Saturday, July 25, 2009

For the Curious

Ok, so for all of you that feel like knowing exactly what I am doing here it is:


Monday: Squat
Back Squat: Ramp up to a max set of 5, 3 or 1
Drop the weight and do 2 sets
Good Mornings: 5x10
Seated Calves: 2x25
Sit-ups: 5 sets

Tuesday: Press
Military Press: Ramp up to a max set of 5, 3, or 1
Drop the weight and do 2 sets
Chin-ups: 50 reps
Dips: 5x10

Thursday: Deadlift
Deadlift: Ramp up to a max set of 5, 3, or 1
Drop the weight and do 2 sets of SLDL
Leg Press: 5x10
Calves: 2x25
Dragon Flags: 5 sets

Saturday: Bench
Bench Press: Ramp up to a max set of 5, 3, or 1
Drop the weight and do 2 sets (paused)
Seated Press: 5x10
Barbell Rows: 5x10


Basically I am doing the Dave template with a focus on big, basic exercises. I will be rotating between the 5, 3, and 1 rep daily maxes with the bench/squat on one timetable, and the press/dl on the other. If anyone sees anything I may have missed, chime in.

Only gear used is a belt, knee sleeves, and wrist wraps. I'm pretty sure I will be doing my next competition raw.

6 comments:

Juggernaut, the said...

I wouldn't worry so much about singles. Maybe triples every fourth workout or so, but during off-season, sets of 5 are a good basic building block for volume + strength. Singles may leave you too tired for the auxiliary movements, or overtrain the CNS (bigger issue).

Nathan Beckmann said...

I don't think singles are an entirely bad idea, but for the off season I'd do it Sheiko-style mostly. I.e., go up to some weight that you can do singles with for several sets and do 3 sets of 1. (Also doing some sets at lighter weight to get some volume in.) Training singles is good for perfecting form and practicing getting a single lift perfect.

Kyle said...

Mkay, I'll probably be playing it by ear when it comes to the singles. I'll probably be doing the singles more often for the press and deadlift. Those seem to be more difficult exercises for me to do reps with. The submaximal singles seem like a good idea too, Nathan.

Dave, do you think I should put a dedicated back day in there, or does this look fine (ex move press to wed, and on tues do pull-ups and curls)? I just dont want to be short changing some of the most powerful muscles in my body.

Jake Ceccarelli said...

A good rule of thumb is to get 3 singles over 90% when you do singles. Like I told Phil a long time ago, I like the idea of backoff sets as well. No need to kill yourself, but a good way to add in extra volume.

Juggernaut, the said...

I wouldn't necessarily add another day. However, upon closer inspection, I would suggest sprinkling more back work in the workout somewhere. Perhaps add a super-set of t-bar rows with your calves on deadlift day?

If you're going to do minimal back stuff, I would focus more on upper-back hitting rows than pull ups. You'll still hit the lats, but you'll be helping your deadlift as well.

I also agree with Nathan's suggestion of > 90% for 3 reps somewhere. My general rule of thumb is that you should never do a single when you couldn't do another one at that same weight in the same workout. However, I wouldn't hit as many singles on the DL, since those are going to tax you more than anything else. Maybe once or twice for the entire summer is enough.

Kyle said...

Ok, I could probably do T-bar rows on my back day. And the 3 singles sounds like a plan. I'm working 5's for now with the squat and bench.