough that when their squat goes up, their deadlift goes up. I was
never lucky. I got to watch my dead stick to the floor while my squat moved up. Very
disheartening when I kept hearing other guys talk about pulling once a month, and hitting
PR’s because their squat was moving, while my dead wouldn’t budge.
Other guys have naturally long arms and when they complete their deadlift, the bar is sitting
at mid-thigh level. I do not posses monkey arms either.
These are the guys that are built to deadlift, and these are the guys that make the deadlift
a “sort of” brute strength movement. I have known lots of guys with monkey arms that
could pull all sorts of big deadlifts but their squats and pressing strength was merely
average in comparison. I do not consider these guys to have the “brute strength” that I talk
about in the deadlift because they simply have to pull the bar such a short distance. If a
guy is to be considered strong, in my opinion, he needs to be strong in a well rounded
way. Not considered strong just because he’s freaky on a particular lift. That’s my own
opinion about it anyway.
With that out of the way lemme start by sort of echoing Ed Coan here. If you want to build a
bigger deadlift, build a big back. Some will say “well use the deadlift to build a big back.” I
think you can use the deadlift to build a big deadlift, but certain parts of the back work
mostly in a static or supportive position for the deadlift. While the deadlift can do a solid job
of thickening the upper back and erectors, there are some other parts that I feel need some
outside help to help guys that aren’t naturally strong at deadlifting.
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Let’s talk about actually building the musculature of the back first.
Back Building
Let me throw a controversial statement out to begin this.
I don’t think the deadlift is a very good back builder. There, I said it.
I used to fall in line with everyone else on this, but my thinking about it has changed quite a
bit.
First off, the deadlift isn’t a lift that lends itself to a lot of volume. The low back takes a
beating and makes it more difficult to recover from.
Second, there isn’t much of an eccentric. And the truth is, THAT is where the greatest
potential for actual muscle growth lies in a repetition. Dorian Yates built one of the greatest
backs of all time without ever doing a bunch of ultra heavy deadlifting. So did tons of other
bodybuilders. If a big deadlift meant a big back then youtube wouldn’t be flooded with
videos of guys who look like nothing, pulling 700+, but it is. I can’t count the number of
times I’ve seen some dude that looks like he can’t squat or press an empty broomstick pull
600 or 700 pounds.
So why back build? Same reason you build mass all over. Because mass moves mass. To
increase your strength ceiling. A bigger you will always have the potential for a stronger you.
And the back is still the biggest player in the deadlift. Yes the hips and legs are involved, but
the deadlift is a test of back strength.
Row your lockout
Your rhomboids are responsible for the lockout portion of the deadlift, not the traps. I hear
lots of guys talking about doing shrugs to help the lockout, but the truth is, the mid-back is
what finishes the movement for you. Yes the traps are involved, but all one has to do is
listen to what Matt Kroczaleski said about improving his lockout
“I had realized that heavy dumbbell rows were very effective for increasing my upper back
strength and thus my dead lift lockout strength so I worked very hard at them.”
http://www.criticalbench.com/interview_powerlifter_Matt_Kroczaleski.htm
This is not something new and mystical. Basically, the stronger your rhomboids are the stronger your lockout is going to be. If you’re a guy who can lock anything out, but is weak
from the floor to the knees, then you need something a little different to fix that. However
most guys are going to benefit from things like Kroc rows, because it helps with the grip as
well. And building the grip is a huge part of making your deadlift move. Heavy high-rep db
rows are kind of a two for one movement. Stronger upper back, and stronger grip.
Other two very good options are the Pendlay row, and the t-bar row.
A few words about both.
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The point of the row is to build the rhomboids to help the lockout. Doing sloppy ass rows
where you heave the shit up and end up looking like a monkey having a seizure is not going
to cut it. You do not need to go super heavy on rows in order to get the job done. For a
Pendlay row in fact, you really can’t. It forces you to be strict and really squeeze the back
and hits the rhomboids very nicely. It also should force you to keep the low back in a static
position. Something you need to learn how to do when you pull heavy deadlifts as well.
For t-bar rows, the most common thing I see is guys loading up the bar and then practically
standing up. This drives me bat shit crazy. The whole point of doing a row is for mid-back
work. These assclowns turn a very good mid-back movement into basically a shrug
because they refuse to leave their ego at the door. Not to mention, if you’re using 45 pound
plates, the range of motion on a t-bar is already lessened.
One answer here is to use 25 pound plates to increase the ROM. This is a good idea but
the only drawback is lack of space to load up all of those 25’s. And the fact is, if you do the
movement correctly, using 45’s work jut fine. Just don’t be an assclown and turn it into a
standing shrug/row douche bag movement. This is an abomination and people should be
castrated for doing it like that.
You also want to be cognitive of the fact that heavy rows will also put more stress on the
lower back. If you are already squatting and pulling heavy each week, just be mindful of
how much volume you use on your rows. Remember you’re just trying to strengthen and
thicken the rhomboids. You can do this without going super heavy, and using good
technique and form. Don’t turn your assistance and supportive work into something that
takes away from your main lifts. Cover, not smother.
“What about the barbell row?”
Not a fan. I always see jackasses going too heavy and humping the bar. If you are one of
the few that can do them strict, do em. Otherwise stay with the dumbbell, Pendlay, and tbar
rows.
“You build mass all over because mass moves mass.
A bigger you will always have the potential for a stronger you.”
Other good options are the Hammer Strength seated row and the cable row. One thing I
recommend when you do these, is to pull the handle into the area right below your pec
line. If you’re doing Hammer Strength Rows, the very top of the handle should hit you
below the pec line. Most people don’t think about this. When your elbows are higher your
shoulders cannot rotate down. This gets more bicep involved. You want to pull with the elbow sliding right across the side of your body. Pull into the ab/lower pec line area with
these two movements. This also more closely mimics the path you use in bench
pressing. And upperback stability is important there. This is good training economy.
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The Erectors - Hypers
Almost everyone does hyperextensions for the low back wrong.
They usually do something like this: They arch their low back, then lower their torso and then
raise it. Never losing the arch in their back while going up and down.
This is great… if you want to work your hamstrings.
The way to really work your erectors when doing hypers is to lower yourself, then uncurl
your torso. You might want to think about touching your toes with your forehead. Then
slowly contract the erectors back up. You don’t even need to come all the way back
up. You just need to contract the erectors. If you do this correctly your low back will be
screaming for mercy after a few sets. This is really the single best lower back builder I
know. I am not a big fan of Good Mornings for low back building. I like them for hamstring
work, however.
Bottom position of the hyper rounding the low back
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Chins and Pulldowns
Chins and pulldowns are also great lat and upperback builders.
The problem for a lot of people is that they simply aren’t strong enough to do chins. If
you can do 3-5 chins, buy a chin bar, hang it up, and do chins every day. Lots of singles
and doubles. I had my 9 year old doing sets of 7 in just a few months by having her do
this. You have no excuse not to try it.
If you can’t do a single chin, then I recommend using the lat pulldown machine one week,
and using the gravitron machine the next week. If you don’t have one of those machines, I
recommend having a partner hold your feet behind you and doing assisted chin ups. If you
don’t have a partner, buy some bands and hook your feet in them and do that. If you don’t
want to buy bands, then you are being difficult and don’t want to chin.
Finishing position contracting the erectors
For those that can chin and want to increase their chins I found this routine to be very very
effective in moving my chins up.
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Week 1
Weighted Chins - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1 1x3-5 back off, 1xbodyweight for max reps
Week 2
Bodyweight Only Chins - 5-7 sets of 5
Week 3
Lat Pulldowns (use the same grip you have been using for your chins) - 5-6 sets of 6-10
Week 4
Repeat cycle
Block and Rack Pulls - Pros and Cons
One thing that SEEMS obvious about developing the lockout, would be to do above the
knee deadlifts. I mean, that’s where the lockout occurs right? It only makes sense that this
would work, right?
You’d be wrong though.
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There is plenty enough anecdotal evidence from guys that have written about trying this,
with little to no success.
My opinion on the reason why is because of specificity. When you do an above the knee
rack or block pull compared to a conventional deadlift, your body is going to be in a slightly
different leveraged position. It’s hard to mimic the exact body positioning you are in when
you pull from the floor at the lockout position, when you start the pull from above the
knee. Sure, above the knee rack pulls are good for overloading the grip and building the
upperback around the trap region, but again we’re talking rhomboids for lockout strength.
Going the route of above the knee rack pulls aren’t a good option for working on building
your lockout.
The best thing that above the knee pulls are good for, in my opinion, are overloading the
grip. If you have had problems holding onto a big deadlift, then above the knee pulls with a
supramaximal load may be exactly what you need. Just load the bar up, get it up there any
way you can, and hold for it time. One of the fastest ways to increase the pull is the
increase grip strength. Doing some above the knee pulls for timed holds is a great way to
overcome some plateaus in the dead if grip is an issue. Outside of that, I don’t see a big
use for above the knee pulls. There is zero carryover to the pull from the floor with it.
“…the greatest potential for actual muscle growth lies in a repetition.”
Another con about ANY kind of rack pulling however, is that if your positioning is
manipulated to move more weight in that particular lift, it won’t carry over to the floor. You
need to make sure that you are in the same position when you start the rack pull that you
are in when you pull the bar from the floor. If not, expect little carryover. A good way to
check this is to film both, and then put the videos side by side and notice the angles of your
body in relation to the bar path.
Now pulling from below the knee and from mid-shin are a different animal. In fact, plenty of
guys pull less from mid-shin than from the floor. And most guys don’t pull much more from
below the knee than from the floor. The reason is because there is less leg drive initiated in
these two variations, and the lift tends to feel more “dead” than from the floor. This tends to
work really well when used in conjunction with floor pulling. The key is to pull heavy from
the two rack or block positions, then moderately from the floor. This has been a staple of
Andy Bolton’s training for some time, and while Andy is born for big deadlifting, it has
worked well everyone I have programmed it for as well.
If you are weak off the floor, some mid-shin pulls will probably help you in that
regard. Some guys like deficit deads to help off the floor. In other words, you stand on a
45-pound plate or something, and then pull. What I found happened to me with these is
that I could actually get more leg drive than with regular deads, and when I went back to
normal deadlifts the bar felt more dead than before. Kind of the reverse effect of doing mid45
shin pulls. However some guys have had good success with these, I just wasn’t one of
them. If you want to give them a fair run, then just replace your regular dealifts with them
for a while and see what happens when you do go back to the floor. Or pull lighter from a
deficit after your regular pulls as your assistance.
Let me emphasize that the elevation should not be very big. I’m talking no more than 2
inches or so. What happens is if you get too high in the elevation is that the lift changes too
much, and the leverages you use to get it moving off the floor will be different than a
conventional deadlift. Again, the carryover will be dramatically lessened.
The parallels you should see here is that if you get too far outside of the “likeness” of a
movement, the less carryover it will have to the primary movement.
Above the knee rack pulls? Not very useful in terms of carryover to the deadlift.
Elevated deadlifts that are too high tend to have similar results.
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The Strong-15 Block Deadlift Routine
The block/rack pull program that I programmed out for the new version of the strong-15
is based around three pulls. A block pull, the regular deadlift, and elevated stiff legged
deadlifts. The components of the LRB philosophy are still in place here. You pull a little
more from the blocks to prime the pull from the floor. The pull from the floor also primes
the stiff legged deadlift. The stiff legged deadlift also works to build the musculature of the
deadlift perfectly, in my opinion.
Let me add that if you use the block routine, you may need to program your squat a little
lighter than usual. It is a lot of low back work, and as you get closer to the end of the cycle
you may end up missing a lift (which is bad), if you program the squat for PR’s as well.
Block Pulls (from 4” blocks)
You will need to program in something you feel like you can realistically hit from the floor,
and go from there. Let me emphasize the word REALISTICALLY here.
One thing I recommend for the top single on the block pulls is to hold that single for 10-15
seconds in order to improve grip strength. Down the line as you start pulling heavier and
heavier weights if your grip has been a problem, this will give you some grip building in
order to remedy that ahead of time.
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Now you can’t expect just to pull from blocks or the rack, and neglect pulling from the
floor. In this program, after the block pulls you then pull from the floor. This is how that
portion of the cycle goes.
Pulls from the floor after the block pulls
Assistance - Elevated Stiff Legged Deadlifts (Romanian Deadlifts)
For me I found stiff legged deadlifts to be one of the best deadlift builders. The way I do
these is that I stand on a block and start at the top of the movement, rather than the floor.
This way the plates never touch the floor, and I get that stretch reflex throughout the
deadlifting muscle groups that work mostly statically in the regular deadlift.
What I found so great about this was, I could do reps without getting beat up like the regular
deadlift did to me. Your hams, lats, and traps really get sore with these and the carryover to
the regular deadlift should be solid. The elevated stiff legged deadlift to me also represents
the best training economy lift in regards to assistance for the deadlift. Think of this like the
back off set in bench or squat. Weight should be medium and you should really focus on
the stretch and hip pop during the concentric portion of the movement.
A few more points about this movement. The legs aren’t really straight. There is still bend
in the knee. You want to think about breaking at the hips to get the movement started, just
like in a squat, and then continue to think about pushing the hips back while keeping an
arch in the lower back. You can do this by thinking about keeping your chest out as you
lower the bar. You should lower to a good stretch in the hams, then reverse by thinking
about pushing the hips forward.
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Elevated Stiff Legged Deadlifts (after pulls from the floor)
This is simple. Finish with a set of elevated stiff legs. The percentage is based off of what
you programmed in for for your deadlift.
R Kelly is wrong. There is something wrong with grinding… too much of it anyway
When you program in your max for this program do NOT be overzealous. If your best ever
deadlift was 600 plug in something in that area. You want to be blasting shit easily for most
of the cycle. The first 6 weeks or so everything should feel light and fast. Once you start
grinding week after week in the deadlift, you can expect a fall off of the proverbial strength
cliff.
The last week you want that block pull and triple from the floor to still have decent speed on
it. Let me state that again. The last week that block pull and floor pull should still have
some good speed to it. I promise you that if it does you’ll shatter your previous PR
easily. The deadlift loves speed AND heavy weight, but the latter only for a shorter
period.
The first 6 weeks should almost be like speed weeks, and the last 3 weeks should be
heavy, but not max effort grinders. It will take some calibration on your part to decide what
you need to plug in here. If you plug in properly expect great results. If you get haphazard
then expect to be disappointed.
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Technical Difficulties - The setup
As I noted before, the deadlift is the one really true brute strength lift. Which is why having
a strong back from top to bottom is important. However the setup in the pull is the single
most important part of the lift. If it’s a max pull, and you setup incorrectly, no amount of
back strength and mass will overcome this. That’s why it’s very important that your setup
become almost ritualistic and second nature once you have it down.
Feet in relation to the bar and hand spacing
This is similar to where your hands are on the squat. Where the bar lines up over your feet
is the first mental/physical note to take and apply before you pull. Everytime you line up for
a pull, your feet should be in the same position in relation to the bar. The most common
way that I know of, and that I do myself is to think about cutting your feet in half with the
bar. Now where that “half” is kind of varies from person to person. I like the bar a little
closer to my toes than I’ve read about from other guys. I’m not a “pull the bar up the shins”
kinda guy. Not that I’m a pussy and fear scraping my shins. They still get scraped pretty
often. It’s just that I don’t feel as strong trying to do that as I do with the bar just a slight
smidge off of that.
“…the deadlift is the one really true brute strength lift.
Which is why having a strong back from top to bottom is important.”
Let me also state that the width, or how far apart your feet are, matter GREATLY. Same for
your hand spacing. If you are pulling conventional deadlifts (which are the only kind I am
talking about in this book) then the wider you get your hands, the harder the lift will
become. You have to pull the bar much further, thus you will pull less. A good place to start
in terms of foot spacing, is to stand up, think about jumping up as high as you can....and see
where your feet are. Now start from there.
Your hands should run right down the outside of your knees. Do not deadlift with your
hands/arms in front of your legs. I know this seems obvious but I’ve seen this shit a
ton. Basically, your arms should hang straight down.
How far the bar is in front of your shins will dictate hip height in the pull. Your hip height is
something that is very important when it comes to pulling big weights. These two initial setup
keys are very important.
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Hip Height
Your hip height will be dictated by the distance the bar is from your shins, when you grab it.
In other words, if the bar is an inch from your shins when you reach down to grab it, and the
bar never moves then your hip height will be higher than if the bar is closer to your toes.
Bar close to shins - higher hips
If the bar is closer to your toes, you will be able to drop the hips lower to start the movement.
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Bar slightly closer to toes - lower hip height
Which one should you use?
You will have to experiment, however let me say this. I have noticed that guys that are
NOT built to deadlift big, tend to do better with the bar a little closer to the toes and lower
hips, than guys that are built to pull big right out of the gate.
Guys with long arms tend to be able to get the bar right up against the shins at the start of
the pull, and pull right up the power path without much of a hip drop. If you think about this,
it becomes very clear. Monkey man just reaches down, the bar right up against his shins,
and he pulls right up. Watch any very long armed deadlifters and you will see this. Their
hips stay pretty high through the movement. They don’t need to drop the hips because the
range of motion in the pull is not that great. They also tend to pull with a lot of low
back. Ever notice these guys usually have thin legs? They aren’t usually big squatters
either. Yes there are exceptions. However, for the most part, guys that are naturally built to
pull big weights out of the gate usually aren’t naturally built to squat. Think Konstantinov’s,
who has a 950 deadlift, and a 700ish raw squat.
For a short armed guy, getting the bar a little closer to the toes allows him to drop his hips
more, and then get more hip drive into the initial part of the movement. Most short armed
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guys usually have shorter thicker legs as well. They are usually decent squatters as
well. Think Kirk Karwoski, who squatted over a grand, but was pulling around 770.
The key here is your own individual leverages. If you are built to pull, you can probably get
the bar right up near the shins before the start the pull to get into position, and a higher hip
height may be just fine for you.
If you are built more to bench and squat, getting the bar just a little closer to the toes will
allow you to drop the hips more to start the movement, and get some hip drive involved to
break the weight off the floor.
If you fall somewhere in the middle, then of course, try somewhere in the middle. Let me
emphasize that the bar should still be pulled in a path as close to your body as possible. This
is a rule that applies to everyone regardless of what your leverages are. If the bar gets away
from you, the hips will rise immediately and you will lose leverage over the bar.
“…try thinking of pushing the floor away from you
instead of pulling the weight up.”
Lower and Upperback
The one thing you need to learn how to do is arch your lower back hard while relaxing your
upperback, and then basically lever to move the weight into position. Doing the mid-shin
and below the knee block deadlifts are fantastic for teaching you how to do this because
there is no leg drive involved in those lifts. You must learn how to arch your lower back and
pull up and back to move the heavier weights. This should naturally put you on your heels
pulling backwards if you do it correctly. If you are having trouble moving something heavy
on the below the knee and mid-shin block pulls, it means you probably don’t know how to
do this yet. Learn how to do this and you will eventually pull more from the floor as well.
You must arch your low back hard, hold that static position, then pull up and back. You
should envision that you are a machine that levers the weight up and back. When you can
get the hang of this, deadlifting will feel a lot more natural to you.
If thinking this way doesn’t help you, instead try thinking of pushing the floor away from you
instead of pulling the weight up. Some guys prefer this method of thinking better.
Your upperback however, should be relaxed. This will minimize the distance that you have
to pull the bar. A mental queue could be the think of letting shoulders fall into the bar while
you arch your lower back. If you get tight in the upperback a few things can/do
happen. One, you tend to bend your arms a bit. This is a great way to tear a bicep. The
second is that you increase the range of motion you have to pull the bar through. Not good
for pulling heavy either.
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Get “puppy” tummy
Just like with the squat, you need to learn how to breathe in and hold it to stabilize your
core/midsection. You need to learn how to push your abs out, sort of against your
legs. Think of making your stomach expand out. Kind of like you see on fat puppies. This
creates the same internal pressure you get from squatting, but also gives somewhat of a
boost off the bottom. If you don’t think so, exhale and let your midsection relax a bit and
then pull, and see what happens.
Relax your arms
One thing I see lots of guys do is bend their arms and get all tight in there. You need to
learn how to keep the arms relaxed, and think of getting “long” in the pull. Think of flexing
your triceps first to make sure your elbows aren’t bent if you have trouble with this. Then
relax your arms. You should not be bending your elbows during the deadlift. Not unless
a torn bicep is something you have on your bucket list. This also ties in with relaxing your
upper back.
Stop jerking off
Do NOT jerk the weight, unless again, you want a torn bicep (reoccurring theme
here). Take the slack out of the bar first. This keeps you from having to break inertia twice
with the pull. If you jerk the weight you have to break the initial inertia of the bar against the
weight (obviously not that much), then the inertia of the weight off the floor. One way that I
do this is to pull the slack out of the bar as I bend my knees, THEN make the pull. This will
take some practice but it’s worth it.
Once the bar crosses your knees…
The rhomboids are what help you lock the weight out, but technique wise, what you should
be thinking about is driving your glutes forward as you pull the shoulders back. You should
be practicing this on your warm up sets by violently thrusting your hips forward as the bar
crosses your knees. In fact, you can think about bringing the hips forward almost from the
start of the movement. Your glutes should be flexed hard from the start of the movement
all the way to finish. Again, use some calibration to find out what method of thinking works
best for you.
MAX pulls
Lots of guys worry about low back rounding during a max pull. Stop.
When you squat or deadlift or bench or whatever a true max, form is going to break down
a little bit. This is not a big deal. You shouldn’t be going for maxes every single week
anyway. A true max generally isn’t the prettiest looking lift you’re ever going to do, but
you don’t get extra points for style. Try to maintain your technique but on a max pull if
something breaks down, don’t sweat it too much. Again, I’m not condoning that you make
a max pull at any and all costs and all costs with disks and vertebrae shooting out of your
ass. If you lose the arch in your lower back a little bit on a true max pull, don’t fret about
it. Just don’t turn into Quasimodo.
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DEADLIFT Cheat Sheet
• Feet under the bar at correct spacing.
• Feet shoulder width apart, give or take
a few inches.
• Hands down right outside the knees.
• Arms and upperback are relaxed.
• Lower back is arched or neutral.
• Pick a spot on the floor about 6 feet in
front of you to look at.
• Squeeze your glutes hard once in position.
• Pull up and back or push the floor
away from you (whichever mental
queue you prefer) pushing off of the
heels.
• Violently push the hips forward once
the bar gets past your knees
simultaneously pulling the shoulders
back.
The New strong-15 deadlift cycle
If you don’t need or want to run the block deadlift cycle, the original Strong-15 cycle is still
a great option for getting strong in the deadlift. However it did need to be revamped a little
bit in my opinion. I lowered the percentages and dropped the testing week to just a solid
triple.
As I noted about the block program, you don’t want to do too much grinding and I felt like
the back off sets may have been programmed too high near the end.
PHASE 1 - Based on opener
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PHASE 2 - Based on second attempt
Phase 2 reduces volume on the back-off sets from phase 1. While the percentages are the
same, obviously phase 2 is programmed with a higher weight so it’s not equal across the
board.
Phase 3 (below) looks a little different because, through my experience, you will want to
pull a slight grinder or two before the meet, and pull something a little closer to your max to
know you are good for it. If you are not competing, you still need to learn how to grind out a
heavy pull, and the dead likes some grinders on a short scale. Just not for weeks on end.
PHASE 3 - Based on third attempt
Notice the drop in volume the last three weeks. I have found this to be very effective when
you start pulling more often in that 90% range. A heavy single and a nice triple work very
well to push the strength without overloading the low back too much, especially when you
are squatting heavy during this time as well.
Do not balk at the limited volume. The best deadlifters I know of, and I mean all guys
pulling 900+, don’t do a shit ton of heavy sets. 1-3 heavy sets is PLENTY.
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Balancing in Back Building WITH Deadlifting
Some will read all of this and say… ”should I concentrate on deadlifting or building a big
back?”
The answer is, yes. With a caveat.
Don’t worry about back building during meet training. If you want to throw in a row or some
weighted chins after pulls, that’s fine.
You can spend the offseason doing back building while pulling moderately heavy.
Such a routine might look like this.
Week 1
T-Bar Rows - 6 sets of 10-20
Lat Pulldowns - 3 sets of 8-10
Shrugs - 2 sets of 3-20 (do a heavy triple and a back off set of 20)
Hypers - 2-4 sets of 10-15 body only
Week 2
Deadlifts - cycle (pulling at maintenance levels ONLY)
Db Rows - 1x20-30
Chins - 5x7 body only
Db Shrugs - 2x20
You don’t want to throw out deadlifting just to build a big back. You can still pull every other
week but think about “filling out” at this point. Just run the strong-15 cycle using it every
other week until you feel like you need a break. Program lighter here, and program the
squat lighter as well. The key here is to focus on back building.
Back Specialization
Another more intense option is to train the back twice a week and deadlift once a
week. One way to do that is to focus on vertical pulling one session, and horizontal pulling
on the other one.
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Session 1 - Vertical Pulling
Weighted Chins with V-Handle - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1 to a top single then 1xmax reps with body
back off
Wide Grip Pulldowns - 2x8
Curl Grip Pulldowns - 2x8
Db Shrugs - 2x20
Session 2 - Horizontal Pulling
Deadlifts - cycle (at maintenance levels)
T-bar Rows or Db Rows - 1x15-20
Barbell Shrugs - 1x3, 1x20
Hypers - 2x20
Again, I’m always for building a bigger body because a bigger muscular you will always be
a stronger you.
Once you start meet preparation however, drop the assistance down to the bare essentials,
or nothing at all except the lift. Maybe a row for a heavy set or a couple of sets of heavy
chins now and then. You want to pour your energy into the actual lift during that time. Not
the assistance.
Remember, train the deadlift when you’re getting ready for a meet, and build your back
when you are not. During that time, you should deadlift at maintenance levels. If you
are not training for a meet, but just want a bigger pull, treat it like you are preparing for a
meet. When you stall out, change it up for a while, and work on back building.
Do not downplay or overlook my emphasizing to pull at maintenance levels. Deadlifting
is very demanding from a systematic standpoint. Brutally hard pulling sessions can take
a long time to recover from. The deadlift will actually move just fine with very submax
weights, but you must keep the actual lift in for it to move. You just don’t have to hammer
yourself into bone dust each session to make that happen.
In the end…
I want to emphasize that no amount of back building will ever build a deadlift on its own. If
you want to pull big, you still have to deadlift. This whole “don’t deadlift to build the deadlift”
was some of the dumbest shit I ever read about deadlifting. The best deadlifters in the
world ALL DEADLIFT, and do so consistently. You will never rip a big pull off the floor if you
don’t actually put a heavy bar in your hands trying to do so. Use the back building to help
build the base, but in the end you’re going to have to labor over a loaded bar with bloody
shins and thick calluses if you want a big pull.
When the deadlift gets stubborn, and it will, try any of the different variations above to get it
moving again. Or just reset it and have a go at it again.
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My pressing sucks too
The bench is the prom king of lifting. Every asshole that lifted weights two times in high
school, or even knows that weights exist, always ask “wha cha bench?”
Why? I don’t know. I think the bench is a good indication of upper body pressing strength,
but I personally think the incline and clean and press are better indicators of pressing
strength. I also think they apply better to most athletic endeavors.
Rather than dedicate a whole chapter to the bench press, I’m going to talk about pressing
in general. I personally think it’s important to develop solid pressing strength through all
angles. Flat, incline, seated, and standing. Have the mind set to be a strong presser in
every way possible.
Bench Pressing
I honestly don’t think I could cover benching any more than I did in my series about raw
benching. So don’t expect super in depth explanations about it here. Consider this a high
level overview or an extension from that series. I feel like the other pressing movements
don’t get enough love, so I don’t want to spend pages and pages writing about the bench
press when there are other types of pressing I want to cover.
I will go over a few other things that I could have emphasized more in those articles as
well. Especially since the bench is one of the contested powerlifting events.
The setup
Most people that bench, just lay down on the bench and start pressing. I love to see guys
psyche up for the bench while their body is just “on” the bench, all loose and shit. Then
their feet move all over the place as they strain and struggle to get some “reps” while
their “bro” never takes his hands off the bar.
I’ve taken these assclowns and added 10, 15, 20 pounds to their bench instantly just by
improving their setup. Lots of times guys struggle to bench more not because of their
routine, but because they simply lack the technique needed to bench more.
I will go through my normal setup routine I use to get tight on the bench for my benching,
which is always with a close grip, about 15 inches between my hands.
• I lay down on the bench, and simply get the bar in line with my eyes.
• I grip the bar, and scoot back a few inches towards the head end of the bench.
• I walk my feet back towards me until my legs are tight and feel “stretched”.
• I then move my upperbody down towards my feet. This stretches my quads even more
(don’t move your feet) and gives me a very hard arch. More than I want actually.
• From there I push with my feet, moving my torso back towards the bar, until my eyes
are once again in line with the bar and my upperback is super tight into the bench.
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• The feeling you want here, is to think about driving your torso down through the bench
to achieve this position. If you hit it right, your upperback with be super tight into the
bench, and your legs will still be tight into the floor, but not uncomfortably so. You
should still have an arch as well.
• As soon I as hit this position, I take a breath and unrack the bar. I do not waste
energy psyching up or breathing deep or whatever. Get your mind right BEFORE
you even start your setup.
• Lower the bar to the area that puts you in your strongest position. How do you know
where that is? I cover that after these fancy bullet points.
• I drive with my legs against the floor to initiate the movement, while at the same time
pressing. The leg drive, if done properly, should really help to drive the bar off the
chest. This will take some practice, but once you master it, you will really see a nice
explosion in from the bottom of your press.
Determining where your strongest position is
There are a couple of things to factor in here.
The power path, which in this case is determined by the alignment of the bar with your
wrists and elbows. And the depth of your shoulders and elbows, once you get to the
bottom position of the press.
This is something I really didn’t emphasize enough in my raw benching series.
There is a really easy way (sort of) to find that sweet spot that combines bar placement and
elbow tuck. When you get that fixed along with proper bar alignment, you will bench more,
and do so in a safer manner (for your shoulders I mean).
Power Path in benching
Again, the path of the bar determines your leverage advantage or disadvantage in the lift.
The power path in benching means the bar travels with the elbow and wrist aligned
throughout the rep. When I say aligned, I mean if you are looking at the lift from the side
view. It doesn’t mean the wrist has to be in a straight up and down alignment. Just that the
wrist travels in line with the elbow if you were to watch it from the side.
How you actually let the bar rest in your hands plays a huge part in this. Regardless of
whether you use a thumb around or a thumbless grip, the bar needs to rest basically in the
palm of your hand. If your wrist gets bent backwards, this effectively turns your pressing
into a triceps movement. Not only that, it’s a good way to end up with a sprained
wrist. And if you’re a young guy, that puts an end to those day long jack-it sessions. You
don’t want that do you? Of course not. Make sure you get the bar into the meaty part of
the palm of your hand.
The other factor in benching with the greatest amount of leverage, is how far your shoulders
and elbows travel in relation to the actual bench. Basically, the highest point of your chest
combined with your degree of elbow tuck. Tucking too hard can cause the bar to come
down too low. Flaring too much can cause the bar to come too high, and that shit is
horrible for your shoulders.
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Let me use these photos to demonstrate…
In this pic, the power path of the bar is off. My wrist is behind my elbow. This turns the
press into basically a tricep dominant movement. Also, look how far my elbow is below the
bench. My shoulders also have to move farther to complete the movement. This is not
shoulder and strength friendly.
In the next photo, I bring the bar down too far and this time my elbow gets behind my
wrist. Once again, notice how far my down my shoulders and elbows are in relation to the
actual bench. I am in a leverage disadvantage again.
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In this next photo, I got it goin’ on. My wrists and elbows are aligned. This puts me in the
greatest leverage position for pressing. Not only that, the bar is at the highest point on my
chest, and notice the depth of my shoulders and elbows in relation to the bench now. This
is the position you need to find regardless of your grip width or elbow tuck. Your elbows
and shoulders should travel the shortest distance, and your wrist and elbows should always
travel up and down the same line.
The bench will take some engineering on your part to figure out, like what hand spacing and
degree of elbow tuck is right for you. After you figure those things out, really concentrate
on things like leg drive, and positioning on the bench. All of these things are important, but
finding your sweet spots in your pressing path are paramount.
The new Strong-15 Bench Program
Phase 1 and 2 look exactly the same, percentage wise. In phase 3, the back off sets get
bumped up a bit, to give a more realistic sense of where you might be, or are at from a 1RM
standpoint.
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Phase 1 and Phase 2 - AMAP = as many as possible
Phase 3
Misc. shit about benching
• I gave up wide grip benching a long time ago. Since then my shoulders have never
bothered me, and my pec minor, which has been a problem at times, rarely becomes
troublesome. My grip is 15 inches apart. Whether or not you want to go that close I
will say that moving your grip in will take some weight off the bar, but it will be kinder
to your shoulders, rotator cuffs, and pec tendons.
• T-shirt benches are another great way to build bottom position strength. Lower the bar
and try to touch your t-shirt with the bar as LIGHTLY as possible before pressing. This
generally makes you hover the bar in that area for a second or two, making the
pressing harder.
• I never found the big carryover from doing all sorts of triceps shit to bigger benching. I
personally think that’s a geared lifting thing. I’m not saying bigger and stronger triceps
won’t help you bench more, I’m saying you shouldn’t be building your entire
philosophy about benching more around tricep strength improvement.
• For raw benching the upperback is important. Training lats has become a big
phenomenon in benching and again, it’s because of misinformation. Shirted benchers
train lats because they actually need to pull the bar into them a lot of times. A raw
bencher will never need to do this. A raw bencher will however, need to have a strong
and thick upperback to serve as the foundation that he benches off of.
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Other Pressing Movements
Incline Press
The incline press has turned into probably my favorite press. You don’t hear a lot about
guys tearing up their shoulders or pecs on incline. There aren’t a lot of “technical” aspects
to it, so you can just focus on progression. I have also found that it gives a lot of carryover
to my bench (your mileage may vary in that regard).
My grip on incline is still pretty close, but not as close as bench. At the top of the press my
arms tend to be parallel, straight up and down. I bring the bar down to my upper chest, but
I stop it just short of touching my actual chest.
People ask why I do this.
Well years and years ago I read from a bodybuilder named Chris Cormier, that he and all
his training partners did it this way. I tried it out, and it felt easier on my shoulders, and I
could feel the actual muscles working better than when I brought it all the way down.
One thing I found that worked really well for my incline (and bench) was to go light, and do
higher rep sets (15+) after my heavy bench. The following week I would not bench, but do
heavy inclines.
If I had to give a percentage of incline to bench, I’d say being able to incline 90% of your
bench would be about right. If you can bench 450 you should be able to incline 405. If you
bench 315 that’s a 285 incline.
Don’t balk about that percentage. Just work on improving your incline if it doesn’t meet that
standard. When it does, I promise you will be happy with the other benefits.
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Standing Press
The standing press is the standard bearer for all overhead pressing. It’s really a whole
body movement, especially if you use a clean to get it into position. This really makes it a
man-maker.
Just like with benching, a lot of guys do overhead work with their grip too wide. Bringing
your grip in on the standing press will help with pop off the bottom, and again, it’s easier on
your shoulders.
Also using a thumbless grip is a MUST on the standing press if you want to press more.
This isn’t even debatable.
Every single person I have gotten to change their grip from thumb around to thumbless on
the standing press, presses more thumbless.
This is because it moves the bar closer in to the center line of your body, and helps it to sit
on a better “shelf”. It also puts the bar in that position of bar-wrist-elbow more effectively.
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Your foot position is also important on the standing press. Use the same foot position
you use when deadlifting. Pretend you are going to jump up as high as you can. This is
generally shoulder width.
One of the things I also get guys to do when they do standing press, is to squeeze the
biceps on the lowering portion of the lift. You can’t do this unless your grip is close
enough. When you squeeze the biceps on the negative, there is a rebound effect you get
from the triceps. When you use the triceps to put the brakes on for the negative, they will
wear out faster. When you get the hang of this, you will notice a jump in your pressing.
Press Behind the Neck
I’m going to write it right here.
The reputation the PBN gets for being a shoulder wrecker is stupid.
The reason this happens is because guys can’t do PBN because they fucked their
shoulders up on benching for years, and then lack the flexibility to do the movement. I’ve
done PBN for decades with a permanently separated shoulder (from football) and never
had a problem.
Another reason guys can’t do PBN is because they usually have their grip too close. The
PBN is the anti standing press, in that you need to get the grip out very wide. When you do
PBN, your forearms should almost be at a 45 degree angle. You want to think about pressing
up into the corners of the room.
The PBN is really the overall best shoulder builder. If you want to improve shoulder mass
do the PBN as the staple of your overhead work.
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Dips
Dips are one of the overall best upperbody developers that you can do. One of the best
things about dips is the whole weighted vs bodyweight thing with em’ AND you have
variations like between bench dips and such.
I never worried too much about trying to turn them more into a “chest” exercise by leaning
forward, or more of a triceps movement by staying more upright. I just did em. I will say
you want to make sure your elbows face BEHIND YOU. I see tons of dudes doing them
where their elbows face out to the side. This makes me hurt just watching it.
Lots of guys have claimed that working hard on their dips helped their bench a lot. Your
mileage may vary but it never hurts to get better at dips, regardless.
Board Pressing
I hate board presses. I think they are useless and dumb. Board presses are the box
squats of pressing.
I’ve heard guys say shit like “well I missed at lockout, so I do board presses.” Not as a raw
guy you didn’t. No raw guys miss at lockout. Give me a break. If you think you missed a
lockout, then all that means is you don’t know what lockout means. The lockout is about
the last 3” or so of the lift. NOT HALFWAY UP. I see videos where a raw guy says he
missed at lock out, and he’s still got half the pressing movement left to go.
I’ve never seen a raw guy miss a weight in those last few inches. Ever.
Guys also cheat board presses like crazy. They can get a little bounce off of them. Again,
defeating the purpose of the movement.
And lastly, I know lots of guys that get really good at board pressing but not any better at
benching.
If you want to do board presses, my suggestion is to do nothing more than a 2 board
press. If you’re raw, you really have no reason to go above that. I also recommend that
you pause on the board and don’t use the board to “push” the weight back up. Make the
movement harder, rather than easier.
The other way a board press could be useful is just to get a guy used to having much
heavier weight in his hands. It could be helpful to some guys in getting over the mental
hurdle of moving a heavier weight.
Floor Press
The floor press is similar to board pressing, except that it’s not. With the floor press you
bring the bar down until your triceps are on the floor and then press. So it’s a partial
movement just like the board press, except that the floor press has some very distinct
advantages over the board press.
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Number one, there is no board, so there isn’t anything to cheat off of. If you want to slam
your triceps into a hard floor to get some bounce and destroy your joints, be my guest.
Second, the floor press takes away the bench arch, and makes you press flat backed. This
makes this press actually a bit harder in that regard, to regular bench pressing. Lots of
guys floor press less than they bench because it puts you at a leverage disadvantage. The
only guys I see that can floor press more than they bench, are guys that don’t know how to
setup correctly to take advantage of their leverages.
Third, depending on how thick you are through the torso and arm length, the bar may
actually be very close to your chest in the bottom. Now the bar hovers just barely above
your chest. The ROM ends up being similar to the regular bench, just without the arch.
Also, PAUSE your reps on the floor press. This will give you tremendous carryover to your
benching.
If you do press less in the floor press than the bench, I would say it’s probably going to give
you some decent benefits so long as you just use it as an assistance movement. Again,
don’t turn into a great floor presser. Use it as a secondary movement to help the bench.
Dumbbell Pressing (chest and shoulder variations)
I like pretty much all dumbbell pressing and think they are fantastic for building the pecs,
shoulders, and triceps. They are good for guys with messed up joints from years of heavy
lifting, or guys with physiological issues that make barbell pressing more difficult.
I don’t recommend going stupid heavy on dumbbell pressing. Use dumbbell pressing
movements as a way to learn how to make the muscle work, not move the weight. I also
suggest on dumbbell bench to have your palms face each other, or at minimum try and
mimic the elbow tuck you are using in your barbell benching.
Second, and this is for stronger guys, don’t have a guy hand you the weights. This is
gay. If Stan Efferding can get the 200 pounders in place for dumbbell incline presses, then
you have no excuse. You should take advantage of every opportunity in the gym to make
yourself stronger in some way. Kicking the dumbbells into place, and then putting them up
after you are done are little gems that most guys don’t think about.
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“I don’t care about how they get into place, I’m just there to press them. It’s not called a
kick up and dumbbell press, it’s called a dumbbell press.”
Weaksauce.
Strongmen don’t skirt around moving big weights into position, and neither should you.
Head Press
This was a lift I developed on my own when I was doing DoggCrapp training. I liked this as
a shoulder variation because you could work to total failure and finish on the negative. You
could also play with grip widths and all sorts of shit and it felt just fine.
What you do is set the bench in the power rack and then set the safety rails so that when
the bar is on them, and you sit down on the bench, the bar sets just barely above the top of
your head.
I preferred to press with this variation using the same kind of hand spacing I did on the PBN
however. Wide and pushing out towards the corners of the room. If you don’t go too heavy
on this and use it as a “finisher” it will smoke your shoulders very nice.
Klokov Press (snatch grip behind the neck press)
This is the hardest version of the press that I have ever done. Period.
I call it the Klokov press because I saw ultimate bad ass Olympic lifter Dmitry Klokov doing
them with 100 kilos for triples like there was no weight on the bar. This inspired me to give
em a shot.
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I’m not sure everyone will be able to do this press because you have to grip the bar out
pretty much to the end, i.e. a snatch grip press. If you can, you will realize very quickly
what a supremely weak bitch that you are.
“I’m not sure everyone will be able to do this press because
you have to grip the bar out pretty much to the end,
…If you can, you will realize very quickly what a
supremely weak bitch that you are.”
My suggestion for these is to work up to a nice single, and/or triples. Back off sets work just
fine too, but you might get a bit torn up with the bar crashing down on the back of your
neck 15-20 times in a row. I speak from experience.
This press is a real man maker and very humbling. Only the bravest dare to try it. Ok, so
I’m exaggerating.
But seriously, it will kill you.
Machine Pressing (chest and shoulder variations)
Not a lot of explaining here. Find a machine and press on it. I do like smith machine
overhead presses more than most people would be willing to admit. If we’re talking about
building “bodyparts” it’ll do the job, and just fine.
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I like pretty much all the Hammer Strength machines as well. I’ve also known guys who
used machines for extended periods and got bigger doing it. If gaining size is your primary
option, machines will do just as a good as free weights really. Gaining mass is about
building muscle. Making the muscle work and adding more weight and reps to the stack/
loading every week, is the quickest way to get bigger.
Misc Pressing Notes
• I’ve done just fine pressing both once and twice a week. If your pressing hasn’t
moved in a while however, I would suggest pressing twice a week. At least for a
while. One day where you do primarily chest pressing and the other day where it’s
overhead work.
• Lots of guys like skull crushers as assistance, and I loved em when I was younger,
but I hate them now and I fully believe they will eventually destroy your elbows.
• If you’re after those capped looking shoulders, one thing I did when I was younger
that gave some pretty quick results was to do press behind the neck with a light
weight for 6 sets of 12. The only time you rested was for your partner to do his set
of 12. And that was it. We used like 95 pounds for this, and didn’t always make it to
set 6.
• The upperbody seems to respond a little better to volume, in my opinion, than the
lower body. The recovery time seems to be much faster. Doing a lot of back off sets
is a great idea if you can only get in to press once a week, or your pressing is really
lagging. Work up and down the ladder. Work up to the heaviest single for the day,
then do back offs with all of the weights you did previous to that. This is a great way
to get thoroughly destroyed. In a good way.
• The biceps work to stabilize the shoulder and elbow joint during most barbell
pressing. Don’t talk about biceps as being useless. They do an important job in the
presses. Plus, big biceps gets you wimminz! Curls for the girls, or so they say.
• Overhead pressing can be done often. For some reason the shoulders don’t seem
to mind this. Just VARY what kind of overhead work you are doing. One day do
clean and press, the next day do seated db press, the next day standing press
behind the neck, etc.
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Training Splits
Over more than 2 decades of training I’ve done most every type of training split and
template you can think of. It’s possible I have not done some more recent “phenomenon”
because after a while, you settle in on your own training paradigm and develop a finely
tuned bullshit meter.
For whatever reason, I’ve always loved to sit down and write out training splits and
templates, and put them into action based on my experiences and what I felt like would
work.
What I want to cover here, are some training splits I have used with success, not such great
success, and just some overall ideas to ponder over.
The Man-Maker - Squatting and Deadlifting on the same day
I’ve never understood guys who said they can’t squat and deadlift on the same day.
“I could never do that. I’d be destroyed.” This is usually from some guy that squats 275 and
deadlifts 350.
Some of the strongest men to ever walk the face of the Earth have squatted and deadlifted
on the same day. They did so heavy and hard, and naught a complaint was made about it.
There is no reason why everyone can’t squat and pull on the same day. Andy Bolton has
done it forever.
There are a ton of benefits about squatting and pulling on the same day.
• After squatting, you don’t need a lot of warm up sets for the dead. Generally
two medium pulls and you’re ready to go. When you deadlift without squatting
first, it takes a while to get to the meat and potatoes in regards to weight on the
bar. Especially if you’re pulling over 600 pounds.
• You can really go bananas on the assistance work on the other days. This is really
great if you are trying to up the mass at the same time.
• If you compete, you are sort of mimicking what happens on meet day. You have to
squat, bench, and pull. You’ll know for certain what you’re going to be capable of
pulling on meet day if you’re following up heavy squats with pulls.
• A very productive routine I did was to front squat, then deadlift from the floor one
week and then squat, and do stiff legs the next week. You’re still just squatting and
pulling.
• You give the low back more recovery time. If you’re squatting heavy one day, then
pulling heavy two or three days later, the lower back may start to become fatigued
as the weights really start to climb. A lot of people don’t realize that many times
the reason a weight feels heavier is simply because the low back is just flat out not
recovered yet.
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My best training split for squatting and pulling together has been like so…
Day 1 -
Squat - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1
Deads - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x3
Hacks or Fronts - 1-2x8-10
Day 2 -
Bench - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x8-12
Incline - 2x15
Overhead - 1-2x8-10
Day 3 -
Chins or Pulldowns - 5x7, 3x10
Rows - 1-2x8-10
Curls - 2x8-10
The only drawback to this split, I think, is that if your dead is the super suxor you might want
throw it in first now and then, and then do front squats after that. Remember however,
if you’re only pulling more because you’re fresh, you’re really not stronger. You’re just
fresher. And strength training should never be like douching. Always take the stench in
regards to lifting.
The Traditional - Squat, Bench, Deadlift
Most guys that have ventured into strength sports know this split well.
Dedicate a day of the week to squat, a day of the week to bench, and a day of the week
to deadlift.
I have used said split many times as well. And while I like it, I feel like it’s somewhat subpar
in regards to squatting and pulling together, but there are benefits as well.
• It gives you a whole workout just to work on the lift. If you are a guy that thrives off
of volume, this is a great split because you could just essentially squat, bench, and
dead with maybe a row and do a shit ton of volume each workout.
• Since this split is as old as dirt, there are tons of guys who have done it, and can talk
about ways that this split worked for them, or didn’t work for them and how they may
have massaged it to make it work better.
• This type of split generally causes you to focus on specific assistant work after the
lift. Most guys that squat, do some extra quad and hams after. On bench day, most
guys hit the delts and triceps hard, and on deadlift day, lots of lat work. If you have
trouble picking out proper assistance work, just look up some old timers training that
used this split, and it’ll be right there.
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My usual Squat, Bench, Deadlift setup Day 1 - Squats
Squats - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x8-10
Leg Press - 2x15-20
Leg Curls - 2-3x10-15
Calf Raises - 2-3x10
Day 2 - Bench
Bench - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x8-12
Incline - 2x8-15
Dips - body x lots
Day 3 - Deadlift
Deadlift - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x3
Sitff Legs - 1x8-12
Shrugs - 1x5, 1x20
Chins or Pulldowns - 2-3x8-10
Curls - 1-2x8-10
If you’re someone who tends to do better with an extra day of pressing, one of the things I
did ever so often was add in a day for shoulders and some light db bench. It would usually
look like so…
Optional Day 4
Press Behind the Neck - 2x8-12
Db Bench - max reps with the 100’s
Side Lateral Machine - 2x15-20
The Minimalist
This split is great for guys who don’t need or want a bunch of shit to do outside of the big3
or big4.
Day 1 - Squat
Squat - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x12-20 + 50%
Calves - lots
Abs - lots
Day 2 - Bench
Bench - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x8-12 + 50%
Curl - 4-5 x 8-12
Cuff work - lots
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Day 3 - Deadlift/Press
Deadlift/Chin (alternate each week) - 5,4,3,2,1 1x8-12 50%
Clean and Press - 5,4,3,2,1 1x8-12 50%
Abs - lots
The funny thing about this split is, there is no fluff but enough shit that if you maxed out your
potential on all of these, you’d be a walking Hulk. And as usual, throw in a good measure
of conditioning and you’re one bad ass human being. The only drawback to splits like this,
is that if you don’t pay attention to stretching and mobility you can end up with a lot of
imbalances from a muscular perspective.
The Athlete - Training Twice a week for football, MMA, etc
I love training twice a week. A lot of guys will tell you that you can’t make good gains doing
this, and I say bullshit. Dr. Ken Leistner trained guys with pretty awesome results for
decades on twice a week routines with conditioning on other days. I think one of the factors
is that lots of guys don’t do shit on the other days but grind their ass groove further into the
couch. I think training heavy twice a week works great, but you also need to not be a sloth
the other 5 days of the week. Remember, be strong and be in shape. Use those other 5 days
of the week to do some other shit as well, like conditioning or playing a sport.
And speaking of playing a sport, training twice a week in season for football is very
ideal. You’re not going to be building a lot of strength during the season, so scaling shit
back to twice a week works very well.
If you are playing football the best thing to do is have your heaviest day the day after game
day. This way you don’t stretch your recovery out too thin over the course of the
week. You don’t want to play a hard game on Friday or Saturday (or Sunday) then 3 days
later have your hardest training session of the week. Do it the day after game day, and
then have a light day a few days after that. For exmaple…
Day 1 - Game Day
Day After That
Squats - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x8-10
Barbell/Db Bench - 2x8-12
Stiff Legs - 1x8-12
Overhead Press - 2x5
Cuff and Ab Work - 3-5 sets
3 Days Later
Leg Curls - 2-3x10-15
Lunges - 3-4x10-12
Curls - 3-4x15-20
Machine Press - 2-3x8-12
Rope Pushdowns - 3-4x15-20
Face Pulls - 4x20
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For MMA or fighting, if that is the focus of your training, then lifting twice a week is again the
most ideal for building strength because generally, most MMA guys train for hours at a time,
many days of the week. In fighting hip rotation and core stability tend to be the biggest
factors for getting better, along with single limb work.
A two day a week routine for MMA could look like so…
Day 1
Pause Squats - 10/8/5/4 - 3 Work up to a top triple that moves fast. Explode out of the
hole as fast as possible. Hold for 3 seconds in the bottom. And “bottom” means
basement. You should have no doubt that every rep is below parallel. God I hate high/
parallel squatters.
Alternating Dumbbell Floor Press - 12/10/8/6 - 5 Work up to a top set of 5 alternating arms
on the press.
Sandbag Turkish Get Up - If you don’t have a sandbag, use a dumbbell and do the
traditional get up, but the sandbag is better for MMA. Do 3 sets of 5 reps per side.
Weighted Chins - warm up, then 3 sets of 3 reps. Vary your grip from workout to workout.
Day 2
Deadlift - 10/8/6/5 - 3 sets of 3 static weight. Pick a weight that you can move
explosively. Rest only 60 seconds between sets.
Clean and Press - 5/4/3/2 - 1,1,1 with a static weight. Do three singles. Clean the weight
from the floor and press overhead. Rest 60 seconds between singles.
Full Contact Twist - 4 sets of 10 reps. Don’t go super heavy here, make sure you move the
weight explosively.
Db Rows - 2 sets of 8 reps. Pick a heavy weight that you can pull explosively.
Minimalistic Powerlifting - Twice a week
A pretty cool twice a week split for guys that have been doing this shit for a while that can’t
train as often, or need more recovery time is to bench one day a week, squat the other, and
then pull after squats every other week. On the weeks you don’t deadlift, you just follow up
squats with upperback work.
To me this is a sweet little setup.
Week 1
Day 1 - Bench and support work
Bench - strong-15
Incline Press/Overhead Press (alternate each week) - 1x5, 1x8-12
Dips - 1x8-12 weighted
Curls - 2x8-12
Day 2 - Squat and upperback
Squat - strong-15
1-Legged Leg Press - 2x-15-20
Rows - 4x8-12
Chins/Pulldowns (alternate) - 3x6-10
Abs - lots
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Week 2 squat session
Squats - strong-15
Deadlift - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x3
Leg Curls - 2x10-12
Face Pulls - 100 reps total
Abs - Lots
The Strongman
When/If I get into strongman this is exactly the kind of split I would run.
Having talked to several top level strongmen, what I settled on was barbell/db lifts twice a
week, then an events day for a third.
High rep squats also tend to be favored by most of those guys, but even more so, heavy
front squats. I figure the best thing to do is cover both.
Overhead strength and pulling strength however, should be the primary focus of strongman
training. However since the low back is severely taxed from most events I borrowed
a methodology from Vince Urbank, who deadlifts over 900 pounds, as far as deadlift
programming goes here.
Day 1
Overhead Press - Clean and Press, Viking, Db, etc - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x8-20
Close Grip Bench/Incline (alternate) - 2x5-10
Barbell Curls - 2x8-10
Hammer Curls - 2x15-20
Day 2
Squat - 2x15-20 or Front Squat - to a top triple, then back off set of 8-10
Deadlift or deadlift variation - 4” block, 6” block, regular - More on this below
Rows or Chins - 4-6 sets of 8-12
1-Legged Support Work - 5-6 sets of 20 - lunges, 1 legged squats, 1-legged leg press
Day 3
Events - Alternate
Yoke/Stones
Farmers Walk/Tire Flip
Log Press/Truck Pull
Strongman Deadlift cycle
Because strongmen usually have to do deadlifts from different heights or use different bars,
I fashioned up a deadlift cycle to get this kind of work in.
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For the deadlift cycle, in week 1 pull from the 4” inch blocks (mid-shin). In week 2” pull from
the 6” blocks (below the knee). Don’t deadlift in week 3, then pull from the floor in week 4
for reps with either the trapbar or a fatbar. Don’t pull in week 5, then start over. It looks like
this…
Week 1 - 4” block pulls to a max
Week 2 - 6” block pulls to a max
Week 3 - no deadlifts (do rows and chins)
Week 4 - pulls from the floor for reps or to a max with fatbar or with trapbar
Week 5 - no pulls (do rows and chins)
Week 6 - start over
The Lift-Run-Bang Template
Honestly, this is probably the best template I’ve ever developed in some ways. It takes
care of many things at once.
Maximal strength? Check.
Hypertrophy work? Check.
Prehab? Check.
Progression Planning? Check.
Badassedness? Check.
I wrote about the LRB template on my blog. I am going to go the lazy route and simply
copy and paste here, but I can’t emphasize enough how great this template is, and how
well it has worked for everyone who has used it.
don’t overestimate your max for the love of God!
LRB Template - Week 1
The entire layout of the template covers 2 weeks, and it uses my longtime favorite layout…
Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
Legs
Back/Biceps
For the progression scheme simple use a 3-week wave of the strong-15. Since you will be
pressing, squatting, and deadlifting heavy every other week, a 3-week wave will last for 6
weeks. Just don’t overestimate your max for the love of God!
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Week 1
Day 1 of week 1 is pressing work. In the LRB template you will start with overhead work. I
will tell you why. Because overhead work is largely ignored or thought of as an after
thought by most guys, especially powerlifters. I have been trying to make overhead work a
priority for a long time but no matter what would always stick it in behind my bench and
incline pressing. The other reason I like overhead work first better is because it warms up
the shoulders and adds some fatigue before you bench press. And if you have ever done a
full meet you will know that after taking three heavy squats, the shoulders are in fact not
minty fresh. Doing some heavy shoulder work first is a great way to simulate a bit of meet
fatigue while putting the shoulders as a priority in your training plan. And no one ever
benched less with stronger shoulders anyway.
You will pick a BARBELL pressing movement on heavy pressing day. You will not do a
machine or a db movement (that happens in week 2). Week 1 is all about heavy barbell
pressing and that’s that. Pick an overhead lift you want to improve at over the next 6 weeks
and stick with it. Warm up to a weight you can do 3 sets of 5 with pretty easily. Remember
you need to progress over the next 6-8 weeks so don’t get stupid the first week with the
weight selection.
Day 1 - Pressing (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps) - Heavy
Overhead Work - Barbell Variation - Pick One
Standing Press / Seated Press / Press Behind Neck / Push Press - 3 sets of 5 @ same
weight
After overhead work you will bench. I don’t care if you use a close grip or medium grip or
whatever. Just use that grip throughout the training cycle. As you can see, the strong-15
method is used. Working up to 3 progressively heavier singles. No back offs. Again, leave
room for progression over the next 6-8 weeks. The first couple of weeks the last single
should still have some pop to it.
Bench Press - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1
Assistance Work - Pick one for shoulders/traps
Upright Rows / Db Cleans / Hang Pulls - 5 sets of 8-10
Assistance Work for Triceps - Pick one
Pushdowns / Overhead Extensions / Bench Dips - 5 sets of 15-20 / AMAP on bench dips
Day 2 - Legs - Heavy
For heavy leg day there is only one exercise to use of course and that’s heavy
squats. Again, the strong-15 progression scheme is used. This workout should be a man
maker so make sure you have a solid pre-workout meal an hour or so before hand.
Since this is a heavy leg session you are going to follow up squats with hacks or some kind
of plate loaded squat machine for some extra work on the quads.
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Squats - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1
Hacks/Machine Squats (Hammer, Strive, something plate loaded, etc) - 4 x 6-10 to a top set.
After this we’ll finish things off with heavy leg presses. Work up to a single top set of 10+
on these.
Leg Press - 4 x 10+ to a top set
And to finalize, we’ll finish with some 1-legged work because this shit is great for injury
prevention and keeping things balanced. You can stay right there on the leg press or get
up and hit some 1-legged squats or lunges of any kind. Don’t add weight for the
bodyweight stuff. Use this time to focus on ROM, mobility, stretching, and balance.
Single Leg Work - 1-legged leg press / 1-legged squats / lunges (any kind) - 4 x 10-20
Day 3 - Back - Hamstrings - Biceps - LIGHT
This will be a “light” day. The light days in LRB aren’t really”light” per say, but the focus on
movements where you can use less weight than the main variation of that movement. For
example pause squats or front squats will be used on the light leg day. This doesn’t mean
you will go “light” but the fact is most guys can’t use as much weight on those as they can
their back squat. However on all of the movements that come after the main one, you will
in fact lighten up usually, and hit higher reps.
Pick one - Romanian Stiff Legs / Cleans (hang or power) / Dynamic Romanian Shrugs /
Elevated Stiffs - 3 sets of 5 same weight
Dynamic Romanian Shrugs are a movement I came up with where you do a Romanian
deadlift, then explode upwards onto the toes into a shrug. Again, the key on these is to not
go as heavy as possible right out of the gate. Leave a little room to grow into.
After the initial movement we will go into some back/lat work. In the light week, it behooves
you to pick a machine / Db / Cable based movement. The light week is also about not
destroying recovery ability, and machines, cables, and db’s tend to wreck you less than
barbell movements. Second, you need to use the light days to think more like a
bodybuilder than a powerlifter. The difference? Making the muscle work (bodybuilder) and
moving the weight through space (powerlifting). Medium weight + higher reps + food = a lot
of growth. A lot of growth = a bigger you = a bigger strength ceiling. Take that approach on
light days.
Pick one - Lat Pulldowns / Cable Rows / Hammer Row or Machine Rows / Db Rows - 5
sets of 12-20 to a top set.
After lats/back we’re going to throw in a hamstring/glute/low back type of movement.
Again stay with the theme from above.
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Pick one - Hypers / Glute Ham Raises / Leg Curls (seated, 1 legged, lying, etc) - 4 sets of
15-20
To finish pick a db or machine curl.
Pick one - Machine or Db Curls - 3 sets of 10-15 to a top set
Since you pressed and squatted heavy in week 1, what we’re going to do is press “light”
and do legs “light” with heavy ass back work in week 2.
Mind you, light again is relative. This means as heavy as you can go for a certain number
of reps, namely in the 12-20 rep range for pressing stuff, so it should be as HEAVY as you
can go for that particular rep range. For legs front squats and pause squats will be the
staple of week 2 with lots of leg extensions and 1-legged work to follow.
On back day obviously you’re going to pull heavy off the floor, do some heavy ass rows,
and other such debauchery.
Let’s take a look shall we?
Week 2
Day 1 - Pressing - Light
Pick One - Seated Db Press/Standing Db Press/Machine Press - 3 sets x 12-20 reps
Pick One - Incline Press/Decline Press/Machine Press - 2-3 sets of 12-20 reps
Obviously we are looking at hitting some db and or machine work as heavy as possible
but for higher reps. Hence this being a “light” week. You want to pick a weight that you hit
close to 20 reps on your first set and go from there. If you want a progression plan here,
when you can hit that chosen weight for 20+ then bump it. Simple.
Shoulder - Side or Bent Laterals - 5-6 sets of 15-20
Tricep - Pullovers or Pushdowns - 5-6 sets of 15-20
Again, don’t overthink this just pick one and go after it. No long pussy ass rest periods for
side laterals and don’t worry about weight here. Just keep the ROM strict and get the blood
in there.
Day 2 - Legs Light
As I noted, fronts and pause squats will be the staple here. However you can rotate in
some BELOW parallel box squats from time to time if you feel like it. Just don’t kid yourself
about what is below parallel. If you’re in doubt about it, then squat lower. And yes, you can
alternate the fronts and pause squats week to week if you want to.
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Front Squats/Pause Squats - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1 or 5,4,3,3,3 to a “top” triple.
Leg Ext - 4-5 sets of 20-30
This will suck. Don’t kid yourself. Especially if you have not been doing this kind of work.
Adductor/Abductor Machine - Pick one or both - 4-5 sets of 15-20
1-Legged Movement - Lunges / Speed Skater Squats / 1-Legged Squats - 4 sets of 20
Again, this will suck major ass if you have been a “singles” kinda guy and not doing any rep
work, you might feel like you want to die. Suck it up and live again.
Day 3 - Back HEAVY
Really there is no such thing as a heavy back day without deadlifting. If I am not training for
a meet I do like to vary some of my heavy pulling from the floor to on blocks to on a small
elevation. This is very much how Brad Gillingham trains his deadlift and I have always had
good success coming back to this when I have pulling from the floor too long and stuck in
a rut. Just don’t pull from above the knee for the love of God. That’s more douchenozzle
than curling in the squat rack as far as I’m concerned. You can thank Dante of DoggCrapp
fame for video after video of 123 pound guys doing above the knee pulls for a range of
motion of 0.007845 inches with 500 pounds. Junk.
Anything from the below the knee is fine.
Deadlifts/ From Floor/Blocks/Rack/Elevated/Stiff Legged/Banded - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1
After heavy pulls, do some heavy ass rows or chins.
Pick One - T-Bars/Weighted Chins/Barbell Rows - 5x6-8 to a top set
After this we’re going to hit some MODERATE good mornings, or if you’re back is feeling
too fatigued at this point, go to leg curls. You will need to be the judge of this.
Good Mornings - 3-4 sets of 5 moderate weight OR...
Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20-30
Lastly let’s get some bicep work in. No need to go stupid heavy on biceps really, but if
you are feeling your oats that day, fine. I personally do not like to go stupid heavy on
curls. What’s the point?
Curls of some sort - 4-5 sets of 10-20
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Notes
Well that’s that. I have put a lot of thought into this template and I feel like it covers
anything/everything a well rounded training program can cover. There is enough variation
within the program that anyone should be able to institute the METHODOLOGIES with ease.
On the light days, use them for what they are for. Hypertrophy and strengthening the
tendons. That means HIGH reps, forcing lots of blood through those area. At first I had
the reps in the 15-20 rep range but after prodding from Vince Urbank (900 puller and prostrongman) to up the reps even more, I thought it was a good idea. Don’t be afraid to back
way off on the weight on the light days and push the reps into the 30+ range. Remember
you’re still pushing barbell movements heavy with limited volume. You’re not trying to kill
yourself on the light days, you are trying to strengthen the supportive area. Forcing a shit
load of blood through those joints, tendons, and musculature helps to do that. Look for reps
in the 15-30 range for all the supportive work.
Also during the assistance work, don’t rest that long between sets. This will humble you
I promise. When you limit rest and force more and more blood into the area you will find
that puny weight starts to become harder to move. Again, as you force blood into that
area it also stretches the fascia, and this allows ROOM for growth. Similar to the extreme
stretching that DoggCrapp implements.
Remember for the BIG movements, use heavy weight/lower volume. For the assistance
stuff, use high volume/lighter weight/high reps. I don’t have a problem with doing higher
volume on the main lift, but if you do that, you need to really limit the supportive work. As I
have gotten older, staying healthy has become my priority.
A younger lifter tends to be more pliable. I would recommend more volume for the big lifts,
and less volume for the assistance work. After 22 years, I don’t need a lot of volume for
the barbell lifts because there isn’t as much technique to work out on my squats and bench
anymore. Even with deads, I know very well that pulling too heavy for high volume has a
propensity for diminishing returns. Any intermediate/advanced guy should be able to run
this template very easily and should benefit mightily.
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The overview of the program looks like this :
Week 1 Day 1 - Press - Heavy
Heavy Overhead Barbell Press
Bench Press
Shoulder Assistance
Tricep Asssistance
Day 2 - Legs - Heavy
Squats
Hacks/Machine Squats/Box/SSB
Leg Press (optional)
1-Legged Movement
Day 3 - Back - Light
Speed Deads/Cleans/Romanians/Shrugs
Supportive Rows/Pulldowns
Leg Curls/Glute Ham Raises
Curls
Week 2
Day 1- Pressing - Light
Db/Machine Press
Incline/Hammer Strength/Machine Press
Shoulder Work
Tricep Work
Day 2 - Legs - Light
Front Squats/Pause Squats
Leg Ext
Abduction/Adductor/Leg Curls
1-Legged Movement
Day 3 - Back - Heavy
Deadlift/Block Deads/Elevated Deads
T-bar/Barbell/Db Rows/Weighted Chins
Good Mornings/Leg Curls
Curls
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Short Timer - The strong-15 short cycle
Life’s timing isn’t perfect. Sometimes things are put on the fast track without us having any
say about it.
Training is no different.
Sometimes you find yourself wanting to do a meet, but feel caught in no mans land. Training
has been going well, and you want to do a meet, but the only one you can make it to for a
while is just weeks away.
Have no fear, this is not an issue so long as training has been solid up to this point.
Let me repeat however, that this is not the time to decide to jump into a meet if your training
has been shit, coming off a layoff, or injury. Basically, you’ve been training hard and things
have gone well enough for you to think about a meet.
The other reason to run a short cycle is that some people do better on short peaking cycles
than longer ones. I could never run a 12 week peaking cycle. I peaked and burned out way
before I could finish. This is why I eventually settled on 9 week cycles, with the first three
weeks basically a break in period.
However if you’ve already been hitting some decent weights and just want to run a short
lower rep cycle, this is how to implement it.
The short cycle is 5 weeks of training, then a deload before the meet. You would need
roughly 7 weeks to plan instead of the 11 with the strong-15.
5 weeks of training
1 week of deloading
Meet week
For the squat, we’ll stick to the usual. Working up to a single, then 2 sets of 3 for pause
squats. Instead of working in phases however, we’re just going to work up to 93% of your
planned third. This should put you in contention for that third attempt so long as you move it
with some authority.
The short cycle is based on what you want to hit for your THIRD ATTEMPT. Program the
numbers in accordingly for that.
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For the sake of simplicity I will just list the three singles to hit each week. You should have
a pretty good idea of how the 5,4,3,2, should look at this point...
Squat Cycle
What should stick right out at you here, is the nice wave loading that goes on. You hit 83%
as your top single the first week, then that 83% is your “second attempt” the next week as
you hit 85%. The following week you go 83%, 85%, 88%, so forth and so on. This is a great way
to build mental and muscular momentum up towards that 93%. Moving weights with good
velocity and confidence.
The bench cycles looks exactly the same, except that on the back off set you do AMAP (as
many as possible).
Bench Cycle
If you want a little indicator here, I will tell you that you need to hit around 8-9 reps with your
80% in the last week to feel pretty good about hitting your goal.
For the deadlift, things are massaged a little bit. Again, what I have generally found is that
the dead tends to ramp up quickly, then sort of stall out for most people. For the short
cycle what I have done is kept most of the percentages on the lower side except for the last
couple of weeks.
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This is to spare the low back a bit and take advantage of the quick run up. The only week
you’ll pull with some grind will be the last week. This week should tell you where you are at
as well. The triple with 90% should be solid. If so, you’re good to go.
Deadlift cycle
The jump from week 4 to week 5 is pretty significant but it’s the last pull before the meet
and the 90% triple should most definitely let you know where you stand. Making that triple
should put you in the bank for your third attempt.
Notes on the short cycle
• This isn’t just for lifters who have a short timetable to do a meet. Some guys truly do
better with shorter cycles.
• If you’re an advanced lifter with a great foundation, a great option is to squat and
dead on the same day. Then bench on another day. Another twice a week training
option.
• If you’re more of an intermediate kind of guy, train the three days a week (squat,
bench, dead) and up the volume a little on the assistance work.
• Even though it’s only 5 weeks, don’t be overzealous in your programming. You can
still stall out in a few weeks if you set your sights on something you know you aren’t
going to be good for. Be smart about programming!
• You could easily run this year round with lots of assistance work after, going for a PR
every 7th week, taking a week off, then starting again. Just sayin...
• Someone will ask for the block deadlift 5 week cycle. Use the same %’s from
the floor on the back off sets from the regular cycle, but do this from the blocks
beforehand.
o week 1 - 88%
o week 2 - 90%
o week 3 - 95%
o week 4 - 98%
o week 5 - 101%
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Short Cycle with a LONGER deload - No longer the short cycle
This is something that quite a few guys I know do in regards to peaking for a meet. They
actually deload for the last few weeks going into the meet. I believe this has merit, as
there have been many times where my strength ramped up, then fell off, then jumped up
significantly a few weeks afterwards.
I don’t like the normal version of the strong-15 with a long deload because the first 3 weeks
should essentially be break in weeks, working to a peak. The short cycle is more for
someone who is already near peak strength, needs a short run, and then competes.
The deload into the meet starts the week after the last heaviest week. For each lift it looks
like so…
Last week of short cycle
1st week of deload - work up to a single with 85%
2nd week of deload - work up to a single with 80%
3rd week of deload - work up to a set of 5 with 50% - optional
4th week - meet
The 3rd week of the deload is optional, as it could easily be taken off all together, however
some guys get restless and feel like they just need to move around a bit. A set of 5 at 50%
should not cut into any recovery, but if you are feeling more beat up than usual you might
benefit from simply taking that whole week off.
This does drag the cycle out to a full 8 weeks, but that’s still shorter than the 10 for the
normal strong-15.
Everyone responds differently to peaking so if you’re a guy that tends to ramp up to a top
weight really fast, the short cycle may be just what you need.
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Conditioning - Increasing your gas tank
Be strong, be in shape.
Pretty simple motto.
Getting into shape does not mean that you need to be able to run a marathon or do an
Ironman. Endurance training is not what we are trying to build here. It’s being explosive,
faster, more agile, and with enough of a gas tank that if you had to fight for your life for the
next 5 minutes, your conditioning wouldn’t be what failed you if you lost that battle.
I’ve written quite a few conditioning programs, however what I want to cover here, is simply
getting into shape to a solid degree, and then maintaining that, or most of it.
What I want to do here, is layout what I have done for years when I have let conditioning
fall to the wayside, and needed to get back into shape. If your gas tank is rusted out and in
need of repair, this will get you up to par.
Stage 1 - Steady state - 3x a week - 30 minutes
First 2 weeks
This is the break in stage. I do all of my cardio outside and time it. I walk the same route
each time. What I do is, try to beat my time every session.
If you are using a treadmill, just increase the MPH by .2 or so each time. Start out at
around 3.2 the first time, then 3.4 and 3.6, etc.
Steady state does not mean a leisure walk. Walk with a purpose. By the end of the second
week you should be walking like a pissed off gorilla.
A word of note about “walking”. Do not step out in front of you unless you desire shin
splints in your future. When you walk think about pushing your body forward and some heel
to butt action. If you step out and overstride, your anterior tibialis ends up taking a pounding
and this is how guys end up with shin splints. Don’t think about stepping out, think about
pushing off. This should help.
Stage 2 - Steady state - 3x a week - 30 minutes/Intervals - 2x a week - 10 minutes
Next 4 weeks
Now that doing some conditioning doesn’t make you see Jesus cursing at you, it’s time to
add in some interval work. This is to be done twice a week for 10 minutes.
There are a million different ways to do interval work, and it really doesn’t matter what
kind you choose to be honest. The point of it is to take your conditioning up a notch and
increase your work capacity. Here are some ideas for your interval work.
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Bike - Ride as hard as possible for 15 seconds, then pedal normal for 45 seconds.
Sprints - 30-40 yards at 75% - 90% speed. Walk 80 yards then repeat the sprint. You can
also do hills here.
Tire Sledge Hammer - Go hard for 15 seconds and then walk for 30 seconds.
Bag Work or Shadow boxing - Do 5, 2 minute rounds with 1 minute rest.
Prowler or Sled - 40 yard sprints with 2 minutes rest between.
Don’t kill yourself the first week of interval training. You have many weeks of hard
conditioning to look forward to, so there’s no need to try and be a hero right out of the
gate. Slowly ease into things. For sprints, the first week or two, run them at 75% speed or
so. Over the next 4 weeks work up to running sprints at closer to 90%.
Stage 3
Last 2 weeks
Steady State - 3x a week - 45 minutes / Intervals - 3x a week - 20 minutes
These two weeks you set the bar. You want to be going all out on the steady state,
walking as fast as possible for the 45, and on the interval days you really want to push the
envelope. I’d stick with whatever interval training you decided to do for the last 4 weeks and
try to set some PR’s.
Maintenance - Steady State - 2-3x a week - 45 minutes / Intervals - 1-2
times a week - 10 minutes
Maintaining a solid level of conditioning is not a difficult chore. Keep the steady state up
and throw in an interval session 1-2 times a week, and you should be just fine. A great way
to do this is one week do steady state 3x a week with 1 interval session, and the next week
do steady state 2x and 2 10-minute interval sessions.
If you are in a mass gaining phase, I would personally just go to steady state 3x a week and
leave it at that. You will be surprised how in shape you can stay from 3 very brisk walks
each week. Just make sure you don’t turn it into a “smell the flowers” walk. Again, the
walks should be brisk and with a purpose.
Measuring Stick
A great goal to shoot for in all of this, is for the last interval workout, do 20 60-yard sprints
in 8 seconds or less, and rest 3 minutes between each one. This is the standard the New
England Patriots have used for years and no one has ever accused that team of being out
of shape. If you’re just not fast enough to cover 60 yards in 8 seconds, go to 10 seconds.
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Other conditioning methods
Outside of sprints there are TONS of other things to do conditioning wise. Some of the
backbones I use are as follows.
Prowler – My fight instructor and I have a couple of different prowler workouts.
• 80 yards @ 180 pounds. 4-6 of those. 3 minutes or so between each run.
• 40 yards @ 90 pounds. 8-10 of these. Limited rest between each run.
• You do NOT want to try the above unless you are already in shape, I promise you.
Sledge Hammer Work
• You can get 2 hammers. 1 smaller and 1 larger. How small and how large all depends
on you. Shop around.
• Get a tire.
• With the large hammer slam that bitch for 15 seconds on, 30 seconds off. With the
smaller hammer, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off.
• Repeat until shy of death.
Some thoughts about conditioning
• You can get creative with conditioning. Pushing a car, farmers walks, tire flips,
etc. Just remember that interval work is really no different than lifting for the most
part. You call upon the same energy systems to do that explosive work. Be aware
that if you are doing 3 heavy sessions a week, you may need to pare back your
volume if you find you start hitting several -10% sessions in a row.
• Conditioning is no different than lifting. You don’t have to train with max weights in
order to get stronger, and you don’t have to go balls out on conditioning to get in
better shape. Keep the big picture in mind here that you are putting pieces in place
to get better over time. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
• Do a general warm up before your interval work. If you are slated to do 12 40 yard sprints, do 4-5 sprints at 50% of the speed you plan on running them at to get
warm. Don’t just start your interval work full force. You don’t walk into the gym and
just load up the bar to your max do you? Don’t do the same with your interval work
either.
Lifting while conditioning
The best way, in my opinion, while concentrating on getting yourself into shape, is to drop
training to twice a week. Upperbody on one day, and lowerbody on the other. Something
like so...
Day 1 - Upperbody
Bench or Incline
Chins or Rows
Dips or Db Overhead Press
Curls
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Day 2 - Lowerbody
Squats or Deadlifts
Good Mornings or Front Squats
Calves
Abs
You can run the strong-15 or big-15 for the staple movements if you like, and then just do
5 x 10 on the other stuff. Doesn’t really matter. Just keep focusing on getting stronger
and getting your conditioning better and things will fall into place. Remember, train for
performance, not looks.
I like to keep the conditioning stuff really simple, and not over complicate things. The main
things to be cognitive of about conditioning is not to start off doing too much in order to
avoid overuse injuries, and to do things you like.
Seems to be a common theme doesn’t it?
Some notes on conditioning
• Conditioning is a lot like lifting really. You don’t start trying to max out your first
day in the gym after a lay off do you? Not unless you’re really really REALLY
retarded. Use the same philosophy with conditioning. Walk, jog-ish, sprint.
• Also use the same philosophy based on how you’re feeling on particular days. If
you’re beat the hell down, but are supposed to do some serious interval work, go for
a walk. If you feel awesome and want to sprint, do some sprints. Take advantage
of feeling good and go for it, and also know when to turn down the intensity a
bit. Rome wasn’t orgied in a day.
• Pay attention to any overuse injuries you feel coming on. With conditioning they will
escalate very fast and the next thing you know, you’re sidelined.
• Once you get into shape, don’t get out of shape. Yes, I’m guilty of this as well, but
not to such a large degree any more. There isn’t a week that goes by now that I
don’t do something in the way of conditioning. Even just once a week is better than
none a week.
• If you’re going to do interval work in the morning, do it with some BCAA’s in
you. Interval work on a completely empty stomach is a great way to burn through
muscle tissue, especially if you are already in a calorie deficit.
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Training for mass - The New Big-15
I want to preface this with the LRB MASS template is for ADVANCED TRAINERS. If you
bench 155 and squat 205, this is not for you. The intermediate routines will work for a long
time until you’re ready for this level of training.
Setting the stage
My philosophy around training is that you should spend the majority of the year getting
bigger/more muscular, fixing muscular imbalances, and then take advantage of that new
mass when you strength peaks.
In other words, if you are going to compete, or you do compete, do 2 meets a year at the
most, then spending the rest of that time basically doing “bodybuilding”, i.e. building more
mass and fixing muscle imbalances. Without a solid base of mass, and by solid mass I
mean quality, your strength ceiling will be much lower than it could be.
Why bodybuilding?
First off, when I write “bodybuilding” I want to clarify my definition of bodybuilding. Bodybuilding to me, is not trying to build bodyparts in order to compete for physique competition,
it’s simply building a more massive body. You’re always building “go” with your “show”. You
look the part because you ARE the part. You’re massive because you lifted massive weights
for a shit ton of reps. THIS to me, is bodybuilding. It has nothing to do with rubbing salad dressing on yourself. Here are some more of my thoughts about “bodybuilding”.
• It takes care of imbalances by making you work the muscles from different angles
and movements.
• Breaks up the boredom of doing the same lifts over and over again. The mental side
of training is every bit as important as the physical side, if not more so. Change is
often a big reason for renewed enthusiasm.
• It saves your joints. Using medium weights for medium to high reps has been
proven to be the best way to build mass, and it’s also the easier on your joints.
• A bigger more muscular you, is a stronger you.
• Bodybuilding doesn’t mean you have to use every exercise imaginable, however. It
just means not worrying about absolute one repetition max strength training, and
training to also feel the muscle doing work. Not just moving weight.
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Strength Training vs Mass Training
You can train for strength, and get bigger, and you can train for mass, and get
stronger. However there’s too many years of anecdotal evidence that proves that medium
to high reps builds far more mass than lower rep ranges. Evidence tells us that…
Optimal Strength Rep Range - 1-5 reps
Optimal Hypertrophy Rep Range - 6-20
If you wanted to get even more specific, I would say the upperbody tends to do best with
sets in the 8-12 rep range, and the lower body tends to do best with sets in the 12-20+
range.
Getting stronger with a caveat
Do you want to know the big “secret” to gaining mass? No bullshit. It’s getting strong as
possible in these rep ranges, and eating a shit ton of food.
That’s it. That’s all. That’s the big secret to getting huge.
I will also say that I personally think that training to failure, or close to it, gets you stronger in
these rep ranges faster, and gets you bigger faster than high volume training that is
lackadaisical. No amount of volume can make up for a brutal all out set, when it comes to
building mass in my opinion. There is a reason that DoggCrapp training works so well at
building mass. You hit failure several times on 1 movement in a short period. Your body
has no choice other than to grow if you are really getting after it, and supplying enough
quality food.
However, higher volume does have a place when it comes to training for mass, so I think
it’s important to incorporate both.
High Volume
My bread and butter training philosophy has usually been low volume with gut busting
sets. Over the years as my training started becoming geared more towards absolute
strength, I backed off a little bit on that, and adopted the “leaving a few reps in the tank”
philosophy. This works very well when training for absolute strength because of the
tremendous loads you end up using, and the toll it takes on systematic recovery.
I’ve used higher volume training with great success with small movements, lighter loads,
and short rest periods. If you don’t think this can be brutally effective, try this
challenge. Throw a 10 pound plate on each side of the barbell. 65 pounds. Now knock out
6 sets of curls for 12 reps, but only 60 seconds of rest between sets. No cheating, no body
english. 60 seconds between sets max. Your biceps will be screaming if you somehow
manage to get all 6 sets of 12 in.
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Now imagine doing this twice a week for things like biceps, calves, triceps, traps, delts,
etc. This is a great way to force a ton of blood through the joints, help in recovery, and
to “fill you out” so to speak. Filling in the musculature gaps, I call it.
Since we’re all about having lots of “go” with “show” the big stuff is still the most important
part of this template. Getting more weight on the bar in those higher rep ranges will always
be king in terms of adding quality muscle mass and a lasting foundation.
The over-warm up
My philosophy behind doing back offs actually started during the years I was doing
traditional bodybuilding style training. It’s what I found that helped me grow the
fastest. The over warm-up always allowed me to get more reps with a weight, than if I just
warmed up and then tried to take that weight for a ride.
It’s called pyramiding. The traditional way of doing that looks something like this...
Squat - 135x15, 225x12, 315x10, 365x8, 405xmax reps
Something to this effect.
What I ended up doing was this…
Squat - 135x10, 225x5, 315x4, 365x3, 405x2, 445x1, 405xmax reps
What I found was, when I did the over warm-up, I could always go back to 405 and get
more reps, than if I just warmed up and did 405 as a max reps set.
Eventually I based all of my big movements off of this and it was the most productive way I
found to train for both mass and strength. Depending on which one was of more
importance, I just made some alterations.
A very basic way to prime your system for the back off set, is to do some light warm up
sets, then run the 5,4,3,2,1 like this.
Max = 300 pounds
empty bar 2x30-40 reps
40% x 5 = 120 pounds
50% x 4 = 150 pounds
60% x 3 = 180 pounds
75% x 2 = 225 pounds
85% x 1 = 255 pounds
70 - 77% x AMAP (as many as possible) = between 210 and 230 pounds
I promise you that if you just warm up, then try to rep with the 70-77% you will get less reps,
than if you do the over warm up, and then go back to the 70-77% for max reps. Those
extra 1-2 reps add up over time. They are the small blocks that lay a big foundation over
that time.
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What’s the optimal over-warm up range?
Since I like the 5,4,3,2,1 - back off - this is generally how it looks.
General Warm Up Sets - 2-3x10
40% x 5
50% x 4
60% x 3
75% x 2
85% x 1
70-77% x AMAP + 50% set
50%% sets
In the original big-15 program I had it setup so that you tried to break the previous weeks
weight and reps. However, what I have really done for years, is just stayed with the same
weight for a while and tried to continuously add reps with that weight.
This worked for me for a lot of different reasons. It allowed me to push on the over-warmup
weight, but each week I had a rep goal to beat. I got the best of both worlds in terms of
strength AND mass. I liked this method a lot because every week I knew I had a goal to
beat, and just stayed after it like a pit bull. That’s the attitude you must have about beating
that rep PR each week.
People love breaking rep PR’s. I do too. There’s nothing like feedback that your training
cycle is paying dividends and that you are progressing.
When I did DoggCrapp training, the whole mentality was to beat the logbook each week for
every movement. This was the challenge, and it was very effective.
Eventually that type of training took a toll on me however. Lining up to break PR’s every
week on as many as 5 big movements became a daunting task. Mentally, I got to where I
didn’t look forward to training anymore. I also realized later, that volume does have its
place in training and if applied correctly, has some very useful purposes.
I started to adjust my methods over the years based on incorporating both a type of rest/
pause training AND volume training.
The new addition to the back off set is a PIT (perceived intensity technique) called 50%
sets. This is where you take your work set to failure, rest 60 seconds, and then try to hit
half the number of reps you hit on your initial set.
If you did bench press with 315x12, you would rest for 60 seconds, and then try your
damnedest to hit 6 reps.
You have two goals for the week. To beat last weeks total of reps, and to beat the 50% for
the day.
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Listen let’s make this simple. If you can bang out 18 reps with 315 on the bench, and then
bang out 7 more a minute later, you’re going to be big and strong. This is not complicated.
The other thing I like about the 50% method rather than just rest/pause is that if you’re
having a down day, you may not be able to break your reps from last week, however you
can still try to meet the 50% standard for the day.
Could you dog the first set in order to try and meet the number of reps for the second set?
Sure you could, but you’ll know you dogged it. No one has to tell you this.
I will also say, don’t expect to hit those half number of reps that often. However it’s still the
goal. You may be a guy that can hit it or exceed it fairly often, or you may be the type that
almost never hits it. It doesn’t matter. The goal is to hit it, or exceed it but if you don’t, you
still should have put in two monster sets. And that is growth and progress.
Rep ranges associated with 1RM
I like numbers, and I like thinking about how reps and maxes translate into each other.
The general formula for figuring out your reps to max is like so…
weight * .03 * reps + weight
315 * .03 = 9.45 * 20 = 189 + 315 = 504
Let me be clear, just because you can squat 500x20 doesn’t mean you have an 800
squat. However I bet it’s damn close. And just because you can bench 315x20 doesn’t
mean you can bench 500, but again, I bet it’s damn close. And truth is, it doesn’t matter
because if you can squat 500x20 and bench 315x20 you’re likely a big dude. If you can
chin 100x10 and dip 200x10 along with it, there’s really not much doubt you meet any
criteria of being jacked and diesel.
Now with our formula above, 315 is roughly 63% of 505. Some easy rounding means 65%
of your 1 rep max puts you somewhere in that 20 rep range.
Let’s look at some basic calculations. These are not exact, but it’s very close.
8 reps = 80%
10 reps = 77%
12 reps = 73%
15 reps = 70%
20 reps = 65%
What should be obvious here, is that working in the 70-77% range of your 1RM is ideal for
mass building. That’s where the majority of reps are going to probably be.
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I didn’t think about numbers like this many years ago, not directly. My thinking was
simpler. It was “I will pick a weight I can do 10 with. When I hit 15 reps, I will up the
weight”.
That means on bench for example, if I failed at 245x10 my max was around 315 or so. 245
would have been around 77% of my max.
When I worked myself up to 245x15, I’d have a projected max of 355. 245 was now 70% of
my 1 rep max.
My previous max, 315, should be doable now for 3-4 reps.
This might seem archaic, but it works. Its progression at a very blue collar level. And that
boys and girls, is all lifting is. More reps, and more weight, or both.
Now is it always THIS logical? No, of course not. Everyone is different. Some guys suck
shit at repping and some guys are great at it. Either way, it doesn’t matter. These rep
ranges have stood the test of time for decades of anecdotal evidence that they build mass
far better than lower reps. What matters is just working with the paradigm of the rep range
and getting stronger in it. Regardless of what anyone says, if you go from moving 315x10
to 315x15 your 1 rep max will have increased. Anyone that tells you otherwise is full of
shit.
On the flip side of that, the higher the reps get, the less significant it becomes. Going from
20 reps to 25 reps with a certain weight isn’t the same as going from 10 to 15. You
probably won’t see the same amount of carryover to a 1RM. If you’re not a powerlifter, and
don’t care, then don’t worry about it. In fact, you don’t need to worry about it anyway,
because the whole point of mass training is to build mass and get stronger in those rep
ranges, not in your 1RM. That mass will eventually net you a bigger 1RM when you switch
gears to start training for it.
77 to 70 and 73 to 65
I wanted to make the mass program simpler and give each cycle a goal. Simply put, for
upperbody work take your 10 rep max to 15 reps, and for lower body your 12 rep max to 1520.
You will plug in a max (or close to it) and use the cycle to work on getting 80% of your max
to represent 73% of your max. For lower body, you will work on getting 77% of your max
to represent 70% of your max, through reps. Again, this doesn’t mean that it’s an actual
reflection, but it will be pretty damn close. And when you go from 80-73 and 77-70, you’re
damn bigger and stronger.
Just as examples, if your best incline is 315 then you will try to get 245 for 12+ reps over the
course of the 6 weeks. If your best squat is 405, you will be working with 295 or so, trying
to push that to 15+.
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The template, in terms of percentages looks like this…
Upperbody Staple Lifts 40% x 5
50% x 4
60% x 3
75% x 2
85% x 1
77% x AMAP + 50% set
Lowerbody Staple Lifts 40% x 5
50% x 4
60% x 3
75% x 2
85% x 1
73% x AMAP + 50% set
MASS TEMPLATE - 3 Big/3 Little
The template for RM is 6 days a week. That’s right, 6 days. However, three of the workouts
could be done right in your home/apartment, or whatever, with minimal equipment.
Frequency is an important piece of the puzzle in building mass. However there is a fine line
to play with. If you train hard too often, then systematic recovery becomes an issue.
One week you will hit the upperbody twice, and legs once, and vice versa the next
week. Over the course of the month, each system gets worked directly 6 times, instead of 4
in most normal once a week splits.
Those are the three big workouts. They are heavy weight with intensity techniques mixed in.
The three little workouts each week will be for biceps, triceps, traps, and delts. High
volume, light weights, short rest periods.
This routine is what I evolved my DoggCrapp training into once I started veering into
powerlifting. This is very similar to what I used to get to 255 pounds completely natural and
in fairly lean condition, but I have evolved it to be more well rounded.
Here are the parts that make up the template.
3 BIG
Each week will have three big workouts. This is the meat and potatoes of the
program. You are going to move as heavy a weight a possible with high reps, with some
intensity techniques thrown in as well.
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There are 4 total big workouts in the template. 2 upper and 2 lower. One week you will do
2 upper and 1 lower, and the next week, 2 lower and 1 upper.
Each upperbody workout gets two presses and one pull. One press is a staple (meaning
you keep it) and the one pull is a staple. The second press can be rotated through as you
see fit.
Each lower body workout gets a calf movement, a type of squat, a hamstring movement,
and a single legged movement.
3 LITTLE - 20/15/10
Each week in between the 3 big sessions, you’ll do a “little” session. There are 4 little
workouts for the template, just like the 3 big, so you’ll rotate them in over the course of a
week and a half.
One little session will get a movement for biceps, triceps, and abs. The other little session
will get a movement for traps, delts, and abs.
These movements are to be done light, for high reps with volume, and little rest time
between sets. No more than a minute.
I call these “little movements” support work.
The big workouts are the meat and potatoes, and the support work is the veggies. It’s a
complete meal. You need all of these things.
I really incorporated these little sessions into my week after my second bicep tear. And in
a month or so my arms blew up to the biggest they had ever been. When I wrote the LiftRun-Bang template, I made sure this light support work was a part of that template. And
that template turned out to be one of the most productive routines I’d ever written for what
it was designed for.
Don’t brush these little sessions off. They will fill out your torso very fast, help in recovery,
keep the joints feeling good, and keep your appetite up.
Most importantly, use these sessions to learn how to MAKE THE MUSCLE WORK. Learn
how to feel the muscle doing the work against the resistance. You will soon realize how
little weight is required to make it grow when you aren’t “moving the weight” but actually
making the muscle do the work.
Each little session also has a set/rep range correlated with it.
Session 1 - 5x20
Session 2 - 6x15
Session 3 – 6-8x10
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The factor here is to pick a weight that you can get all the reps in, with the minimal rest
periods between sets in. 1 minute or less. If you don’t make it, that’s fine, just stick with
that weight and finish the sets out. The next time you come to that setXrep method, back
down a little bit or try to get more reps than last time.
You can rotate movements throughout all of the small workouts as well. One session
you might do upright rows and face pulls, and the next you might do front raises and bent
laterals.
STAPLE MOVEMENTS
A STAPLE movement is one that you are going to use for the entirety of the 6 weeks. You
will be pushing hard to beat your rep PR each week. This is the movement you will
program for. Again if you have a 315 incline, you know you’re going to do the over-warm
up, then do as many reps as possible with 245. Trying to make it to 15 by the end of the
cycle. If you don’t make the goal, it doesn’t mean the cycle was a failure. It’s just the
goal for the cycle. The goal for the cycle is to get bigger and stronger. If you gain quality
weight, and go from inclining 245 for 10 to 245 for 13 or 14, you didn’t hit the 15 goal, but
accomplished the overall goal of the cycle.
STAPLE movement examples
Chest Pressing - Incline/Flat/Decline Barbell - Smith and Hammer Incline/Flat/Decline,
Weighted Dips
Shoulder Pressing - Barbell of various types both seated and standing - Smith and Hammer
Back - Chins (various grips), Romanian, Stiff Legged Deadlifts, Rows (various types)
Legs - Squats - Barbell, Front, Hack, Smith, Safety Bar
Post Staple Work
The work you do post-staple movements is usually known as “support” or “assistance”. I
have some options here for both going for a rep PR on something different other than a
staple, or just getting some volume in. In you are going to do volume, LIMIT YOUR REST
BETWEEN SETS. Do not be that lazy fat ass who sits around for 8-10 minutes between
sets. You are there to do work, so do work.
A word on rows
Rows will be the #2 staple back movement on upperbody day, HOWEVER you do not do
an overwarm up with rows. Warm up to a moderate weight and knock out 4-5 sets of 8-12
with the same weight. Rows should always be done strict with effort to think about pulling
the shoulder blades back together and squeezing the rhomboids. You do not need a ton of
weight to build the mid-back. And you’re going to be doing heavy romanians or stiff legs on
leg day, which also hammers the lats, traps, and rhomboids. Pick something like a seated
cable row, or supported t-bar row. If you do a pendlay, keep the weight medium so that you
can really squeeze everything together in your back. If you are doing rows correctly your
mid-back should be almost cramping after 4-5 sets.
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The overall template
Week 1
Upperbody #1
Staple Press #1 - cycle with 50%
Staple Pull #1 - always a chin variation - cycle with 50%
Press #2 - 1-2x8-20
Small 1 -
Biceps - 5x20
Triceps - 5x20
Abs - 5x20
Lowerbody #1
Calf Raises - 3x10-15
Staple Lowerbody Movement #1 - cycle with 50% set
Hamstring Movement #1 - Leg Curl (any kind), Glute Ham, Russian Leg Curl - 4x20
1 legged work - Lunges, 1-Legged Squats, or 1 Legged-Leg Press - 4x20
Small 2
Delts - Pick 2 - Upright Rows/Side Laterals/Bent Laterals/Face Pulls/Front Raises
5 x 20 for each
Upperbody #2
Staple Press #2 - cycle
Staple Pull #2 - a row, t-bar, cable, db - 4-5x8-12
Press #2 - 1-2x8-20
Small 3 - Biceps/Triceps
Biceps - 5x15
Triceps - 5x15
Week 2 -
Lowerbody #2
Calf Press - 3x10-15
Staple Lowerbody Movement #1 - cycle
Staple Pull #2 - Romanian or Stiff Legged Deadlift
Support Work - 1 legged work
Small 1 - Delts 5 sets of 15
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Upperbody #1
Small 2 - Biceps/Triceps - 6 sets of 10
Lowerbody #1
Small 3 - Delts 6 sets of 10
Example Routines
Routine 1
Day 1
Incline Press - cycle + 50%
V-Bar Chins - cycle + 50%
Weighted Dips - 1x8-12 to failure weighted, or 4x20 bodyweight only
Day 2 - small workout biceps triceps
Day 3
Seated Calf Raises - 3x10
Squats - cycle + 50%
Lying Leg Curls - 1x30 strip set 10,10,10 or 4x20 static weight
1-Legged Squats - 4x20
Day 4 - small workout delts/traps
Day 5
Press Behind the Neck - cycle
Cable Rows - 4x8-20
Db Bench - 1-2x12-15 to failure or 4x15 static weight
Day 6 - small workout arms
Day 7 - Off
Day 8
Seated Calf Raises - 3x10
Front Squats - cycle + 50%
Stiff Legs on Block - cycle
Leg Press - 4x20
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The 2 Big/4 Small Split
This is a good split for guys who want to get into the gym more but might need more
recovery time. You hit one of the upperbody sessions once that week, then a lower body
session. You have 2 big days a week.
The 4 other days of the week you will use to split all of the support work across. You’ll do
biceps/triceps stuff on two days and delt/trap stuff on two days. If your upperbody is lacking
in comparison to your lower body this is a great way to get more time in towards improving
that. You can also throw in your conditioning for 20-30 minutes after the small workouts if
you tend to be on the chubbier side or tend to gain fat more easily. However as noted, you
should always be fairly lean when starting a mass gaining phase.
Week 1
Day 1 Upperbody #1
Staple Press 1
Staple Pull 2
Press 2
Day 2 Support Work for delts/traps 4x20
Day 3 Support Work for Biceps/Triceps 4x20
Day 4 Calf Raises - 3x10-15
Staple Lowerbody Movement #1 - cycle
Hamstring Movement #1 - Leg Curl (any kind), Glute Ham, Russian Leg Curl
1 legged work (Lunges, 1-Legged Squats or 1-Legged Leg Press
Day 5 Support work for Delts/Traps 5x15
Day 6 Support work for Biceps/Triceps 5x15
Week 2
Day 1 - Upper Body 2
Day 2 Support Work for delts/traps 6x10
Day 3 Support Work for Biceps/Triceps 6x10
Day 4 - Lower Body 2
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Day 5 Support work for Delts/Traps 4x20
Day 6 Support work for Biceps/Triceps 4x20
Misc shit about the template
• You can’t ask “can I change....” The answer is no. Why does everyone want to
change something before they even try it? Use the template AS IS.
• If you don’t have access to a gym (and really, who can’t get to a gym now?) make
do with what you can. Although I can to wonder, how serious are you about getting as
big and as strong as you can, if you can’t/won’t get a gym membership?
• If you exceed the top end rep range, just keep going. Don’t ask if you should
reprogram in the numbers. Just wait until the next cycle. If you’re busting shit up
that bad, just keep going.
• You will basically be training back almost every workout. The upperback can
handle a big work load, and no one has ever overdeveloped their lats, traps, and
upperback. The rows, face pulls, bent laterals, upright rows, chins, stiff legs, etc all
count towards building a big and strong back.
• For the rows stick with the same weight for all sets once you are warmed up. There
is no reason to go super heavy on rows. Learn how to pull everything in tight back
there against the resistance. Same for the face pulls, rear delt work, and upright rows.
• If you start with the main template, and begin to feel tired or lethargic a few weeks
in, up your food and switch to the 2 big/4 small template. That’s one of the great
things about this as well. The volume and frequency can be changed without really
changing the overall idea of the template.
“Where are deadlifts, Paul?”
I already addressed this in the chapter about deadlifting. I have come to the conclusion that
the deadlift is not really a great mass building exercise.
I know, this flies in the face of everything written or said about mass building for decades now.
Don’t care.
This is what we know about mass building.
The eccentric, or negative portion of the rep contains the greatest potential for building
mass. It does the most damage to the muscle fibers, and this is what creates that
foundation of muscle mass. Well, the deadlift doesn’t offer much in the way of a negative.
Second, the deadlift is hard on recovery. The low back does the brunt of the work and it
can take a while to recover both locally (the erectors), and systematically from the deadlift.
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Simply put, the deadlift doesn’t offer a lot of bang for the buck in terms of mass. I still think
the deadlift is the most beastly of all lifts, it just doesn’t give back as much as it takes in
terms of building mass, because of the systematic toll it takes.
However, the elevated stiff leg and romanian deadlift both offer a great negative portion of
the rep. I will tell you that nothing gets me as sore in the entire posterior chain as heavy
ass stiff leg deadlifts standing on a block. I mean from the traps to the lats, to the
hamstrings. From a mass building standpoint, I believe the romanian or stiff leg deadlift to
be superior to that of the regular deadlift. This is why the SLDL and romanian is the other
staple pull along with chins. If you can chin with 100 pounds for reps and knock out 500x15
in the stiff legged deadlift, your back is going to be majorly jacked. No one can argue
otherwise.
Not doing deadlifts for mass sounds like blasphemy I know, but I’ll stick to my guns on
this. Do heavy chins, rows, rear delts, and stiff legs and your back will get jacked as
hell. And the fact is, once you go back to pulling the stiff legs should have good carry over.
Eating for Mass
Eating for mass is actually more important than training. Because no matter how awesome
your training routine is, you won’t grow without a surplus of calories.
Before you start eating to gain mass, you need to be lean.
I’ve written about this a thousand times, and some guys don’t like it, or don’t get it.
If you’re already 15% bodyfat or above, all you do when you eat more than you need, is get
significantly fatter.
The higher your bodyfat gets, the more efficent your body becomes at storing bodyfat. I
have found over and over again that once you bust up past that 15% bodyfat range, the fat
really starts to accumulate at a rapid pace.
The leaner you are, the higher your metabolism tends to be, and the better your body is at
nutrient partitioning. Especially if you are lean because you got lean by trying to get “in
shape”.
My recommendation is to be at 10% bodyfat or less before you start eating for mass. 10%
bodyfat is not difficult to get to. Not if you have a modicum of will power. If you’re not at
10% or less, run the conditioning program until you are.
Once you get to 10% or less, and less is even better, you should start adding calories back
in slowly.
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Eat
I’m not going to go into a whole diatribe about macro-nutrient partitioning and shit like that.
Let’s keep this simple.
3 meals a day
Consume around 40-50 grams of protein per meal.
Consume around 100-150 grams of carbohydrates in meals 1 and 2.
Cut carbs to 50 grams for the third meal. This is to keep fat accumulation to a minimum.
2-3 shakes a day
Find a shake that gives about 40-50 grams of protein per shake. Find a protein mixture if
you can tolerate it (lactose). Something with some milk and egg in it are best because the
absorption rates are slower. This is better than something that’s straight in and straight out.
Use your shakes in milk. If you are lactose intolerant, use Almond Milk. It does have fewer
carbs, but less protein as well.
This has worked forever and a day. It’s an easy staple diet and doesn’t require a lot of
planning.
If you do some basic math on this, this diet will give you anywhere from 240-350 grams of
protein a day. PLENTY!!!
If you’re super super skinny, do three meals a day and three shakes in whole milk a day
with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich each time.
On workout days add in an extra meal after you train. 2 scoops of whey and 1 cup of white
rice with raisins. This gives you 7 meals a day. Lots of protein, lots of carbs. Keep the fats
on the lower side. You’re eating carbs for fuel and repair. You don’t need to be obsessed
with the whole “good fat” crowd in order to get massive. On a lower carb diet that matters
more, but not when you’re eating for mass. Keep your food as clean as possible.
Protein Sources
Grilled Chicken, Fish, And Turkey
Lean Red Meat - Sirloin, Flank
Carb Sources Rice, Pasta, Oatmeal, Raisins, Grape Nuts (yes the cereal, it’s packed with carbs), Potatoes
All fruits and vegetables
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Misc
All nut butters are awesome during a mass gaining phase.
• Try to stay away from processed foods and sugars. Just because you are eating for
mass doesn’t mean you have to eat dirty as hell. If you’re still not gaining, add in a
shake AFTER each meal. There’s always a way to get in more calories.
• I have to write this over and over again, but if you are above 12% bodyfat or so, do
not engage in eating for mass. You’re just going to accumulate bodyfat at a faster
and faster clip once you get above 15% or so. Get in shape first if you’re a fatty.
• To contradict myself from above, if you are super skinny, and young, eat everything
in sight. How you do this does matter, however. Eat your quality food FIRST,
and then follow with junk. However you need to get as full as possible on the
quality stuff, before you shovel down the shit like Snickers bars and Peanut Butter
Cups. Again, be smart. Just use some common sense.
Bodypart Specialization - Gettin’ tickets to the gun show
Bringing up lagging bodyparts isn’t just about being narcissistic. Bigger arms will eventually
lead to a bigger bench, a bigger back will help you deadlift more, bigger legs, give you a
bigger squat ceiling, so forth and so on.
The other things about bodypart specialization is that it gives you a break for the same ol’
same ol of squat, push, pull for a while. It’s also quite fun to watch a bodypart blow up on
you over a fairly short span. Most people that keep lifting weights are very results oriented
people, so getting quick feedback is very fulfilling.
Generally if you plan on specializing on a bodypart, you’re going to want to give it at least
3 days a week of attention. You’re also going to want to cover the entire rep range from
singles to sets of 20+, use both high intensity and high volume. You’re also going to want
to limit specialization to something in the range of 4-6 weeks. 6 weeks would be pushing
it, but a month is a great idea. And you could throw a month of specialization in every 6-8
months or so, and eventually make a very weak bodypart a strength.
A few keys to specializing…
• Narrow down the movements you will use to bring up a bodypart. Three at the most,
but two will work. Make sure these are movements you enjoy and have the most
mind/muscle connection with.
• Put your other lifts in the back burner. You still need to train the whole body, but
don’t try to increase your squat if you’re specializing on chest or shoulders. All of
your energy should be going into bringing that weak bodypart up.
• Move weight AND make the muscle work. Bringing up a lagging or weak area
isn’t just about moving weight. In fact, it’s very likely that one of the reasons that
bodypart is behind is because of inability to recruit it to do work. Make the bodypart
do all the work. Don’t just move weight for the sake of it.
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• Back specialization was covered in the deadlift chapter.
We’ll start at the top and work our way down…
Trap Specialization
Who doesn’t want huge traps? Traps make the man, make the lifter. If your traps are huge
you look big 24/7. No matter what you wear you look like you lift. And as I’ve written in
the past, big traps make you look strong, get you hot women, make your car go faster with
better gas mileage, make your mortgage go down, get you a better job, and allow you to
create fireballs of awesome with your bare hands.
Ok, so that’s bullshit, but big traps are still awesome. Let’s talk about how to get them.
Shrugs - The heaviest movement you can do for big traps. The one thing I do for my
shrugs however, is that I pull them from below the knee. This offers a little extra bang for
the buck, because you’re still essentially pulling a deadlift.
I also did something called a dynamic shrug. This is where you bend at the knees, and
explode upwards into a shrug. These will get your traps sore as hell if you do them
correctly. You do not need to go super heavy on these either.
Upright Rows - These have a bad rep and I don’t know why. I’ve never met a guy that
told me he had messed up shoulders from upright rows. I’ve even gone as heavy as 245
pounds on these for a clean single.
Here is the split I used to get my traps up to snuff....
Monday -
Dynamic Shrugs - up to a heavy triple for 2-3 sets, then a back off set of 5.
Regular Shrugs - 1x20
Ab and Calf Work
Tuesday -
Pressing and Curls
Wednesday -
Upright Rows - I played this by ear. Usually I would do lighter weight for high reps with lots
of volume. Like 8-10 sets of 12-20 or I would go heavy and do a top single, then a back off
set of 15-20.
More Abs and Calves
Thursday -
Squats and Leg Work
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Saturday -
Mid-shin or below the knee deadlifts with shrugs - up to a top triple, then a back off set of 20
Upright Rows - 6-8 sets of 12-15
Arm Work - whatever
Sunday -
Face Pulls and Rear Delts or just rest
Shoulder Specialization
I am going to reveal a little known secret about making your shoulders look awesome as
hell.
Get lean.
You can build the greatest pair of delts in the world, but if you are a fat guy, no one will ever
notice. If you take some time to look at people known for their delt development, you might
notice that all of them are lean. Now take some time to look at guys that are huge but
carrying a higher level of bodyfat. Their shoulders don’t have that huge capped looked.
You won’t have that super capped set of shoulders you might be looking for, unless you
take some time to get lean. You could do that after you specialize on shoulder for a
while. Nevertheless, no one will ever notice how jacked your delts are, unless you get
some separation going on. And that doesn’t happen without dropping some bodyfat.
In the meantime, here is a great way to actually built a bad ass set of shoulders.
Press Behind the Neck - The best overall shoulder developer there is in my
opinion. Again, they get a bad rep for being hard on the shoulders, but I find it
unwarranted. Most guys can’t do these because they lack the shoulder flexibility to do
them. Why? Because of too many years of benching and NOT doing this movement. If
you have trouble with them, start light for a few weeks with the bar until your shoulders gain
the flexibility to do them. It’s worth it. You can start with just a broomstick if you have
to. Do them every day for lots of reps. When your shoulders aren’t complaining about it, go
to the bar and start light. When you feel comfortable loading the bar with some weight, start
the specialization routine.
If you can’t do PBN at all because of some physiological reason, do seated military
press. And here is a shocker for you, I don’t even care if it’s in the smith machine. Truth is,
pressing overhead is just pressing overhead. Lots of strongmen do “fixed” pressing like the
Viking Press, so don’t sweat it.
It doesn’t matter if it’s seated or standing.
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Bent Laterals/Face Pulls - Lots of guys do a ton of side lateral work, but the real key to
having monstrous looking shoulders, is actually building the rear delts. Most guys have
done enough front and side delt work to fill their delts out, but then still don’t have that
overall powerful look they desire. That’s because the rear delts are severely
underdeveloped in comparison, and the rear delts are actually the muscles that give the
shoulders that finished “boulder” look.
Side Lateral Giant Set - This thing sucks. Nuff said. This is how you do it. The first round
you pick a weight you do 25 reps with, then pick a heavier weight and do 15 reps with, then
pick a heavier weight, and do 10 reps with it. Then you go in reverse.
For example…
No rest between sets 20 poundsx25
30 poundsx15
40 poundsx10 reps
Rest 3 minutes.
40 poundsx10
30 poundsx15
20 poundsx25
Here is how I would set this whole routine up…
Monday -
Standing PBN - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1 - 1x8-12 back off + 50%
Band or Cable Face Pulls - 6 sets of 12-15
Tuesday -
Press and Arms
Wednesday -
Side Lateral Giant Set - 2 rounds
Abs
Thursday Squats
Saturday -
Seated PBN - 6 sets of 12 same weight with minimal rest between sets
Rear Delt Machine or Bent Laterals - 8 sets of 8-12
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Pipes - That’d be biceps and triceps if you don’t get “bro” speak
Who doesn’t want big pipes?
In a young man’s youth, big arms are part of the pecking order for who is alpha or the most
manly. I mean, it’s not really true, but when you’re 16 it feels true, right?
However plenty of guys never lose that want for bigger arms.
And while the barbell curl has been the staple for “big arms” for a long time, I want to say
that I personally think, for actually targeting the biceps, dumbbells tend to work better. The
two movements I have found that really work best are incline dumbbell curls, and 1 arm
dumbbell preacher curls. This doesn’t mean we will shun the barbell curl, just that it isn’t
the be-all end-all of developing biceps. Most guys end up swinging the weight up too much
in order to work their ego, rather than their biceps.
For the incline db curls, there is a way to do them to make them far more effective. You
want to curl with your palms facing in front of you the whole time. This will really stretch the
biceps in the bottom portion of the movement. This make a HUGE difference in the
movement. Do them this way, and start off light. You will be able to tell a difference in how
your biceps feel during, after, and the next day when you activate them in the stretch part of
the movement.
For triceps, PJR pullovers, which I came up with a long time ago, will put triceps on a
skeleton. After that, I personally think that just keeping good ol close grip bench presses
and overhead pressing as your staples will take care of your tricep issues and not cause
your pressing to go to shit just because you were concentrating on tricep isolation
movements.
The other tricep movement I have found to be very effective is the french press with the ezcurl
bar. When I see guys do it with the dumbbell they never go down far enough in the
ROM.
Arms - 3 X a week Day 1 -
Close Grips - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x8-12
Incline Db Curls - warm up, 4x20 rest 60 seconds between sets
PJR Pullovers - 1x20 to failure as heavy as possible
Day 2 -
Overhead Press - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x8-12
1-Arm Db Curls - 4x20 rest 60 seconds between sets
Hammer Curls - 6x6 same weight
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Day 3 -
Seated French Press - 6x15-20 - use the ez-curl bar
Barbell Curls - 6x10 - work up to a top set of 10 as heavy as possible without turning them
into cleans
Day 4 -
Squats
Deadlifts
Lower Body and Upperback Support Work
Chest Specialization
I had second thoughts about even writing this one really. I mean, what guy hasn’t spent
hours in the gym doing chest work? If you’ve been lifting for a few years, especially in
American gyms, you’ll know that Monday is always chest day. And of course every gym
dude starts chest day with flat bench.
Not here.
Truth is, the flat bench is not really a great pec developer. When I get sore from flat bench
it’s always my front delts that get sore. Of course that may be because I don’t flare my
elbows and bring the bar down above my nipples, like most of the people that I see bench
pressing.
In this chest specialization routine, there is no flat barbell press.
Don’t cry about it.
Dumbbells are far better for chest development than barbells because of the increased
range of motion and because they tend to not beat the shoulders and pec tendons up as
bad.
You have to be careful about chest specialization because of the involvement of the rotator
cuff and shoulder joint in general. This is why for chest I suggest training it only twice a
week.
I also have noticed that the pectorals seem to respond to PIT more than any other
bodypart. I have no idea why, but if you do drop sets or rest/pause or 50% sets, the chest
really responds.
You can situate all your other stuff how you see fit, but here is what I would do to specialize
on chest for 4-6 weeks.
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Day 1 -
Incline Db Press - warm up, 1x10-10-10 triple drop set
Dips - 2 sets bodyweight AMAP
Flat Db Flyes - 1x10-10-10 triple drop set
Dips - 2 sets bodyweight AMAP
Cuff work - 4 sets of 10-12
Day 2 - Legs and Upperback
Day 3 -
Db Bench Press - warm up, 1x10-15 + 50% set
Dips - 2 sets bodyweight AMAP
Incline Db Flyes - 1x10-101-10 triple drop set
Dips - 2 sets bodyweight AMAP
Cuff Work - 4 sets of 10-12
Day 4 - Arms
Leg Specialization - Where the rubber hits the road
There are lots of guys that look up squat specialization routines, but I seriously doubt that
outside of very high level competitive bodybuilders, many guys look up leg specialization
routines. The answer is easy.
It’s fucking hard.
The legs seem to respond best, muscle growth wise, to high rep sets with heavy
weight. This also is probably the hardest thing you can do in all of lifting. Heavy, high rep
leg work. Makes my stomach turn and makes me get the “stars” just thinking about it. If
you don’t know what the “stars” are then you haven’t done enough high rep squats or leg
press as heavy as possible. When you do, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Leg Specialization sans squats?
Depending on your structure, squats may not be the greatest movement to pick in terms of
leg development.
Again, this sounds like blasphemy according to my normal very old school ways, but
training for more specialized muscular size, doesn’t always have the same rules applies to
it as training for pure strength.
I’ve seen plenty of powerlifters who dieted down for bodybuilding whose legs left a LOT to
be desired. Many times this is because these guys spent too many years doing box squats
or squatting too wide, where the hips do the majority of the work.
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On the flip side, I’ve seen a ton of bodybuilders with stupid big quads that rarely if ever
barbell squatted.
Now of course, there are other factors at play here like genetics but what I am getting at is,
based on structure and how you squat, the squat itself may not be the best movement for
overall quad and leg development.
If you are going to squat for leg development my recommendation is to alter your technique
a bit, in order to bring the quads more into play.
• High Bar (on top of traps)
• Less of a sit-back
• A little more forward knee action
• Stay very upright
In other words, squat like Olympic lifters do. And of course, most Olympic lifters have
spectacular quad development. For the purpose of this section, we’ll use Olympic style
squats as the squat of choice.
As with my other specialization programs I don’t like to make it a jack of all trades
program. I like to limit the number of movements. However because the legs do involve
the quads and hamstrings, we’ll have to deviate from that just a little bit.
Quads -
Olympic Squats
Leg Press
Lunges
Hamstrings -
Leg Curls
Stiff Leg Deadlifts
Legs will be trained three times a week. That’s right, three times, because the legs can
really take a beating. However the systematic toll can be very great, so in this routine I am
allocating only 1 other day a week of training outside of legs.
Non-Leg Day -
Close Grip Bench - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x8-12
Chins - 5,4,3,2,1, 1xmax reps w body
That’s it. Keep upperbody shit to the complete bare minimum.
As for Legs, here is the split for the next 4-6 weeks.
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Day 1 -
Leg Curls - 1x20-30 total reps r/p style for 3 rounds (rest pause)
Olympic Squats - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x15-20
Day 2 -
Leg Press - 5-6 warm up set, then 4x20 all same weight, increase by as much as possible
each week
Lunges - 5 sets of 20
Day 3 -
Olympic Squats - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x8-10
Stiff Legs - 4x10 all same weight, increase by 20 pounds per week
Some notes about bodypart specialization • I swear to God if you’re 170 pounds and you think about doing specialization I will
find you and beat you mercilessly. Unless you are 5’ tall or shorter, you have not
maxed out your muscular ceiling potential at 170.
• Don’t ask me about specialization if you have been training for 2-5 years. Just don’t.
• Focus on progression on the movements just like any routine or split. Weight on the
bar, more reps with more weights, etc. I can’t beat that horse enough, ever.
• Level of effort is everything. Just because you’re doing a split for that certain
bodypart, doesn’t mean your bodypart will improve if you don’t train hard. You still
need to train your balls off.
• If you’re small overall and have been training a while, focus on the leg and back
specialization. This tends to have an overall metabolic and anabolic effect on the
entire body.
• You need to be in a calorie surplus to really specialize on big bodyparts, like legs
and back. If it’s something like traps or arms, I have found I could get away with
dieting and still making improvements. However if you’re building the bigger
bodyparts, you will need the fuel to make that work.
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“If I could do this shit all over again...”
What beginners should be doing to accelerate development,
and transitioning into intermediate training (that is a ridiculously
long chapter name, made longer by this parenthesis!)
One of the most common, and intelligent questions I get from people is, if I could go back to
the very beginning of my training how would I train?
It’s a great question, and I’ve seen it asked of other guys with a lot of years under the iron
and for the most part, we all throw out similar answers.
“I’d squat, press, and pull so many times a week. And do this for so many years.”
And this is completely true. Sort of.
It’s easy to sit back and say you’d squat and press and pull early, when in your current mind
those things feel natural. In other words, when I think about squatting now I know exactly
how the mechanics of that movement feels. When I think about pressing or chins or
deadlifts, I know exactly how to do those things that best suit my leverages. I know the
difference in making a muscle work, and moving a weight through space. They aren’t the
same. And the ability to distinguish the difference is a part of what separates novice from
advanced lifters.
Lucky for me, I was able to put my theories into action once my 98 pound 13 year old
started training with me.
Genesis -
The fact is, I knew from training a multitude of other people that I didn’t want to start off
teaching her the squat, bench, and deadlift all at the same time. I would teach her the
squat. The former two lifts I would put on hold. And I will explain why, and how the
transition into those lifts happened.
One luxury I had with training my own kid was that, I wasn’t limited to X times per week. I
have a full gym in my basement, and of course she went to the commercial gym with
me. We generally trained around 5-6 days a week. At the time, I had planned on
specializing in some posterior chain work, namely upperback and erectors. I was going to
scrap this, because when I have a training partner I prefer we do the same routine.
Then I got to thinking about it. And realized this was actually a perfect routine to start her
out on.
We would be rowing twice a week, doing low back work once or twice a week. There would
be a big emphasis on back building along with squatting and pressing. Pressing was done
on the incline bench. On the days I did rack pulls and shrugs she would chin instead.
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The reason I didn’t want to teach the deadlift to a very skinny 13 year old who had never
lifted was because I knew I would be spending each session trying to teach her how to arch
her back and hold it for the lift. Eventually yes, she would get it just everyone else does,
but it’s just such a pain in the ass to spend whole sessions trying to teach this one simple
concept. I have no idea why people struggle with this very fundamental technique, but
almost everyone does.
Rather than do this, I had her do hypers with me. The proper kind, where you uncurl at the
bottom, then arch to raise back up. All I had to do was show her this one time, and she did
it exactly right the first time out. Not to mention that this is a fantastic lower back
movement, and I could spend the next couple of months or so building up her erectors
before we started actually pulling. She would already know what it felt like to get an “arch”
once we started deadlifting.
For pressing, I opted for the incline over the bench.
Again, technique being the main reason. I wanted her to be able to just concentrate on
pressing rather than setting up on the bench. On the incline there’s not a lot involved in the
setup. You sit back, dig the legs in a little bit, unrack, lower to the upper chest, and
press. It’s a fairly simple movement. She didn’t have to worry about arch, leg drive,
shoulder retraction, upperback tightness, etc so forth and so on.
In other words, just she could just concentrate on moving weight. My decision to not have
her bench and deadlift right out of the gate, was to eliminate the technical nuances of
training, and simply focus on getting stronger. I knew after she had developed enough
strength in the squat along with chins, rows, and hypers that deadlifting would be far easier
once I did introduce it.
For rowing I used the low cable row. Again, one of the big issues in teaching things like the
barbell row and t-bar row is your posture. Shit I see lots of “advanced” guys in the weight
room that can’t do a barbell row correctly (about 90% of them actually). I took the same
philosophy to back work as I did to pressing. Keep it simple. Nothing to learn for the most
part, just move the weight.
On the “other days” we did stuff like ab wheel, upright rows, and some arm work. These
kinds of sessions were usually done twice a week. They were quick, in and out in 30
minutes. Sometimes I would have her do more chins as well.
For the first 5-6 weeks or so this is what I had her do on a weekly basis -
Monday - Pressing and Rows
Incline Press - 8-12 sets of 5-8
Cable Rows - 5-6 sets of 10
Tuesday - Back Work
Chins - ladders 1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3, etc until I was done with rack pulls.
Hypers - 4-5 sets of 10
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Wednesday - Misc.
Ab Wheel - 5 sets of max reps
Upright Rows - 5 sets of 10-20
Thursday - Squats
Squats - 6-8 sets of 5’s or 3’s
Lunges - 2-3 sets of 15-20
Friday - Off
Saturday - Back Work
Cable Rows - 6 sets of 10
Ab Wheel - 4-5 sets of max reps
Arm Work - 3-4 sets
Sunday - Misc.
Chins - more ladders
More Abs
I kept the number of movements to 2 or 3 per workout. I didn’t want to overload her with
having to learn too much shit. The best way to teach someone nothing is to try and teach
them everything. I kept shit very simple.
When the workouts started, she was 98 pounds, and I can tell you what she couldn’t do.
• She couldn’t incline the standard bar for a single rep.
• She couldn’t squat the standard bar for more than 3 reps
• She couldn’t do a single chin
At the end of the 6 weeks she was incline pressing the bar for 5, squatting 65 for 5, and
doing lots of chins all on her own. She had also gained 7 pounds without changing her
diet.
After a short break, I asked her if she wanted to do the meet I would be training for with
me. She told me she wanted to, so we switched gears into meet prep mode.
Now her meet training obviously would be different than mine. This is what I did in regards
to laying out a schedule for her.
Beginner Phase 2 Routine –
Monday - Squat and Bench w/upperback
Squat - heavy - 8-12 sets of 1-5
Bench - heavy - 6-8 sets of 1-10
Chins - ladders 1,2,3 1,2,3 1,2,3
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Wednesday - Deadlift and Incline
Deadlift - 6-8 sets of 1-3
Incline Press - 4-5 sets of 3-8 reps
Ab Wheel - 3-4 sets of max reps
Saturday - Squat and Press w/upperback
Squat - light - 6-8 sets of 3-5 lighter than Monday or Leg Press - 5-6 sets of 10-12
Db Floor Press - 4-5 sets of 10-12 all out
Rows - 3-4 sets of 10-12
Just to backtrack a bit, the first night I had her deadlift she pulled 135 for two sets of
doubles. My thinking that lots of back building and erector work in conjunction with the
squat, did exactly what I thought it would do. She understood how to get and hold and
arch, and she had enough strength in her posterior chain to pull with good form and confidence.
Because she had developed a little bit of pressing strength, teaching her the technique
aspects of benching went much easier. She had more control over the bar, thus she didn’t
have a balancing issue, and could put a little more effort into concentrating on things like
getting tight on the bench and leg drive. This is turn helped her bench more from session
to session. She went from benching 55 for a single to 55 for an easy triple from 1 session
to the next. Yes I understand that’s nothing more than noobie strength, but I’ve seen plenty
of novice trainers struggle with just balancing the bar for weeks on end. By just building
some basic strength in the incline press, it carried over to the bench and then the technical
teaching portions went much smoother.
Philosophy Behind Beginner Training
After actually putting my own 13 year old through the paces I realized I subconsciously
programmed her routine in a way that made training easy for me, and for her. Now when
asked, if I could do it all over again, or if I was training beginners all the time, what exactly is
it that I would do?
First 6-8 weeks -
• Do 1 “technical” lift in the beginning. Namely, the squat.
• Use the incline as the initial press. There are no real technical aspects to the incline
press. Thus, the novice can simply focus on strength building with a press. Rather
than worrying about setup issues and technicalities.
• Do pulling work 3-4 times a week. Rows twice a week and chins 1-2 times a
week. Everyone overworks the bench right out of the gate. This develops bad lifting
habits early, poor posture, and creates the stage for injuries down the road. No one
has ever been accused of having an overdeveloped back.
• Take lower back and ab work seriously. Lots of hypers and ab wheel and decline sit
ups.
• Lots and lots of volume with manageable weight. Most workouts I had my daughter
do 8 and 10 sets of triples with just the bar on squats. Concentrating on keeping her
chest out, unhinging the hips, and pushing off of her heels. The more weight you
pack on in the beginning, the more technique will break down. Strength will come
after GOOD technique is reinforced.
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• Add weight when necessary. Again, I didn’t push the weights on her, I let her
strength curve develop naturally. I had no programmed plan in terms of weights. I
kept the volume high and focused on teaching her little things like bar path.
• I kept the reps low on squats and medium on presses. I don’t think we did more
than a handful of sets of anything over 5 in squats. Reps build fatigue and fatigue
causes breakdown. I wanted all of her sets to feel strong and sharp. If I had to coin
a phrase about it I would say “medium weight, low reps”. This worked perfectly.
• For pressing it was generally sets of 5-8.
• On rows I kept the weights medium and reps medium. I didn’t want it to be heavy
and have her trying to heave the weight. I wanted her to be able to pull the weight in
and learn how to feel her back working. Usually sets of 8-12.
• High frequency and volume also were a big key. Lots of beginner routines are built
around 3X a week and I’ve never understood this. This is the one time when you
can train pretty much everyday and not overtrain. You don’t have the strength to
tax recovery so just get in there and do 1-3 movements for high volume, drilling
form. Strength will come very fast like this.
What if I’m a fat beginner?
If you’re a fat beginner the only thing that changes is your diet. Do the same routine,
just make the proper changes in your diet. Add in conditioning when you get to the
Phase 2 beginners routine (below). Cut out soda, candy, and refined sugars. Drop all
carbohydrates after lunch time. That means at night, protein shakes in water and meat and
veggies only.
Transitioning into “intermediate”
Most guys want to know when they are an intermediate lifter, and what changes they would
need to accommodate said transition.
Good question.
More than weight on the bar, I think that being technically learned is just as
important. Everyone has seen guys at the gym with X amount of weight on the bar that
can’t do any of the big movements correctly. Are these guys intermediate lifters because of
how much weight they have on the bar, even though they can’t do a full squat or a proper
deadlift? My answer is no, they are not.
My answer to that question would be, when you can do the movements with GOOD
execution (good, not great), and you’re moving something in that 200 bench, 300 squat,
400 deadlift neighborhood then you’re probably intermediate.
This means a paused bench press. Not touch and go, and with no spotters hands on the
bar.
A DEEP squat. Everyone knows what that means.
A non hitched deadlift without straps.
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Again, this is just relative ballpark. You may be very proficient in the lifts, but just aren’t a
big/strong guy yet. I think that being solid in your technique is probably more important
than having a ton of weight on the bar. No routine will work to its potential if your technique
is not sound.
Basebuilding
Some will be surprised but for most intermediates, I recommend having an “offseason”
where you start “bodybuilding” or basebuilding, in terms of adding more muscle mass. My
philosophy is always going to be a bigger you is a stronger you, or at least gives you that
higher strength ceiling I’m always preaching about.
However the intermediate is still learning and perfecting his craft. He still has room for
improvement in the big lifts. This is one of the things that really separates the intermediate
from the advanced guy. The advanced guy has years and years of drilling the big lifts, and
can get away from them for months at a time if he needs to. When he comes back to them
he only needs a session or two to be right back in the groove. The intermediate guy is still
not at this point yet. His training is still based around all the very basic movements.
However, the intermediate guy is also the stage where someone should start adding in
some PIT into his training.
Intermediate Offseason Mass Split
A true intermediate guy can still train more often, in my opinion, than an advanced
guy. However he’s probably strong enough to make inroads into his recovery ability that he
can’t train as often as a pure beginner.
This generally places him right in that 3-4 days a week range. More of a 1-on-1-off type of
routine. One week you would train 4 times a week, and the next week 3 times.
For adding mass I always recommend upping the reps to the 8-12 range for most
upperbody movements, and 12-20 for lower body.
1-on 1-off intermediate routine
Day 1 - UpperBody
Bench Press - 5,4,3,2,1 - 1x8-12 back off
Incline Press - 1x5, 1x8-12
T-Bar Rows - 1x20
Weighted Chins - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x3-5, 1xmax reps w body
Day 2 - Lower Body and Abs
Squats - 5,4,3,2,1, 1x15-20
1-Legged Squats - 5x10
Leg Curls - 1x10-10-10 strip set (go to failure, strip weight off, repeat, etc)
Calf Raises - 3x15
Ab Wheel - 3 sets of 10
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Day 3 - Upperbody
Press Behind the Neck or Standing Press - 4x8-10 for PBN and 5,4,3,2,1, 1x3-5 for
standing press
Dips - bodyweight 4 sets of max reps
Deadlifts - 5,4,3,2,1,1,1, 1x3
Shrugs - 1x5, 1x20
Day 4 - Lower Body and Abs
Front Squat - 5,4,3,3,3
Leg Press - 1x50
Calf Raises - 3x15
Decline Sit-Ups - 3xmax reps
These are exactly the kind of routines I used as an intermediate, but with more emphasis
on still building strength. I neglected that too much in my younger years in search of just
pure muscle mass. You’re still hitting a nice single in most of the big lifts here, but lots of
reps as well in the support work. This gives you the best of both worlds. If you want to
pursue pure strength in the big 3 after this, you won’t have a lot of things to change, and
your ceiling should be a lot bigger.
Combine this routine with lots of high quality food and the mass will come.
How long until I am advanced?
If you are still asking that question, you’re probably not. A guy knows when he’s ascended
to the next level. You weren’t still calling yourself a beginner after two or three years of
lifting were you? You knew you were at least something more than a beginner. I didn’t
wake up one morning and go “wow, I’m an advanced lifter now. Sweet!”
A lot of what I think makes a guy advanced is not just his lifts or level of development, but
what he can do for other people.
When you can teach a guy how to properly squat and deadlift, and spot technique flaws
immediately in lifts, you are advanced.
When you can program effectively without questioning if things will work, you are
advanced. This is when you realize “hey, I know a thing or two about fixing that shit.”
You may not have a big strength ceiling, but everything you do has purpose and your
bullshit meter is off the charts.
These are the things that really make someone an “advanced” lifter.
From a purely training perspective however, I will say that most advanced guys with big
strength ceilings will tell you that you have to dial down how many times a week you can
train ultra heavy, or how many big movements you can do over the course of the week. It
lessens. When you find that you are moving enough weight in the big movements that you
start to get run down rather quickly on on a 4X a week split, and do better on 3X a week, you
may be in that advanced category.
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Old Guy Training
For guys that are thinking about social security and viagra
Lifting never loses its benefits. Continuing to lift in your old age, or starting then, still has
tons of pluses.
I do believe, however, that older trainers have to approach lifting a little different in some
ways than younger ones. This seems like common sense, however the ways I am thinking
of are quite different than you might expect.
Training Heavy
Old folks should STILL train heavy. That’s right. If you are in your 50’s or 60’s I don’t care,
you still need to be using 80% of your max in order to get the bone density benefits
associated with lifting weights. This doesn’t mean you need to max out
every week, but when I see old people in the gym using 5 pounds on a machine, my head
drops. They always tell you that they don’t want to lift heavy because they are old and don’t
want to hurt themselves. This myth is about as old and stupid as “lifting will make you slow
and muscle bound.”
If you are a granny or grandpa, you have to lift heavy enough to stimulate muscle growth,
and increase bone density. These are the two biggest benefits of being in the gym. Take
advantage of them while you are in there.
An older trainee may need to use machines for a while, or may have some legit disabilities
that doesn’t allow them to do things like squats or deadlifts or bench pressing. However
once the list of movements are narrowed down to things said trainee can do without pain, a
progression plan should be put in place. In other words, just get stronger.
Mobility
Outside of strength, mobility is the other thing that we all lose over time, and one of the
things that older lifters should be thinking about. This doesn’t mean countless hours of
stretching and yoga are required, though neither is going to hurt anyone, but things like
lunges, flyes, chins, and other movements that puts the musculature into a stretched state
should be staples as well.
Posture
Upperback work is incredibly important in older people. Everyone has seen the old
hunchbacks that make you hurt just looking at them.
Let me tell you, this doesn’t just set in on the elderly. Virtually every novice I have ever
trained had poor posture in their before pics. It becomes more obvious after a few months
of training and we snap some after pics. The majority of people have weak upperbacks
because they simply use poor posture and these muscles become weaker and weaker over
time.
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I believe the root cause of a lot of lower back issues can be traced back to having an
incredibly weak upperback and posture. For older lifters, prioritizing rows, pulldowns, and
chins is a must. Things like bent laterals and face pulls are also important.
Legs, Hips, and Mid-Section
Obviously, your legs and hips are what carry you, and the mid-section or “core” also help
with posture and support.
Exercise Selection
As I noted earlier, a list of movements that can be done pain free have to be narrowed
down.
My suggestion for older trainees is for them to run through the usual big movements to see
if they can be done pain free. If so, use them. If not, machine or dumbbell alternatives are
the next best option.
Recovery
Older folk will probably require more time between intense training sessions than most. My
advice is two heavy training sessions a week and one session of doing some higher volume
light stuff for abs, cuff, forearms, grip, and calves.
Steady state for older people is also golden, and 30 minutes each day is just fine.
Closing
This isn’t a big chapter because I don’t think that older people should really be training a lot
different than younger lifters. Older folks still need to lift heavy, and train hard, but also take
into account injuries and limitations they may have from just being old and having lived life.
Progression on a machine weight stack should still be a high priority, as should moving
heavier dumbbells and doing bodyweight movements with more ease. The whole point of
being in the gym regardless of age, should always be to get stronger in some way, shape,
or form.
They always tell you that they don’t want to lift heavy because
they are old and don’t want to hurt themselves.
This myth is about as old and stupid as
“lifting will make you slow and muscle bound.”
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Prehab and Rehab
First off, let me be VERY CLEAR about this chapter. I am going to talk about the things I
have done to rehab from more than 2 decades of fucking myself up. Things that worked for
me. This is for educational purposes only. I recommend that any and all injuries be taken
to the care of a certified medical specialist first.
Injuries
If you lift long enough, you’re going to have injuries. The degree as to which you injure
yourself will vary. It could be a slight train to a muscle tear to a tendon tear. No matter
what, eventually everyone gets nicked up.
After 20+ years of doing bad and awful things to myself, I have compiled quite the list of
injuries. Some of which could have been avoided, some not. Either way, I thought it might
be beneficial for others to learn from my mistakes, and the things I did to come back from
them, and correct them.
Some rules I use about rehab in general
• Do not rehab it while it’s still very painful. I wouldn’t start actually working it until
the pain had subsided enough to allow for a decent range of motion or SOME
movement. This is a theme in all of my rehab work. Let the pain and swelling go
down before any of it is started. The body will do some healing on its own. I made
sure the pain was manageable when I would start my rehab.
• I always use some anti-inflammatory to help. Ibuprofen is my mainstay. Asiprin is
good too.
• If I injured myself on a movement, like squats, then I generally use that movement
plus a secondary movement to rehab with. For the secondary movement, if
possible, I like for it to include a stretch or mobility portion. If I tweaked my pec
on benching, I would go back to benching light once the pain subsided, and I
would add in flyes for really high reps. Some injuries require more stuff, like the
adductors. With those it was squats, adductor machine, and lunges.
• I have always found that compressing the injury most of the day seemed to help
recovery as well. Especially if it’s very severe.
• I honestly never noticed a difference in recovery time if I iced a bunch, or didn’t. Just
an observation.
• I try to train the injured area as often as possible once I am able to train it (the pain is
manageable). Doing something every day for it is the norm. I figure the more often I
ask it to work, the faster the body will make it able to.
• Just because the pain is gone doesn’t mean it’s healed. This is probably the biggest
lesson I learned. And the hardest to learn. After the pain is gone, you feel good
again and start pushing. Then low and behold, bam, it happens again. My general
principle now is once I have a training session with zero pain and tightness.....rehab
for two more weeks minimum. The area is still weak and still not 100%. It’s just not
hurting anymore. In two weeks, start a plan then to progress in weights again. That
means you’re still not going to be moving anything heavy for another 8 weeks (6
weeks after the two weeks is up).
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• Sometimes you just have to leave something alone for a while. I’ve rehabbing the
shit out of injuries at times to no avail. Only to just say screw it, leave it alone, and
it get better over time. If you have been rehabbing an injury for months on end with
zero progress, sometimes just leaving it alone for a while and doing things that don’t
hurt can be the best solution.
Rehab - Not the celebrity kind
Patella soreness
Lots of guys end up with patella pain/tendinitis for various reasons. Sprints, squats, leg
work in general, can bring this problem on and it’s a real bitch to deal with.
Fixing it
The best solution for helping this was a cho-pat strap. It relieves it instantly for the most
part. However I tried to only wear it when it was achy. Otherwise I tried to do without it. I
didn’t want to become dependant on the brace. I found sometimes I would wake up in the
night with it hurting and I’d slap it on, bam, no pain and right back to sleep.
Training with it/around it
When mine got bad, squatting went out the window. Deadlifting was still ok, but running
sprints was out too.
I did find that I could box squat, even though I loathe box squats. Leg pressing was ok
too. I did these two things as work arounds until the pain went away.
When the pain did go away, I broke back into squatting and walking slowly.
Preventing it
After my patella problems subsided I was able to go back to doing everything else I
normally did. When it came back I just slapped the cho-pat brace back on and trained
around it until it was gone.
Elbow pain
Elbow pain is something that became my biggest training nemesis later in my lifting life. I
don’t know if years of doing skull crushers was a part of it, but I highly recommend NOT
doing skull crushers now because I really do think they wreck the elbow joint.
Fixing it
Lots of curls. LOTS. That and making sure no matter what I wore my elbow sleeves for all
pressing. A great idea is to get some neoprene sleeves and put them on as soon as you
get to the gym and start warming up.
For the curls, it was about staying light and doing a lot of volume and high reps. I mean
literally just the bar for 5 sets of 20-30. After I did curls I would stretch the forearms for a
while.
3 days a week - Db Curls 5 x 20-30
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Forearm Stretches:
Training with it/around it
I basically found all the movements I could do that didn’t cause pain. That also meant
delayed pain. Sometimes benching wouldn’t hurt that night, but my elbow would be killing
me the next day.
Also, a long warm up helped a ton. I would put my elbow wraps on early in the workout and
not take them off. Once the elbows were warm, the pain was manageable.
Preventing it
Keep the curls up, always wear your elbow sleeves, and don’t pick tricep movements where
the tendons have to put the brakes on like skull crushers.
Other shit
My wife started having a lot of elbow pain as well. We figured out, somehow, that our
mattress must be playing a part in this. We bought a feather topper for the mattress, and
this also helped both of us.
Glenn Pendlay also does a technique where he wraps the joint super tight with a bicycle tire
inter tube, then bends the joint for a minute or so. This has some sort of witch craft type
effect on the joint and basically makes it feel good instantly. From what I know it
doesn’t “cure” it, but if you’ve been in a pain it’s a great method to get you feeling better
immediately. Apparently it also works great for the knees.
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Fixing it
Pec Strains/Tears
If you TEAR your pec tendon off, then surgery is going to be the route. However lots of
guys get pec strains and tears that don’t. I’ve had a few pec strains in my time, but
thankfully no real bad tears.
Because of my separated shoulder, my left pec tendon does get badly inflamed from time
to time, especially if I do heavy repping on the flat bench for too many weeks.
What I have found to help when this gets really bad, is to do flat db flyes 3 times a week
with light weight (no more than 20’s or 30’s) for about 5 sets of 20. I get a really good
stretch, and do a full range of motion. I also try to squeeze my pecs during this time. The
purpose of this is to push blood through the tendon and pecs to help with inflammation, and
to stretch that area out really well.
I also find that my shoulder tends to get pretty achy around the same time that my pec
flares up, so I pay more attention to cuff work as well. These two things get me back on
track pretty quickly. After that I try to avoid heavy close grips for a while and mainly stick
with incline and db bench press, which does not seem to aggravate my pec or shoulders
during this time.
Training Around It
As I noted above, when my pec is like this, I can usually still do incline (just not as heavy),
db bench press, and all of the overhead work that I want. My suggestion is to find what
pressing movements you can do with the least amount of pain and do that until you can get
back to 100%.
Preventing It
Most guys don’t do a lot of flyes or enough dumbbell pressing, myself included. They also
usually have shit technique that sets them up for pec injuries. Wide grip benching really
over streches the pec tendon and puts you in a precarious position, which is why lots/most
pec injuries happen when guys bench with wide grip. Some might say that I too have pec
problems and I only close grip, however mine is more related to my separated shoulder. I
can’t wide grip bench press at all, nor would I even if I didn’t have said problem. Destroying
your shoulders isn’t worth the small extra you get from benching with a very wide grip.
Fixing it
Adductor strains/tears
Anyone who has read my blog knows that the big fix for me here was the adductor
machine, aka the good girl machine. The one where you close your legs against the
machines resistance.
A lot of “gurus” like to do things that involved mobility because they believe it’s more
functional, but what in the hell is more functional than actually just closing your legs
together against resistance to actually work the adductors? I couldn’t find anything that
effective.
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One thing here, that I thought people would like to know, but apparently not everyone does,
is that you need to warm up properly on this machine. If you plop down on it, and just pick
a heavy weight and go to squeeze your legs in you can/will tear the adductor. Be gentle at
first. Warm the area up properly.
2-3 Times a week
Adductor Machine - 4-5 x 12-15
Training around it
Depending on the severity of the injury, I sometimes couldn’t train legs at all. If it was a
more minor strain, I would squat bodyweight only and push that until it wasn’t super tender
anymore. If it was very severe, that took weeks generally. Not a whole lot of things you
can do leg wise that doesn’t involve the stretching of the adductors. Maybe some very
partial leg presses, but that seems gay, so I never did them.
Preventing it
Keep the adductor work up, and keep big lunging in for mobility. Stretching the adductors
with cossack squats is also a good idea. I also found when I felt a little more dehydrated,
for whatever reason, that I would pull the adductors more often.
Cossack Squats
Quad strains/tears
Quad strains are similar to adductor in that they usually happen during squats. The same
method is taken here. Wait until the pain subsides and start with bodyweight squats. When
bodyweight squats no longer hurt, I start with the bar for sets of 10 or more
everyday. When that no longer hurts I add a little bit of weight each day.
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Fixing it
Aside from just squatting I like lunges here as well, but I also like leg extensions. Some
may scoff at this, but I don’t give a shit. You just need to know how to do them. I set the
lever so that I only move it the last 30 degrees or so, and I do them 1 legged. Generally it’s
the usual set of 10 for quite a few sets. This has been very effective in helping me rehab
vastus medialis strains.
If it’s the rectus femoris, you can test this by doing a 1 legged squat free standing, and just
bending down a little bit. If it hurts, it’s the rectus femoris. A lot of people think this is a hip
injury because it can feel like it’s around the hip flexor area, but it’s actually the rectus
femoris. Ice and do the 1 legged squats as often as possible for sets of 10-15 if this is the
case, and stretch it each day.
If it doesn’t go away after months, you may have a tear. Obviously, this will require an MRI
and surgery. That will suck.
Training around it
If you can find something you can do for it, by all means knock yourself out. Every leg
exercise I know of engages the quads, so depending on the severity of strain. I found
sometimes I could do a certain movement and other times nothing at all until it healed a bit
on its own. This is usually a “just wait for a while” kind of injury for me.
Preventing it
Throwing in the limited range of motion leg extensions bi-weekly and doing things like front
squats with higher volume from time to time is a great idea to get some more direct work for
the quad. Hack squats are good too, but every machine is different. Some hack squats
actually do hurt my knees. Generally, keeping the quad strains away is just a matter of
throwing in some extra direct quad work every other week or so.
Hamstring pulls
I’ve pulled my hamstrings more times than I’ve suffered from premature ejaculation. I don’t
know if that’s really funny or not.
Fixing it
Again, lunges after the pain subsides, and a good hamstring stretch. The best one I was
taught is where you put your foot in a chair and then kind of arch your back and push your
chest out to stretch it. You don’t lean over into the leg. Kind of like the same motion you do
with a romanian deadlift.
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Hamstring Stretch - Push your chest out and arch your low back to initiate
Another good fixing it solution, if you have a desk job and rolling chair, is to just pull yourself
around in the chair by doing a “leg curl” on the floor. I would knock out as many as I could
each day of these. Trust me, when your hamstring is sore these are hard.
Right leg extended to start seated leg curl
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Pull with heel until completion of movement
I tried to do the lunges everyday as well. I would also throw in some 1 legged leg curls after
the lunges if there was no sharp pain. Maybe 3 times a week if there wasn’t much pain
involved.
Everyday - Rolling chair leg curls
2-3 Times a week - stiff legged deadlifts - 5 sets of 15 with light weight progressing
up to something moderately heavy over 6 weeks. For example if you were a 405
deadlifter...
week 1 - empty bar - 5x15, 65x5x15, 85x5x15
week 2 - 95x5x15, 115x5x15, 135x5x15
week 3 - 155x5x15, 165x5x15, 175x5x15
week 4 - 185x5x15, 200x5x15, 215x5x15
week 5 - 225x5x15, 235x5x15
week 6 - 245x5x15, 255x5x15
week 7 - start progressing with once a week, i.e. 275x3x10
week 8 - 295x3x10
Training around it
This is one of those times where you have to change your training mentality. You’re not
going to be doing heavy leg movements while it’s still really sore, so it’s best to make some
gains while that isn’t an option. If you can do leg press or whatever, do it, but remember
you can EASILY re-injure the hamstring if you get stupid with something heavy.
Preventing it
For one, if you’re sprinting, don’t overstride. This is how most of mine happened. That
means, don’t step out big in front of you. If you’re running for the sake of conditioning, and
not say, from a pissed off grizzly bear, just run at 75-80% or so. No need to run balls out
and pull a hammy when you can get in awesome shape running at less than full speed.
If you pulled it deadlifting, then a great little thing to do, is to warm up on deadlift days with
stiff legs until you get ready to start pulling heavy.
Obviously the other answer is to simply not neglect your hamstrings if pulling them is a
chronic problem. Lots of leg curls and stiff legs along with some basic hamstring stretching
will suffice.
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Fixing it
Bicep tears
Surgery. Not much else to say. I have torn both bicep tendons. My left one in football, and
my right one from deadlifting.
After surgery the first time, I did everything the doc asked. I kept that stupid cast on. Then
the sling. I didn’t move it much, and only did the passive movements the PT had me
doing. It took about 4 months before they told me I could resume upperbody lifting. For
me, that was way too long.
Training around it
The second time around, I did none of this. I took my cast off after 3 days because it itched
and I wasn’t getting any sleep, so it came off. I would wear the sling at night to make sure I
didn’t extend my arm.
However I did train. I had my wife help me by doing manual side lateral raises. I did 1 arm
pressing with my left arm, and even heavy dumbbell floor presses (up to the 140 pounder
for sets of 10). I never went to a PT session because it was bunk, in my opinion. I had
been through this once, no need to do it again. I did the passive flexion and extension on
my own and a few weeks in I was doing dumbbell curls with the 5 pounders. A few weeks
after that I was using the 10’s and then the 15’s.
Both times however, I did do a shit ton of leg training. I could still squat holding onto the bar
with 1 arm, so I did that. Stupid? Maybe. However if I don’t squat, I don’t get to eat or live,
so I squatted, a lot. I usually did tons and tons of sets. Not high reps because I didn’t want
to hold onto the bar that long with only the one arm. I usually just did sets of 8-10.
Preventing it
In the gym I can tell you that preventing it on the deadlift means to make sure you don’t
bend your arm in the lift. I tore mine because I bent my arm just slightly at lockout. This is
usually where these things happen. Make sure you are not doing this on your heavy sets.
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Fixing it
Rotator cuff
Generally cuff problems are associated with external rotation. At least, that has been my
experience with myself and others I have helped over the years.
The one movement I have found that worked best for me, was the standing external rotation
with a band. When my cuffs get sore or irritated I will do these for a few days and without
fail, they get better.
Training around it
Basically, I just had to try pressing movements and see which ones do not cause you any
pain. No matter what, I could always find some angle to press at that did not cause me
pain if my rotator was inflamed. I might have to go light, but I could always find some
position to press from that was fairly pain free. I would also use the external rotation
exercise to start the workout, and when I was finished.
Truth is, this is a good thing to do even if your cuff isn’t a problem. You’ve never heard
anyone claim their rotator cuff was “too jacked and strong!”
Preventing it
Keeping up on the rotator cuff work and not bench pressing with a wide grip. I also found
that leaving a couple of reps in the tank proved to be very good pre-hab if you have bad
shoulders. When you get fatigued during pressing, and you’ve had some shoulder
problems in the past, they seem to get exacerbated once you go to failure. I’m not saying
you can’t train to failure. I’m just saying if you intend to, make sure you’re keeping your
technique super tight, and up to snuff on your cuff work.
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Fixing it
Calf tears
The calf tears I suffered did not require surgery. No tendons were torn so basically, all I
had to do wait around for the pain to subside (and boy did they hurt) then I started with light
calf raises as often as I could. Suffered one at the start of a sprint, and the other after I
threw a knee while sparring/fighting. When I brought my foot back down to the floor and
planted it, I felt the same sensation I felt on the sprint. Like someone kicked me in the
calf. That’s the telltale sign.
Lucky enough, this is an injury that just requires some time to heal. The thing about it is,
once it tears, you can never tear it that way again.
Training around it
You don’t think a whole lot about certain muscle groups and how they are involved in stuff,
until you injure the hell out of them. The calf does a ton of support work. I couldn’t train
much in the way of lower body until the pain subsided.
Preventing it
I have no clue on how one would train to prevent a calf tear, other than not to push the foot
so hard into the ground/floor at the start or stop of explosive movements. Do calf work and
stretch them. You should be doing calf work, regardless. People don’t always get how
important the calf is, but it helps to support the knee. That’s all you need to know.
Neck and upper trap
Fixing it
This would be called, by some, a crick in the neck. However mine would go on for weeks
sometimes. The best cure I found for this was getting some deep tissue massage and
heat. I won’t lie, the deep tissue massage made me sick to my stomach the first time I went
in for this. I do NOT recommend getting an adjustment from a chiropractor while you are in
pain. For me, this made shit worse. I showed my wife how to do the deep tissue and I
would have have her do it each day.
Training Around it
I would start off every workout with some face pulls and prone db rows to get some blood in
there. This gave me enough flexibility to be able to actually train. Also, if a movement hurt
(duh) I just dropped it.
Preventing it
I never found a way to prevent this particular issue. Sometimes it came after I woke up and
maybe had slept wrong, and sometimes I would feel it happen after I was done
training. Either way, it’s a real nuisance and the only thing I found that helped a lot was the
deep tissue, some icy-hot, and good warm ups.
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Fixing it
Strained rhomboids
The two handed prone row (lying face down on a flat bench) with LIGHT dumbbells fixed
this every time. I would do these 3-4 times a day, 5 sets of 15. Making sure to squeeze the
shoulder blades and rhomboids all tight together back there. Go for the squeeze, not
weight. I never used more than 10 pound bells.
Training Around it
The good thing about this particular injury, is that you can just row the crap out of it, and it
goes away fast. I would start off each workout with lots of prone rows, then go to another
row, stay medium in weight and just crank out as much work as I could.
Preventing it
Keep the rhomboids strong. Make sure you don’t neglect your rowing and rear delt work. I
found this one just came from straining in some awkward fashion. Generally when you go
too heavy on rows. Don’t go heavy on rows. There’s no need to do so anyway.
Fixing it
Low back pain/strains
The biggest issue with low back pain is that it’s hard to determine if it’s really an erector
strain (rare) or the piriformis. I realized that I’ve never actually strained my low back I’ve
strained my piriformis lots of times. The pain from that radiates up the low back, making it
feel like an erector strain.
The fix for this was simply to stretch the piriformis. I would do this on the hour for about 1015 seconds, all day long. After 3 or 4 days the pain would subside. I also found that hypers
helped as well, even if it was the piriformis. Just getting some blood back there does a
body good.
Most people think they have injured their low back from squatting or pulling, but 9 times
outta 10 its just the piriformis.
Training Around it
When the pain was severe I just had to play around to find what I could do that didn’t
aggravate it. Squats and pulls were out. Leg pressing was usually the staple for a
while. Lunges worked fine too.
Preventing it
Don’t continue to be the dumbass that I am, and not stretch your lower body in a regular
basis. Keep that pirifmoris stretched out, especially if you have to sit for long periods
throughout the day. That and the IT band will get tight. Keep this two things in good shape
and you may never deal with this particular problem.
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Fixing it
Shin splits
Generally, I got shin splints from overstriding. When I ran, I would step OUT in order to
run. I had to correct my stride mechanics. For running, sprinting, I had to concentrate more
on getting more heel to butt action. This kept me from stepping out too much and then
essentially pulling my body forward from the heel.
Training Around it
When I was playing football, I would wrap my shins with tape, to get them super tight. This
was the only way I could tolerate it. Find a good trainer that knows how to do this taping,
and then learn how to do it yourself.
Preventing it
This ties in with the fixing it part. It wasn’t until I fixed my stride mechanics that I stopped
getting them. That’s the only prevention I know of, besides avoiding too many hard running
surfaces.
Fixing it
IT band
Everyone has a “fix” for IT band problems. They seem to be one of those things that
everyone ends up with at some point, then tries to fix it, and never quite figures out what
fixed it.
When mine got the worst, I saw a physical therapist and she had me do this lunge matrix. I
would lunge forward for 10 reps. Then 10 reps to 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270, and 315
degrees. She also had me do this IT band stretch where I folded a towel under the outside
of my foot and kind of pushed the knee in. This one is hard to get a feeling for, but it
worked.
Throw in some foam rolling and this should just about cover it. I also recommend stretching
the quads because generally the IT band gets tender when the fascia gets too tight. An
easy stretch is just to drop into the bottom of a sissy squat and hold it for a while.
Training Around it
Generally I found squats and deads to be out for a while. And certain leg press machines
irritated it even more. Lunges and 1 legged squats seemed to work ok, and so did some
hack squat machines.
Preventing it
Foam rolling and stretching seem to be the two best options here. If someone had a sure
fire technique to prevent IT band problems everyone would know it, because it’s a real pain
in the ass.
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Fixing it
Plantar Fasciitis
The only thing that made my PF go away was, to just stop running for a while. Sprinting, I
mean. I could still walk, but any type of sprinting was out.
For most people they get PF because they have too little or too much arch. I am pretty flat
footed so my guess is the former. I will also say, when it came on, it came on fast. There
was no build up. I essentially ran one day and go “what the *$&#?”
I did the usual “rolling a cold coke can” under my foot and all that. I never found that it
helped a whole lot. Basically, I just had it wait it out. I know I have read some people did
this and did that, and I tried it all. Nevertheless, I just had to quit sprinting, and went back to
walking or using a cardio machine that had zero impact. That’s all I could do.
Training Around it
I got some inserts for my shoes that helped a lot. Helped with building a bit of an arch and
added some padding to cushion my feet a bit. I also bought some insoles for my work
shoes that had a lot of padding so it didn’t hurt throughout the day. This helped a ton, just
from a relief standpoint.
Preventing it
Get some good insoles and be aware if you have too much of an arch or if your feet are too
flat. Also, DO NOT run barefoot WHILE you are suffering from it. Let me just say, ouch.
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A barbell and two dumbbells
Training at home with minimal equipment
I love training in my torture chamber, aka the small room in the corner of my basement.
It’s home to a squat rack, leg curl, leg extension, hyper, dip bars, lots of barbells, and
adjustable dumbbells that go up to 200 pounds. I have 720 pounds worth of 45’s (16 of
em), 4 25’s, 2 35’s, and a shit ton of 10’s. Enough for me.......right now.
“I love training in my torture chamber,
aka the small room in the corner of my basement.”
I do miss my good girl and bad girl machines at the gym from time to time. Going in and
embarrassing the douche bags that train there is a good time. Watching them stare at me,
as I warm up on military press with their max bench is priceless. But outside of that, I really
just love being able to put on my music, spit on the floor, and leave shit out if I am too tired
to pick it up after I’m done.
The weights in my basement feel heavier than anyplace else as well, and this messes with
my head.
I have weighed them, and they all fall within the 45 pound range (although I have
some “greenies” that weigh 48 pounds each). When I do make it back to the gym, without
fail, the same “600” I used in my basement feels way lighter than that 600 at the gym.
For those of you who don’t have all of the things I have, have no fear. You can still get
incredibly jacked and strong with just a barbell and dumbbell and lot of plates.
If you don’t have adjustable dumbbells I suggest you buy some. To make things even
easier buy the kind you can put Olympic style plates on, that way you’re not having to buy
two different style plates.
Let’s start with lower body work for the guy with a barbell and two dumbbells.
Lower Body Movements
Most strength programs are built around the squat. This is for good reason. The squat is
probably the best movement to build a strength training program around. For the minimalist
home trainee with no squat rack, this has presents some limitations. Even if he’s great at
cleans and then getting the weight overhead and onto his shoulders for squatting, he’s
always going to be able to squat more than he can do this with. However he shouldn’t fret
not being able to squat as heavy as possible. There are solutions.
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The good ol clean-and-put-shit-on-your-shoulders still applies in the “no squat rack”
scenario. Obviously you’re going to be squatting for high reps like this, and your weight will
be limited, so the best thing to do is to save squats for last in your workout. More on this
later, but let’s get this out there.
Just because you don’t have a squat rack doesn’t mean you can’t squat. Here are some
lower body movements to use in such a limited environment outside of regular back and
front squats -
Legs -
Barbell Hack Squats
Overhead Squats
Db. Squats
Lunges - bodyweight only, barbell, and dumbbell
Sissy Squats
1-Legged Squats - bodyweight and weighted, elevated (speed skater squats)
Step Ups - find something of a good height and go after it
Stiff Legged Deadlifts and Romanian Deadlifts - Barbell and Db versions
As you can see that’s a lot of movements for the lower body with just your bodyweight, a
barbell, and two dumbbells.
For the upperbody here is a list of things you could do -
Chest -
Push Ups - All variations
Db. Floor Press
Dips (between chairs)
Back -
Deadlifts
Rows - Barbell, T-bar, Db, Pendlay, all variations
Go to a playground and do some chin ups on the monkey bars if you are too cheap to get
a chin bar
Shoulders and Traps –
Z Press (seated on the floor) - Barbell or Db
Clean and Press - Front or Behind the Neck
Standing Db Press
Laterals - Side, Front, Bent
Upright Rows - Barbell and Dumbbell
Shrugs - Barbell and Dumbbell
Arms -
Barbell and Db Curls - all variations
Skulls - Barbell and Db versions
French Press - Barbell and Db and 1 arm versions
Kickbacks
Working in clean
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Working in clean and press squats
Since you know you aren’t going to be squatting as heavy as you are capable of, have no
fear, there are some solutions.
I remember reading a long time ago in an article from Bill Starr, about how he was stuck in
some place with a 110 pound weight set, and that was all he had access to. Determined to
keep his squat up, he used the total tonnage method, to determine about how much work
he would need to perform in order to meet the same total tonnage requirement, of what he
had been doing when he was at the gym with a squat rack and all the weight he needed.
When he was able to get back to the gym, his squat had dropped very minimally. I suspect
that the only reason it dropped at all was due to the fact that having a heavy weight on you
back is such a specific thing, that matching the total tonnage will not be able to replicate
that specification. However, something is better than nothing, so let’s roll with it.
I don’t remember his numbers, but for the sake of discussion I think he had been doing 5x5
with a 1x8 afterwards. He simply added these up, then figured out what he would need to
do in order to match that total tonnage.
For the sake of it, we’ll use some numbers.
315x5 reps = 1575
1575 x 5 sets = 7875
275 x 8 reps = 2200
1575 + 7875 + 2200 = 11,650 pounds
Let me be REALLY CLEAR here. 315x5x5 + 275x8 doesn’t mean you could squat other
numbers that add up to a lesser total tonnage. All we’re doing here, is trying to match a
workload, in order to keep strength as close as possible.
In this scenario, if you had the 110 pound weight set, you would only have to do around 11
sets of 10 to match the work load. However let’s be honest, 11 sets of 10 with 110 isn’t
very difficult. My suggestion would be to try and squeeze the same total tonnage into the
same number of work sets. That’s 6 sets with 110 pounds.
11,650 / 6 = 1,941
Let’s exceed that 1,941pounds per set and bring it up to an even 1,980 since you would be
in fact, using such a light weight.
1980 / 110 = 18 reps
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Since 18 reps sucks, we’re going to go ahead and say 20 reps. That’s 2200 pounds per set.
We’re doing 6 sets to match the volume, so now we’re doing 2200 x 6 which = 13,200 pounds.
Now, we have a plan in place. 6 sets of 20 with 110 pounds.
Since we are limited on options, we can also pre-exhaust the legs with other shit first, in
order to make squats even harder.
This is what I would do in that scenario.
Lunges - 5-8 sets with the 110 for as many as possible
Squats - 6 sets of 20
On other days, I’d do front squats for the same 6 sets of 20 after speed skater squats or
after deadlifts.
The point is, when you are training in a limited environment, make do with what you have,
and still train as hard as physically possible. All it takes is a little bit of imagination and
want-to.
You can set up virtually every kind of routine with the list of movements above, and get
jacked and strong as get out, with just a barbell and dumbbells and space to train in.
Think of it like this, if you knew someone that could clean 315, put it on their back, then
squat it for 50 reps, do you think that would be awesome?
We both know the answer to that.
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Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff
My dime store psychology
Psyching up
I don’t psyche or act all bananas when I get ready for a max lift. I guess I should say, I
don’t outwardly psyche. I’ve gotten so worked up inside I’ve had tears before a PR
attempt. However I don’t yell or stomp around or do any of that shit. I know some guys do,
and maybe it works for them. I just find it to be a waste of energy.
I visualize what I’m about to do. Setting up properly, making the lift. In my mind I run
through this and how everything should feel. After I am locked into position, then I unleash
the rage. I’ve seen plenty of guys psyche themselves out of making a lift. They get so
worked up, and spend so much energy that they miss the lift because of it. They fidget
around before the setup because they are nervous and scared, etc. And those feelings of
being nervous and scared are normal, but I try to channel that energy into the bar. Not into
the room I am in, or the people around me.
Second, you look kinda stupid when you stomp around like that and yell.....then miss. It’s
kinda like having a mohawk and covered in tats in MMA. You better not get your ass
whipped looking like that. Then you just look really dumb.
“Save the psyching up for “strike the iron” days.”
Lastly, and this is something most guys don’t think about, the more sets you have to psyche
up for, the more mentally daunting training eventually becomes. And soon, you will be
looking at burn out. You flat out CANNOT get up every week for workout after workout, and
set after set. Eventually the body or mind will give. I’m not saying you should never psyche
up, but if your training calls for on an every workout basis, you’re going to hit a wall in some
sort of fashion after a few weeks.
Save the psyching up for “strike the iron” days.
Training when sick
If it’s a head cold or sinus or whatever, I still train. I will back off a bit if I need to, but I still
train. If it gets into my chest then I don’t train. You need your lungs to train, even if it’s
anaerobic and you don’t want to end up with walking pneumonia.
If I have a low grade fever I will train, but the same as with a cold. I just use some
calibration on how hard. If it’s over 100 I don’t train. That’s more serious, especially for an
adult.
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You also have to remember that a lot of cold meds will dry you out, and that can lead to
tears and strains. Stay sufficiently hydrated no matter what during these times, and don’t
be a dummy about training. Taking a week off isn’t a big deal.
Training Partners - The good and bad
I’ve had training partners come and go over the years. Some good, some bad. For the
most part, I’ve trained alone over 20+ years and I generally prefer it that way.
I do believe that if you can find the right kind of lifting environment, it can pay big
dividends. It’s hard to replicate that kind of thing training alone, no matter how motivated
you are. Good training partners, that are seasoned, reliable, and knowledgeable are more
rare than diamonds. If you happen to come across one, be thankful. It doesn’t happen
often. A great training partner can help lift you to places you probably wouldn’t have gotten
to on your own.
“Good training partners, that are seasoned, reliable
and knowledgeable are more rare than diamonds.”
On the flip side, a bad training partner can be a complete pain in the ass. There is nothing
worse than waiting on someone because they don’t respect your time or the training.
Bitching and moaning about shit that happened that day, not able to let go of shit
so the training session can be productive.
If a training partner isn’t adding to your training productivity, drop him or her
immediately. Training isn’t the time to have “get your shit together” talks. Anyone who
shows up should be motivated to train. If someone is having a down day in terms of
strength or energy, that’s ok. However don’t stay with a training partner that isn’t 100%
focused on training during the time you’re slinging plates on the bar.
Don’t worry, be happy
90% of the shit we worry about never comes to fruition. Think about it. It’s so true. All the
shit you sit around worrying about that takes years off of your life, it almost never comes to
pass. Sucks to lose that time worrying about it doesn’t it?
The next time you find yourself worrying to death about something, wait until it’s over and
see if you really had anything to worry about. 9 out of 10 times you realize, you dind’t.
It’s a celebration bitches
Sometimes your birthday parties can be a reflection of who you are, or who you are to
people in their lives. I’ve had years where I isolated myself off from everyone and acted
like an asshole, and not a single person said happy birthday or cared about having a party
for me. I’ve had other years where 30+ people showed up with $100 bottles of scotch and
homemade birthday cakes for me. I always like having the latter.
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Try to live life in a way that makes people want to throw you badass birthday parties. Seems
shallow at first, but there is more depth there if you really think about it. It’s not about getting
“stuff” it’s about people celebrating you being in their life. This generally means, you’re being
a good friend to people.
Jobs
The people you work with and your boss will make or break your job. I’ve had jobs where I
had to be away from my family and work long hours, and the pain of this was lessened by
the people I had to spend those hours with, and the bosses I had to work for. On the flip
side, I have worked at places with great benefits and good salaries where my bosses were
assholes and my co-workers were turds. This made my professional life suck more ass
than George Michael in a rest stop bathroom.
“…don’t talk about what a great father you are for doing so.
That’s what you’re supposed to do. It’s not
something to brag about. I hate deadbeat parents.”
The fatherly mirror
If you are a dad to girls, you are what they are going to look for in a husband, so don’t be
surprised if she brings home a tool bag if you weren’t a good role model. I’m not putting it all
on you, because you could be a great father and role model, and still have shitbird
kids. Nevertheless, you want to at least be able to look in the mirror and say “It wasn’t
because I didn’t do my very best.”
If you are a dad to boys, be what you want them to be. Even when they can’t see it. Your
boys are going to emulate who you are. They are always going to want to make dad proud
and live up to his expectations. Your boys are going to be a reflection of you, more times
than not. If you don’t like that reflection, take a long look at what you gave them to work
with.
And for the love of God, don’t be a deadbeat dad. Show some responsibility in your
life. You brought kids into the world. You are responsible to provide. And don’t talk about
what a great father you are for doing so. That’s what you’re supposed to do. It’s not
something to brag about. I hate deadbeat parents.
It ain’t cancer bitch
One of my made up sayings when you think things are tough. Just remind yourself, these
things will pass, and will not kill you. And if they do, you don’t have anything to worry about
anymore.
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Respect friendship
Truth is, you won’t go through life and make too many lifelong friends, if any. If you do,
cherish that shit like it’s the rarest diamond in the world, and always let your friend know
that their friendship is important to you. When’s the last time you told your best friend you
loved him/her? I tell all my friends I love em. It was a lesson taught to me by my best
friend of all time, Marty Cox, who got killed in a motorcycle accident when he was 18. He
gave me more life lessons in the years we were friends than anyone else has in all the
years since. And one them was, tell your friends, your dearest ones, how much you love
and appreciate them. I’m glad he taught me that lessons, because I told him I loved him all
the time. And it would have sucked had my best friend ever, had died, and I not ever taken
the time to tell him I love him. I still miss him.
Road to nowhere
The longer you look at the road behind you, the less you focus on the journey in front of
you. How many people have you known that sulked and whined about lost loves and
mistakes they could do nothing about anymore? At some point you have to let past
mistakes and fuck ups go if you want to get on with life. You only get this one go
around. Everyday lost living in the past is a day lost you could have been living in the
present.
“Have goals and aspirations, but if you fail to breathe your
success in because you’re too focused on chasing another
dragon you lose perspective and balance.”
On the flip side, if you are constantly focused on plans and what you want to do and
become too idealistic, you also lose out. Have goals and aspirations, but if you fail to
breathe your success in because you’re too focused on chasing another dragon you lose
perspective and balance.
With both the past and present, give it its due. However don’t lose sight of where you are
standing right now. And soak in the ambiance around you. There is nothing worse than
looking back and realizing you didn’t appreciate something because you were too busy to
notice.
Rejection
The fear of rejection is so great it causes men to avoid eye contact with women, and keeps
them from asking a pretty girl to dance. One of the great lessons I have learned in life, is
that when you get rejected, the majority of the time it’s not YOU that is getting rejected. It’s
what you offered someone.
In other words, if you walk up to a woman in a bar and ask her if she’d like to have sexual
relations with you, she’s almost assuredly going to shoot you down. The fact is, she may
have wanted to have sex with you, but she rejected what you gave her.
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In that same situation, if you walked up to said woman and was suave, and seduced her
properly she may have had sex with you. You’re still the same person, but what you gave
her each time was different. In the first scenario, she rejected your crude advances. In the
second scenario, she approved of what you gave her. It wasn’t YOU that got rejected in the
former situation, just what you gave her.
This applies to virtually every social and professional situation in life. Salesmen aren’t
really selling a product, they are selling themselves. Everyone has bought some shit they
had no use for because the salesman was just so good. You didn’t buy his product; you
bought the salesman, or saleswoman.
The fact is, in most situations in life YOU don’t get rejected, what you offer up does.
One way of getting around the fear of rejection is coming to terms with this, and
contemplate how to get better at giving people what they want, so you will get what you
want in return. This is not being coy, it’s about learning how to perform better socially.
Want and Need
If you are hungry for something in life, and I don’t mean a tuna salad sammich, and desire
to have that more than anything, you need to take that “want” and turn it into a “need”.
Someone doesn’t want oxygen, they need it. To live, to survive. There is that old story
about the man who takes the kid out to the river and holds his head under water for a very
long time. When he pulls the kids head up, he tells him he will never realize his dreams
until he needs them like he needed oxygen while dunked under the water.
If something is that important to you, you can’t want it, you have to need it. Your focus on
attaining that has to be laser like, and there should be a constant hunger for it. If this isn’t
happening, then how important is attaining that goal?
Once you turn your want into a need, you will probably find that your actions will start to
reflect that. You take the steps needed to attain this need, and your thoughts seldom
wander from it.
It’s also a great way to realize some things can be put on the back burner for you. If you
can’t find a way to put enough mental and physical energy into a goal you have, then it’s
probably nowhere near as important as you may have thought it was. Drop the things that
don’t fit into this paradigm so that they aren’t taking up space for the things that matter.
No one gets out alive
In the end, no one gets out alive. No one. You can leave your legacy as a shit stain on the
underwear that was your life, or you can be Michelangelo. The best part of that is, it’s
entirely up to you. You get all the control over your own decisions. You want to fuck it all
away in drugs and alcohol and bullshit, you can. You can put your life on the fast track to
first rate piece of shit in no time flat. Just continue to make decisions not based in integrity
and honor. Those decisions will define you, whether you like it or not. It will define what
other people think of you.
Don’t act like a bitch about it when they say you’re a lying backstabbing piece of shit, if
that’s how you have been living.
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Maybe you don’t give a shit. Maybe you’re fine with living that way, so long as you are
happy, and don’t care if that means shitting on people. In the end, how you treated people
will define your legacy and who you were. And after you’re in the ground, there won’t be
anything you can do to change it at that point. While you’re still breathing, figure out what it
is you’d like to have engraved on your tombstone.
Motivation
Motivation is bullshit. Getting better should be something you’re already about. Not
something you need to be goaded into. I’m not saying some things don’t light a bigger fire
under your ass than others, but if you have to seek out reasons to get better, you’re
losing. Meaning, If it requires some outside force to resonate with something inside of you,
you aren’t in possession of what it takes to get better all on your own.
How will you CONSISTENTLY get better if it requires the dangling carrot to do make you do
so?
At some point you have to decide that getting better is just a part of what you are. What
makes you, you. When that happens you won’t need “devices” in order to get better. It will
just be something you do. If you were isolated in a room with your weights for 10 years,
would you get better without the influence of external forces? I hope you can say yes to
that. If not, figure out how to say yes to that.
All you
A great follow up to motivation… if you aren’t doing the things you are doing for you, and
you are constantly doing them for the approval of someone else, you will never be happy
with what you have accomplished or attained.
When I was younger, my dad and I had a fairly volatile relationship. He did tours in Nam
and was suffering from PTSD. I was a young punk kid with long hair playing heavy metal
music, smoking weed, and shitting the bed at school. That combination created a fairly
lethal cocktail for a father and son relationship.
For several years my attitude sucked regarding my dad because I felt like I could never get
the approval of my father no matter how well I performed in sports or school or music. To
me, I constantly failed to gain his respect and admiration. No matter what anyone tells you,
getting that from their father is important to them.
As I got older, I realized that this was an endless winding road that lead to
nowhere. Without doing the things I did for myself first, and being happy with that and that
alone, I would always feel empty no matter what I achieved or accomplished.
If you do things with a “I’ll show you” attitude, you’re dying a slow and agonizing
death. What happens when that “I’ll show you” attempt fails? Are your detractors then
justified in doubting you or having disbelief in your abilities? Does that reinforce what they
may have thought or said? Maybe. Maybe not. It certainly gives them ammunition, and
you’re facing the firing squad. Now you are even more demoralized. That sucks doesn’t it?
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Do the things that matter to you, FOR YOU. I’m talking personal goals here. If your reason
for doing them is to gain the acceptance or admiration of someone that doubted you, you
are setting yourself up to be disappointed. Even if you gain that, you eventually realize that
you made goals based around things that other people wanted. Not necessarily for
yourself. If your mindset isn’t one of achieving things based on getting better for you, and
not for someone else, you will waste time wallowing in negative energy and chasing ghosts.
Enablers
There is nothing worse in your life, than your enablers. By that I mean, people who
continue to support your dog shit decisions without giving you a reality check. One of the
first things people do when they are having conflict in their life, is to seek out people who
justify their decisions and actions. They want to be told “they are right”. That they are just
in feeling how they feel, and what they did, or are doing. And you may be....but you may
not be. However what you need in your life, is a friend who is able to give you unbiased advice or counsel about what it is you are doing or feeling.
I have a couple of great friends for this. Anytime I come to a crossroads where I feel I have
been treated unfairly or unjust, I always go to these people for counsel. I know they will set
my shit straight. My one buddy will look right at me and tell me to stop being such a
douche, and to change things. And I listen. I don’t get all butt hurt about it. That’s what a
good friend does when he seeks counsel. He listens to advice, and criticism, regardless of
whether or not he agrees with it or likes it, and puts it into the proper perspective. If you
have a wise and dear friend that can do this, he or she will give you advice from an outside
view, and it behooves you to listen to it.
To summarize, rid yourself of enablers and those who constantly justify your actions. Seek
counsel only with those that will applaud or scorn your actions appropriately and heed their
words.
Only spend time with the people that are going to cry at your funeral
I was told this saying when I was a young man in the Air Force. I was TDY over in Japan
with another Airman who was older, and obviously wiser than me. We were discussing
relationships and at the time, my marriage was pretty rocky. He gave me these wise words,
and they rang loudly in my ears at the time. I had been spending far too much time with
people who really, didn’t care that much about me. Just partying and hanging out and
acting incredibly immature, and letting my marriage fall to the wayside.
You’re not going to find a lot of friends in this world. In fact, as you get older you’re going to
realize how few real friends you actually have. If you’re incredibly lucky, you’ll find a woman
that will stay by your side. Make sure you invest your time with the people who deserve
it. The ones that will miss you the most when you are gone.
Staying the course
In training and in life, sometimes, things are just going to suck. The breakup of a romance, the
death of friends and loved ones, plateaus in lifting, and a whole smörgåsbord of things that
will take a toll on you. I call it the shit Tsunamis of life.
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There are times when it absolutely overcomes you, and you feel like there will be no end to
it. You are drowning in life’s misery and dreadfulness. There is nothing but black and gray,
and not a speck of light can creep through it. You can’t find your way because the sorrow,
anger, bitterness, and strife make it impossible to see. Makes it seem impossible to grasp
ahold of the things you use to cling to. Like being steadfast and patient.
The parallel here in life and lifting, is that without a code and without goals, you will start
to sway and wander from who you are, and what you want to be, or become. You can
one day wake up, and find that you have drifted endlessly for months or even years,
suddenly realizing how much time has passed you by without making any progress in either
endeavor. The tsunami shit wave can continue if you allow yourself to be pissed off that
you let so much time to go by without accomplishing anything.
Generally we lose our way because we lose our code, and we stop asking ourselves the
right questions. The latter being the one we are usually the guiltiest of.
Here is a fact. The shit tsunami will eventually subside.
What you do during the time that it is upon you, defines who you are at your core. There is
a saying that goes “hard times don’t build character, they reveal it”. And when those hard
times pass, you need to be able to look back and say you held steadfast to the things that
make you who you are.
The whole point of having a code is so that when things are hard, you have a compass.
Things that you know to be right and true and can cling to, no matter how high the waters
rise. Things that say you live your life with strength and honor.
Training is no different. When you shit the bed because things aren’t going well, and you
have no training code, what do you have to get you corrected?
Another “routine”? Fuck no. You should always have a training code or philosophy that
keeps you on track, and headed in the right direction. That wayhen shit breaks down, you
can return to the things you know will put you back on track.
“Squat, push, pull, condition.”
“Start light.”
“Set goals.”
“Be patient.”
When you have a code that you adhere to, you seldom get lost. When you do, finding your
way again is as simple as asking yourself one question…
“Am I staying the course according to my code?”
If you aren’t, get back on the course and be steadfast. If you are, be patient. You will be
rewarded for doing so.
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Programming Cheat Sheet – All of the cycles in this book
Pause Squat Only Cycle
Strong-15 Cycle
Phase 1 - Based on squat opener
Phase 2 – Based on second attempt
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Phase 3 – Based on third attempt
Block Pulls (from 4” blocks) Cycle
Pulls from the floor after the block pulls -
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Elevated Stiff Legged Deadlift Cycle
Strong-15 Deadlift cycle
PHASE 1 - Based on opener
PHASE 2 - Based on second attempt
PHASE 3 - Based on third attempt
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The new Strong-15 Bench Program
Phase 1 and 2 look exactly the same, percentage wise. In phase 3, the back off sets get
bumped up a bit, to give a more realistic sense of where you might be, or are at from a 1RM
standpoint. Phase 1 is based off the opener and phase 2 off of the 2nd attempt.
Phase 1 and Phase 2 - AMAP = as many as possible
Phase 3
Strongman deadlift cycle
Week 1 - 4” block pulls to a max
Week 2 - 6” block pulls to a max
Week 3 - no deadlifts (do rows and chins)
Week 4 - pulls from the floor for reps, to a max, or with fatbar or with trapbar
Week 5 - no pulls (do rows and chins)
Week 6 - start over
Strong-15 short cycles - Squat Cycle
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Bench Cycle Deadlift cycle
Big-15 cycles – weights don’t change for the cycle – try to beat reps on
the AMAP weekly.
Upperbody Staple Lifts
40% x 5
50% x 4
60% x 3
75% x 2
85% x 1
77% x AMAP + 50% set
Lowerbody Staple Lifts
40% x 5
50% x 4
60% x 3
75% x 2
85% x 1
73% x AMAP + 50% set
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Thanks - Because without you,
life would suck more than it has to…
Most importantly, more than anyone or anything on the face of the planet, my world, my
galaxy, my everything that ever was and ever will be, my wife Tiffany. I love you with every
fiber of who I am and I would do anything in the world you would ask of me, without regret,
without hesitation, without regard for myself or anything around me. I strive every day to be
your lion and hope I can always be a man that you are proud of. Thank you for giving me
three wonderful children that I also live for every day, and am thankful for every day. Three
kids that I wake up for, that I work for, that I would kill and die for. You guys are the only
reason I am alive, and the reason I try to be a better man. “I love you” is not a strong enough
phrase to describe my feelings for all of you. However, it will have to do. I love you
more than anything that words could ever encompass.
Mom and Dad - For bringing me into this world, and supporting me through so many shitty
years that I thought we might not make it out of. I love you guys so much and am so proud I
can call you my parents.
Jim Wendler - Without your prodding and constant annoyance that I should do this shit, I
never would have. Thank you for your friendship and support over the years.
Jamie Lewis - For knowing what it means to be a good friend. For constantly making me
laugh when I had little to smile about and my burdens seemed heavy.
Phil Stevens - For constantly offering me a helping hand, and being sexy. Your friendship
is a blessing.
Jason Pegg and Alva Leisure - I throw you bitches together because I swear, if one of you
texts me, the other one does 1 minute later. Thanks for being awesome 100% of the time
and for always having my back.
Kara Bohigian Smith - For being a wonderful ear and counselor during some really rough
times in my life. You are a wonderful person in every way that someone can be.
The Lilliebridges - For being awesome people who inspire me with the love of family and the
bond you all have. And for being strong as hell.
All my “Elite” brothers - Brad, Corey, Brandon, Zane, Brandy, Richard, Swede. I am glad I can
call you bitches my friends.
Jennifer Iron of IRON&emotion - For your awesomely creative mind, your patience, and wit.
Thank you for taking a crude stone and sculpting it into something amazing. You have a
tremendous spirit and soul.
Last but not least, everyone who reads and follows my blog. You guys are fucking bananas
awesome. There is nothing more rewarding in life, than to hand over the lessons you have
learned, and watch others benefit from them. This is one of the greatest gifts one could ever
receive in their life. To give the lessons of strength that I have learned in my life is my reward,
and I hope for it to be part of my legacy as well.
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isbn: 978-0-615-66352-4