Modifying Your Routine When on Linear Progression

Note: If you're just starting out on linear progression, stick to the program as written. Your first priority is nailing the technique on the main lifts. Now is the time to get it right, it will cost you later down the track if you don't put in the effort now. This definitely set my bench and overhead press back and now they're playing catch up. Don't be lazy.

Plateauing Lifts:

The first lifts to plateau will be the squat and deadlift. What I mean by plateau is that they will no longer progress from this style of programming. This is because you are handling a heavy enough load that the body now needs more time to recover from it. Plateauing is different to stalling; stalling is where you stop making progress but when you deload and work your way back up you can continue to make more progress.

The bench press and press will see more stalling compared to the squat and deadlift, but won't plateau as early.

There are people who have started on 5x5, and people who have started on Starting Strength so I will consider both cases in terms of how to modify your routine.

If You Started Out With 5x5:

Once you stall on a lift that you are doing 5x5 with (squat, bench, press, row), you should switch to 3x5. This will reduce the volume, and still allow you to continue to make linear progress. You will switch to 3x5 on the lifts at different times, because they will plateau at different times. Just because things stop working for one lift doesn't mean you need to change things for the other lifts if they were still progressing.


In essence you'll end up doing Stronglifts 3x5. The following sections will then also apply to you.

When the Deadlift Plateaus:

Eventually deadlifting heavy twice a week will be too much for the trainee (make sure the deadlift has plateaued first, if you are unsure, deload and try again and see if there is much of an improvement). What they can do instead is reduce deadlift frequency to once a week. The routine might look like this:

Monday
Squat 3-5x5
Bench 3-5x5 (will be switched with Overhead Press in the following week)
Row 3-5x5

Wednesday
Squat 3-5x5
Overhead Press 3-5x5(will be switched with Bench Press in the following week)
Chin-ups

Friday
Squat 3-5x5
Bench 3-5x5(will be switched with Overhead Press in the following week)
Deadlift 1 x 5

Note: I have written 3-5x5 because the deadlift may plateau before you need to switch from 5x5 to 3x5 on the other lifts.

Now deadlifting will occur every Friday. The reason I prefer to leave deadlifts on Fridays is so that you can still squat on Friday will 100% effort. I found I could get away with deadlifting on Wednesdays for a while, but eventually I had to move the deadlifts to Friday because my lower back would not recover in time for Friday's squatting.

When the Squat Plateaus:

Eventually squatting 3x5 will be too much for your body, because you are handling a heavy enough load that it takes longer than 48 hours for your body to fully recover from. What you can do in this case is change Wednesday's squat session into a light day. What you can do is instead substitute Wednesday's squat for front squats, with a load that is lighter, say 75-80% of the load you handled on Monday, for 3x3.

At this stage, you should be familiar enough with the back squat, that you can try to learn the front squat without it affecting your ability to back squat (i.e you can UNDERSTAND the difference between the 2 squat styles). If not, you're fucking up. Put in more effort to understand how the different squat styles work.

 Put more effort into your squatting

This light squat day serves to give you more time to recover from Monday's squat session, and also pumps blood through the muscles involved in the squat to help reduce DOMS which was incurred from Monday's squats. On many occasions my legs felt less sore after I did light squats on Wednesday.

The routine will look something like this:

Monday
Squat 3 x 5
Bench 3 x 5 (will be switched with Overhead Press in the following week)
Row

Wednesday
Front Squat 3 x 3 (80% of Monday's session)
Overhead Press 3 x 5(will be switched with Bench Press in the following week)
Chin-ups

Friday
Squat 3 x 5
Bench 3 x 5(will be switched with Overhead Press in the following week)
Deadlift 1 x 5

Eventually this way of squatting will stop working too and you'll need to switch to another way of programming, known as intermediate programming (or weekly programming). I'll save this for another post.

When the Bench Press and Overhead Press Plateau:

Once you have exhausted your linear gains on the bench press and overhead press, I would consider that to be the end of your time on linar progression and it would be time to move on to a different style of programming (since you have already plateaued on linear progression for the squat and deadlift already).

Remember, to get the most out of your linear progress for the bench press and overhead press, you should use fractional plates (they weigh 0.5kg). They will allow you to take smaller weight increases than 2.5kg and will reduce the likelihood of stalling.

You may also wish to switch to 5 sets of 3 reps for the overhead press which worked pretty well for me. Don't be lazy with the overhead press, train it hard and you'll have healthy shoulders.

Power Cleans:



Power cleans are great. They are highly technical and force you to perform a forceful hip extension at just the right time and position in order to get the bar onto your shoulders. If I get better at them I'll do a post on this exercise :P There are plenty of useful resources on the internet though, Don McCauley and Glenn Pendlay are Olympic coaches who would have some good articles on the interwebs.

If you want to do power cleans, there's a few ways you can implement them into your routine:

Monday
Squat 3 x 5
Bench 3 x 5 (will be switched with Overhead Press in the following week)
Row

Wednesday
Front Squat 3 x 3 (80% of Monday's session)
Overhead Press 3 x 5(will be switched with Bench Press in the following week)
Power Cleans 5 x 3
Chin-ups

Friday
Squat 3 x 5
Bench 3 x 5(will be switched with Overhead Press in the following week)
Deadlift 1 x 5

Note that power cleans are performed much differently to deadlifts, in that they are eased off the floor in a controlled manner, and using the lats you sweep the bar inwards to keep the bar close to your body, then you accelerate as the bar passes your knees. This is much different to a deadlift where you drive your legs hard into the floor at the start to break the bar off the floor.

Assistance Exercises:

One final thing before I forget; assistance exercises. This includes pull-ups, dips, ab work and curls.

You can implement them into your routine like so:

Monday
Squat 3 x 5
Bench 3 x 5 (will be switched with Overhead Press in the following week)
Row
Curls
Ab Work

Wednesday
Front Squat 3 x 3 (80% of Monday's session)
Overhead Press 3 x 5 (will be switched with Bench Press in the following week)
Chin-ups
Ab Work

Friday
Squat 3 x 5
Bench 3 x 5(will be switched with Overhead Press in the following week)
Deadlift 1 x 5
Dips
Ab Work

You might want to superset the ab work and assistance exercises to save time.

Stronglifts 5x5 vs. Starting Strength?

Stronglifts 5x5 and Starting Strength are both beginner programs which run on linear progression. The lifts involved are almost the same (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press). Which program should you do?

This is how Stronglifts 5x5 is set out:

Workout A

Squat 5x5

Bench 5x5

Row 5x5

Workout B

Squat 5x5

Overhead Press 5x5

Deadlift 1 x 5

This is how Starting Strength is set out:

Workout A

Squat 3 x 5

Bench 3 x 5

Deadlift 1 x 5

Workout B

Squat 3 x 5

Overhead Press 3 x 5

Power Cleans 5 x 3

You'll notice that Stronglifts has higher volume since it has 5 sets whereas Starting Strength advocates 3 sets. Once you get to fairly heavy weights (for a novice), squatting for 5x5 3 days a week will become excessive. This will probably occur around the 1.3-1.5xBW Squat mark (this will vary between individuals). At a heavy enough load, the stress from 5x5 will eventually take longer than 48 hours for an individual to recover from, and this will negatively impact the next workout. This doesn't mean than 5x5 is the devil and that you should have nothing to do with it. In intermediate programming, we take advantage of the fact that the stress from 5x5 takes longer to recover from (will touch on this in another post).

So the volume in Starting Strength is better for long term progress. You will be able to continue with linear progression for longer. Also because of the lower volume, you'll be able to handle heavier weights.

Does that mean you shouldn't do Stronglifts 5x5?

If you're starting out training for the first time, I think SL5x5 is ok as the extra sets will give you more technique practise. You'll get the benefit of being accustomed to higher volume if you end up switching down to 3 sets of 5. Its up to you in the end, but if you want to continue making progress through linear progression then you need to switch to 3x5 at some stage. You can even start out with SL"3x5" if you wish. I wouldn't suggest doing less than 3x5 though. The volume in 3x5 is just right, because the lifts are still performed on a regular basis.

Stronglifts 5x5 has Rows whereas Starting Strengths has power cleans though?

If you are benching, then you have to row. Otherwise you will end up with an imbalance in your shoulders which will invite injury later down the track.
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So if you decide to start out with Starting Strength, I would suggest you do rows instead of power cleans. Power cleans are quite a technical lift, and the mechanics involved are quite different to the deadlift, different enough that you shouldn't try to learn both exercises at the same time. Wait until you are confident with deadlifts first.


On an unrelated note, Starting Strength was created by Mark Rippetoe, a strength coach who runs a training facility in Texas. Stronglifts 5x5 on the other hand was created by Mehdi, a guy from Belgium who runs a website. Rippetoe has been around for much longer, which would probably give the impression that the Stronglifts program is a rip-off of Starting Strength. Personally I don't believe Rippetoe himself invented the squat-press-pull template for workouts. It's hard to say who did, but Bill Starr (who actually mentored Rippetoe) had been teaching this method of training since the 1960's (long before Rippetoe was coaching).

Bill Starr, known as the father of strength training

Getting The Most Out Of A Beginner Routine eg. Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5

Its very easy as a beginner to cut your progress short on linear progression routines like Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5, and this could be for a variety of reasons.

1. Not sticking to the program
2. Bad technique on the lifts
3. Not ensuring optimal recovery through eating and sleeping

I'm sure there are other reasons but I can't be bothered thinking of more.

I will address these reasons, to show you how you can ensure you're getting the most out of these type of routines.

Not Sticking To The Routine

Countless times I've seen people not doing the routine consistently. I'll recommend a program for a beginner who's asked me for advice, and they'll make some good gains from it, then several weeks later I'll find out they're doing some stupid routine again, or that they're just mucking around in the gym. They didn't stick to the original plan. This could be for several reasons such as:

• Studies/work becoming more demanding
• Injury from playing a sport
• Loss of motivation

Think about it like this, there are 168 hours in a week. If you're training 3x/week and each session lasts about 1.5 hours, that's 4.5 hours per week. 4.5 divided by 168 is around 2.7%. You can't dedicate 2.7% of your week to improving yourself? If the answer is no, then seriously just quit, because you don't have what it takes to achieve. The people who get good results from training are the ones who are willing to put in the time.

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Here's a suggestion for how you could modify your routine if things like work/study become more time consuming:

Session A
Squat 5x5
Bench 5x5
DB Shoulder Press 3 x 10

Session B
Deadlift 1 x 5
Row 5 x 5
Curls 3 x 12

Session C
Squat 5 x 5
Overhead Press 5 x 5
DB Bench Press 3 x 10

It's not optimal for a beginner because the frequency with which you perform the main lifts is slightly reduced so progress will be slower, but now there are 2 main lifts per session instead of 3, so it cuts down on the duration of the workout. This is just temporary, and once your time frees up again you should go back to the original layout (whether its SL5x5 or SS).

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If you are injured from a sport, first step is pinpointing what the injury is. Common injuries are occur in the joints such as the shoulder, hip, elbow and and knee. You can also tear muscles but they should recover quicker than tendon/ligament injuries.

When you get injured, this doesn't necessarily mean you should stop training (unless the injury is really serious like a spinal injury). You just need to figure out what you can continue to train.

If you have a knee injury, you should avoid movements which involve knee flexion/extension such as the squat, but you can still try stiff-legged deadlifts. Again this depends on the injury, but the point is finding what DOESN'T hurt, and training that for the time being. You should still be able to train your upper body as normal (maybe not the bench press because you need to bend your knees when lying on the bench, again find out for yourself).

I'm not an expert in this area, but the idea is to do your research. Find out how you can help your injury, and how to prevent it from occurring again if possible. When your injured, don't just do nothing and suffer in silence, think about recovery, think about continuing to move forward.

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Loss of motivation can occur for a few reasons. Maybe you're getting bored of the routine, or you aren't seeing the results you wanted. If its the latter case, I'll address this in the final section of this post.

In terms of boredom, tough titties mate. The muscle confusion thing is bullshit, switching it up every week or whatever is stupid. Consistency is the key, this is how you will know you are improving. If you're squatting one day, then doing leg press the next, then lunges the next session, how do you know you're getting better?

High frequency of the main compound lifts will also give you more chance to drill in the correct technique. Correct technique on the main lifts is extremely important, especially once you start handling heavy weights.

Bad Technique on the Lifts

Read these posts, and practice, practice, practice:

http://derickthai.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/how-to-perform-main-compound-lifts.html
http://derickthai.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/how-to-perform-main-lifts-part-ii.html

Not Ensuring Optimal Recovery Through Eating and Sleeping

Have you heard the saying "you grow outside the gym"? Well it's true. This is how things work; training acts as a stimulus for your body, a form of stress. When you stress your body, you need to be able to recover from this stress in order to come back stronger than last time. And the way to actually recover from this stress is through eating and sleeping.

This is a reason why people may not be getting the results they wanted. They're not getting bigger and stronger. Guess what? You're not eating enough.

A car with a bigger engine needs to consume more fuel than a small car. Same thing applies to people. If you have more muscle, your body NEEDS more calorie intake. Your body also will not grow if it's not getting enough food to grow. You can't create something out of nothing. All the times I've made the best progress on my bench, I was gaining weight. This wasn't necessarily the case for my squat and deadlift but that's because I'm better at those lifts. This will be different for everyone.

So start paying attention to WHAT you eat, and HOW MUCH of it you're eating. That way if you're not gaining weight, you'll know that you need to increase your food portions. If you can't do this, then quit. You don't have what it takes.

Gaining weight as a beginner is also important, because you increase your strength ceiling. If you weigh 10kg heavier than how much you weigh now, you'll be able to lift more weights (provided you are training whilst you are gaining weight too).

Think about it like this, get stronger so you can get bigger, and get bigger so you can get stronger. Lifting heavy weights will increase your muscle size, and eating more will allow you to continue to grow, so you can continue to get stronger.

As a beginner, keep it simple! Focus on getting stronger, and make sure you're gaining weight! Don't go over the top with eating though, because you don't want to get too fat either. It might take some time to find where this fine line (of how much food is enough for you to continue to grow) lies, but once you do, you'll have a good understanding of your body.

A good way to stay motivated is to set a goal for yourself. How big and strong you want to be. Never lose sight of this goal, and you shouldn't have a problem staying motivated.

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When you do everything right, you will make very good gains on this type of routine. It won't last forever however. You will know when it's time to move on once you have deloaded, and worked your way back up but you don't see much improvement anymore and you stall again. When I say this, the stalling MUST be due to your body's inability to recover from the training, not because you have bad technique or because you're not eating enough.

I know this sounds a bit confusing, but there is actually a point you will reach, where you can no longer squat a heavy weight for 5 x 5, 3 times a week, because the stress will become too high. Similar case for the bench press, overhead press and deadlift. I will address this, and intermediate programming (the next step after linear progression) in another post.

Improving Your Press

For guys with long forearm who have trouble with overhead pressing, you might find this article useful:

http://startingstrength.com/articles/learning_press_rippetoe.pdf

Basically instead of trying to force the bar to rest against your shoulders which compromises your leverages, you set up with optimal leverages for the triceps and as a result the bar is suspended in mid-air, but this won't be an issue if your triceps are touching your lats, and everything is tight and flexed (triceps, biceps, lats and glutes)

You can see me pressing this way here



If you compare to someone with shorter forearms, you can see how the position of the triceps are pretty much the same (pause at 0:09 for the first video, and 0:12 for the second video below)



Does it actually help to press this way? Well yes, because:

1. You reduce the distance the bar has to travel
2. The trriceps are in a more efficient position to press
3. There is less layback

I have pressed with the bar resting on the top of my chest before, and I found I needed much more power off the chest and I had much more layback, but with this technique I dont need as much power off the bottom and layback is reduced by quite a bit.

Training 19/7/12

Weights done:

Bench 95kg 10 x 3 (only last set shown)

Deadlift
205kg 2 x 4
185kg 2 x 5
165kg 2 x 6

Been doing Smolov Jr. for the bench, I'll do another post on this later.

I recorded all my deadlift work sets today, if anyone's curious to see how much pulling I do (once a week).

My First Powerlifting Meet

On my first attempt for squats I just wore a T-shirt but my back wasn't chalked up so the bar slid up my back when I was coming out of the hole. This threw me off slightly but I was still able to finish the lift. Whacked on a singlet on top of my shirt and chalked it up, no more issues.

For the bench, the pause diminished my bench strength by quite a bit. Decided not to go for a third because I knew I'd fail anyway.

For the deadlift, I just went for gold. Took massive jumps between attempts but I knew I could handle it.



The meet was run by UNSW Barbell Club. If you live in Sydney and enjoy lifting heavy weights, look it up on Facebook.

Recent Lifting 15/6/12

Squat 180kg x 3

Had to deload, stalled at 192.5kg. Been working on my hip mobility too



Bench today did 100kg x 1, 105kg x 1, 105kg x 1 all with a pause



Deadlift 205kg 2 x 4 -> PR Felt a tightness in my hamstring so I didn't do backoff sets today