The Great Squat Experiment: Week 5

Josh Trammell

I will preface this log by saying I spent around 20 hours driving in a car from Monday - Wednesday afternoon. Hips were destroyed, didn't get any lifting in, generally felt like crap that first workout back. Anyway, here it is.

Thursday, 11/6/14

 Beltless High Bar Back Squats

 - 365x1

 - 395 x miss (what the hell?) - hips shifted out behind the bar. Got pissed. Took another shot at it

 - 395 x 1 - kept hips in a better position, less shifting, more lifting. Still pissed though

 - 335 x 5

Friday, 11/7/14

Beltless High Bar Squats

 - 365x1

 - 385x1

 - 405x1 - get recruited by powerlifting team, turn them down

 - 365x3

 - 315x3, 3-second pauses at the bottom of each squat, cause I felt like it

Conventional Deads (no belt)

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - 405x5x3 sets - PR + 20lbs and 2 sets

- Starting to get the hang of conventional pulling. Took a while. Turns out my build favors a KK/Pete Rubish-ish type of pull. Almost enjoying conventional now, after hating it for so long.

Going to play around with 2 deadlift days: 1 conventional (for volume), 1 sumo, where the intensity will be upped. See how that goes along with all the squats.

Saturday, 11/8/14

Staying on the strugglebus...

Pause Squats - beltless

- 315 x 1

- 345 x 1

- 365x2 - PR +1 rep (cheap, I know)

- 335 x 3

Sunday

The strugglebus continues!

Beltless High Bar

- 365x1

- 385x1

- 405x1 - a little slower than normal, still haven't fully come back from that dang car ride.

- 365x3

- 315x3

Monday - Recovery/Pump Day

1A) Kossack Squat -> crossover Step-Up 3x12/leg
1B) Chest Flies 3x12 (5-10s eccentric for the stretch)
1C) Rear Delt Flies - 3x12

2A) Bar Hangs x a decently long time
2B) Bear crawls focusing on neutral spine and breathing
2C) Half Kneeling Chops - 3x8-10/side

Week 5 sucked.

The Great Squat Experiment: Training Log, Week 3 (or 4?)

By: Josh Trammell

*Note: This is a little over 3 weeks into the training cycle I'm currently in, experimenting with very high frequency, every-day max (EDM) style squatting. I won't go into the specifics of the plan here (future article will), but here's my log from the last week.

Previous videoed PRs:

385lb Belt Pause Squat x 1

Beltless, 415lbs x 1 High Bar Back Squat

Competition Stance Low Bar Squat 435lbs x 1 with a belt

445lbs x 1 Competition Stance Low Bar Squat, with Belt

Wednesday, 10/29/14

Beltless, Low Bar Back Squat:

 - 365lbs x 1

 - 395lbs x 1

 - 420lbs x 1 - +5lb Beltless PR

 - 385lbs x 4: +1 rep PR @ 385lbs

 - 355lbs x 3

Thursday, 10/30/14

Beltless High Bar Back Squats

 - 365lbs x 1

 - 390lbs x 1

 - 365lbs x 5 - +2 rep PR

Bench

 - 225lbs x 1

 - Elbow decided to crap out on me. Called it a day here. No use in aggravating it any more.

Friday, 10/31/14

 - Beltless, Paused High Bar Squats

 - 355lbs x 1

 - 375lbs x 1 +10lb PR

 - 385lbs x 1 +20lb PR

 - 335lbs x 3 new 3 rep PR

Conventional Deads:

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - Add belt: 405x5 (7 RPE)

Narrow Sumo:

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - 455x1 - tied Beltless PR with a narrower stance. Oh, and I haven't pulled sumo in around 6 months

 - 425x3 - 7 RPE

Sunday, 11/2/14

Safety Bar Squats

 - 330x1

 - 380x1

 - Add Belt: 410x1 - +60lb PR

 - 350x6 + 35lb PR

 - no belt: 310x5

How to move up a dumbbell size (or three!) in a hurry

Aris 

I was going to do the 50/20 post as the next part of the simple progressions series, but wanted to share this idea with someone and as I was typing it up, it became far too convoluted for a forum post.

There are plenty of great progressions for training with barbells, and some good ones for kettlebells, odd objects, and bodyweight as well (see the aforementioned post on 50/20 for an example). But there's not much about progressing effectively with dumbbells--and I think that the ability to progress in 5-pound increments (but not smaller, usually) creates an interesting challenge for increasing the weight used.

In the gym, most guys seem to progress by way of their spotters or training partners. If you can seated press 70s but not 75s, have your partner give you a bit of an assist at first, and in a few weeks you might be able to do the 75s on your own. However, for the guy or gal training alone at home, this isn't as much of an option.

So, here's a plan that takes advantage of a dumbbell's adjustability and does its best to get around the fact that, for upper body work, a 5-pound increase per hand can be a bit tough to deal with. It's primarily designed for presses but I suppose it would work for curls, rows, etc. as well. Probably not so well for lower body work, but there are other progressions you can use that work quite well for dumbbell deadlifts (which are a great overall lower body exercise, by the way, if all you have is a pair of heavy, plate loading dumbbells):

...I do recommend that you get a pair more adjustable than Mike's here. 

You'll be training 3 nonconsecutive days each week, and working with a different number of repetitions each time. 

Day 1: 5x4

Day 2: 4x8

Day 3: 3x12

Thus, you'll be working with a different weight each day. You'll definitely have at least one, maybe two 5-pound jumps in between--if you can press a pair of 55s for 8 you can probably do at least 60s for 4. 

Sets will be done in a descending format. Thus, you start with the most weight you can move for the prescribed number of reps, and decrease as needed for the succeeding sets. Thus, your day one session might look like this--(after warmups) 60sx4 (not too bad), 60s x4 (was very hard), 55s x4 (pretty easy), 55s x4 (hard), 50s x4 (very easy). Your day 3 session might be 45s x12, 40s x12, 35s x12, or something like that. 

Progression is simple. Add weight to your downsets each time. So, 60x4, 60x4, 55x4, 55x4, 50x4 might become 60x4x2 sets, 55x4x3 sets, and then 60x4x3 sets, 55x4x2 sets, then 60x4x4 sets, 55x4x1 set, and finally 60x4x5 sets. When you can handle the same weight for all the sets, increase the weight, i.e. start with 65s for your first set (and maybe second or even third if you feel good). If you miss a targeted rep, don't worry, just drop down a notch on the next set and try to get it next time. Some of your backoff sets will be easier than others, that's fine. Just hit the targeted reps with good form and keep the weight the same for the next set(s) until it gets really hard, then decrease the weight again. 

To give credit, I got this idea from powerlifting extraordinaire Ken Fantano, by way of Marty Gallagher's book The Purposeful Primitive. When doing inclines with 140+ pound dumbbells, he couldn't increase the weight after hitting a certain number of weights for one set (obviously) so he added more backoff sets and gradually increased their weight instead. Three weekly sessions give you plenty of practice, and working with different weights help keep you from stalling, getting mentally or physically stuck with a certain poundage (there have been whole programs written around 'rotating poundages' ideas like this, Leo Costa's OTS III is one of them). 

Training multiple times in one week should be fine with dumbbell stuff, again, I got this idea when thinking about overhead presses, and thrice weekly should be fine for those. It would probably work for bench variants too, dumbbells are a bit more shoulder friendly than a barbell. I'm not sure why someone would want to do 3 heavy curling days each week, but this would work for curls as well. Either way, just try to make sure your recovery is on point--it ain't smolov, but you will probably find it more demanding than it looks on paper. 

As for the lower body, doing pistol squats one day and dumbbell deadlifts the next, EDT style, should work pretty well. Pullups and ab work can be done after the dumbbell presses; and that's a complete program right there!

So--there you have it. A simple, basically foolproof method for moving up a few dumbbell sizes without microplates, a legion of training partners, or other shenanigans. I doubt you'll be out-pressing Kaz anytime soon, but now you have no excuse not to try....

Kaz with the Inch Dumbbell--173 pounds with a 2 1/2 inch handle. 

As always, I hope you enjoyed this post and found something useful to apply to your own training. Questions and comments can be posted below or emailed to me at affectinggravity@gmail.com. 

'Have it all': Bryce Lane's 50/20

Aris DeMarco

part 1
part 2

Continuing with the 'simple progressions' series; here's another entry on maximizing training efficiency with minimal equipment: density training. There are many ways to go about it, but basically, density training involves doing maximum work in a minimum time period, thus creating a high 'density' of work done. Going by my previous blog entry, most density formats would be high volume, moderate intensity, and moderate to low frequency. However, some versions can be set up with relatively high volume, and also high intensity, making them tremendously potent for fast progress--but also creating the risk of a quick burnout and stagnating progress. 50/20 is one of these.

Bryce Lane, who came up with 50/20, freely admits that he got the idea from Charles Staley's EDT/escalating density training formats. These generally involve two lifts or exercises supersetted in 15 minute blocks, with maximum repetitions of each done in that time period. (For those interested, here is Staley's website, and T-nation has several of Staley's articles about EDT.) Lane's version is a bit different--more focused, and more bare-bones, whereas most of Staley's versions are tailored for bodybuilding.

Staley walking the walk. 

Personally, I prefer Bryce Lane's version. Here's the basic idea: pick a big compound exercise that can be loaded pretty heavily. Take a set weight and do 50 total repetitions in 20 minutes using any set/rep/rest combination. Bryce writes "I have thought many times about one workout that could give you 'it all' or as close to it as possible. A simple, short, to the point workout where you would get stronger in a very practical sense, increase your work capacity and conditioning level and add bulk if you eat like you mean it... [this is] aimed at people who want 'the big picture', and the bigger the better.... Here's how it works. For twenty minutes do as many reps as you can of your chosen compound exercise, squats, deadlifts, power cleans or snatches, clean & presses etc. You do this twice a week. You use the same weight throughout the twenty minutes. About 75-80% of your gym-maximum in good clean form is fine to start. Begin with something you can easily do and add as you can."

That's the program in a nutshell, and if all you had were those guidelines you'd have a piece of training info worth its weight in gold. Really--this thing works. It worked for Bryce very well, in fact it was one of the programs he used over and over again and he was a complete and utter beast physically. (I'll probably end up doing one of those 'lifter profile' blogs on him and his training at some point.) It's worked for me, and almost everyone who's tried it got something very useful out of it. 50 reps with your 10-rep maximum or thereabouts is, as Pavel might say, "a very powerful stimulus." Doing it on a twenty-minute timer with a big compound exercise ups the intensity factor even more. If you really emphasize good form and a full range of motion instead of allowing your technique to fall apart in order to get more reps (never do this, especially with something as demanding as the 50/20 program) you'll be getting plenty of practice in your chosen movement as well and 'greasing the groove' very efficiently. The GTG factor, by the way, is one reason the gains come fast and hard with this routine.Take something you can hit for 10 reps with a struggle in the olympic-style full squat and work up to doing that for 50 reps in a fast workout. The end result? A bigger, stronger, better conditioned version of yourself who's had a ton of practice doing squats. 

The key to making it work: do it only twice a week, and do just that one big exercise for the twenty minute time period. Sure you can do 'extras' but they really have to be kept to a minimum. As you can see, the basic idea is somewhat similar to Pavel's 'Bear' version of 'power to the people' and similar guidelines must be followed as far as recovery goes. 

Here are some of Bryce's basic suggestions: 

Day 1: Barbell clean and press

Day 2: full back squat

that's it. Each twice weekly, so C&P Monday/Thursday and SQ Tuesday/Friday. Or: 

Day 1: barbell deadlift

Day 2: barbell bench press

Hill sprints or cycling go well with that variant if you want to round things out with a bit more conditioning and lower body work. 

Something Bryce did several times, it's a bit more demanding but if you have plenty of time to sleep, and a lot of food lying around it can be done: 

Day 1: bench press

Day 2: weighted chinup

Day 3: barbell squat OR romanian deadlift (alternate each time)

Day 4: off, then repeat day 1. 

Now, 50/20 works well with a barbell but I believe it's even better suited to bodyweight movements, or kettlebells, or a sandbag. Bryce wrote about doing it with odd objects too, saying that "things like this, you just don't get bored with. The implement just begs you into the fight." 

The level of strength shouldering 260 pounds of loose, dead weight requires is... significant, to say the least. This fellow shouldered a 200-pound (his own weight) bag for 55 reps in 20 minutes. 

Moreover, density training formats are uniquely suited to objects that are difficult to adjust. With your own bodyweight, a kettlebell, or a sandbag it's not really possible to set up a detailed progression plan like you can do with a barbell--5 or even 2.5-pound increases, or percentage-based cycling plans just can't be done. 50/20 offers a simpler progression. Being able to bang out 50 reps in twenty minutes means you can manhandle a certain weight fairly well; so moving up to the next harder variant, or next kettlebell size, or adding 25 pounds to your sandbag, should be pretty doable. At this point you'd probably be stopped dead with, say, 30 reps in twenty minutes at your next workout, but eventually work back up to 50. As Bryce says, "50 reps is the goal, not the starting point [though the first time you try this, definitely start out light] what usually happens is that you get 28-32 reps/20m the first time (after a 10% increase) then up to 42-45 reps then you get the 50r and then comes more weight. You just have to fight this thing through and it's just not 'on' every day."

So, here's a sample progression with bodyweight: You start out doing bodyweight lunges. At first, 5 reps at a time is tough for you, you stumble around, and can barely get your 50 reps (each leg) in 20 minutes. Eventually you work it out so that you're doing 5 reps each leg, every other minute and 'clockwork' it out that way. You try moving on to box pistols (one legged squats sitting back onto a bench or box) but don't feel quite ready yet so you go past 50/20 with the lunges, doing as many as you can every set and doing sets as often as you can. Eventually, you nail 80 reps each leg in 20 minutes. At this point, you feel ready to move on so you take a week off to recuperate and start in on the box pistols. At first it's tough, of course, but eventually you hit 50/20 each leg with the box pistols and lower the box... guess what, in a few months you'll be doing 50 reps in twenty minutes, with each leg, of full pistol squats. Your leg strength and endurance, as well as hip and ankle flexibility, and balance, will have greatly improved and if you're a guy who's been eating plenty of solid, protein rich food you might have some decent leg size gains on top of it. 

Here's another example with a kettlebell. You can clean and press your 16kg for 10 reps but only get the 24kg for one on a good day, with your strong arm. So, you set out to hit 50/20 with your 16kg. Twice a week, you just go to town on one arm C&Ps with your 16. Eventually you hit 50/20 each arm and you try the 24. You've basically been doing very concentrated, intense 'practice', maybe gotten a little bigger in the shoulder girdle too, so now the 24 can go up a bit easier and with each arm. You don't have any interim weights so back you go to the 16 and try a harder press variant instead of the simple C&P (savickas presses or bottoms-up presses would work well here) and when you finally hit 50/20 with that, the 24 should be much easier. At this point, you can probably try to use your 24 for 50/20, perhaps starting with push presses and gradually working towards doing full strict presses. 

Once you've got 'the groove' down, don't be afraid of higher reps!

As for exercise choices, two exercises is the base program (upper and lower). A push, pull and squat, or a push and two pulls (upper and lower) could work well too. Depending on what you have available, chins and dips on day one (this is where you can use a more Staley-esque supersetted deal) and pistols on day two is one option. One arm pushup progressions and deadlifts; sandbag bearhug squats and divebomber pushups, one arm kettlebell C&Ps and shrimp squats, double kettlebell presses (one clean for each set of presses) and double kettlebell front squats... all good options. Bryce Lane had one beast of a program idea that had a trainee doing handstand pushups on day one and sandbag shouldering on day two. I introduced it to several guys I know and they've had great improvements--I will try and get their feedback on a future blog. 

That should be more than enough for anyone who's interested to get started with this. For the next 'simple progressions' blog I'll continue writing about 50/20 and density training (because the possibilities really are nearly limitless with this kind of format and it's VERY useful for busy people who want solid results): how and when to deload, proper exercise choices, and manipulating the volume, intensity, and time variables. Perhaps in another blog after that I'll write about some options for preserving and improving a 1RM while using this program: perhaps the only complaints of people who have run it are that 1. they burn out quickly and 2. they do not always get a good gain on their 1-rep max after doing 50/20 or a similar density routine. Both problems have rather simple fixes... but that's a subject for next time. 

Part two 

As always--I hope you enjoyed this article and find some useful information for your own training! If you have questions, comment below or email be at affectinggravity@gmail.com. 

Simple progression part 2: Circuits

Aris DeMarco

part 1
In an effort to continue with the 'training information for the everyman' nature of this blog, I've written up the second part of my 'simple progression' series. Basically, this is for guys with minimal equipment (i.e. pullup bar, maybe a few dumbbells, etc.) who want to improve strength and conditioning as efficiently as possible, while taking minimal time out of their busy days.

Part one was all about increasing your one-set max repetitions. However, an approach like that might leave your work capacity wanting when it comes to multiple sets. Plus, overall conditioning is generally improved by, well, being active longer--so you need a way to compress a lot of work (multiple sets) into a short amount of time. Enter circuits.

Basically, a circuit is a series of exercises done in succession, for multiple rounds. Thus:
exercise 1
exercise 2
exercise 3
exercise 1
exercise 2
...and so forth. Some people advocate resting after each 'round', or between exercises, others don't. One option is to do a set number of repetitions for each exercise, each round, and repeat for as many rounds as possible in a given time frame. Ross Enamait's 'work capacity 101' conditioning workout uses that format:

Not quite doing full deadhang pullups here, but we can forgive him that--he's Ross.

As you can see, you have a few different variables to play with: exercises/lifts used, repetitions done, number of rounds, or amount of time the workout takes. Doing the exercises one after the other keeps your heart rate up and improves your overall conditioning, and doing multiple sets of each exercise with relatively short rest periods (doing the other exercises in the circuit) improves your muscular endurance. Given the great amount of work done relative to time taken up, it's possible to get an excellent full body workout in 20 to 30 minutes. Progression is simple. Use more difficult exercises in the circuit, do more rounds total, do more rounds without stopping, or do more total repetitions for each exercise. 

As far as exercise choice goes, it's a good idea to pick 4-5 movements that 'cover' your entire body. 

Upper body pushing--pushups, dips, handstand pushups, one arm overhead presses or push presses

Upper body pulling--pullups, chinups, horizontal rows, one arm dumbbell rows

Lower body pushing--squats or squat jumps, lunges, pistol squats or progressions thereof

Lower body pulling/hip extension--hyperextensions, glute bridges, glute-ham raise progressions, db or kb swings

Midsection/core--lying or hanging leg raises, ab wheel rollouts, 'windshield wipers'...

...there are plenty of possibilities, those are just a few examples. Obviously, depending on exercise choice, your circuits can range from a strength to an endurance focus. Resting in between exercises or rounds can help you get more repetitions in, but of course, the workout will take more time. One thing you can do is add a sixth 'active recovery' movement, say, jump rope or light jogging in place, for 1-2 minutes at the end of every round. That way, all your muscles can get a bit of extra rest, but your heart and lungs are still working. 

Here are a few circuits I used several years back. At the time, I'd just quit running track for the first time due to foot/ankle issues but wanted to improve both my strength and endurance along with general cardio conditioning. All I had was a pullup bar and a pair of kettlebells. 

Workout 1: 

pushups

horizontal bodyweight rows

bodyweight 'free' squats

kettlebell swings-16kg

lying leg raises

--all done without rest between exercises or rounds, for 20-40 reps each exercise, for 5-10 rounds

Workout 2:

Handstand pushups (on the floor, against a wall)

Pullups to one side 

Pistol squats

kettlebell swings-24kg

situps on the floor, 10lb plate behind head, feet unsupported

--all done without rest between exercises or rounds, as many repetitions as possible without pausing or stopping, for 5 rounds. Keep track of total reps done in 5 rounds and try to improve on that number. 

The pistol squat--a very solid exercise overrated by some, underrated by many others

I alternated between the two workouts 3-5 days each week. This was a tremendous workload, at the time, far greater than any I had experienced before. After the first week or so, the initial soreness had decreased to the point that I could train more or less daily, alternating between my 'strength' and my 'endurance' circuit. After a couple of months, I managed to do more than 10 handstand pushups for the first time, 20+ full pistol squats with each leg, and was averaging 250-300 very strict pushups, each several times per week. I tested myself on a 1 mile run and broke the 6-minute mark for the first time while on this routine, without doing any running. 

Circuit training is fantastic for those with limited equipment and time. Bodyweight, kettlebells, sandbags; virtually any tool (or none at all) can be used. Routines are simple to design and easy to implement, and results tend to come quickly. Thus, circuits are an excellent format for busy individuals who want a bit of everything in their workouts but don't have a lot of time to work for it. 

...The next post in the 'simple progression' series will be the first of many articles I'm writing about density training--but first, I'll put up the next piece in the lifter profiles series. 

You can leave comments and questions below or send them to affectinggravity@gmail.com, and watch our youtube vids here.