Increasing Strength

[BendtheBar]

Quote from HIThopper:

Came back today and squatted, everything felt nice n healed just a bit sluggish, I have no idea how people only squat once per week, it throws me way out if I take a few days.

Interesting observation. I felt the same way when I moved from frequent squatting to a lower frequency. I just felt off, sluggish and things like my hamstrings just felt off.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Fazc

Since my raw strength is getting back up there now, and my body feels horrible right now from overwork I was thinking of going back to a 2 weeks on, 1 week off kinda deal. That should allow me to avoid injury moving forward now, which is massively important especially now, and should provide some periodisation I need now.

Tossing this idea around:

Saturday:

Low Bar Squat, Paused Bench, Deadlift - Top single

Sunday:

High Bar Squat, Bench, SLDL - Top 8

Tuesday:

High Bar Squat, Bench, SLDL - Top 3

Thursday:

High Bar Squat, Bench, SLDL - Top 5

Done 2 weeks heavy, 1 week off. BUT that's subject to change depending on a few things the next few days...

Looks like some quality deadlifting. You ever sun SLDLs that frequently before?

[Fazc]

Only the past few weeks, it's actually a far easier exercise to recover from than regular deadlifts. At least for me.

It's a great builder for the conventional pull.

[BendtheBar]

Time for more focus. I've been farting around for 4-ish months, doing low frequency and recovering from a lower back injury.

I know this:

1) Frequent squats are a must. My hammies feel horrible when i squat only once a week.

2) I need to think long term regarding my lifts and not pressure myself for rapid progress.

3) I hate long term periodization.

4) I can't keep a tight schedule. Work and life do not allow this. My schedule needs to be flexible.

5) I need some assistance work. I need to maintain a minimum level of strength from calves to biceps.

I am going to lift and think about this some.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

1) Frequent squats are a must. My hammies feel horrible when i squat only once a week.

We know that works well for you. Particularly with the way you squat.

I think this goes hand-in-hand with finding the right frequency for a particular lift. Squats more often, perhaps Bench/Dead not so often.

2) I need to think long term regarding my lifts and not pressure myself for rapid progress.

5) I need some assistance work. I need to maintain a minimum level of strength from calves to biceps.

I think these two can relate quite well. Some targets for assistance work should help spread the PR's around a little so you're not constantly banging away at Squat PRs. Perhaps rep records like I'm doing or other exercises like we've done in the past.

EDit - Also something I was thinking about while watching the Strongman on TV (don't tell me the result, I don't know the final yet!) - Is that these guys are just fucking strong from head to toe. They're massive, muscular and strong. A bit of rep work and assistance will help here I'm sure.

3) I hate long term periodization.

Same. Pre-planning according to someone else's schedule isn't natural.

Shorter 3 week cycles then? You know where I'm going with this.

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by Fazc

But my conundrum is whether low bar will allow me to squat in the way I want to squat when I have better quads. Or will the low bar itself prevent the form from happening.

There is no quick and easy answer here, it's a wait and see situation.

Let us know how it pans out

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Fazc

Shorter 3 week cycles then? You know where I'm going with this.

I've been thinking about 3 week cycles, especially with deads and bench. I need to feel heavy weight on these lifts frequently and this is about my limit.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I've been thinking about 3 week cycles, especially with deads and bench. I need to feel heavy weight on these lifts frequently and this is about my limit.

So where is your head at in terms of how you're going to mix the heavy weight, with more of the building work? Or will it even be that kind of variety?

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Fazc

So where is your head at in terms of how you're going to mix the heavy weight, with more of the building work? Or will it even be that kind of variety?

I am thinking of using a 3 lift mini-circuit on each day. Something that isn't a time sink.

Last bench session I set up 3 stations:

--Close Grip Bench
--Seated Dumbbell Press
--DB Curl

I think I rammed through these 9 sets in 15 minutes which worked.

[Fazc]

Oh interesting, my brother is messing around with that type of set up for the past couple weeks. He seems to like it.