Strength Training 102
With professor Urban.
Welcome back class. By this point you should have some
experience under your belt and should have an alright “feel” for things in
the weight room. Yeah, “feel” isn’t
exactly a scientific term, but for all intended purposes it probably the
most important thing you have developed in the last six months of lifting.
This is a slightly different way to construct a routine, and you are going
to rely on that feel for quite a bit using this method. You could potentially just jump right
into this as a beginner, but because it relies on testing a new max on key
lifts each week, you risk connective tissue damage. So, the greater potential for injury is
there for beginners, but if you ARE just starting out, and haven’t met that
6 month primer, you could just not max out every week, and instead stick to
higher reps emphasizing form and control and maybe using a periodization scheme outlined in 101.
Now that is out of the way, let’s begin. This type of routine, in my opinion, is
more beneficial for athletes than that outlined in 101. The first reason is
that it creates a full body workout every session by including a deadlift,
squat and bench press variant every session (so in some sense it is based
on a 3x3 routine).
It’s also better geared towards athletics because
this includes unilateral leg work (for those not in the know that means one
leg at a time). Many times in sports
you rely specifically on the strength of one leg less than the other
(running for example). This is also
particularly useful when you consider the balance and stabilization
required to perform unilateral exercises.
The third reason it may be most suited to
athletes (and strength training in general) is that it is constantly
rotating exercises. Ideally you
might not repeat the exact same routine for months. This allows you to identify lifts and
movements that show substantial weakness in comparison to similar
lifts. Say you’re rotating through
squat variants and you notice that front squats are ridiculously difficult
for you in comparison to your normal squat.
This is a sign that your quads may be keeping your squat from
progressing, and you may want to replace back squats with front squats as a
key lift.
Actually working on the principles of this
routine is easy. All you need to do
is pick three main exercises, and each session pick two new variants, top
it off with an upper back exercise, and a core exercise and you are
golden. For the convenience of this
article, I am going to use the big three (bench, deadlift, squat) as my
main exercise. Now each session
you’re going to test a 3-5 rep max on one of the big three and then you do
repetitions of a variant for the other two.
So for example Monday might look like this:
deadlift for a 3 rep max
close grip bench for about 4 x
5
and step ups for 4 x 4+4
weighted pullups
for a pyramid of 4
Saxon side bends 4 x 10
So here’s a small list of exercises and variants
I have compiled, it is not complete, but it’s a good place to start:
Bench
press
|
Deadlift
|
Back
squat
|
DB
Flat Bench
|
Side
Deadlift
|
Box
squat
|
Incline
press (BB)
|
Sumo
Deadlift
|
Front
Squat
|
Incline
press (DB)
|
Romanian
Deadlift
|
Zercher Squat
|
Military
press (BB)
|
Stiff
Legged DL
|
Lunge
|
Military
press (DB)
|
Reverse
Hyper
|
Walking
lunge
|
Tate
press
|
Good
morning
|
Lunge
onto 6" box
|
Close
grip bench
|
Glut
Ham Raise
|
Step
ups
|
Dips
|
18"
Rack Pull
|
Lateral
Lunge
|
JM
Press
|
Platform
Deadlift
|
Bulgarian
Squat
|
Core Training
|
Upper Back
|
Weighted Sit-ups
|
Pull-ups
|
Leg raises
|
Pull Downs
|
Standing Cable Crunches
|
One Handed Pull-ups (assisted)
|
Saxon side bends
|
Bent over rows
|
Full Contact twists
|
DB row
|
Dragon flags
|
Chest supported Row
|
Decline Russian Twists
|
Seated Cable Row
|
Ab wheel rollouts
|
Cheat Curls
|
Bent Press
|
|
Windmills
|
|
Side press
|
|
Lets look at what this
might look like over three weeks.
|
Monday
|
Wednesday
|
Friday
|
Week 1
|
Deadlift
3-5 RM
|
Bench
press 3-5 RM
|
Squat
- 3-5 RM
|
Close
grip bench
|
Romanian
Deadlift
|
Side
Deadlift
|
Step
ups
|
Lunge
|
Incline
press (BB)
|
Pull-ups
|
DB
row
|
Bent over
row
|
Saxon
Side bends
|
Situps
|
Full
Contact Twists
|
|
|
|
|
Week 2
|
Deadlift
3-5 RM
|
Bench
press 3-5 RM
|
Squat
- 3-5 RM
|
Military
press (BB)
|
Box
squat
|
Good
morning
|
Walking
lunge
|
Stiff
Legged Deadlift
|
Tate
press
|
Pull-ups
|
Cheat
Curls
|
Bent
over rows
|
Ab Wheel Rollouts
|
Dragon
Flags
|
Bent
Press
|
|
|
|
|
Week 3
|
Deadlift
3-5 RM
|
Bench
press 3-5 RM
|
Squat
- 3-5 RM
|
Front
Squat
|
Sumo
Deadlift
|
Glute Ham Raise
|
Dips
|
Bulgarian
Squat
|
DB
Bench
|
Chest
supported rows
|
Pull Downs
|
Bent
over rows
|
Standing
Cable Crunches
|
Leg
raises
|
Russian
twists
|
The key here is progress. Each time you do a lift you need to
progress by either doing more reps or more weight. When you don’t progress on a main lift
for more than three weeks, should rotate that lift out in favor of a weaker
lift. For example, if I didn’t
progress on bench at all, I would take it out and put something to
emphasize my weak point in its place (dips or board press triceps, DB press
for pecs, incline press for shoulders etc.). The same notion of progress applies to
the assistance lifts.
Keeping track of all these lifts can get tricky, so I’ve included a
sample spreadsheet for that too!
Bench press
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DB Flat
bench press
|
|
|
|
|
Incline
press (BB)
|
|
|
|
|
Incline
press (DB)
|
|
|
|
|
Military
press (BB)
|
|
|
|
|
Military
press (DB)
|
|
|
|
|
Tate
press
|
|
|
|
|
Close
grip bench press
|
|
|
|
|
Dips
|
|
|
|
|
Heavy
pullups
|
|
|
|
|
assisted
O.H. pullups
|
|
|
|
|
Bent
over row
|
|
|
|
|
Chest
supported row
|
|
|
|
|
Seated
Cable row
|
|
|
|
|
Deadlift
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Side
Deadlift
|
|
|
|
|
Sumo
Deadlift
|
|
|
|
|
Romanian
Deadlift
|
|
|
|
|
Stiff
Legged Deadlift
|
|
|
|
|
One
Legged RDL
|
|
|
|
|
One
Legged GM
|
|
|
|
|
Squat
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Box
squat
|
|
|
|
|
Front
Squat
|
|
|
|
|
Lunge
|
|
|
|
|
Walking
lunge
|
|
|
|
|
Lunge
onto 6" box
|
|
|
|
|
Step
ups
|
|
|
|
|
Lateral
Lunge
|
|
|
|
|
Crossover
lunge
|
|
|
|
|
Bulgarian
Squat
|
|
|
|
|
So you record your lift (weight and reps) in each
empty column. The date is of little
consequence since you’re going to be rotating exercises regularly and each
time you repeat an exercise you are trying to progress. This is just the first five columns of a
spreadsheet I would use, in the real think I would have 11 columns so I
wouldn’t have to keep printing out new spreadsheets every couple weeks.
So now you have a way of generating each session
keeping things fresh, a way of determining your reps for main lifts, a
notion for progress on everything, and a way to record it all. One last note on frequency, you can use
this routine 2-3 times a week. I
outlined 3 sessions a week, two sessions a week would be essentially a
lower body max day (squat or deadlift and an upper body max day (bench
press):
Day 1: deadlift max
Day 2: bench max
Day 1: Squat max
Day 2: bench max
Ok, you’re all set! Get your
ass in the gym!
Last Updated 12/23/04
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