Buyer: David Lutz (DavidJLutz@gmail.com)
Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
Buyer: David Lutz (DavidJLutz@gmail.com)
Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
NOTICE!!!
Before you embark on any physical fitness program
please consult your physician first
Book design by Jennifer Sibbert-Flores of IRON&emotion.
This book may not be reproduced or recorded in any form
without permission from the author.
Copyright 2013 by Paul Carter. All rights reserved.
IBSN: 9781628909074
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Building your own masterpiece.................................................................................................. 1
Training Definitions........................................................................................................................ 6
You cannot lose your way, until you have first found it.................................................. 7
Compensatory acceleration training (CAT) and Coasting.............................................. 9
Working efficiently...................................................................................................................... 10
What Base Building Is Not............................................................................................................ 11
S.A.I.D Principle................................................................................................................................ 12
High level overview of training phases - Why you will need each one........................ 13
Rating training sessions............................................................................................................. 19
Dealing with +10% and -10% sessions....................................................................................... 20
EDM - The Everyday Max – What base building is programmed around......................... 22
Momentum: Getting it in your training
and keeping it as long as possible, by not falling off the cliff...................................... 27
The sliding scale of intensity and volume - Prilepin’s Table.............................................. 30
Back work and the barbell row - The true big #4................................................................. 32
Base Building Models - I, II, III...................................................................................................... 35
Base Building Bench Press Models ........................................................................................... 36
Base Building Squat Models........................................................................................................ 38
Base Building Dead Lift Models................................................................................................... 40
Becoming a better scientist
and knowing what phase you should transition into...................................................... 42
Fatigue Singles................................................................................................................................ 43
Three components that are key to making progress:
Deloading, Tapering, Waving.................................................................................................... 45
Beginner Base Building................................................................................................................. 50
Base Building Splits........................................................................................................................ 56
The mental side of training......................................................................................................... 67
Why testing in the gym can be your biggest enemy............................................................. 76
Never quit… never give up........................................................................................................... 78
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
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Buyer: David Lutz (DavidJLutz@gmail.com)
Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
BUILDING YOUR OWN MASTERPIECE
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No great monument, building, or structure can be built on a faulty foundation and remain standing for very
long. The foundation is where it all starts, and what sets the stage for building greatness. Without a thick,
solid, and tight base (that’s right I just went there) there can be no magnificent “anything” to behold.
Building your physique and strength has the same underlying principle. You need to build all
of the components that create a great foundation, before you can overcome the next roadblock. You must put in the long hours and years of hard work in order to create the foundation
layers of mass, strength, and technique.
Can you imagine an artist trying to paint a masterpiece on a thin sheet of notebook paper,
rather than a dense piece of canvas? Our children’s wonderful artwork aside, great masterpieces are not painted on flimsy material. The material the artist chooses is of great importance.
Base building is the creation of that material. It is the laying of the foundation for the masterpiece you want to create. If you’re a power lifter that might mean an elite total. The elite total
would be the manifestation of the accumulative work you put in. It is your masterpiece.
If you’re an athlete, it might be your day winning a championship or turning professional at
that sport. If you’re a complete novice, it might mean making it to that year mark without missing any planned training sessions. They are your milestones. They are the fruits of your labor.
They are the masterpieces you work to create.
Base building is what we do to lay the foundation for eventual individual greatness. Whatever
“greatness” that is, is completely unique to the person putting in the time and effort to achieve
it. However it cannot be achieved by trying to short circuit the processes known as “consistency” and “effort”. These processes must be embraced and endured. If you’re willing to put
in the effort consistently then you will see your goals eventually come to fruition. They will be
realized. Your masterpiece will get painted. This is what base building is:
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
TRAINING DEFINITIONS
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Intensity- The percentage of your 1 rep max. It is basically, the weight on the bar in comparison to how much you can lift as a max. If you squat 300 than 210 pounds is 70% intensity.
Perceived Intensity- How hard something “feels” rather than the actual load on the bar. For
example, you do as many as you can, then remove some weight, then immediately do another set. That is a “strip set” and is “hard” but you aren’t defining intensity by anything more
than how hard you are working.
50% sets - Take a set to failure, rest for 60 seconds, then do another set aiming to get half as
many reps as you got on the previous set.
350 method - Aim to get 50 total reps over three sets, with two minutes rest between each
set.
Over-warm ups - You warm up PAST the weight you intend to do your “work sets” with for
the day. For example, if you plan on squatting with 315 you would warm up with 135, 185, 225,
275, 315, then all depending, a single of about 365. At that point, you would go back to 315
for your working sets. This is done to prime the body to use 315 more efficiently than if you just
warmed up to using 315.5
100 rep sets - Pretty straight forward. You do 100 reps NON STOP.
Programming – How you set up your training cycles in terms of frequency, volume, and intensity.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
YOU CANNOT LOSE YOUR WAY
UNTIL YOU HAVE FIRST FOUND IT
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“I spent the first two years of my training doing stupid and unproductive shit….”
The bemoaning of the first few fruitless years of training is very common among many lifters.
The intermediate trainees always follow that up with the fact that they are just now seeing
progress, because they learned or realized that what they were doing was not optimal for
them at that stage of their development.
An even bigger tragedy, is when you talk to a guy that’s been training for a decade or longer, and he can relay to you that he made great progress at first, then became side tracked
somehow, and got away from the basics, and lost lots of time “trying shit out.” Listen, I’m not
judging or condemning anyone for such, as I have been that guy.
I have years and years of training behind me where I emptied myself into training programs
and methods that never produced anything tangible. I changed methods often because I
thought I was somehow missing the boat because I wasn’t as big or as strong as I thought I
should be.
I was swayed by ideas and concepts and the precepts that I needed to do something outside
the basics in order to get better. I thought that there had to be a different way, a better way.
I was told that “the only reason the basics work for those elite guys is because they could do
anything and get stronger.” At first, I believed this. Then eventually I came to my senses and
decided that was the dumbest thing I had ever read.
If a special training program was going to get me elite level strong (or possibly), yet all the
strongest guys just did the basics, why didn’t they use that special training program and get
elite-elite level strong? It’s because there is no “dynamic” or “special method” training system
that beats all, and turns you into a proverbial Superman. It is because the basics DO WORK.
It is because there really wasn’t a better way. Almost all of the strongest men that walked this
planet gravitated towards similar methodologies because they were effective and productive. They understood that they only needed to adjust a few principles here and there as they
progressed through their training life. They didn’t need to overhaul an entire foundation of
principles. I did not understand or grasp the significance of this, and I paid for my ignorance.
I paid for it by losing years in my training life doing very unproductive things. I also benefitted
by eventually being able to grok the fact that I knew what smart and productive training really looked like, and what it didn’t. There are a million methods and a million faces out there in
regards to training philosophy and ideology. Deciphering them and trying to figure out what is
best or what would work the best can end up making you feel paralyzed. You need to look at
training no different than building that house, or structure.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
Architects and building designers already know all of the things necessary in order to write
blueprints to create a structure. Well, we already know what works and what is optimal to get
bigger and stronger. There are no secrets. You need to lay a solid foundation (base building
and mass work) then you can concentrate on all the “pretty” stuff (strength demonstration on
the platform, or bodybuilding, strongman, etc.). There is an ebb and flow of what you need
to be concentrating on in order to improve in these areas. Sometimes you need to do a lot of
reps and chase rep PR’s, or concentrate on building “body parts”. Other times you need to do
a lot of volume and train “movements”. Other times you need to perform a strength peaking
cycle.
There is no one way you’re going train all the time, but the principals involved in the transitions
aren’t dissimilar. You’re still trying to better yourself in regards as to the work you did yesterday,
last week, last month, and last year. More weight, more reps, or more volume. It all just depends on the goals you are chasing.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
COMPENSATORY ACCELERATION
TRAINING (CAT) AND COASTING
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Compensatory acceleration training, AKA CAT, is a technique where you move the bar with more and more force
throughout the movement as leverages improve.
When you squat, you still push as hard as possible out of the hole and as you cross that transition point where you would normally miss a lift or get stuck, you keep accelerating as hard
as possible. You want to move every rep with as much force as possible, and to quote Fred
Hatfield “push as hard as possible throughout the movement.” What a lot of guys do is push
hard from the start, but then they let that momentum finish the movement for them. I call this
“coasting”, and essentially the opposite of CAT. This is a very bad habit and can be the sole
reason that a lot of guys end up missing lifts in their training or in competition.
Generally people miss a lift because they simply aren’t strong enough to create enough force
to accomplish the task, or it can happen because the lifter is strong enough, but “coasts” and
doesn’t apply enough force to finish the attempt. I believe this is because a lot of guys learn
the habit of “coasting” reps early in their training career, and never change.
In the squat for example, you want to push even harder as you cross past the transitional point
in the movement where you may generally hit your sticking point. You continue to apply force
throughout the movement. You do not let the initial application of force do the work for you.
The CAT method teaches you to apply force to the bar throughout the entire movement. This
in turn will also teach you how to apply more force from the bottom positions as well. Using
C.A.T. is a huge part of base building because if you are lackadaisical in your efforts to push
as hard as possible against the bar, then you may not get the carryover you need to hit the
bigger weights.
You can and will undoubtedly get stronger using lower intensities but not without proper application. CAT is a big part of that application. If you walk up to the bar, un-rack it and squat it in
a casual manner do not expect anything more than casual results. You need to teach yourself
to be as violent as possible with the bar. In the gym and on the platform, it is your adversary.
Treat it that way and attack it with hate and malice.
This is NOT “speed work”. Your intensities should be high enough that there is in fact carryover
to higher percentages as you start to move into them. Not only that, you should be using the
time that you are in the much lower intensities to really learn how to accelerate against the
bar. This needs to be something you can apply even when you get above the 90% range of
your 1 rep max. If you are not applying it throughout the cycle, starting early, then your ability
to do it in the higher intensities will be lacking.
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Buyer: David Lutz (DavidJLutz@gmail.com)
Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
WORKING EFFICIENTLY
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Another central component of base building is that of rest periods between sets. This is an often overlooked
principle in training, mainly because lots of guys like to take their time between sets, and only go when they
feel fully recovered.
That philosophy has merit at times, especially when training gets heavier. However when you’re
intensity is programmed on the lower end of the scale, you are going to need to work fast to
build fatigue and get all of the prescribed volume in.
For example, for the 5x5 @ 60% squat phases, you need to shoot for getting that work done in
10-12 minutes max. You don’t have to meet this standard week one, but over the course of the
entire phase you need to get to where you can knock out those 5+ sets in less and less time.
I cannot figure out for the life of me, why guys want to rest between sets for so long. I’m in the
gym to work. Not check my phone or talk or sit around until I “feel recovered” for my next set.
Yes, I need to catch my breath, but I don’t need a “full recovery” of all of my facilities in order
to get back under the bar and knock out a set of 5. I mean seriously, we’re not talking about
sets of 15, 20, 30 reps. We’re talking some doubles or 5’s or 8’s. This should not put you down
for such an extended period unless you’re just a sad sack of shit, conditioning wise. If this happens, then you know you need to do some conditioning to increase work capacity.
The more work you can get done in the gym, in an appropriate time, the stronger you will get.
This is not an area most guys ever venture into because they believe more weight on the bar,
is the ONLY way. Eventually yes, the bar has to get loaded. As I’ve documented from lots of
strong guys, you want to hold off on these times as much as possible, and venture into that
area as little as possible.
The LRB motto is to “be strong, be in shape”. Using the lower intensities should allow you to get
the work in, with less rest. In fact, it is a very instrumental part of base building if you want it work
correctly. Over time, increase the load, but don’t move up in load or intensity until you can
manage that amount of volume quickly, and explosively.
This is a sure fire way to continue to get stronger, without sacrificing recovery or needing to
take a no-de-load, de-load. Open your training mind enough to know that training maximally
means training maximally intelligent. Use your brain, and not just your balls.
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Buyer: David Lutz (DavidJLutz@gmail.com)
Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
WHAT BASE BUILDING IS NOT
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Let emphasize right out of the gate, that base building is NOT a routine. It is also not a particular rep range. I
get all sorts of questions from people asking me “is this base building?” in regards to a certain rep range, or
how they have their routine set up.
Base Building quite simply is doing all the things you need to do, in order to create a bigger
and stronger foundation to work with.
Base building in the context of this manual is doing a fair amount of volume on the big lifts, in
the sub max intensity range in order to reinforce technique and build THAT lift. Base building is
sub-max work; base building is NOT speed work.
The entire premise of CAT is to move weights violently through the entire ROM, regardless of
load on the bar. That has nothing to do with speed training. Speed training, in my opinion, is
fairly worthless overall, in terms of transfer to maximal loads. It can be used as a way to get
some extra volume in on a lift.
The transfer from speed work, to heavy work is negligible at best. When work is too light (which
speed work commonly is), there will not be a carryover to the heavier weights, or really improving your strength. Too light can be determined in a number of ways. I’d venture to say that
anything below 60% of your EDM is too damn light.
It is possible that some guys have used speed work with success. I believe speed work to be a
waste of time. Speed work does not “drill form” in regards to the lift because the mechanics
are going to be far too different, and regardless of how much force the lifter applies to the bar,
It is still just too damn light.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
S.A.I.D PRINCIPLE
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The S.A.I.D. principle tells us that adaptation is specific. In other words, if you want to get good at something,
you need to do THAT thing.
When your training is so light that it doesn’t reflect how your body is forced to move under
heavier loads, the fact is you’re not really practicing that “thing”. Even if you think you’re putting “700 pounds of force into 300 pounds” It is just not the same. I don’t care what any guru
or strength coach tells you about that. There has to be an appreciable amount of weight on
the bar to both allow for proper force transfer into the bar in relation to how you actually move
heavier weights.
In other words, when the weight is too light, your body will not actually mimic the technique
you use when bar gets heavier. If the S.A.I.D. principle is violated, then there is no carry over. If
you give a basketball player a lighter than usual basketball, or smaller than usual basketball,
eventually he will adjust his motor skills to be able to shoot baskets with that ball.
It doesn’t help his shooting with the official sized ball. The same holds true if you give him a
heavier ball. It doesn’t improve the mechanics he uses to shoot the official sized ball. He simply
gets better at shooting the heavier/lighter ball. “But he will get stronger and thus have more
power with the other ball.” This might or might not be true. The skill portion is negated, and then
must be relearned. Any transfer of strength is also negated. Training TOO light is no different.
The “skill” practiced does not reflect that of the skill used to move heavier loads. The bar needs
to be heavy enough that there is carry over into the big weights. This only happens if there is
enough likeness to how you’re moving the weight in relation to those heavy weights. On the
slip side, the bar doesn’t need to constantly be so heavy that one finds themselves in the constant state of fatigue debt. There has to be a balance of “heavy enough” to impose demands
to get stronger and light enough not to cause chronic fatigue in training.
This is not to say training should not be hard. It should be. Training with CAT is going to be very
hard, and reducing the rest time between sets is also going to increase training difficulty. This
is not about “not training hard” because sub-max intensities are used. It is about making those
sub-max and intermediate intensity levels hard work through other means. Base building is not
about avoiding hard work. It is not about “going light”. It is about “going optimal”.
Too light - no carryover
Too heavy - fatigue debt can become an issue (essentially overtraining)
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
HIGH LEVEL OVERVIEW OF TRAINING PHASES:
WHY YOU WILL NEED EACH ONE
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I’m here to tell you that there is no “one way” to train forever. It doesn’t matter if you are a bodybuilder,
strongman, power lifter, fitness competitor, etc. Each time you reach a new plateau or come to point of stagnation, you either have to evolve and understand what you need to change to improve, or you just succumb to the
stagnation. Just from a high level overview kind of standpoint...
Your “off season” should be spent with lots of work in the 8 rep range, or more. The entire purpose of it should be to create a larger foundation of muscle mass. You are not trying to build
limit strength in the off season. I see FAR too much of this from guys these days and it is a big
reason why they get stuck for so long, at certain plateaus, or even regress.
You have to create a bigger YOU. This means lots of rep work, and doing bodybuilding style
training. Why are you spending the off season months away from a meet doing singles, doubles, and triples? It makes no sense. You need to plan your training in stages so that one phase
sets you up for success in the next phase.
Well, if you’ve been hammering away at limit strength for months on end, you aren’t going to
grow. No matter what anyone tells you, you DO NOT get big from singles, doubles, triples. You
grow via reps and time under tension. After a hypertrophy phase, if it was successful, you transition into base building work. This is to spend time in sub max intensities and working technique
over and over again via volume.
One of the big mistakes I see guys doing now is training too heavy with high volume work. I
don’t care if someone has one person who did well with it, the majority of people cannot train
high volume AND heavy. Once the intensities start rising, the volume has to be backed down.
You shouldn’t be doing a bunch of volume in the 85+% range. It should usually be between
60-80%, where speed is fast and technique is hammered down.
After this phase, then you taper into a peaking phase for competition where the intensity rises,
and the volume comes down. This is the natural ebb and flow of a good training macro cycle
with micro-cycles incorporated into it. This is how you would set up training in phases for year
round progress, so that you avoid plateaus and stagnation. Here are, in my opinion, the different phases that will eventually need to be rotated through your training “life” in order to move
you up to a new level. You’re going to have to be cognizant enough in your training life to
know when it is time to take one of these approaches for a while in order to improve.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
Mass Training - Increasing Muscular Mass
• Setting rep PR’s in the big movements
• Rotating main movements
• Higher rep ranges – 8-20+
• Lower volume in the main movements
• Higher volume for the “small” work
• Using perceived intensity techniques, rest/pause, and 50 % sets, etc.
• Reassessing fatigue and priorities every 6 weeks, i.e. no de-load, de-load or continue,
to switch movements
• “Bodybuilding” mentality. Working body parts, rather than movements.
Base Building - Increasing the baseline of strength
• High volume in the squat, bench press, and dead lift to cement/practice technique
and reinforce motor skills/patterns.
• Emphasis on increasing bar speed
• Very limited assistance work
• Staying away from failure
• Low to medium intensities for programming
• No planned loading or de-loading at all. Continued training and adjusting
intensities based on fatigue and bar speed
• Working movements, rather than body parts.
Strength Peaking -Peaking to strength maxes
(generally for the purpose of competition)
• Reduction of volume over the cycle for the big movements
• Reduction of assistance work over the cycle
• Increasing in intensity ranges over each week
• De-loading the week of competition
Mass Building Routine - I have to preface this with; this is a basic template for mass building.
That means there is nothing magical about the movements I picked. The important thing is
to try and get more reps each week with the weights you are using on the big, compound
movements. I can remember being young and sweating every detail of a routine, wondering
if I changed a movement if it would somehow short circuit it, and eventually I learned that the
most important part was just the hard work. Not always specific movements. With that said,
the core of your mass training should essentially be striving for more reps on the big compound
movements. It is really that simple.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
Mass Training
Chest - Shoulders
Incline Press - 5, 4,3,2,1 - 1x8-15 + 50% set
DB Bench Press - 5x10
Press Behind Neck - 2x8
Seated DB Press - 5x10
Legs
Front Squats/Squats (alternate each week) - 5, 4,3,2,1 - 1x8-15 + 50% set
Stiff Legged Deadlifts – 3x8
Leg Press - 4x20
Lunges - 4x20
Day off
Back
Barbell Rows - 4x8
Chins - 5, 4,3,2,1 weighted - 5x5-20 (all depending on your chin strength)
Shrugs - 4x20
Close Grip Pull downs - 3x8
Arms - (yes, an arm day)
Barbell Curls - 1x100
DB curls - 4x10
Close Grip Bench - 5, 4,3,2,1 - 1x8-15 + 50% set
Pushdowns - 5x20
Day off
My advice for your mass training cycle is to set up a 6 week period to go hard after some rep
PR’s on your big movements. I would not sweat adding weight. Just chase more reps. Instead
of trying to program with intensity here, just pick something that allows for a fairly hard 8 reps,
and stay with that weight until 15 or more can be achieved. If you’re busting out 15+ on a
regular basis then add some weight to the bar. If you pick correctly, you should be very close
to 15 by the time 6 weeks roll around. If you’re above that, it is even better.
It would be dismissive of me to not mention the fact that, regardless of what people tell you,
you cannot gain mass eating no carbs. You cannot. I’m not going to take time addressing this
in this book, but I don’t know of a single bodybuilding mass monster or big man strength athlete that got eating no carbs. Load up on the food, and understand that this is a time to not
worry about your abs or being lean. This DOES NOT give you a free pass to turning into a slob/
tub of shit. The point is to eat, and eat well.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
Strength peaking - Strong-15 short cycle
I will not get into the debate of being in peak strength year round. You cannot be. PERIOD.
There are periods where you ramp up in strength, and hold it for a short period and this is
called a peak. It is real. You cannot be at peak strength all the time, and anyone who tells you
that you can, is lying to you.
The strong-15 short cycle has been probably the most productive cycle that I have created
for strength peaking. It has been used by everyone from relatively notice lifters to elite level
strength athletes.
This doesn’t mean that it cannot be improved upon. Since the short cycle has been around
for a little while now, I’ve used feedback and results from those that have used it to tweak it a
bit to try and make it even more productive.
First off, you should be coming off of a base building cycle before you start the peak. Otherwise, it is better to use the full 9 week peaking cycle as outlined in Strength, Life, and Legacy.
Since this is the base building manual, I’m not outlining both. You should simply design your
cycles so that you transition from a base building cycle into a peaking cycle. This works wonderfully.
New tweaks to the short cycle
One down fall to a peaking cycle is the inability to account for the accumulative fatigue that
happens from ramping into the upper intensity ranges, especially with squats and dead-lifts.
There has to be enough of that to allow for super-compensation, but not so much that the fatigue curve gets to be too long and adequate recovery is not accounted for before the meet.
One option that has worked well for many strong lifters is to alternate heavy squats and pulls
each week. My issue with that is you might only get three heavy squat workouts, and three
heavy dead lift workouts, if you plan a 6 week cycle. For a guy with a very big base level of
strength, this may be all he needs. Most guys they will need a little bit more time with the lift
than that.
This led me into talking to guys about managing their squat and pull before a meet, and how
they de-loaded those lifts beforehand. The one commonality I kept finding with a lot of really
great dead lifters was that they often pulled their last heavy dead lift two or even three weeks
out from the meet. The squat, they would still push upwards until a week out or so.
Since the short cycle is five weeks, what I settled on was ramping up the dead lift for four
weeks, and de-loading on the fifth. In the fourth week the squat gets a de-load, and a final
heavy session in the last week to compensate for this.
I also changed some of the back-off set protocols for all three lifts.
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Strong-15 Short Cycle: Bench Press based off of meet goal
• Week 1: 80%x1 - 70% 3 x 8, 60% 1 x AMAP
• Week 2: 85%x1 - 75% 3 x 8, 65% 1 x AMAP
• Week 3: 88%x1 - 80%, 3x5, 70% 1 x AMAP
• Week 4: 90%x1 - 85% 3x3, 75% 1 x AMAP
• Week 5: 93%x1 - 90% 2x2, no AMAP
Strong-15 Short Cycle: Squat based off of meet goal
• Week1: 80%x1, 70%x8, 8
• Week2: 85%x1, 75%x5, 5
• Week3: 90%x1, 80%x5, 5
• Week 4: de-load squat - 60%x5
• Week5: 93%x1, 85%x3, 3
Strong-15 Short Cycle: Dead lift based off of meet goal
• Week1: 80%x3, 75%x3, 3
• Week2: 85%x3, 75%x3, 3
• Week3: 88%x3, 80%x3
• Week4: 90%x3, 85%x3
• Week5: de-load dead lift - 60% x 3
Other key notes: You should take your last heavy squat about 10 days out from the meet. You
should also plan on your last heavy bench workout about 7 days out from the meet. These are
just general guidelines but seem to work fairly well for most.
The last and most important part is programming it for what to hit at the meet. I’ve written
about this a lot, yet I always have to come back to it because no one seems to understand
it. If you just squatted 500, then planning to squat 550+ at your next meet is fairly unrealistic.
Shoot for a modest goal of around 515. If you just benched 350, don’t plan on hitting 400. Try
for around 365. This is not complicated.
In fact, you can even plan the cycle around what you actually HIT at your last meet and still
generally eclipse those numbers. You don’t have to constantly program higher in order to get
stronger. If 500 was a true max, and now you can move it with ease, then you got stronger.
In fact, almost all of the guys that programmed LOWER than their goals ended up surpassing
them rather easily. You could program in an EDM for the meet and most likely do just as well, if
not better, than if you programmed in the goal.
You don’t ever want to miss lifts during a peaking phase. If you program too heavy that will
end up happening and you will not be prepared mentally to be at your best for competition.
Every week that goes by, that you destroy weights, your confidence will grow. This is the key
to doing well come competition time. Confidence in knowing you can hit your goals is one
of the most vital components to success. Once you start missing weights, you will start second
guessing your strength and ability. This is a momentum killer and something to be avoided like
you avoid the plague and death.
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Setting up a yearlong cycle - As noted, you’re going to need different training solutions to
solve different training problems throughout your life. This is why I have presented you with
three different types of cycles to use. Because each one builds on the other, and helps make
you a better lifter, and builds a bigger and stronger base.
This is a hypothetical layout for a year of training with two competitions thrown in.
• Week 1-6 - Mass training
• Week 7 - off
• Weeks 8-13 - Mass training
• Week 14 - off
• Week 15-24 - Base Building
• Week 25 - off
• Week 26-30 - peak
• Week 31-32 - De-load and Competition
• Week 33 - off
• Week 34-39 - Mass training
• Week 40 - off
• Week 41-44 - Base Building
• Week 45-49 - Peak
• Week 50-51 - De-load and competition
• Week 52 – Off
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RATING TRAINING SESSIONS
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I’ve written about this so many times, but in case someone didn’t buy my other books, I will still cover this
because I believe that rating your training sessions is an important concept.
All training sessions should have a rating assigned to them. Basically, my rating theory exists in
this format:
80% session – This is what most sessions are. It is getting in, getting the work done. You didn’t hit
a PR, but you didn’t feel like shit either. This is what the majority of your training sessions should
be like.
+10% session – You feel awesome, you hit PR’s and everything moved fast and easy.
-10% session – Opposite of the +10%. Everything felt heavy and awful. You may have even
missed some reps or cut some sets/movements out.
The goal in training, especially when base building, is to have as many 80% sessions as possible.
These are the bricks and mortar that make up your strength and mass foundation.
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DEALING WITH +10% AND -10% SESSIONS
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I used to call +10% sessions “strike the iron” sessions because well, you use those to go after your PR’s and hit
your big numbers. In recent years I have changed my opinion about that, for a few reasons.
The +10% session arrived because up to that point, you were doing all the things necessary in
order to facilitate it. It arrived because your programming and recovery were on point.
Then what happens? You take advantage of that session and you throw the fatigue curve
into a steep descent. Now, the training that you had used to get to that point has to change
because the recovery from the extra fatigue and stress has to be accounted for. You simply
cannot ask the body to do more than it had been doing, and not expect it to ask you to be
kind in return.
Without fail what most guys experience after a +10% session are lots of poor 80% sessions mixed
in with lots of -10% sessions. That’s because they keep training in the same manner that got
them to that +10% day, and don’t take into account that the +10% day would require a longer
recovery curve.
Now they wonder why it is that the training plan that had been going so well, all of a sudden
seems to have them regressing.
It is not the training plan, it is under-recovering from the stress you had not imposed on the
body prior to that kick ass training session. It HAS to be accounted for. When you don’t change
your recovery habits after a +10% session the body will regress for a while until that fatigue
curve gets back to baseline.
My suggestion is for a +10% day, DO NOT DEVIATE from your programming outside
of the built in auto-regulation I suggest (later in the manual), stay with your programmed weights for the day.
The training that got you there (to the +10%) is working, so trust that it will continue to take you
to bigger and better places. This is especially true for stronger guys. For intermediate types, or
guys who aren’t moving as much iron, there is a little more leeway. For example, throw in a
couple of more sets of the main movement, but leave the intensity the same. For squats, instead of 5x5, you might do 7x5.
For most guys you want to use that +10% to “PR” in other ways. You can move the weights with
greater speed, better technique, etc. Grade yourself out on those aspects of training as well.
Simply hitting a designated number is not the only way to “PR”. If you hit a triple with 500 but
that third rep was a grinder last time, but this time it moved fast, is that not a PR? It is certainly
progress in terms of strength development.
Dealing with a -10% session is much easier. Let it go. Sometimes life deals you a shit training
session. If you’re having one a week, or even every other week on a consistent basis, you
may want to reassess your programming and training frequency and think about whether you
need to de-load, taper, or wave training.
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80% is consistency, and consistency is the key
Most of us don’t appreciate the “run of the mill” training sessions we have. The 80% sessions,
where we are just getting the work in, and it is neither spectacular nor awful. The truth is that
these are the sessions that your building blocks come from. It is these “solid, but not awful or
spectacular” sessions that end up creating the foundation of strength and size you are after.
They don’t always look awesome on paper, nor do they make up stories you tell your buddies
about.
“How was your training tonight?”
“It was awesome. I hit everything I was supposed to and nothing extraordinary happened.”
“Huh?”
However when you start to stack all of these “average” training sessions up, piece by piece, it
encompasses what consistency really is.
The 80% sessions are not the ups and downs in training that are a roller coaster ride. They represent a steady line of progression and define the mantra of one step forward, no steps back.
The 80% sessions are the backbone of base building in that you’re not overreaching, or trying
to, week after week and burning yourself out. You’re not chasing dragons or going after numbers that, at the moment, aren’t attainable. Progress is slow, but steady. Steady always wins
the race.
Never downplay the importance of the 80% sessions. Even if it is a crappy 80%er, it still means
that another productive training session has been notched, and you just got a little bit closer
to getting better.
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EDM - THE EVERYDAY MAX: WHAT BASE
BUILDING IS PROGRAMMED AROUND
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If I had a dollar…never mind, you know where I’m going with this. If there is a day that ends in the letter “Y” I
get an email on that day, usually 5 to 17, asking me what weight they need to program a training cycle around.
One of the biggest reasons many training programs fail is not because of inherent flaws in the
program. It is often due to the lack of honesty on the part of the lifter. Our goals and aspirations
often cause us to take a “shoot for the moon” mentality, and more often than not that FAILS
because it does not take into consideration that well, we’re not being realistic about our own
capabilities.
I absolutely hate the mentality of “no limits” because we ALL have limits. When you sit down
and decide to create a productive training program, or program a productive training cycle,
you have to be very aware of your limits in order to eventually push PAST THEM.
This is one of the reasons that an EVERY DAY MAX is what you should be programming around.
That day that you managed to bench a PR by 20 pounds is NOT what you should be basing
your training cycles around.
No one in any other sport, bases the worth of a player around his best day. They do it based
around what he’s really capable of on a consistent basis. You don’t judge the worth of a running back based on his 210 yard rushing day when the rest of his career he only averaged
about 52 yards a game rushing. It is an anomaly. You don’t give him a contract with the HOPES
that he can go out and rush for 210 yards each Sunday. You pay him based on his 52 yards a
game.
Many power lifters or strength athletes do NOT get this. If your best squat EVER is 550, and that
was on a +10% day where you felt like King Kong, then why are you basing your training cycle
on that or even more than that? This is how people find themselves in the middle of a training
cycle missing weights and failing. Then instead of looking in the mirror as the reason why their
training is failing, they blame the program. You have to understand the importance of being
completely honest with yourself when you sit down and decide to plan out your training cycle,
and goals.
Your EDM is what you are good for on an everyday basis. That is your baseline. When you improve your baseline, you will be able to improve the peak associated with that baseline.
Just using numbers as a variable let’s call your EDM, or your baseline, 100%. We’ll call your peak
strength 110%. If a lifter has an EDM of 500 pounds in the squat that means his peak strength
might be around 540-550. If he increases his EDM to 525 now his peak strength could be anywhere from 580 to 590.
Pushing your baseline strength level can be done with very few de-loads (time off), lessens
the chance of injury, and keeps training cycles consistently moving forward. It also can be
increased without venturing into the intensity or loading range that are the most responsible
for deep fatigue curves, and injuries. Yes, let’s not kid ourselves, the heavier you go the higher
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the percentage to sustain an injury becomes. Injuries also generally occur when you are tired,
and still continue to try and push hard through rep PR’s or weights that your body is not ready
to move yet. Then...snap....forced rest is upon you.
48
Let me be clear I’m not advocating Nancy boy bullshit here. Training will always be HARD, but
you cannot get on the field if you’re always in the trainer’s room. In other words, you cannot
make or sustain progress for very long if you’re injured all the time. And being injured tends to
be the number one cause of not being able to train consistently.
Programming your training cycles around weights that you can handle with a great amount
of speed and explosiveness is always a good idea. Yes, there will be days when even those
weights feel heavier than normal; this is to be expected in the ebb and flow of the training life
cycle. But even on a down day, you should never miss programmed weights.
This is how intelligent training is programmed.
How to program your EDM “So how do I know my EDM?”
This is not hard. Go into the gym, do some warm ups, and then work up to a single that you
have to “prepare” for. Mentally I mean. No yelling should be required, just an internal focus on
getting this crisp single done, “CRISP” being the key word here. It should not be a grinder; you
should be aware that adding another 10-20 pounds would/could start to turn into one.
DO NOT add more and more weight because you feel like having a higher EDM is going to
help you. This will eventually short circuit your training cycle, I PROMISE YOU. You need to understand what your body is capable of even on off days. This might be a 5% or more reduction
in your EDM. If you programmed for an EDM that you cannot hit on a down day, then in the
latter parts of a training cycle where the intensity increases, you will find yourself grinding to
make your prescribed sets and reps, or even missing some reps.
This is because on a -10% day 75% intensity can all of a sudden “feel” more like 90%. In other
words, even with proper programming you will have days where what you are supposed to hit
may feel heavier than it did most of the other times you lifted it. Be very aware of what you are
using to program your EDM with.
If I had to give a ballpark intensity number, I would say something between 88-90% of your TRUE
max is about what your EDM is going to be. That means you will program using your EDM, and
the rest of the training will revolve around THAT number, NEVER your true one rep max.
Auto regulation in Base Building
The most important reason you’ll need to program with a conservative EDM is because on
days where you feel pretty exceptional, you will have the option to work up to your EDM as
your last over-warm up.
It is imperative that whatever you program with as an EDM, is a LEGIT EDM. It should still be doable on a bad day, even though on a “bad day” you’d never work up to it.
If you have days where you decide to work up to your EDM and miss it, then it is pretty obvious
that your ego got the better of you in programming. That or you went too heavy on testing
day to find out what your EDM was.
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Let me emphasize that working up to your EDM is an option ONLY for those days where you
feel pretty exceptional, in other words, a +10% day. After you work up to it, go back to the
working sets that have been programmed for that day. No more, no less.
You will not see the EDM programming in any of the phases because again, working up to your
EDM is based around how you feel on that day. If I had to take a guess, you might work up to
it once or twice a month at the very most.
Grinding
In the context of this book, grinding has nothing to do with your weekend in Vegas getting
down with some sweet babes/dudes on the dance floor. Grinding weights week after week
eventually is the main culprit for a lot of people to stall in progress. The fatigue curve gets too
steep and the super-compensation curve is negated. This is backed over and over and over
again by what we’ve seen from the Russian training philosophies and other training models
that take recovery and super-compensation into the equation. Kirk Karwoski, one of the greatest power lifters of all time, told me “if you start grinding reps, something went wrong in how
you programmed your training.”
If you want to go argue with Kirk, be my guest. He only squatted a grand for a double in training, benched just under 600 pounds, and pulled 777 in competition. The guy he finally listened
to about not grinding out every rep was Ed Coan, the greatest power lifter of all time. Ed reiterated this theme at the seminar I did with him in Chicago. Which was, “set your training cycle
up so that you smash weights all the way through it. You should be building confidence every
week of the training cycle.”
I myself ended up coming to this realization years ago when I noticed that once I started grinding to hit a certain number of reps in my sets, I would eventually find myself drifting backwards
in progress. I would stall and plateau out for a while. Of course, I would keep doing what I was
doing because after all, it had gotten me to that point so it must work. It did work…for a while.
Then eventually you realize that training that hard has a point of diminishing returns. Eventually
you come to an understanding that you can get to that same place, without beating the shit
out of yourself week in and week out. That you need to back off, and give the body room to
move forward instead of trying to push it off the cliff day in and day out.
Does grinding have a place in training? Yes, of course. Generally near the end of a strength
peaking cycle, or during mass training phases where you are trying to break rep PR’s. I will
also say that on some really crappy days, even if you programmed correctly you could end
up grinding through a few sets. This doesn’t mean you have to scrap your training cycle. It just
means you had a bad day and shit felt heavier than it was supposed to. This is ok.
In peaking cycles, you will almost inevitably grind some reps here and there near the end because even though you should be applying as much force as possible to the bar, as the weight
gets heavier and bar speed obviously slows down. Not only that, but you’re going to want to
get into a bit of a fatigued state the last week or two so that once you rest up for competition,
super-compensation is at a peak. That’s what “peaking” is. And you cannot reach a strength
peak if you start getting too deep into the fatigue curve early in the training cycle. This is when
you realize you hit your best weights far too early, and now everything starts feeling REALLY
heavy.
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Base line strength, fatigue, and supercompensation
In the picture below, the horizontal line represents your baseline strength, i.e. Your EDM. The
waves represent training stimulus. When you train, you cause fatigue. The amount of that fatigue will vary of course, based on volume, intensity, frequency, etc. When you recover, the
body “returns” to that baseline, or just above it IF you allow it to. This is what recovery is. When
you grind weights for weeks on end, the waves begin to eventually fall deeper into the fatigue
zone, and then flatten out either below the baseline or just back at it.
The line ascending is not a sharp line upwards. It moves moderately upwards. This is what good
base building should look like on a curve. There is fatigue, that is not incredibly great, and then
there is compensation and super-compensation, after recovery from fatigue. The less sharp
the curve is, the more you increase your base, or foundation, level of strength. You do not
“peak”, but you improve gradually, and consistently.
Often times, guys train too hard for too long, only to make minimal or zero progress because
they do not let the recovery and super-compensation process actually take place, and stay in
fatigue debt. You don’t have to beat yourself into S&M bondage style submission every training session in order to create an upwards curve in your baseline strength. This is done by using
a smart EDM and programming optimally.
Another way I heard it phrased was, training is like digging a hole, and recovery is like filling it
back in. If you dig too deep of a hole, It is going to take you a very long time to fill it back in.
The best way to ensure proper recovery is to not dig too deep of a hole.
Now the caveat to all of this is, some people are natural grinders, and they “grind” everything.
In other words, all of their lifts look slow. Even for those people, they know what “grinding” is
for them; then they have to force out those 1-2 extra reps week after week. Even for those
people, this will eventually take the same toll that it does for those who are naturally more
explosive lifters.
Use “grinding” appropriately, and sparingly. Always save some reps in the tank and most importantly try to remain as explosive as possible during the base building phases in your training
cycle.
Base Building Programming - How low can you go? More on your EDM
During the “off season”, or when you are not training to peak for a meet or strength event, the
best way to program in my opinion, is to ask yourself how LOW you can program your EDM and
still make great strength gains, especially, when you’re planning your off season cycle around
the base building method.
That’s right, how LOW can you program and still get stronger. The reason for this being is because the lower the intensity threshold, the greater your recovery will be. The higher your intensity curve becomes, the deeper the fatigue curve is as well. It is the old “for every action
there is an equal or opposite reaction”. The higher you run your programming up the intensity
scale or percentage of your 1 rep max, the longer it is going to take you to recover from those
sessions.
The reason why programming with a low EDM is effective is because you are basing it off of
what your body is capable of doing at any moment. Your true one rep max is really a fleeting
number, something that you cannot hit every time you walk into the gym. It is really impossible
to base your training cycle around hitting that, when it is not always going to be there. Neither
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are the intensities associated with it.
The question you should really be asking yourself is, how low can you go on the intensity (% of
1RM) scale in your programming, and still get strong?
What I have found through my own research, and training, is that you can unequivocally program as low as 70% of your EDM, and get strong. Sometimes, even lower (which I do for squat
phases).
For example the incredibly successful Russian based volume program created by Boris Sheiko,
has the trainee spend most of their time in their relative 68-72% intensity range. Yes, that low.
It is all about technique, volume, and repeating movement patterns. It is also about moving
those weights with as much explosive force as possible.
Volume and intensity go hand in hand. They need to complement each other depending on
goals and training cycle length. If you program too low then there will not be enough carryover to move the big stuff when you need to. If you program too heavy, then you will end up
under-recovering and your lifts will start to stall. As noted before, plateaus tend to come very
soon after you start grinding weights or missing prescribed reps.
The key in base building is to understand how important the EDM is, and how low you can program with it to make steady strength gains and to increase your baseline of strength.
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MOMENTUM: GETTING IT IN YOUR
TRAINING AND KEEPING IT AS LONG AS
POSSIBLE, BY NOT FALLING OFF THE CLIFF
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One of the greatest feelings in regards to training is when you feel like you’ve got everything dialed in, and
every training session feels awesome. You smoke your reps and sets, you feel recovered, and you’re constantly
moving forward in some way, shape, or form in terms of progress.
Then reality sets in, and that -10% session happens. Then another, then another, then you wonder what in the hell happened to all of that sweet nectar of progression.
Well first off, there’s no real way to completely avoid the pitfalls of training. When you feel as
though strength and development has regressed. When the return on your exertion investment just does not seem to scream equality, when your life ends up dealing you stress that just
zaps the life right out of you. The gym goals either take a backseat for a while, or get shit on
all together.
This is especially true if you are really pushing hard as hell and focused on attaining rep PR’s
and moving up to that next level. I did this for years, and while I made good progress, the most
frustrating thing about it was that I so often found myself in a down slope later, not able to hit
weights I had smashed so easily before. I would spend months and months trying to just MATCH
those PR’s again.
Why did I end up losing much of that momentum that I had for so long?
I will credit Brandon Lilly for giving me a great metaphor in regards to this. And in fact, it even
uses a term I have often used in regards to training regression. Brandon said a Russian coach
told him, “You can push a horse as hard and as fast as it will go towards a cliff, until it nears
the end of that cliff and then it will lock everything up and stop.” I’ve often called the regressive aftermath of a long and productive training cycle that netted PR’s and lots of tangible
progress the period of “falling off the cliff.” Basically, strength and work capacity will tank. You
aren’t strong or explosive, and your willingness to push hard in a determined way, is diminished. You can only push hard and fast for so long.
At some point, the brakes will get slammed on, or you’ll fall off the cliff. Either way, it signals
either regression, or stagnation. You either end up behind the 8-ball and you cannot match
those PR’s anymore, or you stay stuck there for a long, long time. All training gives, and then
takes something back. Eventually training will take more from you than it gives back regardless
of what protocol you are using. There is a time and a place for everything, and eventually the
body will adapt to certain stresses, and in order to move forward, change, in some way, will
be required. This is why you need to plan accordingly when you see the edge of that cliff fast
approaching you.
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Plan, Attack, Conquer, Establish, Reign
Throughout your training life, you’re going to eventually need to understand what your body
needs in order to move forward. Generally, most guys that work in the “unproductive training
department” are making money there because of two common reasons...
1. They switch routines too often. AKA CRC’s, (Chronic routine changers). This is often younger
guys, or novice trainees. They start reading everything in the world on training and end up
switching routines
2. They don’t know when to switch methodologies. The guy obsessed with strength development will not stop training in low reps, and train for mass for a while. They don’t understand the
benefits of training high reps on the big movements for a while rather than just doing singles
and triples all the time. This is usually the more advanced guys, who became “advanced”
through a particular method and then as they get closer to their genetic ceiling, fail to understand you can only milk that same cow many times in a day. Eventually you have to find a new
pair of tits if you want more milk.
Strength and muscular development have a handshaking mechanism, but they cannot shake
hands unless you introduce them to one another. If your bench has been stuck at 315 for two
years, then you either need to learn how to bench more efficiently (better setup, more leg
drive, etc.), Or you simply need to get bigger. Mass moves mass, and a bigger you is always
going to be a stronger you.
Too many guys that are obsessed with setting one rep maxes in the gym will not give up their
“testing” for a few months of “bodybuilding” style work. It’s because they have become fixated on hitting a new bench PR. If a new bench PR hasn’t been hit in a very, very long time,
then you’ve become insane. Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over
and over again, and expecting a different result.
The “plan-attack-conquer-reign” motto applies very well not only to war strategy, sexual conquests, binge eating, and fantasy football, but your training paradigm as well.
Plan - Figure out what it is you need to do, in order to get to improve. By “improve” that means
setting REALISTIC goals, a timeframe to reach them, and a sound methodology. This stage of
planning takes a bit of being honest with yourself, and being introspective about what you
need to let go of, and what you need to go after. Again, if you’ve been stuck for a very long
time, you’ll need to make some changes in your training/diet/sleeping/stress, whatever.
Attack - After your plan has been established you need to attack all of the areas involved in
that plan with the force of 10,000 Vikings. Eat like a machine, train accordingly to plan, make
sure you’re getting adequate rest, and do not deviate from the “plan” unless It is an absolute
requirement. This is why it is important that the PLAN be solid. You don’t want to start changing
things early because your plan suddenly seems insufficient.
Conquer - This is where plan and attack bear their fruit, and your goals become realized. If the
first two phases were on point, this phase should happen fairly seamlessly.
Reign - Now here is where the analogy of the horse running off the cliff comes into play. You’re
chasing PR’s, and you’re training as hard as possible. Once the PR’s (the conquer phase) start
coming in, you must be aware that the cliff is fast approaching. YOU CANNOT GET GREEDY. If
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you do, two things are going to happen. You will either go right off the cliff, or that horse will
slam on the brakes and progress comes to a screeching halt.
The PR’s are hit on the way to the cliff’s edge. The reason the cliff comes upon you, is because
there’s nowhere left to go. You’ve tapped the landscape (your body) out for the moment.
Then you’re forced to backtrack and find a way down. This is a regression. If you are smart,
you’ll understand that part of reigning, and increasing your baseline is knowing that after you
have reached a PR, eventually there is an inevitable backslide.
On the way to the cliff, what you should have done was be cognizant of the small road leading down off the mountain. You have reached your goals, and now it is time to back off the
speed for a bit, and REIGN over the progress you have made.
You will MAINTAIN the progress. Not regress from it. You do not need to DEMONSTRATE the progress in order to maintain it. You can maintain that progress by NOT falling off the cliff or staying
stagnant. By slicing in periods of maintenance training to increase your baseline. This is another
component of base building. I found this out on my own. That by simply training to maintain,
I found myself getting stronger, and stronger. Then when I would go after a rep PR when I felt
good, low and behold it was there.
A light bulb went off that not killing myself, and coaxing progress out as my body would allow
it, had tremendous benefits. Training in lower intensities and not killing myself every training session ALLOWED my body to recover, and because of this, strength gain ensued.
Getting greedy always ends up backfiring in both life and training. Once you’ve established
some new set points in terms of PR’s, understand that you will need to back off and work to
MAINTAIN those PR’s. You do not have to actually reproduce those PR “strength demonstrations” weekly TO DO THAT. Please grok the shit out of that ideology. It will benefit you greatly.
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THE SLIDING SCALE OF INTENSITY & VOLUME:
PRILEPIN’S TABLE
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Prilepin’s table is essentially the results of research done on Olympic weightlifters from Russia, to determine
what the optimal number of sets and reps were, at a specific intensity level in order to develop maximum
strength.
Prilepin’s table
There are other factors involved in it like bar speed, rest between sets, etc. I like Prilipen’s
table in the sense that it gives you a GUIDELINE for where to start in terms of volume and intensity. You must remember a few things about it.
1. It is only a guideline. No different than any other program, it represents something
to build around. Not something to worship as a holy sacrament.
2. It was based on the results of Olympic lifters. Olympic lifting and power lifting or
bodybuilding are all different animals, and should not be treated the same.
Olympic lifters for the most part, do not have an eccentric portion of a lift in their
training, outside of the squat. It is the eccentric portion of the lift, or the “negative”,
that most people feel causes the most stress to the system and thus a need for
more recovery time.
As you can see, in the first chart, there is a recommendation of 24 reps as the optimal amount
with 18-30 being the “range”. This is why I wrote before that this is a “guideline”. There is no
perfect workload for everyone.
With the first chart, it is not hard to figure out that the good ole simple “5x5” scheme works well here.
With the second chart, you’re looking at 18 reps. Again, simple math could let us assign 3 sets of 6
here, or 6 sets of 3. I personally like 6 sets of 3 with this intensity (up to 80%). The third chart is from
the 80 to 90% intensity range it suggests, 15 total reps. 5 sets of 3. Personally, I think this is optimal.
My preferences are my own because I feel like more sets tend to help reinforce technique and
essentially offer more opportunities to practice the movement.
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The phases in base building will be somewhat built around Prilepen’s table. I write “somewhat”
because it may not adhere to the chart exactly at times. AGAIN, it is just a guideline and not
something written in stone.
For example, Phase I in bench starts with 5x8@ 70%. That’s 40 total reps with pressing. I’ve always felt that people can do more volume on it than they can with lower body movements
that take a larger systemic toll, and tax the hips and low back, which take longer to recover
as well. There are adjustments made in the phases.
As with most things involved in training, there are no hard and fast rules. There aren’t a lot of
absolutes in weight training. If you want to get bigger, you eventually have to do “more” of
something, more volume, more weight, and more reps.
Something has to increase in the scope of what your body is capable of handling.
That “thing” can be achieved in many different fashions. This is why I use Prilepen’s table above
to set a guideline, and not a rule. These things can always be adjusted as needed by/for the
individual. This is also why I have included waving, tapering, and de-loading into the mix. All of
those things are valuable tools in finding the optimum training methodology for you.
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Back work and the barbell row:
The true big #4
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One thing that I feel has gotten lost in the last few years in power lifting is the importance of back work. I mean
hard, heavy, brutal back work.
For decades, doing lots of a back work was a staple in the strength training arsenal. Powerlifters and strongmen patterned building a big back the same way bodybuilders did. Lots of
barbell rows, Lat pull downs, chins, and shrugs. These men were Alpha, got more play from
women, totaled bigger, drove awesome whips, and instilled a greater amount of fear in others
than the average man.
However, the last decade, I’ve seen more and more guys think of back work as an afterthought. Something that is done after they do dead-lifts or bench and it is usually something
to the tune of….
Band Pull Aparts - a bunch
I don’t care what that guy dead-lifts or squats, or how strong he is, that is NOT adequate back
work.
Even more, I’ve seen many guys now simply say that doing Pull Aparts everyday was either
enough, or was “great for building the back”.
Band pull aparts might be great for what it does, like helping to build scapular retraction. But
building a strong, jacked, and capable back is not one of them. A back capable of moving
600 and 700 pound squats and dead-lifts with ease is not built with band pull aparts. In fact, if
you do Band Pull Aparts as a significant part of your back work, to borrow from the vernacular
of my friend and world record holder, Jamie Lewis, you should just kill yourself.
The last few years I’ve seen the “big 4” pitched as the bench press, dead lift, squat, and overhead press. And I’ve had a paradigm shift in my thinking in regards to that. I think the big 4
should really be the bench press, dead lift, squat, and barbell row. That’s right, the barbell row.
And I will tell you why.
Big shoulders are an awesome thing. Being able to overhead press a tremendous amount of
weight is always an impressive feat to watch. However, something most of us should strive to
achieve is a back made of thick slabs of muscle that carry over to literally everything you do.
It provides a stronger and more capable shelf for the squat to sit on. It helps pick up that monstrous dead lift. It gives a bigger, broader, and more stable base to bench press from. It will also
carry over for all of the same reasons for the overhead press.
It is this reason that the barbell row will be a staple throughout all of the routines in this manual,
and I suggest that you take your barbell rowing serious. Let’s talk about rowing and the few
different ways to implement it.
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Strict Barbell Row:
This is done with the back parallel to the ground, and it never moves from that position. The
lower back is arched fairly hard, and the bar is pulled into the area just about an inch below
the pec line. The bar rests on the floor between each rep. Once you’re in position, you pull it
off the floor into the upper abs, and then return it to the floor, never moving position. There is
no heaving or “cheating”. This is the toughest of all the barbell rows in my opinion.
Pluses: Forces the lifter to focus on the rhomboids and mid-back. Teaches the lifter how to
arch correctly, and what scapular retraction feels like.
Minuses: Limits the amount of weight to be used by a significant margin compared to the
other barbell rows. The top end of the weight to be used, if the form is maintained, will be
limited.
Traditional Barbell Row: This is the row guys have used for decades to build a thick, solid,
and tight back. With the traditional barbell row, you lift the barbell off of the floor a few inches,
are a little more upright than in the strict row, and there can be some, SOME, cheating allowed
in it. When I write cheating, I mean some body movement to get the bar moving is allowed. It
should not turn into an epileptic seizure however. It’s the barbell ROW, not the barbell HEAVE.
Nor should you be so upright that you are essentially doing shrugs. If you want to do shrugs, do
shrugs. Do not get so upright in the barbell row that the bar is moving only a few inches and
bastardize the movement. This drives me fucking crazy. With the traditional barbell, you lift the
bar off the ground, and just as with the strict row, pull it into the abdominal area. Unlike the
strict row, you will be more inclined to pull the bar in the lower abdominal area than the upper
ABS. This is due to having to hold the bar in the correct position (hanging straight down from
the arms with the torso slightly more upright).
Pluses: Allows for more overload than the strict row. Brings in a little more of traps since the
angle is slightly more upright than the strict row.
Minuses: Generally gets turned into a circus act of some kind, with guys trying to date rape
the bar.
Yates Row: This is essentially a barbell row done with a curl grip, and the upper body at an even
higher angle than the traditional barbell row. More like 70 degrees. This movement is named
after multi-time Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yates, who had a back that would make a Silverback embarrassed to show himself around his troop. The Yates row is great at really bringing the lower
lats into play. This is the movement Dorian used predominantly in his training until he tore his
bicep with it. Yes, he tore his bicep with it. It is obvious that you are using a curl grip here, you
are going to want to be cognizant of not getting too heavy with this movement. Remember,
you’re back building here. No one has to do rows at a meet, so keep the ego in check.
Pluses: Really helps to develop the lats better than other rowing because of the mechanics of
it.
Minuses: Can tear biceps if one gets stupid with the amount of weight being used.
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Someone very interested in total back development might be inclined to use all three versions
from time to time. One could even base an entire back workout around those three variations.
Do a strict barbell row, a barbell row, then a Yates row. Two hard working sets of each would
give you a lot of work from top to bottom in the back. Top it off with some chins and shrugs and
this could develop a back that makes people stop in awe.
Back Building Options
One way to get in more back work is to train it twice a week. You can train chin and pull down
variations on one day, and row variations on the other. Here is how you could set this up.
Day 1 - Bench and
Bench - BBM
Incline - 350 Method
Chins V-Bar - 8x5 bodyweight
Lat Pull downs Wide Grip - 5x8 to a top heavy set
Day 2 (later in the week) - Rows
Strict Rows - 2 x 5
Barbell Rows - 2 x 8
Yates Row - 2 x 8
Cable Rows - 4 x 20
This is a solid option. You fit in your squats and pulls during the week between those sessions.
The other option is to go the traditional route and just squeeze it all in on one day.
Back day
Barbell Rows - 4 x 8
DB Rows - 1 x 20-30
Wide Grip Chins - 5 x AMAP
Close Grip Pull downs - 3 x 8
Shrugs - 2 x 20
This is solid as well, and plenty of guys have built barn door wide backs just getting it in once
a week.
Regardless of which one you decide to do, start emphasizing back work more than you have
been. It will pay big dividends in regards to helping your other lifts.
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BASE BUILDING MODELS - I, II, III
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All of the base building models will come in three phases. There is no beginner, intermediate, or advanced phase,
don’t think of them in that way.
Each phase is essentially its own entity, and each lift doesn’t have to be driven at the same
phase level throughout a cycle. This is something that I feel separates the base building model
from many other training methodologies.
Each lift doesn’t usually improve at the same rate. Lots of guys often complain that one or two
lifts are improving, but everything else is stagnant, or has even regressed. For example, you
may start a training cycle at phase I for all three lifts; however one lift may start exploding in
terms of speed and progress, while another one remains stagnant.
The lagging lift may then need to be moved into phase II, while the exploding lift that is kicking
ass can remain in the current phase.
“Would not I move the exploding lift into another phase?”
If speed is improving every week, while another lift is lagging, then keep doing what you are
doing for the lift that is improving, and evaluate if you need to wave back on the other lift,
taper it, or move to a different phase.
If a lift seems to be improving weekly in terms of speed and explosiveness, don’t change anything with haste. If a phase is going awesome then milk that out for as long as possible. Reduce
the time between sets until the volume in that phase is just a joke, and you have no option
except to move up to something more demanding.
Let me emphasize this again. Milk out a phase as long as possible until it seems like a joke every
week. Until you have no option but to go heavier because shit is ridiculous.
The lagging lift may need to be moved into a different intensity zone, like in phase II or III.
It is also possible that you programmed the lagging lift too high, and that is why you are struggling more often than not to improve. There’s no right answer for every solution. I am giving you
the answers as to how I brainstorm through plateaus when I find myself in them.
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BASE BUILDING BENCH PRESS MODELS
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BB Bench I - 85%x1, 75% x 5x8
This is the starting point and where I left my bench for months and months. This took my EDM
of 365 close-grip, to 405. Again, at a 365 EDM my peak had been almost always around 430.
Once I got to the point that the sets of 5x8 were all very easy and explosive, I modified it into
phase II.
This is also a great break in phase for most people as it doesn’t beat the shit out of you, but gets
in plenty of work in the lowest of intensities.
BB Bench II 90%x1 85%x3x5, 75%x3x5, 60%xAMAP
Here, the volume and intensity gets upped. I also added in a back off set of AMAP (as many
as possible) instead of doing more sets. I felt like I needed to chase a rep PR number at this
point, and it served me well. This offers a nice change of pace from phase I and lets you get
after the final set to set a benchmark for progress, other than just bar speed.
BB Bench III 95%x1 90%x3x3, 80%x5x5, 70%xAMAP
This was the model I used as the last phase before meet prep. The intensity is the highest, and
the overall volume increases slightly. This is a great phase to use if your bench has been in the
shitter for a very long time. Phase III is VERY demanding. Generally, even with me pushing at a
hard pace, it took me about an hour (including warm ups) to get this work in.
You can use each phase for as long as possible, or you can wave through the phases as you
see fit. For example, you can use phase I in week 1, and phase II in week 2, then go back to
phase I for week three and repeat.
Obviously you can phase through each on a weekly basis.
Week 1 - BBM Bench Phase I
Week 2 - BBM Bench Phase II
Week 3 - BBM Bench Phase III
Week 4 - repeat
I know that MOST guys will want to do this. However I STRONGLY urge you to milk each phase
for as long as possible until each one becomes absurdly easy. Each phase can benefit you.
Don’t rush into another phase without full exhausting your capabilities on the current one.
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BASE BUILDING SQUAT MODELS
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BB Squat I 75%x1, 60%x5x5 in 15 minutes or less
This is the introduction to base building squatting. This is what I settled on from both the writing
of Sam Byrd and Fred Hatfield. The only difference is that I obviously add in the single at 75%.
After that you get to work on the 5x5. Be fast and explosive. If you do this right, you should be
fucking worked. This is “not” easy work. If you explode as forcefully as you can, and rest as little
as possible, that 60% for 5x5 should be plenty of work for a very long time.
BB Squat II 80%x1, 70%x3x3, 60%x3x5 in 20 minutes or less
Here I “stole” some volume from phase I, and applied it to the 70% for 3 sets of triples of course
not until after the 80% single. After the 3x3, it is back to 60% for 3x5. All of this work is to be done
in the 20 minutes or less time span. Again, as hard as possible, with as much force as you can
generate.
BB Squat III 80%x1, 85%x1, 90%x1, 60%x8x5 in 30 minutes or less
Here we are back to 60% for sets of 5; however it is a significant number of sets at 8 total. The
key here is getting this in, in 30 minutes or less, 25 is actually preferable. Obviously the other
addition is the three ascending singles at 80, 85, and 90% respectively. This phase is quite the
monster. It is imperative that you are smart in your programming in order to not get burned
out from it. Concentrate on being explosive and cramming all of the work in, in a short period.
Force your body to adjust to the volume and pace.
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BASE BUILDING DEAD LIFT MODELS
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BB Dead Lift for pullers under 500 5x3 @ 80%
This is pretty straight forward. If you’re pulling under 500, then warm up to 80% of your EDM, and
blast out 5 sets of 3 with it, really focusing on speed, and getting your hips through from the
start of the movement. It is imperative that you get these mental cues in early to facilitate the
process of learning proper technique early.
BB Dead Lift II for pullers between 500 and 600 1x3 @ 70%, 1x3 @ 75%, 1x3 @ 85%, 3x3 @
70%
I really like Phase II, and use it for meet prep. Think of it like 2 warm ups, and 1 set at the end
(the 85%) that you’re working towards getting faster at. After that you get in your practice
work with the 3x3 @ 70%. 70% shouldn’t be so taxing that it causes too much in the way of inroads to recovery, but heavy enough to get some real carry over to the big stuff.
BB Dead Lift III - rotational for pullers over 600
• Week 1 - 1x3 @ 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%
• Week 2 - 1” deficit dead-lifts 1x3 @ 70%, 1x3 @ 75%, 1x3 @ 85-100%, 2x3 @ 70%
• Week 3 - off / no dead lifting (back work in place of it)
• Week 4 – repeat
This is the routine I used most of my off season. And I had several other guys use it with great
success as well. The “light” week you simply work up to 75% for a triple. The next week, you go
to deficits and again, focus on busting that 85% triple as the main work.
There is some auto regulation built into this part of the program. If you’re having a spectacular
day and want to take a shot at a triple with your EDM, then go after it. Just don’t press past
it. This offers up some wiggle room in terms of intensity. Some guys do a little better with going
slightly heavier in the pull than others.
One way to determine this is to ask yourself is if you pulled something “heavy” (for you) and
then your dead lift took a dive for a few weeks after that. More than likely, you’re not someone
who recovers as fast from pulling heavy. If that’s the case, then keep your intensity in that 85%
for the triple.
Afterwards, two back off sets for triples on the same deficit.
As for the deficit itself, keep it small. Literally, like a 45 pound plate. About an inch is ideal.
The reason is because the higher you get off the ground, the more the mechanics of the pull
changes. And then there’s not always the certainty you will get carryover to pull off of the
floor. There’s not need to go into a big deficit in order to make the start of the ball harder. The
inch or so will in fact make a difference, yet the mechanics will not be different enough so that
the S.A.I.D. principle is negated.
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Even more on guidelines That’s the phases laid out for you. I again emphasize that they are guidelines. You may find
that one phase works incredibly well for you and another not as much at the time. You may be
a dead lifter with a 600 dead lift that does in fact benefit from Phase I for a while but nothing
is set in stone here, just recommendations that have worked for me and lots of people I have
helped get stronger.
As with anything in life, some testing will be required on your part in order to take full advantage of the guidelines that have been laid out in front of you. Do not rush through a phase.
Milk it properly for a long time, and see what it gives back to you.
“How can I tell if a phase is making me stronger, Paul?”
That is Easy. Periodically work up to your EDM on a good day as per auto-regulation talked
about earlier. If you are moving it with more speed and ease than you ever have before, then
it is working. I do not suggest working up to a true max in the gym, however if you’re having a
monstrous day, a real +10%, and feel like going for it to see how your training is progressing, I
cannot tell you not to. My suggestion there is to take a shot at something about 10% more than
your EDM and go from there.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
Becoming a better scientist and
knowing what phase you should
transition into
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You and you alone, are going to have to come to an understanding of what your body and your systems need in
order to move forward, from a stimulus level, to improve. It is imperative that you keep good logs, program in
an effective manner, and pay attention to how your body reacts, regresses, and responds to each level of the
training stimulus.
Every program out there in some way, shape, or form is cookie cutter because it cannot be
tailored to meet the needs of every single individual. However at the same time, as the saying
goes, we’re not all special snowflakes. We know what works from a training standpoint, for the
majority of people out there. There will be genetic outliers on both ends of the spectrum. More
than likely, you’ll be able to become as good as you ever could following all of the principles
that have worked for the last 60+ years.
You as an individual need to bestow the responsibility upon yourself, to be introspective enough
and honest enough, to make changes in your programming as you see fit. As you see that
it will benefit you. If you aren’t far along enough in your training to be able to do that, then
follow the guidelines set in front of you with the base building model. If you have a substantial amount of training under your belt however, follow the guidelines, and then makes small
changes here and there, based on what you find yourself responding to.
Keep in mind also, that just because a change that benefits you at the moment may not be
the road you need to stay on forever. In fact, it probably will not be. Everything in training has
a point of diminishing returns and eventually you will have to make small or subtle changes
once again. This will be an ever repeating part of your training journey.
This is also what base building is about as well. Have a methodology of training design in place.
Then make minor changes to those methodologies that are beneficial for you. The foundation
of it will always be what you are basing those changes around, you aren’t overhauling the
program. Adding in a back off set here or there, as you see fit, doesn’t change the entire paradigm of the program. Just don’t make changes without a reason, and don’t make wholesale
changes when you do.
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Transaction ID: 39Y735273F371520M
FATIGUE SINGLES
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One of the staples in my training philosophy has been doing an over-warm up, and then come back to the working sets that are at a lower intensity. This is something I found worked excellent years ago, and have always
implemented it as part of my training strategy. Base building is cemented in lower intensities, I found I often
didn’t need to do over warm ups as much. Mainly because I was often doing lots of sets with sub-max weights,
and the more sets I did, the more “in groove” I felt. I could avoid going even heavier, just by sticking with the
work sets.
This was a scenario that played out well on nights where when I got to the gym, I didn’t feel
great, or feel at my best. Yet after 3 or 4 sets at my working weight, I suddenly felt very good.
What I would do during those sessions is, I would do my over warm up singles AFTER all of my
working sets.
For example, on bench if I were slated to do 315 for 5 sets of 8, but my elbows were hurting,
and I didn’t feel like doing the over warm ups, I would just stick with the 315 and get my work
in. However if after, I felt lathered up I might then do the scheduled over warm ups, and hit
singles at 365, 385, and 405, etc whatever.
The best part about this is, you’re in a fatigued state. So one way you can “PR” is to judge the
speed of your fatigue singles, and try to get faster on those after the work sets.
This is a great way to keep your working weight
s low, yet still get some “strain” in. You could run training this way for a long time, and work on
building up your post fatigue singles until you’re basically hitting your EDM as a post fatigue
single. Once you can hit your EDM in a PF single with great speed, there will be NO DOUBT that
your baseline of strength has increased significantly. The best part about it all is that you didn’t
have to add more weight on the bar to get stronger, to KNOW that you’re stronger without
actually testing new maxes. That’s a win all the way around.
Setting up Fatigue Singles Base Building With the traditional over warm-up method, you work up over your working weight, and then
come back down to it. It doesn’t have to be an astronomical amount over that working weight
for it to be effective. With PF singles however, you are already warm, so the purpose here is to
gauge speed on upper intensities in a fatigued state, and base progress off of that.
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With all of these numbers based off of your EDM here is how I would set this up:
Fatigue Singles Bench Press PF Phase I
75% x 5x8 - 80%x1, 85%x1, 90%x1
102
Phase 2
80%x5x5 - 85%x1, 90%x1, 95-100%x1
Fatigue Singles Squat PF Phase I
60%x5x5 - 70%x1, 80%x1, 90%x1
PF Phase II
60%x8x5 - 75%, 85%, 95%
Fatigue Singles Dead lift For dead lifting I set this up a little different because I almost always have the programming
for dead lift in an ascending pattern. For pulling I simply recommend for everyone to do the
Fatigue Singles.
Deadlift - 3x3 @ 75% - 80%x1, 85%x1, 90%x1
Because the dead lift tends to take away a little more than it gives back (in terms of recovery)
the volume is a bit lower overall here, and there’s no pulling at the 100% range for the EDM.
Again, if you can smoke 90% of your EDM in a fatigued state, like it was a warm up, your baseline strength went up.
“Paul, why not use over warm ups, and Fatigue Singles as well?”
Over warm ups and Fatigue singles are used for two different reasons.
Fatigue singles offer an option for when you come in, and you’re not feeling your best, yet
after getting in the base work, you feel better and want to gauge your speed in a fatigued
state. The over-warm up is to mainly prime the system to be more efficient when you come
back down the ladder. Could you go back up it after that? Sure. But eventually the volume
intensities are going to short circuit the recovery process. You can still use the fatigue singles
base method even if you feel good. There’s no rule against that. I would just pick one method
or the other and not try to combine the two.
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Three components that are key to
making progress: Deloading,
Tapering, Waving
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Since fatigue just is not about intensity loads (% of 1RM) we still must be mindful of volume and frequency in
regards to it as well. For example, if a perceived intensity effect is thrown in there will almost assuredly be
a sharp curve into fatigue, and a differ hole to climb out of, recovery wise.
Once you start doing forced reps or negatives or strip sets, you’re introducing more fatigue
into the equation. Now something must give in order to still make sure that the downward
curve of fatigue is still met with a sharp up curve of recovery. This is something you saw in 365 in
phase 1 using the strong-15. That the assistance work has to take a sharp turn down once the
intensity load starts to rise. Likewise, now when you turn the perceived intensity up, the volume
of the big lifts must take a downturn.
Our programming has to account for the overall load across the training spectrum, and in life.
That means managing recovery through the things we do outside the gym (more sleep, less
stress), and the way we spend our time in the gym, when we find ourselves in recovery debt
for too long (the common term for overtraining).
De-loading I am not a fan of pre-planned de-loads. I never have been. The traditional de-load schedule
generally went something like this....
• Week 1 - train
• Week 2 - train
• Week 3 - train
• Week 4 - de-load
Personally, this never made any sense to me.
I feel like anyone should be able to train for 6 weeks at MINIMUM without a break. Three weeks
of training is really nothing, and I could never figure out why someone would need a break
after three weeks. I wonder if these guys are the same ones that had commitment issues with
women and felt the need to change girlfriends every month as well.
I can remember training for months and months on end, all out every session, three to four
times a week. I mean, taking every set to failure and then doing rest/pause and going heavy
as hell for high reps. I made a tremendous amount of progress during these times because my
will to get better, and get stronger/bigger was very strong.
I did all of the necessary things I needed to do in order to make that happen. My sleep was on
point for months, my eating was solid, my desire was like a raging inferno that burned me up
inside. I reached this point because I had been in a state of stagnation for so long, that I pretty
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much willed myself to get better. I didn’t want to take a break because mentally, I never felt
like it. My body felt good, and my mind was focused. For the life of me, I could not comprehend guys taking a week off, or a down week after only three weeks of training.
It was during this time that it really hit home to me, that the longer you can stay in the gym
without taking a break, the faster progress will come. I know it seems like a “duh, no shit” revelation however really grokking that entire philosophy became paramount.
Progress, meaningful progress, is generally seen when you can string out long
training cycles.
You build a big base by staying in the gym for as many weeks, months, and years as possible
without a break. Even if you aren’t progressing as fast as you’d like, being in the gym and putting in HONEST hard work will eventually net you progress.
Is there a time to take a break, of course?
Being full, and being hungry Take a moment to think of a time when you ate so much you regretted it. It is probably sometime during Thanksgiving or Christmas or some other holiday associated with eating until your
guts felt as if they would explode.
Afterwards you generally unbutton your pants, go sit on the couch, and succumb to the food
coma.
I think everyone has experienced this a few times in their life. That point where you literally
could not put another piece of anything in your mouth. You are as full as you can tolerate. It
is not a pleasurable feeling. Certainly the thought of trying to cram more food into an already
overloaded stomach doesn’t seem like a great idea. I’ve always felt like mentally, training
is far more productive when you’re hungry rather than full. The days where you are antsy to
squat or dead lift, or press heavy. Generally it is during those days, weeks, and months that the
most significant progress is made. There is a great balance of stimulus and recovery that keeps
you “hungry enough” so that mentally, and physically, you don’t find yourself wanting to go
lie down on the couch.
However it is inevitable that if you train long enough, you’ll find yourself dozing off into a “carb
coma” of training. It is that moment when you’re loading the barbell and you realize, you’ve
been going hard at it for months now, and you’d rather be anywhere else than the gym right
now.
You’re full.
When you reach those phases where you are no longer “hungry”, then you should take a
break from training.
Losing your hunger means losing your zest and enthusiasm for being in the gym and giving real
effort. Some will tell you to push through this, and that you need to “quit being a little bitch”.
I cannot tell you how many advanced guys I know that have fallen prey to this advice when
they were younger and regretted it later. There will always be times over your training life that
you need to give the body some room to grow. This cannot happen without rest.
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To add a caveat to that however, you need to put things into perspective. If sleep is good,
and eating is on point, you’re not missing lifts, and you haven’t been training very long since
a previous layoff, then yeah you may just need to cowboy up or chalk it up to a bad day at
the weight pit. However if you have not felt hungry for weeks on end, then it is a good time to
take that nap, and let hunger eventually restore itself.
When you reach the point where you’d rather be at home grinding your ass grooveinto the
couch than loading the bar, and this feeling lasts for a week or two, you have two options.
You can de-load, taper, or wave.
Tapering –
Tapering in the base building model means you will essentially cut training in half, and return
to week 1 of your base building programming until bar speed returns.
If week 1 of your programming had you using 350 for an EDM on bench then this is how the first
week of tapering would look.
Bench – 1x1 @ 350 (EDM), 1x8 or AMAP @ 245
For squats you’d simply cut the 5x5 to a 2x5. For Dead-Lifts you would cut it back to 1x3 instead
of 3x3.
Stay with this lowered volume approach until you feel bar speed and explosiveness return on a
regular basis. When bar speed starts returning you have two options as well. You can increase
volume back to the normal base building model with more volume, or you can stay with tapering by keeping the sets low, but move up the base building ladder in terms of intensity.
You’d simply go through the normal 10 week base building phase in terms of intensity used, but
the volume would be half of what the normal model presents.
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Example of a tapering model –
Squat 1x1 @ 65% 60% 2x5
1x1 @ 65% 60% 2x5
1x1 @ 65% 60% 2x5
1x1 @ 65% 60% 2x5
1x1 @ 70% 60% 2x5
1x1 @ 70% 60% 2x5
1x1 @ 75% 70% 2x4
1x1 @ 75% 70% 2x4
1x1 @ 80% 70% 2x4
1x1 @ 85% 80% 2x3
Dead lifts 1x3 @ 77%
1x3 @ 77%
1x3 @ 77%
1x3 @ 80%
1x3 @ 80%
1x3 @ 80%
1x3 @ 83%
1x3 @ 83%
1x3 @ 85%
1x3 @ 85%
Bench - All reps paused
1x1 @ 85% 1x8 or AMAP @ 75%
1x1 @ 85% 1x8 or AMAP @ 75%
1x1 @ 85% 1x8 or AMAP @ 75%
1x1 @ 85% 1x8 or AMAP @ 75%
1x1 @ 85% 1x8 or AMAP @ 75%
1x1 @ 85% 1x8 or AMAP @ 75%
1x1 @ 90% 1x3 @ 85% 1xamap @ 75%
1x1 @ 90% 1x3 @ 85% 1xamap @ 75%
1x1 @ 90% 1x3 @ 85% 1xamap @ 75%
1x1 @ 90% 1x3 @ 85% 1xamap @ 75%
Tapering Frequency The other part of tapering is training frequency. Drop training back to twice a week. Squat and
pull on one day, bench and incline/overhead press on the other with a row for 4x10 light.
That’s it, nothing else.
De-loading is a “no-de-load, de-load”. In the traditional sense of de-loading, you do something similar to tapering but you cut the intensity in half and stay in the gym the same number
of days that week. Tapering is to allow for more recovery days, but keep the working intensity
equal, so that the body has more time to climb out of fatigue but training stays at the same
intensity level. You might say that is splitting hairs; however, I believe that tapering is a better
option than the traditional de-load. The “no de-load, de-load” is where you get out of the gym
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completely. No lifting, nothing light, just out of the gym for a physical and mental break.
Take a break until you feel that hunger to train hard return. That may be 3 days, or 10 days. In
the grand scheme of things, 10 days off is nothing and often times it will do you more good
than continuing to train. After you taper, you have a few options. If you still feel tired, or your
mental enthusiasm is lacking for weeks on end, do the no-de-load de-load. If I had to guess,
more often than not, you’ll need to take the time off.
Waving –
One of the most common methods that guys use to program is to run a cycle for a certain
period of time, then start over at a higher weight than they had programmed for in the previous cycle.
It is certainly an option, and a viable one yes and so is running the same programming cycle
back to back. If you finished the first cycle with a triple or set of five that was tough as nails to
grind out, but the second time you run said cycle you destroy that triple or set of 5 with a speed
that is bordering on violent, did you not get stronger? One of the basic principles of the base
building model is to move heavier and heavier weights with greater and greater speed. I unknowingly used to use this method when I was younger with great results. I would set a certain
weight in my head, and work towards that weight. However I would make a deal with myself
that I would not move past that weight, until I “owned” it, i.e. I could rep it effortlessly.
Lots of lifters get lost in the weight on the bar mentality, or “weight on the bar at all costs!”
Listen, I’m all for getting more weight on the bar, and at some point you have to load the bar.
Generally you want those times to be on the platform, or nearing the end of a peaking cycle.
However during the in-between times, a solid idea is to set “owned” weight goals where you
destroy weights at certain rep ranges.
Don’t be afraid to repeat cycles, or “back track” a cycle a few weeks and work back up to
whatever you hit near the end of it again but with greater speed. There are many ways to
gauge strength and access PR’s. Don’t fall into the dogma of thinking just making a certain
weight for X reps is the only way to do that. Weight X reps @ speed Z is also a way to set new
“PRs”. De-load if you start feeling better, increase the volume back the normal base building
standard or
Waving options For waving, there are two options.
• Reprogram at a lesser weight and then over time work back up to where you were
currently programmed at. You simply reprogram down by 5% and continue.
• Wave the weeks. If you were slow on your triples in the latter phase, then wave back
to the 5’s (for squat) or 8’s (bench) for a week. The next week, come back to the 3’s.
If it still feels heavy, wave back into the 8’s again. If you still feel like progress is not
happening, then reprogram and wave back to the first week.
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BEGINNER BASE BUILDING
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I am not going to go into all the technical aspects of each lift in this section, or the rest of this book. I have
done that many times on my website, and in my other books. Not to mention there are tons and tons of books
out there on proper technique and it behooves you to read them, or mine, or get a really good trainer to get
you started on learning the lifts.
Unlike most beginner training models, I do not recommend learning the squat, bench press,
and dead lift all at the same time.
I have my own reasons for that.
• The squat is the most technical of the three lifts to learn, it is best the beginner put
his/her time in the squat first since it also has carryover to the dead lift. Squatting should
be done twice a week early on when the trainee doesn’t have a large amount of
muscle mass, thus recovery needs are easily met.
• I prefer the incline press because you simply lie down, and press. There is no setup to
worry about, and people tend to get their wrist and elbow alignment more naturally
than in bench pressing. Plus the incline press gives carry over to both the standing
press and flat press. That’s win/win right out of the gate.
• I prefer that guys/gals concentrate on and spend a lot of time developing back
mass and strength early. Two movements that are easy to learn and progress on,
rows and chins
• Progression tends to make training fun, and when training is fun people tend to stay
with it.
• Trying to get a novice to learn all the nuances of three lifts can cause frustration and
the cessation of training because of it.
• Training should be hard AND fun.
I don’t have beginners do programming in training because their rate of progress tends to be
very quick at first. It is too much of a moving target, also because it is far more important to
focus on just learning the movements than loading weight on the bar.
Often times the things we learn early in our lifting can be the things that cause us to get stuck
at a later point. Poor technique is usually the primary one. It is vitally important to establish
good habits early, and learn right out of the gate that constantly perfecting technique is going to be an ongoing process for your ENTIRE LIFTING LIFE.
After 25 years I still have days where I am out of sync, don’t set up correctly, mis-groove a
bench, get on my toes during a squat, etc. It is annoying, but it is part of lifting. It is vitally important that you start developing good technique early, and come to an understanding that
reinforcing technique is something that never goes away. You will constantly be trying to get
better in this regard. As long as you train, this will be the case. It is best to get in the practice
of this early.
Another reason why it is important to come to terms with this, is because as a beginner, if you
rush to get weight on the bar too early, you will end up developing bad habits to move heavier
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weights, that will get reinforced over and over again. At some point down the line, these bad
habits will end up being handicapped or something that causes an imbalance muscularly
that gets/keeps you injured.
Either way, what you want to focus on early is developing solid technique, and reinforcing
good technique over and over for as long as possible before you really start worrying about
loading up the bar.
Beginner Frequency and Volume Lots of programs have beginners training only three times a week; however I honestly feel like
because beginners aren’t very qualified as lifting or strength athletes, they should probably do
more, and train more.
I generally have beginners train 4 days a week. Beginners aren’t strong enough or technical
enough to cause a real dent into the fatigue zone. Training more often tends to speed up
progress quite dramatically for beginners. They get more chances to squat, press, and row.
Subsequently they learn the movements faster, get stronger at a more rapid rate, and training
enthusiasm stays high.
Of course, as the trainee becomes more qualified he will need to take rest and recovery into
account; however until the start pressing 300, squatting 400, and dead lifting 500 on a semi
regular basis, there’s no reason not to train 4-6 times a week.
Beginner routine in detail There are two squat days. Both entail a 10,8,5,4,3,2,1 warm up. This means warm up to a nice,
crisp top single. After that you do your “work”. On day 1 it is 3x10 and on day 2, it is 5x5. Just
pick a weight that moves smoothly. You should feel “worked” after those sets; however your
form should not be crumbling under the load of it.
An example might be barx10, 95x8, 115x5, 135x4, 155x3, 175x2, 195x1, 135x3x10
On the 5x5 day you might do 155x5x5
Lunges and 1 legged work Lunges and 1-legged work is great for everyone, but especially beginners because it can
keep imbalances at bay, or correct them, and helps with balance. It is good for a beginner
to start using one legged work right away, and to understand the importance of it. Most guys
don’t do enough one legged work.
Decline Sit-Ups and Ab Wheel Having strong Abs is very important. Abs are what “brace” your torso, and gives stability to
your entire body during close chained standing movements like squats, and dead-lifts. Training
them is important as well. If you cannot get all 3 sets of 20 for the decline sit ups, that’s ok. Stick
with it until you can. Same applies for the Ab wheel. It will be hard at first, but eventually you’ll
be knocking them out like Mike Tyson did tomato cans.
Incline Press I love the incline press. I think it is the most underrated of all the presses. For most guys it gives
carry over to both the overhead press, and flat press. However guys tend to get locked into
only doing overhead and flat press when training for strength. They are missing out, because
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the incline press allows for heavy, but less technical, pressing work. Bring the bar down high
on the chest, and press. That’s about it. I will add that I do not bring the bar all the way down.
I stop it about an inch above the chest. This has been far more shoulder friendly to me than
bringing it all the way down to the chest. When I did that in the past, my shoulders complained
very loudly to me about it. I cut the ROM slightly short, and never had any more issues in that
regard.
Rows In my opinion the three best rows are the dumbbell, barbell, and cable row. I like T-bar rows,
however I have found that more often than not, guys stand almost upright with them, essentially turning it into a trap movement, and fail to use the row what It is meant for, building a
strong, thick back.
Lots of guys cheat too much on the barbell row as well, and while you can get a little sloppy
with the barbell row, I mainly advise that you keep it fairly strict, and not be in a rush to add
weight while sacrificing form.
Cable rows are awesome in that you can really concentrate on squeezing the mid-back together, and you don’t have to worry a lot about positioning or technique. Think of it as the incline press of rowing. Stretch it out, and then pull the elbows back and squeeze it all together,
it is pretty simple.
I actually am not a huge fan of the dumbbell row because for me personally, it never felt like
it was working my back and as well as the other two movements, but for the majority of guys I
know that is not the case. Rather than use my own bias in picking the movements, I’ll defer to
the masses this time.
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General Outline For Beginners Day 1 Squats - 10,8,5,4,3,2,1 - 3x10
Lunges - 3x10
Decline Sit Ups - 3x20
Day 2 Incline Press - 8x8
DB/T-Bar/Cable Row - 8x8
Chins - 5x AMAP
Day 3 -Off
Day 4 Squats - 10,8,5,4,3,2,1 - 5x5
1-Legged Squats - 5x10
Ab Wheel - 3x10
Day 5 Incline Press - 5x5
DB/T-bar/Cable Row - 5x10
Chins - 5x AMAP
Day 6 - off
Day 7 - off
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Plateaus Obviously plateaus are the black plague of training, and nothing sucks worse than being stuck
at a certain weight, body weight, or body fat for an extended period of time. Nothing sucks
worse than busting ass for weeks or months on end with nothing to show as the fruits of your
labor. Some of the main reasons this happens to people are the following...
- Not staying with a routine long enough
- Staying with the same routine too long
- Improper programming, i.e. too light or too heavy
- Training too often
- Not training often enough
- Poor nutritional habits
- Poor sleeping habits
- External training stress (life)
As you can see, there tends to be a theme here, and that is you have to find the right amount
of balance in the training and life paradigm. Enough training stress with optimal recovery will
produce results. Too much stress, whether that be training and/or life, without enough recovery will short circuit the process of increasing the baseline of strength.
- Training often enough to stimulate growth/strength
- Recover enough to allow super compensation to happen
- Knowing when to change up the training intensity / volume
- Programming properly in accordance with said intensities and volume
- Getting a handle on the external stress outside of the gym
Some of these things will be harder to figure out than others. There’s no reason to be dogmatic
in the scope of thinking about your training. You should always be open to trying new things,
but also have a good built in filter about what seems logical and what does not.
A lot of people that do in fact stick to routines for a very long time get stuck in a rut. They don’t
know when it is time to transition into a different method or stimulus. They get stuck because
they don’t understand that they have been benching 350 @ 198 for three years, it is probably
not a bench routine that is going to give you what you need. You need to get bigger at that
point, and that may mean more leg and back work to grow. Not just more bench work.
Each training phase that carries you to a new place, may not be what you need to KEEP
DOING, to get to the next level. Volume/base building work will get you to a certain place,
but once the body “settles in” into that you cannot just keep adding volume. Everything has
a point of diminishing returns. At that point you have to ask yourself if you have maxed out
your current potential for volumized training based around a minimal amount of movements
(which is what base building is), and if you need to change what you’re doing. This is not a
question that has to be asked because you haven’t had a good training session in two weeks.
But if you’ve gone months and months with little progress, reassessing could be a real option.
At that point, you may need to structure your training into something where you dial down
the volume, go into “break rep PR’s” mode, and push forward from there. Every training cycle
should do something that not only pushes you a bit forward, but also sets you up for the next
training stimulus/training cycle. Lots of systems build on each other. Going into the USPF Nationals I did months and months and months of shying away from failure, and keeping my
intensities low and doing base building work. Afterwards I switched everything immediately to
low volume, trying to hit the rep PR’s and boy did I. I started hitting PR’s like crazy.
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It was the base building work that built me up for doing that. I knew after the meet, instinctively
that my body did not want to move right back into lower intensity/high volume work. I went
after rep PR’s and BOOM, there they were. The base building work set me up for the rep PR
work. Some people will say “everything works” but this is bullshit, and I hate that saying. Some
methods are shit. After 25 years, I can tell you that. That’s a fact. Not only that, but what does
“work” even mean? Work for “what”? No one has ever quantified this statement because yes,
if you do something and get better at it, it worked. If you are trying to be a better power lifter
and are out practicing tennis and getting better at your backhand, this has nothing to do with
getting better at power lifting.
Everything does not “work”. What works, is what gets you closer to your specific goals.
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BASE BUILDING SPLITS
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2 Days a Week
Some people fret that training twice a week just Is not enough, but the fact is most training splits
have you squatting, pressing, and pulling once a week and work very well with that amount
of frequency, especially for guys that need a little more recovery or are more advanced. If
anything, a twice a week routine would be more ideal for an advanced guy that needs more
recovery and already has a decent foundation that he’s trying to build upon, rather than a
novice.
Twice a week barbell work can also be ideal for a strongman who wants to train his events on
a third day.
One of the benefits of training only twice a week is generally the ability to never take a break.
You should be getting plenty of recovery. I always split the squat and pull up, so that you squat
one week and pull the next. If you’re a novice guy that is not as qualified (meaning, you’re
not that strong yet) I would not recommend this. I’d stay with keeping the squat and dead lift
together every week.
Training twice a week option 1 –
Day 1 –
Squat – BBM
Dead lift – BBM
Split squats – 4x20
Day 2 –
Bench Press – BBM
Incline Press – 350 Method
Barbell Rows – 4x8
Chins – 4 X AMAP
Training twice a week option 2 – Alternating squat and dead lift per week
Day 1 –
Squat/Dead lift (alternate week to week) – BBM
Good Mornings/Front Squats (alternate week to week) – 4x10 light/5x5 @ 60%
Split Squats – 4x20
Day 2 –
Bench Press – BBM
Incline Press – 350 Method
Barbell Rows – 4x8
Chins – 4 X AMAP
Training twice a week option 3 – Pressing twice a week/Squatting twice a week
Day 1 –
Squat – BBM
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Bench - BBM
Barbell Row – 4x10
Curl – 1x100
Day 2 –
Front Squat – 5x5 @ 60%
Dead lift – BBM
Incline Press – 350 Method
Training three times a week Training three times a week has long been a solid standard for training efficiently. There are
two main splits I’ve always used for training three times a week. One is the “man maker” which
I now just call my “standard” split, where you squat and pull on the same day. The other is the
traditional split where you simply bench, squat, and pull on separate days.
Traditional Split Day 1 Day 1 - Bench
Bench - BBM
Incline - 3x8
Side Laterals - 4x10
Triceps - 4x20
Day 2 - Squat
Squat - BBM
Leg Press - 4x10
Lunges - 4x20
Day 3 - Dead lift and Back
Dead lift - BBM
Barbell Rows - 3x8
Chins - 5x7
Curls - 1x100
The Standard This has been the way I have settled on training more times than not. I feel like this split, for me,
gives me the best balance of being able to get a lot of work in, but allow for adequate recovery. A lot of guys can recover very quickly, either because they are not strong enough to tax
recovery reserves hard enough, or because their “supplement” stacks allow them to recover
better.
Obviously, I’m not pointing fingers or disparaging anyone here. I’m just pointing out why some
guys can train with more frequency than others. For me, every time I’ve tried to add in a 4th
day of “big work” (meaning, big compound movements) I find that I’m fatigued more through
the day, need more sleep, and overall don’t feel like training as much. When I scale it back to
three days a week, my enthusiasm always returns.
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Monday - Bench/Incline/Overhead
Bench - BBM
Pec Deck/Incline Fly/Side Laterals - 4x10
Tricep Overhead - 4x10
Curl - 4x10
Wednesday - Squat/Pull
Squat - BBM
Deficit Dead lift - BBM
Leg Press or Stiff Legs - 2x20
Saturday - Back
Barbell Row - 4x8
Lat Pull downs/Chins - 4x8 / 4 X AMAP
Shrug - 5x20
Good Mornings - 4x10
Let me add a caveat to this. I can train 6 days a week, and sometimes even twice a day. IF the
other workouts are “small sessions, (support or accessory work) things like upright rows, curls,
triceps, calves, ABS, etc. If one were so inclined they could drop the support work on bench
day, and move those types of movements to 2 or 3 other days a week. This works well for most
anyone, and these “small sessions” are obviously not hard to recover from.
Day 1 - am
• Lower body support
• Adductor machine - 4x10
• Abs - 4x20
• Calves - 4x10
DAY 1 - pm.
• Heavy Bench - 3x3, 5x5
• Incline DB Press - 4x10
Day 2 - a.m. Upper body support
• Upright rows - 4x20
• Rope pushdowns - 4x20
• Curls - 1 x 100
Day 3 - Squat and Deadlift only
Day 4 - am. Lower body support
• Leg curls - 4x10
• Leg Extension - 4x20
• Abductor machine - 4x10
DAY 4 - PM
• Upper body support
• Side laterals - 4x10
• Bent laterals - 4x10
• Front raises - 1x100
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Day 5 - Heavy Back work
• Barbell Rows - 4x8
• Shrugs - 5x10
• Good Mornings - 4x10 light
One of the things I like about this split is that you can follow up a brutally hard lower body session with some support work, and recover a bit faster. Same for upper body.
This also allows you to fill in the muscular gaps a bit better than limiting yourself to just the big
movements. It is very similar as to how I structure training that is built around mass gain. Both
tend to have similar ideas in mind. And that is, train your big stuff in one session, and all of the
smaller components in another that is not as taxing.
The Zenith – The ultimate base building split
One of the issues with traditional splits is that they generally have you trained the lifts and body
parts equally across the week. When in reality, localized and movement recovery needs to be
taken into account for optimal progress. Across the span of multiple weeks, everything should
be getting equal attention. On just a week to week basis, there should be more of an emphasis on some things, while other movements and muscle groups get a break.
With the Zenith, I addressed these issues by giving attention to certain movements and muscle
groups one week, then a different movement or muscle group the next week. I’ve done rotational splits before. This one is a little different in that I woke up to the fact that your upper back
should be treated with equal importance as anything in your training. Your bench foundation
sits on your back and is supported by your . Your back supports weight in heavy squats, and of
course the back is primarily involved in the dead lift.
Giving the upper back and as much attention as possible is paramount. To echo a common
quote about building a big back, “I’ve seen weak guys with big chests, big arms, big shoulders, and big legs. I’ve never seen a weak guy that had a big back.”
To add to that is the need for big arms. This is not just because curls are for the girls, but also
because virtually every big bencher I’ve ever known had serious pipes. If you want to press
big, well, the arms need some attention as well. The bicep is also responsible for stabilizing the
shoulder and elbow joint in benching, so it is a good idea to have strong biceps as part of the
support structure in your pressing.
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Here is the three week breakdown for The Zenith routine.
Week 1 - press twice/squat heavy/pull light/upper back once
Week 2 - press once/squat twice/no pull/upper back twice
Week 3 - press once/squat once/pull heavy/
Week 1 – Press twice/Squat Once/Deadlift Once (light)/Upper Back Once
Monday – Bench Press/Upper Back
Wednesday - Squat/Deadlift light
Friday – Incline Press or Overhead Press/Arms
Week 2 – Squat twice/Press Once/Upper Back Twice/No deadlifting
Monday - Squat/Upper Back
Wednesday – Bench Press/Arms
Friday - Squat/Upper Back
Week 3 – Press Once/Squat once (light) /Deadlift once (heavy) /Upper Back once
Monday - Overhead press/Arms Wednesday - Squat (light) /Pull heavy 5,4,3,2,1,1,1 1x3@85%
Friday - Upper Back
Repeat schedule
Drawbacks While the Zenith looks awesome on paper, like a football roster loaded with big names that
doesn’t mesh as a team, it still has to deliver where it counts.
Some guys may not be able to recover or may have injuries that will not let them squat three
times in two weeks, or press three times in two weeks. Some people may say that anyone can
do that. I know lots of big strong guys that limit themselves to training the big lifts once a week
because of age, injury history, and recovery ability.
While I think that the majority of guys will be able to run the Zenith and benefit from it tremendously, if you find yourself getting worn the hell out then wave back in your base building, use
a program like “the standard”, and see how things go. You may just be overzealous in your
programming. If it continues, take a no-de-load de-load, and then find a split that lets you recover in a more optimal manner.
The Zenith II - 4 days a week
This has proven to be the most effective split used by people I have trained that want to train
four days a week.
This split is really great for those who generally need a little more upper body work/stimulation,
and respond well to not training lower body as often; or if they don’t recover in the hips, legs,
erectors, etc, as fast.
I have trained a ton of people on this particular split, including several elite level power lifters
that all responded tremendously to it.
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Day 1 - Bench
Bench - BBM
Incline - 350 method
Dips - 5x AMAP
Day 2 - Squat/Pull
Squat - BBM
Deadlift - BBM
Front Squat/Stiff Leg (alternate week to week) - 5x5 / 4x8
Day 3 - Overhead/Shoulders/Triceps
Press Behind the neck/Military - 4x8
Bent Laterals/Rear Delts - 5x20
Upright Rows - 4x12-15
Triceps - 4x25
Day 4 - Back/Biceps
Barbell Rows - 4x8
Shrugs - 4x20
Chins/Wide Grip Pull downs - 4 X A MAP/4x8-10
Curls - 1x100
As you can see, on the first two days, it is the big-3 plus incline, fronts, and stiff legs. The way I
generally work this out is, one week you do two squats (backs and fronts) with one dead lift,
and then the next week you just back squat, and then do dead-lifts with stiff legs. One week
is a little more squat dominant, and the next week dead lift dominant. A great way for an advanced guy to work this along with the BBM for those pulling over 600, is to make sure to base
the weeks you don’t pull around squatting twice.
• Week 1 - squat, front squat, dead lift
• Week 2 - squat, dead lift heavy, stiff legs
• Week 3 - squat, front squat, (optional leg press or split squats), no dead-lifts
If I were going to train 4 days a week, this would absolutely be how I would do it.
This allows you to essentially pour all of your energy into the main lifts on one day, then situate
all of the supportive work on the other days. For guys who really lack of shoulder and back
development, which are both critical in support the squat, bench, and dead lift, this is a great
way to spend the off season essentially cruising on the big lifts, and bringing the lagging areas
up to speed.
Don’t mistake my term there “cruising” as taking it easy. Often times guys find when they back
off of going heavy, and work to “maintain” (as I’ve already written about) they actually end
up getting stronger. This is VERY common.
This is a great split for guys who really need to bring up their upper body, the extra back work
will also carry over to the squat and pull as well. Make no mistake, the back is the most important part of the entire body in my opinion, in terms of lifting big weights in every facet. If you
believe your back strength is not up to par, you need to place a strong emphasis on it (yes, this
is a repeating theme here).
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The minimalist - 5-6 days a week
This split is not something I have undertaken, but can see myself doing if I am going to limit
myself to JUST doing a single main lift. By that I mean, ZERO assistance work at all.
Essentially, this split has you doing upper body one day, and then lower body the next.
Day 1 - Squat BBM
Day 2 - Bench BBM
Day 3 - Front Squat BBM
Day 4 - Incline BBM
Day 5 - Deadlift BBM
Day 6 - Overhead BBM
Day 7 - Off
The short coming here would be that the back would not get the kind of direct work I feel it
needs. This would only be a split I would advise a very advanced lifter use when he may be
past using a lot of assistance work, or really needs to just hammer home the basic work for an
extended period.
This would be the kind of phase one might move into after he had been training in a mass
phase for a few months, and needs to get back to just hammering the movements and the
movements only. It does present a solid option for those pressed for time each day as well.
Strongman Split - Training for strongman
Though I’ve never competed in strongman, I’ve talked with and bounced around ideas with
both amateur and professional strongman for many years now. And while I am no expert in
strongman training, I’ve learned enough from guys that do compete in it, to offer up some
ideas about how one would use the base building methods in order to implement them into
a strongman scheme.
Because strongman competitions can have a wide variety of events you may have to perform, it is important for you to narrow down your barbell movements to ones that are going to
give you as much carryover as possible.
You want your training to be as efficient and economic. The fact remains, you’re just NOT going to be able to become a bad ass on every single thing at the same time. No different than
Powerlifting. It is only three lifts, in most training cycles you’re lucky if 2 are responding well. The
third movement is often stubborn and resistant to progressing.
My base building methods for strongman are to concentrate on the press, the pull, and a
squat variation. The overhead press is a staple of strongman, and so is the pull. The squat is
more of a leg “builder” for strongman, as generally if there is squatting at a competition it is
with some sort of apparatus. The front squat, should be the base squat for most of your squat
training. Not the back squat.
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For strongman Base Building Overhead Press - 8x3 @ 80% @ 60 seconds between sets
Front Squats - 5x5 @ 70% using CAT @ 90 seconds rests between sets.
Deadlifts - Strongman Method Cycle
1 week from 4” blocks - 3x3 @ 80%
1 week from the floor - Phase I, II, III (choose one) of the BBM
1 week from below the knee - to a max triple
1 week no pulls with 2 squat variations (recommended fronts with backs or fronts with an
apparatus, maybe even the smith machine. Don’t cringe.)
My suggestion to find the movements that give you the most carryover to everything, and narrow it down to those.
My own personal suggestion is as follows....
Day 1 - Heavy Press and upper back
Heavy overhead - log/barbell/Viking whatever - BBM
Incline - 350 method
Rows - any variation - 5x8-10
Chins or Pull downs - 5x8-10
Barbell Curls - 1x100
Day 2 - Squats and Deads
Front Squats - BBM
Deadlifts - Strongman Method Cycle
1 week from 4” blocks - 3x3 @ 80%
1 week from the floor - Phase I, II, III (choose one) of the BBM
1 week from below the knee - to a max triple
1 week no pulls with 2 squat variations
Overhead Press - repetition work - 350 method with any press
Day 3 - Event work
Whatever events you need to work on for the competition, you will do on this day. I personally
would pick your best event and get even better at that, and pick your 2 worst events as well.
The reason I say pick your best event and get better at that is because this always gives you a
strength going into the competition. If you’re behind at some point, you know you can rely on
this event to make up for a poor showing in regards to another one.
Pick the two you need the most work on and do those first.
• Worst event - do work
• 2nd worst event - do work
• Best event - get even better
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Conditioning Unlike Powerlifting, strongman generally requires that you be in some semblance of shape,
Cardio wise. You have a few options here, in my opinion.
Use circuit or medley style events to get in both conditioning AND event work, or just do some
conditioning work on off days. Like sprints, prowler or car pushing, or sled work. I will say this.
From talking with two very high level strongmen competitors, they both agreed with me that
a very optimal way to work in conditioning is to simply place it on the backend of a training
cycle AS you de-load.
Here are the reasons why.
It takes far longer to get stronger than it does to get into shape. Therefore you should be
spending the bulk of your training cycle simply working on getting as strong as humanly possible, and not worrying about anything else. It does not take long to get in fairly good shape,
Cardio wise. A few weeks at the most. You can set your training cycle up so that you run your
base building work for weeks/months at a time, then de-load the last couple of weeks before
a competition, and then spend that time working on conditioning while you work in the weight
room to just maintain that base level you had been working on. Essentially you just readjust
your priorities, or how much effort goes into those things, so that you show up as strong as possible and in as good a shape as possible.
An example of a 12 week cycle for a competition:
• Week 1 - Strength Work BBM
• Week 2 - Strength Work BBM
• Week 3 - Strength Work BBM
• Week 4 - Strength Work BBM
• Week 5 - Strength Work - Peaking strong-15
• Week 6 - Strength Work - Peaking strong-15
• Week 7 - Strength Work - Peaking strong-15
• Week 8 - Strength Work - Peaking strong-15
• Week 9 - Strength Work - Peaking strong-15
• Week 10 - Strength Work Maintenance BBM Taper - Ramp Conditioning
• Week 11 - Strength Work Maintenance BBM Taper - Ramp Conditioning
• Week 12 - active rest, steady state Cardio, total de-load
• Week 13 - competition
The peaking work would simply be adjusting the overhead press, front squat, and dead lift to
all use the peaking methods from the strong-15. At week 10 and 11 you would taper the BBM
methods back to half the volume, and ramp the conditioning work over those two weeks.
Whatever method you choose from that is fine. I think you can get into pretty solid condition
by doing HIIT 3 times a week. The last week would be for complete rest, with only a couple of
steady state sessions throw in to aid in overall recovery.
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Full body splits for BBM Full body training goes back to the genesis of weight lifting. In lifting, it was the most common
way to train. It was this way for a very long time until some found that as they got stronger, or
wanted to concentrate on improving specific areas, or movements, it has been often more
efficient to work those on separate days.
Thus body part splits began. Full body training still has plenty of merit. Even for advanced
guys.
From a base building perspective, it can be very ideal as it forces you to narrow down your
training in very simplistic terms, and concentrate on the movements. This is all about what base
building is. If you like full body splits, then I highly recommend using them during your base
building cycles.
My personal preference for laying out a full body split is to squat three times a week, pull once
a week, and press three times a week. I will also lay out a few variations of this where you squat
twice a week, press twice a week, and dead lift once a week.
Full Body Template 1 - Squat 3x week/Press 3x week/Deadlift once
Day 1 - Squat/Bench/Row
Squat - BBM
Bench - BBM
Row - 4x8
Curl - 1x100
Day 2 - Front Squat/Deadlift/Incline
Front Squat - 5x5 @ 60%
Deadlift - BBM
Incline Press - 350 method
Curl - 1x100
Day 3 - Squat/Bench/Chin
Squat - BBM
Bench - BBM
Chin - 5x AMAP
Curl - 1x100
Full Body Template 2 - Squat 2x week/Press 2x week/Deadlift once
This template is for guys who like whole body work, but may have trouble getting all the work
in, or are a little stronger and need a bit more recovery. I’ve massaged around the movements a bit in order to lessen the workload each training session.
Day 1 - Squat/Bench/Row
Squat - BBM
Bench - BBM
Curl - 1x100
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Day 2 - Deadlift
Deadlift - BBM
Barbell Rows - 4x8
Lat Pull Downs - 4x8
Day 3 - Squat/Bench/Chin
Squat - BBM
Bench - BBM
Chin - 5x AMAP
By no means is this anything revolutionary, nor am I pretending for it to be. Whole body training
most certainly has a time and place in training. Beginners can use it (though it personally is not
my preference for beginners), and intermediates can definitely benefit from it.
From an advanced guy standpoint, it can have its place. For example, a couple of times I
came off of major surgery I used full body training in order to get back into the swing of things.
I felt like it was very productive in that regard.
It can also be a great change of pace for the guys that have been going balls out on split
routines for a while. A whole body routine will sort of force you back down a little bit because
you’ll be aware you’ll need to keep some gas in the tank in order to get all of the prescribed
work in for the day.
The drawbacks to whole body training are that essentially you neglect a lot of the “gap”
musculature that gets filled in well with more rounded training. By that I mean you don’t get in
enough movement variation to either keep injuries at bay, or you don’t “fill out” enough from
a muscular standpoint. I’ve heard guys balk at this, but without fail when a guy goes from a
limited movement style of training using a wider variation of movements, his base of mass does
increase. This is exactly why bodybuilders train this way. More complete development from a
muscular standpoint.
That is not the goal when using full body splits, you probably aren’t worried about that when
partaking in one.
Final thoughts on splits I wrote in these splits for this book as a “food for thought” type of thing. Most guys get way too
bound up in the details of a split without the understanding that it is only a guideline or framework. It is NOT gospel. It is not infallible.
Reread those last two sentences 1,000 before you decide you need to ask a question about
a particular training split.
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THE MENTAL SIDE OF TRAINING
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“You approached it like it was heavy…. so it was.” – Ed Coan
The above was a quote that Ed Coan said to me on a Sunday morning in Chicago as we were
about to start the Q&A part of a seminar we were involved in.
The previous night a crew of us had trained at the famous Quad’s gym. Pete Rubish and
I had done some overhead work but Pete, being the great dead lifter that he is, wanted to
do some dead-lifts. I agreed and we decided on 4” deficit pulls, once the other guys we were
with were done pulling.
We warmed up as usual, 135, 22, 5 315, 405. Then got into the heavier stuff.
500 flew up, 550, 585, and 635.
Pete wanted to go to 660 in the final set. I had pulled 655 a few weeks before at the USPF Nationals on a torn groin, but pulling 660 from a deficit like that is significantly harder than from the
floor. Brandon Lilly assured me that “635 was fast, Paul. I’m not saying it was a speed set, but it
was damn easy looking.” And he was right. It was. I ripped 635 like it was nothing.
Pete got on the platform after hitting some nose torque (ammonia), and pulled the 660 for a
grinder. He was then goaded by our crew to pull another with it. He did and it was impressive
because Pete’s first rep looked like a max. Pete is famous for grinding out another rep when it
looks like he will not get another.
I prepared myself to pull the 660. I paced about like a wild animal, shuffling my feet back and
forth, and grunting very slightly under my breath. After a few minutes of this, I hit the small platform, reached down and pulled the slack out of the bar, then dropped my hips and went. It
shot off the floor like it was out of a cannon. And then right at my knees, it died. I mean just
died.
Ernie Lilliebridge Sr., a man and a lifter I respect in all ways that you can respect someone told
me “you were behind the bar the whole time. It should have went.” Brandon thought the bar
was just slightly in front of me. I personally didn’t know why it died after coming off the floor
easily. But Ed did. He told me the next morning after I was whining about missing that lift, when
I wanted it badly.
“You know why you missed it, Paul?” He said to me. “You missed it, because you approached
it like it was heavy. It was. Every pull before that, you walked up to the bar with confidence
and ripped it off the floor. When you got to that last one, you took way too long, and you
psyched yourself out of the lift.” I stood there speechless for a bit.
He was right. It had nothing to do with strength. The 660 shot off the floor because the strength
was there. You see, I’m weakest off the floor. It should have gone. In the back of my mind, I
had convinced myself that the 660 would be hard to get. It was a weight I was not confident in
moving and I didn’t. I saw this same thing transpire a few months later at a UPA meet. The lifter
walked up to his opening dead lift, set up, and ripped it off the floor. He repeated this action
on his second attempt as well. He walked up to it, got set up, and ripped it off the floor.
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On his third attempt, he paced back and forth in the exact manner I did at Quads that day.
He banged his fist into his head, let out a yell, and approached the bar.
I leaned over to the person sitting next to me and said, “He’ll miss this one.” Sure enough, he
did. In fact, he missed it at the same spot I missed my pull at Quads. After the meet, I went up
and talked to him and relayed my story at Quads, and he smiled at me and acknowledged
that he did indeed “talk himself out” of making that pull. That he wasn’t confident when he
walked up to that bar. There’s the key word is not it?
Confidence. Confidence is what helps us elevate our game, our mental approach, our outlook on everything we do.
Manufacturing confidence The reason that a lot of people need to take that time to “psyche up” before an attempt they
are not confident in, is because they are trying to manufacture confidence. They are trying
to draw up something from within them to overcome the obstacle in front of them. It is a fake
confidence, it doesn’t happen because genuine confidence manifests itself naturally.
YOU overcome the obstacle and YOU have no worries about it.
There is no “psyching up” to “try”. You simply understand this is something you can do, prepare
yourself, and accomplish it.
People that spend time psyching up are generally trying to manufacture confidence. What
they really end up doing most of the time is listening to the demons inside that talk them out of
lifts. The ones that speak from down low and whisper over and over again…..”You’re not ready
for this.” It will be heavy. You are not meant for this.
You do your best to fight them off, they are all that you can think about when you walk up to
the bar. They are all you can think about when you un-rack it, and it feels just as heavy on your
shoulders as you imagined. When you hold it in your hands, and your arms quiver and shake
under the tremendous weight, and the whispers get louder. You aren’t concentrating on staying tight, driving with your legs, and pressing with all of the strength your body can muster.
You’re really succumbing to the demons of doubt. “It is not there.” You’ve already whispered
that to yourself in unison with them. The battle is lost.
There are no magical rituals you can conjure up during these times. Nor should there be.
What should have given you that genuine confidence to make that attempt or lift, is that your
training gave you constant feedback and reinforcement, that you were good for it. In other
words, your training built your body and your mind.
Every time you walk up to the bar, it should be with the same attitude. It doesn’t matter if it is
a warm up, or a max attempt. Part of “training” is also training the mental approach that you
take with you to the bar. This also goes for taking a lift for granted .I’ve seen plenty of guys
struggle or even miss weights they considered “not worthy” because they did not respect it.
Your physical approach and mental approach to your work sets, gym sets, meet attempts, all
should all mirror each other. I understand that lying down under an empty bar probably will
not require you to get AS focused as you need to be on a maximal attempt. You should still be
setting up the same way physically. Lots of guys and gals coast through their warm ups, then
change their technique and approach to the bar altogether once the bar is loaded.
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Then, when the bar is nearing or at maximal weight, a completely new approach is taken, because the repetition of approaching the bar hasn’t been reinforced. Every approach to the
bar should bring purpose. Why else are you even attempting it? Make your warm ups count
both in terms of practicing technique, in terms of mental approach, and mental cues. People
forget that the whole point of training, is essential PRACTICE for competition. If you don’t practice like you compete, then why do you expect success come competition time?
If your training builds confidence week after week, and you’ve been practicing perfectly,
then when it is competition time, you’ll feel ready. You will not second guess yourself, and you
will not need to manufacture confidence in order to fight off the demons of doubt. You will
crush them under your feet on your way to the platform, where you will then conquer, like a
king who knows no defeat.
This is why missing attempts in training is such a detriment to successful training cycles. I harp on
this all the time, but the guys in the “old days” could plan out long training cycles, never miss
a lift, then go into competition and crush them all day. I see guys all the time now constantly
trying to hit a 1 rep maxes in the gym, often missing, and wondering why they bomb or fail on
their thirds at meets.
Training should be building confidence the entire time and reinforce the notion that you can
crush whatever is put in front of you.
The mental game in training has been just as important as the physical undertaking of getting
stronger. Settle on a mental approach that works for you on a consistent basis. One that you
can draw upon that has repetition associated with triumph, not failure, not one that is different
for “X” attempts than you used for “Y” attempts. Honing your mental approach to the bar is
a big part of becoming well rounded, and for setting the stage for success. Approaching the
bar with the confidence of a champion, is the place you need to consistently find yourself.
This is why it is important that you NOT downplay your accomplishments, or what you are capable of, because YOUR lifting exists in a vacuum. There is not a single other person that picks
up the barbell in that world, except you. Treat YOUR WORLD as if you are the strongest mother
fucker in it, because you are.
Patience and Belief - My published article from Juggernaut Strength Systems
“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment
and the courage
not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” - Paulo Coelho
When I started lifting weights at fourteen years old I could barely bench press the bar. By “the
bar” I mean the empty bar. 45 pounds. If I could bench it, it was with some “bro spotting”.
“All you man! You’re owning that bar!”
I was 5’9” and 98 pounds of pure depression and self-loathing. I do not believe my condition in
that regard was unique to me as a teenager. Lots of young men struggle with puberty and trying to find balance in the early years of hormonal wreckage. Cracked voices, zit riddled faces,
and an awkwardness with those of the opposite sex so horrifying that it can only be observed
and not described, are often the things that make up our youth. These conditions often make
for shaky confidence, to put it mildly.
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For many males that hoist the iron, their genesis in the weight room started to help overcome
these conditions. To combat them by putting on a shield of “armor” and add some confidence and stability to a shaky foundation.
I did not love the weights at first. I hated the soreness. I hated the gym and the effort I was being asked to give by my coach at the time. As my strength increased and my body started to
look more like that of a teenage dude instead of a teenage chic, my love for the iron grew. I
learned to love the effort. I appreciated the struggle. Boy did I struggle.
It took me almost two years from that point in order to hit a plate on each side. Yes, it took me
damn near two years to bench press 135 pounds. Though progress in my later teenage years
were far more substantial than my early years (I never had that “noob gain” phase like most
guys do), I was certainly not a natural mutant or freak.
Since those early days I’ve close grip bench pressed 445 pounds, incline pressed 425 pounds,
and doubled 315 pounds in the press behind the neck. It took me more than two decades of
struggle to climb to those numbers. Regardless of how they compare to anyone else’s, they
are mine, and I’m proud of them. I put in a lot of time and effort to reach them. I do not apologize for not “measuring up” to what someone else can do. The only person I need to measure
up to each day, and get better than, is the competition I see in the mirror. That guy needs to
be better today, than he was yesterday. Tomorrow, he needs to be a little bit better than he
was today.
Was my attitude always like this? Hell no.
I went through many years of struggling with doubts and self-loathing in regards to my lifting. I
did in fact compare myself to other lifters I saw that were bigger and stronger than me. I would
often times get depressed because I didn’t measure up to this guy, or that guy in that regard.
A belief resonated constantly in me that I had been training too long and too hard to have
such a modicum of results in return for my efforts. Especially compared to others I knew that
either hadn’t been training as long, or that I saw weren’t working as hard as I was.
The reason these thoughts plagued me is because I had not come to the realization that I
needed to understand the two most important concepts behind success in training.
Patience, and belief.
Patience The four virtues of self-efficacy are courage, perseverance, persistence and patience.
Of those four, I believe that for the majority of us patience is the hardest to understand and
accept.
Understanding patience is the first step in accepting it, and the difference between
knowing something and understanding something, are two very different things.
Knowing is the act of having knowledge.
By definition, knowing is the expertise and skill acquired by an individual through his experiences and education.
Understanding, by definition means a psychological process related to a person, object, situation, or messages which require an individual to think and use concepts to deal with. Understanding involves conceptualization and association.
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“I know I have to be patient.”
I may “know” this….but I may not understand it. A lack of understanding means that I may not
have any way to associate the time frame that is required for my dreams, goals, aspirations,
etc., to come to fruition. It requires you to have an association with it personally somehow,
through experience, and a deeper understanding of a process.
Understanding means you have a fundamentally deeper level or grasp of something, than
knowledge. You cannot take a class in college to obtain knowledge on how to be patient or
understand what patience really is. Conceptually it means something different to everyone.
If I do not understand the process behind reaching my goals I will not come to an understanding of patience. I may whine and cry about how long it is taking, or I may believe that I am in
fact doing enough, and that my efforts feel as though they are in vain.
“I work hard! It is not happening as fast as it should be! I’m obviously doing something wrong,
or I’m not cut out for this.”
Even if you are working hard, and doing everything to the maximum of your genetic abilities,
it still may take longer than you wish. The body can only move as fast as the physiological motor will allow. The “wanting” or “desire” of your mind cannot change that function. It can certainly fuel your efforts, but the fruits of your labor will always be limited to how fast your body
can process all of the variables involved with training, diet, and recovery to make you bigger/
stronger.
“I do everything right. I have sacrificed everything in my life to make this dream become a
reality. I deserve to get what I want!”
I understand that. The universe does not care about your sacrifices and wishes. There is not
a God of Powerlifting/bodybuilding/strongman/athletic-abilities that can acknowledge your
sacrificial atonement and bless you with the abilities you desperately desire.
The only thing you deserve is what you can earn or take, and retain as your own.
If the fulfillment of your aspirations and goals has not been realized, then the difficulties that
are beset upon you, still need to be conquered. To put it plainly, you still have work to do.
You still have more time to put in. Regardless of how you “feel” about it, those conditions still
haven’t been met. That means you have NOT come to an understanding and association that
more time and/or more effort is required. There’s simply no getting around that concept.
The enemy of patience – Entitlement
A jigsaw puzzle will never put itself together for you, no matter how long you work on it. The
pieces will only be put in place by the hand that picks them up, figures out where they are
supposed to go, and places them there. Some people put these pieces together faster than
others, and some people put them together slower than others. Some people never finish putting together the puzzle at all, and simply resign themselves to being “wishful” or an “I once…”
person. ”I once thought about finishing that jigsaw puzzle…. but then it got to be more tedious
than I felt like the effort was worth.”
As the saying goes, you can wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up
first. Entitlement is quite often the enemy that unstitches our efforts to eventually develop an
understanding of patience.
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When one finally understands that something will take time, and develops an association with
that concept, then being patient becomes accepted. The great thing about understanding
patience in one area is that it often transcends into other areas of your life seamlessly. Then
you find that the ability to deal with and weather storms, plateaus, and setbacks effectively
becomes a part of who you are. You grok patience. You accept it as part of the journey because you eventually understood what it meant. It Is not just about a time frame alone, but
about doing the right things over and over again in that time frame.
That is the only way that our goals and dreams can manifest themselves into our reality.
A major key facet in understanding patience is to appreciate every step forward, no matter
how insignificant it may appear. Inching forward is still better than not moving at all. Learn how
to appreciate every small step forward/ After all, you just got a little bit closer to your goal.
Even the smallest of goals attained add up to very big things over time.
Think in terms of creating the single best moments that you can. Not the best week, or month,
or year. None of those things are promised to us, only the here and no. Focus on the here and
the now, patience will eventually be something understood and accepted. You will realize
that you’ve traveled very far from where you first started. The “time” associated with that journey will never be a part of the burden.
Belief “If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any
lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is
your problem with hard to believe?” - Yann Martel
All of us sling the iron because we desperately want to become something more. There’s no
getting around that. We desire to become a better/bigger/enhanced version of what we currently are physically. This is in fact, why we do the things we do in and out of the gym.
When I was trying to “understand” patience and long periods of stagnation or regression would
occur, I would often immerse myself into those pools of despondency I wrote about earlier.
Sometimes succumbing to the belief that I would never ever “measure up” to anything I felt
was worthy of being called strong or muscular. Often times the worst thing about the present
is that it always feels permanent and lasting.
If you take just a moment of proper reflection, you will realize, it never is. The only constant is
change.
If you keep applying enough force, eventually the pendulum will swing back in the other direction, and momentum can be seized. If you immerse yourself in all the things you need to do
to improve, it will eventually happen. It just may not happen at the rate that keeps a smile on
your face. As I noted about patience, it is up to us to make the best of the present in order to
inch forward. When you waste that time in the doldrums of disbelief then your gifts go unappreciated, and belief is snuffed out.
“I took my bench from 300 to 315. It is not elite, but….”
Always be proud of your accomplishments. You worked for them. Believe in yourself and your
ability to get to that next level. If you don’t believe you can, no one else will believe in you.
And even if they did, it would not matter. They aren’t the one who has to put in the work. It is up
to you to take it upon yourself to instill the unyielding belief that you are a force to be reckoned
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with. You have to make the decision to stop dwindling in the darkness of self-doubt.
There has to come a point in your mind, a moment where you undoubtedly believe. You UNDERSTAND, that you can and that you will. All doubt has been eviscerated and replaced with
that of determination and unwavering perseverance. Doubt has to be conquered so that
belief can begin its reign.
“I hope” is replaced by “I will.”
“I might” is replaced by “I can.”
Since this is for JTS, then their motto is very fitting for understanding this mindset.
“Become unstoppable.”
Without understanding that patience and belief work hand in hand with each other, you
might eventually find yourself in those awful places of doubt and despondency. Perhaps you
already have at times.
You must understand that the journey you are on is in fact a marathon, and not a sprint. Even
the most elite of lifters struggle for years, and often decades at a time to climb up to the next
rung on the ladder. The first time Andy Bolton stepped foot in a gym he deadlifted 600 pounds.
He didn’t pull his 1,000 world record dead lift until 20 years later.
Here are some undeniable facts about every training journey that has endured a significant
test of time.
There will be times of struggle. You may go long periods without much to show in the way of
progress. You must hold steadfast to the belief that they will pass, and that you will eventually
push through them.
There will be times of doubt. You must fight this off with the force of 10,000 Vikings. It is imperative that you find a way to stay positive and hold on to the belief that nothing will stop you
from attaining the things you desire most. Every lifter worth his salt that has paid his dues and
put in his time share similar stories of struggle and doubt. The ones that survive those times long
enough will also be able to share with you that the two words written about here, will serve you
better than any two other words you will ever need on your journey to becoming what you
envision. Patience, and belief.
Understand patience.
Accept the process.
Believe with an undying will.
You will arrive. It will happen.
“Never stop just because you feel defeated.
The journey to the other side is attainable only after great suffering.”
- Santosh Kalwar
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Being full and staying hungry - Excerpt from LRB
Every seminar I’ve done, and every person I’ve ever talked to about training all have a similar
story about goals and complacency.
They set goals they desperately want to achieve. And when that happens.......they become
very full. Complacency sets in, and they coast. The fire that drove them to reach those goals
wanes, and sometimes dies altogether.
Without fail I see it over and over again. People feel good about their accomplishments, and
they rest on their laurels. Now, I think everyone should in fact feel good about achieving their
goals and moving the mountains that might have been in their way. What’s not good is to sink
into complacency after that.
I will tell you why.
Without fail, the people that lose that hunger, eventually regress, and then only have their
“stories” left to talk about what they USED TO BE.
I trained a woman once for quite some time that lost a significant amount of weight. More
than 100 pounds. When she reached a certain weight, which was still around 20 pounds above
where I told her she needed to be, she told me “I feel good at this weight. That’s enough, I
think this is fine.” It wasn’t fine. The reason she didn’t want to push towards that extra 20 pounds
of weight loss was because she felt it was too daunting. In essence, she pussed out. What
she had was good enough. Spare me the ideology about “being happy with where you are,
nonsense. That’s exactly how people find themselves quitting or regressing. Which is exactly
what happened to her. Since then she’s gained a significant amount of her weight back, and
doesn’t train anymore.
I know quite a few women like this. That they lost a significant amount of weight, and then tell
people about it, but fail to mention that they haven’t made any progress in quite some time.
I think most of us know a few of these.
“I’ve lost X amount of weight in the last X months/years.”
“What have you done since then?”
“Well I’ve been stuck for a while at this weight, but I’m ok here”.
Whatever.
You’ve been stuck because you are complacent and resting on your fucking laurels. You’re
way too god damned proud of yourself. Notice I say TOO PROUD. Be PROUD of what you have
accomplished, but don’t ever let your accomplishments quench your thirst for improvement.
Men often do the same with their lifting.
“I wanted to bench/squat/dead lift/press X amount. And I did that.”
“What have you done since then?”
“Well, I’ve just been kind of you know.....fuck, yeah nothing.”
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Fucking whatever.
It is the same issue. You’ve not moved past your goal at all because once you arrived, that fire
left you. The immense feeling of urgency that drove you for many months has now dissipated
and now you’re “full”. The desire and hunger and NEED to get better is gone.
You got your fat contract extension. Your teammates love you. The fans are chanting your
name now.
You’re on your way to “has-been-ville”. There have been no PR’s in months and months. Hell,
you don’t even know what the fuck you’d like to set a PR in! There has been no fat loss in
months and months. In fact, you think It is perfectly fine to have cheat meals whenever the
fuck you want. You have dieted for months and months. You “paid your dues”. You can eat
what you want now.
Listen, you’re either about getting better, or you’re not. It is really that simple. You’re either getting better, or getting worse. The truth is, there is no stagnation. I know. I’ve been there. I’ve
also watched dudes who said they could do something that they had trained months and
months for, FAIL to have the ability to do it because they let their desire wane to the point that
they had regressed.
You see, the truth is, time is always passing. You are either doing things to improve, or you will
regress and get worse. Inching forward is still inching forward. Small improvements still count.
It doesn’t matter if it is a single pound of weight loss in a month. That’s 12 pounds of fat loss in
that year. That’s better than none, or weight gain.
That 5 pounds you put on your bench is better than zero, or losing strength.
Set specific goals, for a month, three months, six months, a year, 10 fucking years I don’t care.
Do what you have to do to retain that fire. To me, there is nothing more annoying than talking to someone who reached a certain “milestone” and brags about it, but then cannot talk
about any future goals to get better. I know, I’ve been that person. I woke up one morning to
the realization that I hadn’t made any significant progress in over a year. A fucking year of my
life gone by, in the gym at least 3 days a week or more, with nothing to show for it. I annoyed
myself.
If that’s you right now, then wake the fuck up and stop trying to rely on god damn motivational
posters and sayings and stop resting on your fucking laurels. I write it all the time, you’re either
about getting better, or you’re not. But the fact is, you’re either about getting better, or getting
worse. There’s really no in between.
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WHY TESTING IN THE GYM CAN BE
YOUR BIGGEST ENEMY
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Anytime I ever visited a high school weight room, I see the same thing going on in every one of them. That is, kids
constantly “testing”. They need to test that max bench, or max high squat. They need to test that power clean.
It came it to me years ago in an epiphany, from my own failures, that once I “tested” in the gym, I had trouble
focusing again after that. I didn’t know what to do. Training had brought me to that point...now what?
Generally it would go something like this….
• Train for weeks or months. Make good/great progress.
• Feel stronger.
• Get the need to test, you know, because I feel stronger.
• Make or miss the tested lift.
• ????
• Profit?
There was really no profit. The next week I would test…. again. And the next week I would
test. Eventually I would end up not being able to hit that lift, and I’d wonder why I had gotten
“weaker”.
I believe this is often the reason many people suffer from chronic routine changing, i.e. finding
a new “routine” every few weeks. People hit a mark they have been working for, and now associate “success” with that particular level of achievement.
Their mindset revolved around hitting that mark for so long, that it cemented itself as the manifestation of “success”.
When the inability to hit that “mark” starts happening, they believe it is because what they
were doing is no longer a viable option. When in reality, it is the inability to let go of affirmation
by way of hitting that mark that is the issue.
“I finally hit 500.”
“I missed 500 today.”
“I missed it again.”
“I wasn’t even close.”
“What happened? I hit 500 easily that one time.”
What happened? You stopped building. You stopped working. You become enamored with
your little goal that you thrived off the affirmation it gave you on a weekly basis to know “hey
I’m pretty good, now.”
Now you’re not building anything anymore. You’re not working like you were. You had a goal
before this, and you put in the work and effort to help it become a realization. Now you’re just
content to live within the realization that you created.
Until you STOP testing on a weekly basis, and get back to building something more, you will
eventually find yourself in a state of regression. Then you’ll actually have to work just to find
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yourself back to where you were before. That’s time lost TWICE. Think about it. You’re now in a
position where you’re having to work just to get back to where you BEFORE. Why, because you
lost sight of “building” while your eyes were constantly focused on testing.
One way to make sure you do not get caught up in this cycle is to NEVER test maxes in the
gym. Rep PR’s tend to not have this same negative effect it seems, as most people can move
right from hitting X weight for X reps, to a new goal. A 1 rep max PR tends to put a lot of people
into this cycle of stagnation or regression. Make it a point to NOT test 1 rep maxes in the gym.
I’ve never been told of a single reason that makes any sense to me to do a true 1 rep max in
a gym. If you’re not competing, you don’t need to do it. If you are competing, save it for the
platform. It is really that simple.
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NEVER QUIT… NEVER GIVE UP
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In closing, I want to write that if you intend to become something great, then become engrossed in it. Submerse
yourself in the arms of it, and embrace all of the love and pain that will come with realizing whatever dream
you may have for your life.
There will be times of agony that make you question if you really want to go on; if you want to
continue. Your desire will wane at times, you will wonder if you can take another fall. Remember that falling is not failing. We all fall. We only fail when we no longer desire to stand again.
It is then that the desire to quit becomes greater than the desire to overcome, to achieve, to
succeed. That is what failure is.
Failure is not missing a lift, or underperforming when we truly emptied ourselves into something.
That is merely falling. And falling is perfectly acceptable. In fact, it is during our fall that we
learn so much more about who we are, than during our successes. It is during that time that
our will and mettle is tested. If we allow it, this will strengthen us, harden us, enable us to be
better than we were before the fall.
If we allow it, it can also break us entirely. Ultimately, it is the choice of the fallen to decide
those things.
Do I stand, and walk again? Or do I sit here, and embrace being conquered?
Be strong….not conquered.
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www.LIFT-RUN-BANG.com
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Copyright 2013 by Paul Carter. All rights reserved.
IBSN: 9781628909074